text: [Themes: grimdark fantasy, war, fantasy, grimdark]
  
  After a couple weeks of sneaking to the park and recreating your "discovery" on various plants and flowers there, you learn that it doesn't seem to be going away.
  
  You think maybe it's due to the grave wings biting you and it could very well be, but you don't really know. In fact, you haven't seen the grave wings at all since that last night you fell unconscious.
  
  While you've never been there, you do know that this city has one of the most important magic schools in the world. (Well at least what little you know of it). You once remember seeing someone performing magic in the park for a crowd until a guard ran him off saying how he wasn't allowed off school grounds.
  
  Your knowledge is very limited on how this works or even why, but you can only come to the simple conclusion that you must have magic abilities!
  
  While this is exciting, even you're aware of how dangerous magic can be. You aren't sure if you should tell Miss Olga or not. If you did maybe you'd go to the magic school?
  
  While you're thinking on this, you aren't paying too much attention to what you've been doing to the flowers nearby.
  
  "By the gods!" you hear a voice exclaim.
  
  You look down and see dead flowers near your hand, then you look where the voice came from and see Chloe standing nearby in shock. You're a little surprised as well since you've been careful to not let anyone see.
  
  All you can utter is:
  
  "Wha...what are you doing here?"
  "Miss Olga told me to come get you for lunch since she knows I'd be able to find you quicker than she would...you made those flowers wilt!" Chloe says readdressing the situation.
  "Shhh! You're the only one who knows so far!" you say.
  "I am? When did you become magical? Wait, was it after that night?"
  "Yeah."
  
  You fully expect Chloe to get scared, but instead she's curious.
  
  "Well...what else can you do? Can you create a fireball?" she asks.
  "No. I mean...well I dunno. I haven't tried it." You say.
  "So, you can only kill flowers?"
  "No, I can make them better too, look."
  
  You focus a bit and the dead flowers show some vigor again, but not much.
  
  "They still look in pretty bad shape." Chloe says.
  "Yeah, I can never get them to go exactly back to how they were. I keep trying, but it doesn't seem to work." You reply.
  "Well...maybe you need to practice?"
  "I have for a week now, but it's not like I can practice for long periods of time."
  
  After saying this to Chloe, you notice something on the ground by some of the dead flower petals. It's a dead bee. You guess you didn't notice it when you were near the flowers before, but you can only guess it was in one of the flowers you wilted and as a result, you killed it too.
  
  You get an idea...
  
  "What are you doing now?" Chloe asks.
  "This bee. I think I killed it, when I wilted the flowers. I'm going to see if I can make it better."
  "What? You...you can't do that!"
  "Why not? I can bring back flowers...well sorta. Anyway it's worth a shot."
  "I dunno Cat, this seems like a bad idea. Couldn't you just try to change that rose purple or something?"
  
  You ignore Chloe's concerns and focus on the bee.
  
  And focus...
  
  And focus...
  
  "I don't think it's working."
  "Shhh!"
  
  You focus again and after feeling a bit light headed, you see it! You see a wing move, if only for a brief moment! Chloe sees it too and now she's scared.
  
  "You...you shouldn't be able to do that." Chloe remarks.
  "Why?" you ask.
  "Because...that's like against the rules! Don't you know that story?"
  "Story about what?"
  "About the Great Lich Lord and how he nearly conquered the world with the dead!"
  "I don't remember Miss Olga telling that story before."
  "You probably were here in the park as usual, but last year she told a scary story about him and why that sort of magic is against the rules. You can get into a lot of trouble doing it."
  "Oh. Well I'm not doing that. I'm just seeing if I can revive this bee."
  "I think that's the same thing Cat! Come on, we need to get back anyway for lunch."
  
  Reluctantly you leave with Chloe and head back to the orphanage where you're already late. Fatty Patty wastes no time in calling attention to that fact when you both try to quietly go to your chairs in the dinning room. The other children don't say anything, but of course...
  
  "Miss Olga! Cat and Chloe are late!" Patty shouts obnoxiously while partially eaten food crumbs fly out of her mouth.
  
  Miss Olga comes out of the kitchen frowning, but she seems more annoyed by Patty than you two since it was already obvious you were going to be late.
  
