Note: takes place before chapter five/not long after chapter four
~

Genoria poked her head into the bedroom as we all were preparing for bed, her curls bouncing from the action. "Hey gals," she said, voice low. "Kidget called a family meeting. Everyone into our room now." Just as quickly as she had come, Genoria was gone again.

Leanor and I looked at each other with questioning eyes, and I caught a glimpse of her hands, still frozen from where she had been running a brush through my hair.

Reah pushed herself up from off of her bed, sighing. "Well, you heard here. No need to keep staring at each other like a bunch of first-time pioneers. Let's get over to the room." She was the first one out, and slowly, in an intermittent line, we followed after her.

The door to one of the littles' room was still open, and we could see them all sitting on the floor, a candle set in the middle of their ring and shining out on the circle of reading girls.

The hallway was dark as we crept down it, careful not to make a sound or disturb the other girls who might be sleeping now.

When I finally made it into the room with tje other older girls, most of them were assembled on tje floor, blankets wrapped round their shoulders, heads resting on each other's shoulders. I settled into place beside Leanor, instantly regretting tje lack of tjought to even bring a blanket or some other kind of wrap. This was a colder night than any other point, and we were only just starting the dark season.

Her eyes scanning over us, Kidget nodded and then stoop, stepping into the middle so that we might all see her as she spoke.

"Girls, we have some bad news."

Her words made made my stomach drop, a pit yawning deep inside of me. I knew what se was going to say. I had been tje one to relay this information to her earlier in the day, and now she was forced to tell everyone else as well.

"Don't tell me," Melle said, her eyes closed. "Even with the money from Presa, we're out."

Kidget cleared her throat, her hands fluttering for the moment. "Yes," she said finally, and  I could feel the word vibrate through me, hear how it pained her to say it. "I've talked with Enori, I've talked with Kidget, and I've checked the cupboards. Unless we have a miracle, the current money will last us only two more weeks."

Nurwa scoffed, leaning forward, her gaze skipping over all of us. "It's because we wasted all that money trying to make something special for those freighters. They didn't really appreciate it anyways, and instead of being able to feed ourselves, we spent that food on complete strangers with only Presa being chosen out of all of this!" She threw up her hands in frustration. "What are we so obviously lacking that they so obviously want?"

Kidget motioned motioned her to calm. "I know, Nurwa. It's hard watching yourself get passed by, but you can never let it get to you. Without hope, our situation cannot get better."

Nurwa rolled her eyes and looekd away, but did not interject again as Kidgeg continued.

"And though we must have hope for our future, we need also a plan, for the substance of our hope." Her brown eyes scanned over us, pleading, searching. "Does anyone have any ideas?"

There was the general hushed silence and movement of those who do not wished to be noticed. Steeling up my courage, banks of it electric in my chest, I raised my jand up cautiously.

"Perhaps," u started, straining against the unsteadinesz my words carried. "We need to look outside of the House for jobs?"

Melle scoffed, almost as if in laughter. "Rigjt, because no one has ever thought of that before. If it were that simple, Enori, we would have no issues in our lives."

Leanor patted my knee. "Good try."

Kiget, however, seems intrigued. "Actuslly," she said. "We've had very few actually try and get jobs outside of the home. If we all picked up even a small one, that could be enough to support ourselves and just one other. That could cover everyone in the house if we play it right."

Fia fidgeting in her spot. "So what would yoy propose, then? It's not like people are super affectionate towards us anyways for "stealing" potential husbands. What's to say they won't have strong reeling about us trying to "steal" their jobs?"

Kkdget ran her fingers through her hair. "I can't promise anything, Fia, but I can say not all of the people are bad here. We have been trained up ti have a skillset here, so we just need to fine places where it's applicable.

Wilomi leaned forward, eyes shining. "Perhaps we could find if there are any famies with young kids who could use somone to watch them? I've always wanted to be around babies more."

"We could staff market booths," Ashta offered up. "So that the actual owners can have more time for other things?"

