Fifteen ✔

2

I tied the boots I had fought some girl for, and made my way downstairs. I walked passed this one table that I passed by everytime I came downstairs, the lead male started whistling, and everyone else at the table followed his lead.

I kept walking. It would get worse. I got in line for breakfast, looking around at the group. Most of them sat with alcohol in hand.

I had recieved a tray of food, more like a plate of vegetables. I set my food down on the corner table I sat at, I was smoothing my skirt out when it got worse.

I felt a hand grab my butt, I instantly reacted. I grabbed the assaulters hand, turned, grabbed their hair and slammed them into the table.

I moved the hand I used to grab their hair to the back of their neck and pressed on the pressure points.

"I give! I give!" A female voice rang from the table.

"Who are you," I yelled, heads had turned in my direction, "Tell me!"

"You know exactly who I am, Konida," she whispered.

I lifted her head and hit it off the table, "I'm gonna ask one more time. Who are you?"

"Konida! Just look at me, you'll remember!"

I hit her head off the table again, "Fucking tell me. Who. You. Are. Immediately, or I will kill you."

"You wouldn't kill the first other kid you ever met, would you?"

I stopped, "Who the hell are you?" I asked once more as I loosened my hold of her. She stood up and I was looking up at green eyes.

"Hello, Koni," she smiled, "It's been some time, hasn't it? Let's go for a walk."

"You grabbed my ass."

"Actually, I didn't. He did though," She grinned as she looked over at a guy from my group who sat at a table across from mine, "Didn't take much to bribe him."

"Why did you bribe him to assault me so I would attack you?"

"I needed to get your attention somehow. You looked like someone who wouldn't answer to anyones approach, despite the skirt."

"Why are you here?"

"Let's go on a walk, Koni."

I nodded and soon we were walking up to my room. She was filling me in on why she was here.

"Koni, I came here because of what I told you when we met. That's really the only reason."

"What did you tell me? You told me alot of things, Ivris."

"I told you that you didn't belong here. You have a Northerner heart. But I think you have an Easterner soul."

"Easterner?" I'd never heard that term in my life.

"You..? You don't know what the Easterners are? Do you know about the war?"

"What war?"

"Wow. They don't tell you anything here, do they? Are you even allowed outside?"

"I barely leave my room because I actually hate everything and everyone here."

"I couldn't have guessed that," she laughed, "I'll fill you in on everything when we get to your room."

"At what cost? What do you want from me?"

"There's even a bit of Westerner in you," she smiled over at me, "Koni, I don't want anything from you."

My eyes widened with confusion, "What do you mean by that?"

"I'll tell you when we get to your room."

+~+~+~+~+~+

Soon enough, I was opening the aged door to my room and Ivris had already thrown herself onto my lone chair.

"Tell me about the war," I demanded as soon as I closed the door.

"The heat is mainly between The Westerners and the Easterners. But sometimes it flows out onto the Northerners and the Southerners. It started right after the Fall, a girl from the Easterners ended up in the Westerners for months and turned most of their followers against them. The Westerners attacked and their leader was killed, the girl who caused the disrupt nearly died in that battle. The leader's brother set out to kill the girl, and succeeded."

"So why is the war still going on? He got what he wanted."

"He got sick a year after and his apprentice took over. His apprentice didn't want revenge on one person. He wants to rule the country. But the Easterners are fighting to keep that from happening. He's smarter than the past 2 leaders and refuses to show his face to anyone but a few trusted advisors. Your mother is one of them. She's the only person outside of the Westerners that he'll speak face to face with."

"What does this have to do with me?"

"The Northerners and the Easterners need you.. I may have lied about why I came here.."

"Why do they need me?"

"The apprentice knows who you are and believes you're like your mother. He trusts you. And we can use this to our advantage. You just have to do as I say."

"What do I get out of it?"

"A free country! We cannot let the Westerners rule, Konida!"

"Help me find my father. Only then will I do it."

"Isn't your father the leader of your group?"

"No. I don't know who my father is, but I know for sure that it's not Jace."