  "Well I see you two finally decided to join us. I told you to get Catalina a half hour ago. What happened Chloe, you get lost on the way?" Miss Olga asks.
  "No Miss Olga." Chloe says looking down.
  "And as for you, well I'm getting to the point I can see you're just determined to be difficult even after your recent episode. Both of you go take your seats at the table."
  
  You and Chloe silently take your seats while Patty and a couple other children snicker. The other children finish before you and Chloe since you came in late, that's when Chloe speaks again.
  
  "You going to tell Miss Olga?" Chloe asks.
  "Huh? Tell her what?" you ask.
  "About your magic powers. You probably should since she'll know what to do."
  "What? No! I don't want to tell her, I'll get in trouble!"
  "Maybe, but I mean magic is serious, you can't just keep it secret!"
  
  "Keep what secret?" Miss Olga asks staring at the pair of you. Obviously she only heard the last part, but she knows something's up.
  
  You feel anxious. Part of you does want to tell her since you really don't know what you're doing, but you feel like you're going to get locked away forever if you say something.
  
  > Lie
  You are NOT going to risk telling Miss Olga anything, but you're struggling to think of what to say.
  
  "Um..." you say.
  "Well?" Miss Olga asks as Chloe looks at you.
  "I...well...okay...I found a rabbit in the park and it was so friendly it let me pet and play with it. That's why Chloe was late, since she was playing with it too."
  "Um...yeah...it was soft and fluffy." Chloe stammers.
  "I was going to try to go back and get it to sneak it in here since I didn't think you'd let me keep it."
  
  Miss Olga looks at you and at Chloe and gives a side eye to both of you, like she isn't sure if you're telling the truth, but ultimately she does believe you.
  
  "Well you're certainly right that I wouldn't allow you to keep it. We don't have the space to shelter pets and I won't have one pooping all over the place. Still, I'm glad that you admitted the truth to me. Shows you aren't completely delinquent. A bit unusual that a rabbit would willingly come up to you though. Usually they are timid creatures."
  
  You and Chloe say nothing to this statement.
  
  "Bah, probably something to do with that magic college, never know what's going on there. That's why I want you to stay close by; I don't drag you from that park because I like being mean. I just want you to be safe. Do you understand?"
  "Yes, Miss Olga." You respond.
  "Hm. Of course you understand. I think you always have, but you're determined to be stubborn. I know you don't like it here, and that's why if you behave better you'll be more likely to get out of here quicker and go to a proper family that can provide a better life for you."
  
  Again you don't say anything and just eat your food, Chloe follows your example, while Miss Olga just shakes her head and tells the pair of you to stay inside for the rest of the day, especially since it'll be getting dark soon.
  
  You and Chloe both obey and go back to your room which is empty since the rest of the children are playing outside or elsewhere. Last thing they want to do is be around their beds if they don't have to sleep.
  
  Chloe hasn't said anything, though given that she didn't tell on you, you do appreciate it.
  
  "Thanks for not telling Miss Olga." You say.
  "...you're welcome...but what are you going to do now?" Chloe slowly says.
  "I dunno. All my practice isn't working. Maybe I need a magic book."
  "Aren't those all at the college?"
  "They can't all be in there. It's too far from us anyway. Have a hard enough time sneaking off to the park. Hm. Hey, wait there's a bookstore a few blocks from the park on Conjure Street. Maybe they would have something."
  "They sell used books don't they?"
  "Yeah so? Still might have something."
  "I mean you don't have any money, how are you going to buy it?"
  "I dunno. I guess I could..."
  
  Chloe already knows what you're going say.
  
  "No. You can't seriously be thinking about stealing a book!" Chloe says.
  "Actually I was considering taking Miss Olga's coin purse and buying the book."
  
  Chloe looks at you in disbelief.
  
  "That...that's even worse!" she exclaims.
  
  While stealing from someone you know is worse than stealing from a stranger is debatable, you were just thinking it would be easier to steal from Miss Olga since you know where her coin purse is.
  
  While you're pondering if it wouldn't be quicker to directly steal a book, you hear a familiar annoying voice.
  