Veda sighed. "It would be best if we had our own stall at the market, but we don't have anything profitable on us to sell. We don't grow or make things here."

"There's plenty of single men here," Reah interjected. "We could offer simple, womanly things, like mending and cooking. They might take fo some of thst."

"Speaking of single men," I looked out at the others in the room. "Is it usually like this? I could have sworn more girls left the last time a freighter came into town."

Melle rolled her eyes at me. "That was a pioneer transport freighter. Of course we had a lot of girls leave then, that was the prime of our season."

"You're young," Kidget said after her. "Yoy probably didn't realize all the intricacies of what we as eligible girls have to do here to keep this house running properly."

I drew up my knees and settled my head on them, closing my eyes. "I guess so," I muttered. Obviously they didn't think enough of me to answer my questions in any meaningful way. Something was different this time, I knew it and they knew it too. We had always struggled with money, that was just one of the many difficulties of having so many girls in the house. But we had never had issues to this extent before. I had been wrapped up in the finances of this house for most of my life, I knew how we functioned here.

The discussion forged on without me, words flying overhead as they bicker over feasible options. I didn't listen to any of it as I sat there, mentally counting the coins we still had and the expenses left to care for.

Apparently the conversation had died down enough that Leanor nudged me out of my stupor, her fingers wrapping around my arm as she pulled me to my feet.

Her blue eyes gave me a knowing look. "You didn't listen to any of that, did you?"

I shook my head, head still ducked. "Not a lick. I wish they would listen to me, even a little."

Leanor shrugged. "That's just what it means to be the youngest. How do you think I felt before you came along and took my place? You just have to be patient. Respect comes with years."

"But I've been here so long!" I protested, trying to keep my voice low as Leanor pulled me out of the bedroom and into the hallway. "I've been here longer than Kidget even."

"But you were a kid," Leanor chided. "It's different on this side of the divide. You had no real responsibilities all these past years, you just got to be a kid and enjoy it. Kidget was eligible almost immediately after being dropped here, so she's gone through a lot as one of the older girls."

We had made it into the bedroom and were pulling ourselves under the covers once more. Leanor fluffed out her pillow before leaning against the bedframe to continue speaking. "Kidget and the other know what they're doing, Enori. There's no need to worry."

"I don't know…" Melle drawled, catching our attention over to her as she plopped onto the edge of our bed. "If you ask me," she said, stretching herself out. "I don't think we should take advise from the girl who can't get herself married off. She's been here for ages, we all know that, but obviously something is wrong with her for none of tje men that pass by to want her."

"Don't talk about her like that," Dorcas snapped. "We should have a lot of respect for Kidget, thud place couldn't run nearly as well without her."

Melle scoffed. "And you think this is running well? She pretty much just told us that we'll starve within a fortnight, and you really expect us to think she's doing a good job here?"

"That's not really her fault," Wilomi said, settling into her own bed. "There's simply too many girls here for too little money. There's no enough to stretch around."

"You're right," Melle said. "There's too many of us here. Too many kids. We're only supposed to be housing teens here, so why are there so many kids?"

Fia's gaze was cold as she turned it on Melle. "I don't know if you recall, but some of us were those kids. In fact, weren't you one too? Here since you were fourteen, wasn't it?"

"I was only a year off," Melle muttered. "The real problem is all those little kids. There's too many of them."

"There's only fourty-two of us, Melle. That seems like a practical number to me."

"And we got six girls in the past month? When is the last time we got that many girls at one time, and all under the age of twelve? I'm telling you, this doesn't bode well for our future."

"I was eleven," I muttered. "Is it so bad that I found a safe place to live here? That I found a home?"

"Oh don't talk to me about you," Melle groaned. "You're the one who started all of these issues, and I know it."

"That's enough," Reah snapped, coming into the room. "I'm tired of this bickering. Melle, yoy need to stop antagonizing and go to sleep. The rest of you do so as well. Tomorrow we'll be trying to find jobs out there, and we need to be on our best behavior and brightest appearances."