  "What are you two doing in here together? Probably planning to sneak out again like you did before! You know if you do that again, Miss Olga will just send you both to that place for bad kids. You both will probably go there anyway. Especially you pig face!" Patty says.
  "Shut up Patty! Nobody was talking to you!" Chloe snaps.
  "I'm telling Miss Olga, you called me a name!"
  
  Patty runs out the room, leaving you and Chloe alone again.
  
  "Ugh. I hate her. I know the rest of the kids don't like me, but Patty always makes it worse." Chloe says.
  
  You nod and agree that Patty is indeed very annoying and go back to pondering what you're going to do about advancing your magic situation. Chloe of course still is advising you against any sort of stealing, so whatever it is you ultimately decide, you'll probably have to do it without Chloe's help.
  
  > steal the coin purse
  "Okay, okay, I'll figure out something else." You remark.
  "Good. I don't want you to get into more trouble, you're the only friend I have here!" Chloe says and suddenly hugs you.
  
  You weren't expecting a hug, especially that strong of one. You aren't exactly sure how to act, except you give a minor pat on her back.
  
  "Okay, you're holding me too tight." You say.
  "Oh sorry. I didn't hurt you did I? I don't realize how strong I am sometimes." Chloe asks.
  "No, I'm fine. Anyway, since we're stuck inside, I guess we could play a game. Tafl is over there, might as well bring it over here."
  
  Chloe goes over to get the game, to which she expresses a desire to play as the attacker. You figured she would since that's usually what she always plays as, while you play the king's side. Time passes, as your mind is only half into the game as you think about how you're going to go about stealing Miss Olga's coin purse.
  
  Eventually other children start walking in since Miss Olga has called that it's time for bed. Patty eventually waddles in makes some snide comments to Chloe as usual causing a few of the others to laugh as well until eventually Miss Olga steps in to order everyone to be quiet and get to bed.
  
  You don't go to sleep immediately. You continue to plan what you're going to do. It's actually going to take patience, but you have to do it that way.
  
  Starting the next day, you put your plan into action. The first few times you sneak into Miss Olga's room are the most difficult. You think you're going to get caught at any moment.
  
  Eventually you manage to slip a copper coin out of her purse and hide it away. Nobody sees you, nobody knows. Not even Miss Olga. It's just a single coin after all.
  
  Over the course of a month, you manage to steal enough money that you're certain you'd have enough for a book, but you don't buy one. Instead, you only take a small portion of what you've stolen and instead buy sweets from a sweet shop close to the bookstore.
  
  You eat the sweets and keep the wrappers they came in.
  
  Nothing else of note happens at the orphanage in this time. It's just the usual things with Miss Olga being overworked, Chloe being friendly and Patty being annoying. Well Patty being REALLY annoying.
  
  Though that all changes soon one day.
  
  "Miss Olga?" you say as she's busily doing laundry.
  "Huh? Catalina? What is it, I'm busy with washing these clothes right now." Miss Olga responds.
  "I...I think there's something you really should see."
  
  Miss Olga's never known you to make yourself so readily available to her, let alone actively seeking her out, so she stops what she's doing so you can show her what you're talking about.
  
  You go to the sleeping room and point out near the bottom of the headboard of Patty's bed, a small piece of loose wood paneling.
  
  "Behind there." You say.
  
  Miss Olga looks at you and then crouches down to move the paneling and finds a bunch of coins.
  
  "Wha..." Miss Olga says.
  "I woke up in the middle of the night and saw Patty fumbling around with something there, before slipping back into bed. This morning I guess I got curious and checked since I never saw Patty doing anything like that before since she's usually snoring throughout the night, but when I saw what was behind there, I thought I should tell you."
  
  Miss Olga is still looking and gathering the coins as you speak, she then also sees a few sweet wrappers with the coins.
  
  "I...thought something was amiss. I didn't want to think it, but..." Miss Olga starts to say to herself and then stands back up with a mad expression.
  
  "Where's Patty? Never mind, I know where she probably is." Miss Olga says before storming out the room. She practically pushes Chloe out of the way as she's coming into the room.
  
  "What's going on? Miss Olga looks mad and she's heading away from us this time. Which is weird since it's usually the opposite if she's angry." Chloe says.
  "Let's just say, I don't think Patty's going to be making fun of you anymore." You remark.
  "Oh? Why's that?"
  
  Just as you're about to say something, you both hear loud yelling. This is followed by loud protests of innocence. Chloe looks at you, then looks out the doorway and then runs towards where you're standing.
  
  "Miss Olga's heading this way and she's pulling Patty behind her!"
  
  Soon Miss Olga returns to the room with Patty nearly crying at this point. A bunch of the other children stand in the doorway watching.
  
  "You didn't steal from me huh? Then how do you explain this?! These coins were found here!" Miss Olga points out the small hole in the wall.
  "What? I didn't even know that was there!" Patty exclaims.
  "A likely story, Catalina said she saw you messing around with it in the middle of the night. Said all these coins were behind there! It's about how much I seemed to have lost over the course of a month!"
  "SHE'S A BIG LIAR! I DIDN'T DO NUTHIN!" Patty screams and starts to cry.
  "I also found these sweet wrappers! I suppose that's why not all of my coin is there. Surprised you didn't just steal the sweets too."
  "I DIDN'T STEAL NUTHIN! SHE PUT THOSE THERE!" Patty screams and then tries to rush towards you before Miss Olga pulls her back.
  
  "For the past month I thought I'd just been getting old and forgetful or possibly even careless. I knew I wasn't losing my mind, just my coin apparently. I shouldn't be surprised since I know you've nicked a few things from the pantry at times...but this. This is something entirely more serious."
  
  Miss Olga slaps Patty for swearing.
  
  "Catalina's a lot of things, never known her to seek me out for anything though, let alone be a liar. She even confessed to a plan of trying to sneak a pet here once. In any case it's obvious I've failed in my duties to at least keep you from being a criminal. I can't provide the proper help you need. You'll be moved to another facility, in the mean time, you'll be sleeping where I can keep my eye on you."
  
  Patty at this point is dragged away kicking and screaming, calling you all sorts of names. A few of the children follow Miss Olga to see what will happen next. A few linger in the room, looking at you. One of the girls who tended to hang out with Patty speaks up.
  
  "My bed is right next to Patty's and that fat ass snores all damn night. Everyone knows that. I would have known if she had been waddling around in the middle of the night. I also would have known if she had been stealing from Miss Olga because she tells me everything. She wasn't smart enough to keep something like that a secret for that long." She says accusingly.
  "Hm. She was smart enough to fool Miss Olga. Smart enough to fool you too apparently. Good thing I helped stop her, who knows what someone like that could do if they REALLY put their mind to it." You reply.
  
  Your expression displays a subtle threatening demeanor, which is enough to shut the girl up and cause all of them to back off. They eventually all leave the room, leaving just you and Chloe alone, though even Chloe is looking a bit concerned.
  
  "So I'm thinking about going to the park to practice my magic, did you want to come with me? Maybe I'll try to change the color of some flowers." You say.
  "Um, no. Maybe later."
  
  You nod and begin to walk out the bed area, though as you do you hear Chloe call out:
  
  "Catalina?"
  "Yes?"
  "Thank you."
  
  You nod again and quickly make your way to the park, ignoring the rest of the yelling and screaming that's still going on between Miss Olga and Patty with everyone else listening and watching.
  
  You eventually get to the secluded part of the park that you always go to and focus...
  
  It doesn't even take long, but you change the colors of some yellow flowers to blue. The funny thing is you aren't even surprised by your quick success. It's like you knew somehow that you'd succeed.
  
  You try a couple other things like making a patch of grass grow, making more flowers wilt, but that isn't what you really want to try.
  
  You head back to that group of bushes where you first saw the grave wings. You around near the bottom and sure enough, the corpse of the cat is still there. It's mostly bones now though and even some of those are missing.
  
  You focus on the cat...
  
  And focus...
  
  And focus...
  
  And then you see it. You see it move. Not much, but it moves.
  
  Then it begins to try to stand, a little difficult though given that it's missing a whole leg. It also makes strange hissing sounds, though it shouldn't be able to make any sounds at all given that it doesn't have any of the organs left that would allow such a thing.
  