"That'll be hard," Leanor chirped. "It'll be dark out still."

"Leanor," Reah pinned her with a weary look. "Go to sleep."

She stepped over to the window and blew out the candle there, plunging us all into the darkness.

"We'll handle all of this in the morning."

-

Sleep was not something I obtained overnight. The morning passed by me in a strange blur, my body going through motions my mind was not fully connected to. We helped me younger girls through their readying for the day, I stood beside Genoria and washing clothing, my hands moving in the water as my mind wandered elsewhere.

Was it wholly wrong of me to want to go to the market again, just so that I might see that kind man from before? The one who had put himself into harm that he might protect me? Was it such a terrible thought, even though it felt like an utter betrayal for all of the care and desire I had to remain here?

The day continued. Listening to little girls reading, writing down names and matching them to faces, taking measurements fir the ones who seemed to grow more every week, counting the money inside the box.

Again.

And again.

And again.

The number had never changed, and the weight of this knowledge hung across my shoulders, clouding at my mind so that the haze pulled itself over my every action. If we were unable to find a way to refill the box, I didn't know how the Hents House would go on.

Finally, finally, the fifteen of us stood assembled inside the kitchen, wrapped up in our shawls and prepared to go out into the city.

Kidget stood at the front of us all, her brown eyes catching the light of the candle as she looked at us.

Reah slipped her hand into mine, her head ducking to speak with me. "Are you ok, Nor? You've been acting a little far away today."

"Fine." My voice felt more like a croak, and I swallowed as if that might clear it up. "Or I will be. Either way, it doesn't matter."

"I would disagree." Reah's grip tightened in mine. "How you feel is important. I know you were acting a little spooked the last time we all went out a couple days ago."

But of course I had felt spooked. The awareness of everyone's eyes on me made my skin crawl, as if they were seeing into me, as the weaknesses that had taking up residency inside my chest, the fear that had nestled right beside my heart and tightened my lungs the longer I walked.

Or perhaps they had simply been staring at bandage still covering the cut at my jaw. Whatever the case was, I could feel tjr attention pinned on me as I had searched through the market, trying to find the rest of the girls after we had gotten separated.

Of course I had been panicked.

But I couldn't be panicked this time. This time I had a mission: to find the kind man, to convince him of how badly we needed the business he and his fellow freighters could supply.

Kidget cleared her throat, and I tore my attention away from the floor from where it had fallen, up to her somber face as she spoke to give instructions to the gathered.

"I want everyone to go out in at least groups of two." Her hands were busy as she spoke, wrapping her hair up with a square of cloth so it remained away from her face. "Talk to as many vendors runners as possible, especially the busy ones. The slow-running ones probably aren't making enough money to support themselves, let along paying an outsider to their family.

"I also want Veda and Reah to go find out what it takes to set up a vendor there. It may not be an option at this moment, but I'm sure if enough of us get jobs, we'll be able to pay for it soon enough."

Dorcas raised one hand. "Shouldn't we be more concerned with stockpiling food or rations? We'll be out of SC-IT rations soon, and that's the number one way for us to feed everyone right now. Wouldn't it be better to splurge on getting those, rather than local foods?"

"As good as the SC-IT rations are for us, we still need to consume fresh things. Its good for us. Just focus on getting money, and Mam Dorce, Enori and I will figure out how to spend it."

"So she's not going out with us?" Melle folded her arms. "Typical." Her voice was low, as if she had meant it to be a whisper she wanted all to hear.

Kidget ignored her last statement. "Enori won't be the only one remaining here. I'll also want Fia to stay behind, I'll need help caring for the littles today while all of you are out."

I swallowed hard, trying not to speak against Kidget. I didn't want to stay here, I wanted to go to the market with the others. I wanted to speak to the freighters and see if I could get them to change their minds. But this burning need inside was quelled by the knowledge that Kidget was only doing what she thought right. I couldn't blame her for being practical.

"Alright," Kidget sighed. "Time for you girls to get going. Try to stay safe now, ok? And be back before dinner, I want to make sure all of us are at home."

"Does it really matter?" Leanor asked. "If this is the dark season, and the markets fall into their full shifts, wouldn't it be better for us to work in such a way as well?"

"Yeah!" Wilomi chimed in. "And if we worked the technical night hours, the vendor owners could be home with their families. Wouldn't that work great for everyone involved?"

"That sounds all well and good," Kidget said. "But not tonight. If you can pick up that kind of job, take it, but not tonight. Tonight, we stay together. We remain a home."

There was no retort or argument against this. We simply watched, waiting for some cue to move, to spread out into the darkness and trying to, as Reah had said, be our brightest appearances.

"That is all."

It was a close to a command to depart as Kidget would give in this moment, and the girls took it readily, heading straight for the doorway and heading out.

Kidget sighed and sunk into on of the chairs at the kitchen table, closing her eyes as she rubbed at her temples.

I remained standing, swaying a little in my place as I keeped my head ducked, staring at the patterns in the wood below my feet. I could also see Fia standing there just off to the side, though her posture seemed far less resigned to her being held back from the adventure.

Her hands were balled into fists at her side and one foot tapped impatiently, the only noises in the otherwise silent kitchen. When she spoke, her voice was hard and full of grit. "Well?"

"Well, what?" I could hear the exhaustion in Kidget's tone. These past few days had not been easy for her, and it was abundantly clear now, in this moment, looking at her weary form.

"You kept us behind, now what do you want?"

Kidget pulled her hand away to look at Fia, her brow furrowed before she closed her eyes once more. "Just keep an eye on the girls, or tend the house. I can't do it all alone, you know."

Fia huffed in response and turned away, her boots clicking on the wooden floors.

I watched her until the disappeared from sight, before turning my attention back towards Kidget. "Are you… feeling ok?"

She chuckled, but it was a dry, humorless thing. "Oh, I'm doing great, thank you. Just have to figure out how to care for everyone and keep us all alive, but other than that, I'm doing great."

"Do yoy need to rest?" I looked back towards the living room. "I can try and whip up a lunch on my own, and then send all of the younger ones to nap. Maybe the teens can all help each other with their studies?"

Kidget shook her head. "No, I really don't have time ti waste here. I should focus on getting everything back under control here."

"Why doesnt Mam Dorce help?" I shifted my weight, fingers digging into the fabric of my skirt. "I could have sworn she used to."

"She's been trying other channels," Kidget replied. "Ways for us to branch out our…services. There's no way for us to gain additional allocations from the main company, so we have to find other means of making money. Especially since the they've threatened to shut us down if our profits don't pick back up."

I took a step forward. "Is it because of all of the younger ones? Because we have so many of them?"

She sighed, shaking her head. "It's a variety of reasons, and there's really no one problem we can pin the blame on. We'll just have to see how all of this turns out, and go from there."

I crouched beside her and reached out, settling the bakc of my hand across her forehead. "Youre warm," I murmured.

"Just tired." She waved me off, rubbing at her forehead again. "I'll figure all of this out, dont worry."

"So…" My word trailed off, and I hesitated, considering the weight of my thoughts. "If Mam Dorce is so busy trying to dig us our of a rut, does rhat mean you've been left alone to take care of the whole house."

"More or less. Not that it really matters, anyways. We have enough older girls right now to help me with keeping it functioning. I just worry that if everyone gets work outside the house, there won't won't enough jands left to guide here."

I shifted my weight, pressing some of it against the leg of the table to support myself. "You could always bring some of the teens into the fold. They have concerns about this places well-being as well."

"I wouldn't want to worry them," Kidget replied. "At least, not unnecessarily. Let them be kids a few years more. They will have to grow up soon enough, don't take that innocence from them before their time."

~
Status: unfinished/incomplete
I kinds gave up on this scene and wanted to move on to different things. You'll be seeing a lot more of my unfinished scenes now