  The newly resurrected cat then tries to swipe at you. You pull back before it can hit you. You attempt to control it, but you're unable as it continues to half drag itself towards you.
  
  Without thinking, you shoot a bolt of energy from your finger, which at this range causes the skeletal cat to shatter into several pieces. Your hand feels like it's on fire and you even fall backwards from the shock.
  
  You rub your hand with the other hoping the pain will go away, which it eventually does. As you stand up, your whole body feels a bit weak now. You don't know if it's because of all the magic you've been doing or what, but you think that's enough today. You're lucky nobody stumbled onto you while you were doing all this.
  
  Still though, you've learned that you can do more than just wilt flowers. So much more. You don't know what was different exactly today considering you'd been practicing for weeks and nothing happened. All of a sudden today, you performed more magic than you ever had in less than a day.
  
  You don't know if it's because you tapped into something you hadn't before, if you were confident, maybe all that practice actually paid off or maybe it was a combination of all of it.
  
  You do know things are going to be different now.
  
  > Growing
  Always hard to recall exactly all the details of a past life in this existence no matter how long you've been at it.
  
  So far you've lived through what you're sure was your past. You're fairly certain at least. You'll soon know if you're wrong.
  
  Things at the orphanage didn't really change excessively after Patty was transferred. The only thing that changed was that most children were afraid of you even if some of them didn't know why exactly. Nobody knew about your magic powers except Chloe and she never told anyone.
  
  She was certainly grateful for being her friend before which is only because you didn't treat her with any antipathy. Still, she was afraid too.
  
  Miss Olga wasn't though; she still just wanted you to be in a good home. You didn't really care about that though.
  
  If you ever really did.
  
  "Prospective parents are coming in today, everyone be on your best behavior! No fighting, no name calling, no nonsense!" Miss Olga exclaims.
  
  All the children remain silent or say "Yes Miss Olga."
  
  Miss Olga tells everyone to stay within the orphanage walls, and then as everyone is breaking up from the line up, Miss Olga pulls you aside.
  
  "As for you, I want YOU to make an effort today." Miss Olga says.
  "I'm here." You say.
  "Yes, you're here. You didn't sneak away to the park like you typically do, but you've also been here for several of these days and for whatever reason, nobody seems to want to adopt you. It's like you're actively driving them away."
  "I'm not doing anything."
  "Well you're doing something."
  "If you want me out of here so much, why not just give me to the first couple who comes in?"
  "It doesn't work like that and you know it. I can't just give you away like an object. I have to see if the prospective parents want you AND if you want to be with them. Maybe other places don't care, but want to make good matches. You NEED to be more outgoing, not just sitting in a corner being anti-social."
  
  Miss Olga exhales as if she's really trying to make you understand.
  
  "Look, you're a pretty girl who is intelligent enough to be given a better education than this place can provide when I even have the time. You're also still young enough to really enjoy a proper childhood. You can't have that if you're stuck here."
  "What about Chloe?"
  "Huh? What about her?"
  "She tries very hard to get adopted, but nobody picks her. She's nice and smart."
  "Yes, well it is an unfortunate situation for her. Nobody wants half-breed orc children, at least nobody human does and it isn't like I exactly have orc parents coming in here. It's not surprising she was given to me. I imagine she'll be here until she's legally an adult and then who knows? In any case, you need to worry about YOUR future and staying here until you're an adult isn't the best possible one for you. Will you at least try today?"
  
  You don't really reply, causing Miss Olga to just throw up her hands and walk off.
  
  Part of you does wonder why you're not trying to get adopted. You don't exactly like it here. There also have been a few adults that seemed okay. If you'd made the effort, you're pretty sure you would have been adopted by now.
  
  Miss Olga does seem to want the best for you, but she doesn't understand you though. If she did, she'd have you sent away like she did with Patty or worse.
  
  You wonder if maybe part of you is sticking around because of Chloe. You're the only friend she has and even if she is a little afraid of you now, you imagine she'd still miss you if you were gone.
  
  Eventually you stop wondering about such things when you hear people entering the orphanage. You walk to the front room and see quite a few adults walking in. Mostly humans of course.
  
  Once again, you make no effort to be friendly even if you aren't actively hostile. Most of the couples look over at your way, but don't approach. A few of them do approach, but soon walk away when you're giving them one-word answers to questions.
  
  However, one man comes up to you with a smile on his face.
  
  "So, I'm guessing you're not a fan of these things?" the man asks.
  
  You don't answer at all.
  
  "Don't blame you. It's never fun to have to act like a different person. Trust me, I'm a merchant and I have to do it all the time."
  
  You continue to not answer, but the man isn't offended or driven away by your demeanor.
  
  "So, what do you do?"
  "Nothing." You finally answer.
  "I find that hard to believe. Everyone does something. Working, playing, whatever it is, they're doing something for some reason even if they aren't doing it all the time. You don't seem like the rest of your fellows here. They're all eager to leave this place, while you seem to be content where you are, that suggests there must be some reason you're not in a hurry to leave."
  "I like the park."
  "Hm. I imagine that is one of the few green areas in this city. Nature lover perhaps? You ever been outside Nuro's walls? There's a lot more to see. Beautiful things."
  "Where's your wife?"
  "My wife? What makes you think I'm married?"
  "Everyone who adopts is married."
  "Is that a rule?"
  "It is here. Miss Olga doesn't want perverts coming here."
  
  Your accusation causes the man to laugh.
  
  "Trust me girl, there are plenty of couples that have ill intent as well. However, yes I am married, but my wife is currently at home. She's been rather sick lately, but we had this appointment and insisted that I go alone and she trusts my judgment."
  "Well she's going to have to be here, if you actually want to adopt and Miss Olga will know if you just got some whore to pose as your wife."
  "Wow. You really are a suspicious one. Still, being suspicious isn't the worst thing in the world. Keeps one alive and alert I suppose. Can't imagine it's been easy growing up here. I used to live around here."
  "You grew up in an orphanage?"
  "No, I had both my parents, though I might have been better off growing up in one given how they were. I did live a few blocks away though, down at the end of Ragpicker Lane."
  "Miss Olga tells us not to go near that direction."
  "Well she's right. Not an area of the city I'd recommend, glad I made it out. So what about you?"
  "What about me what?"
  "Wouldn't you like to leave here?"
  
  You back away a bit from the man.
  
  "You seem awfully interested in me. There's other kids here." You say.
  "True, but they all seem to be preoccupied with other potential parents. Well except for that one standing against the wall. Poor kid, she can't help she's an orc." The man remarks.
  "She's only half orc."
  "I stand corrected, but that more makes sense. Can't imagine orcs give their unwanted children to orphanages when they could eat them instead."
  "They do?"
  "Well, I suppose I'm just making assumptions. I probably shouldn't. You can miss out on things if you make too many of them. Well I guess I won't bother you any longer. It's been nice speaking with you, you take care of yourself."
  
  The man turns around and heads back towards the crowd of adults and children. You're a little more at ease, though you thought for sure he'd keep talking to you.
  
  You think back again to what Miss Olga said about trying to get adopted and finally leaving this place. There's a part of you that was a little intrigued by what the man had to say, even if you didn't give him much time to say a lot.
  
  A fleeting thought of what it might be like to have a proper family enters your mind, but only for a moment. You leave the orphanage and go to the park. You want to try something.
  
  You go to the usual secluded spot of the park and after looking around, you see a rabbit sitting and eating a few wildflowers.
  
  You close you look around again and then stretch your hand out and focus...
  
  A jolt of energy comes from your finger. You don't fall backwards this time. You've managed to control it better. You feel numbness in your hand, though it's better than the pain you used to feel in it.
  
  You look at the rabbit and see your aim has gotten better as well, since you've fried the furry creature. You don't really like killing animals, but it's the only way to practice.
  
  You focus on the dead rabbit.
  
  And focus...
  
  The dead rabbit starts to stir. It looks around and then at you, making sounds a rabbit wouldn't normally make. Now comes the difficult part.
  
  You immediately attempt to hold the dead rabbit in place through sheer force of will.
  
  It runs toward you...
  
  And then stops.
  
  Then it wanders left and to the right. It looks at you again, growls, leaps at your feet before stopping completely again.
  
  You back away, step to the side and feel very shaky. You lean up against a tree trying to gather your wits. Part of it is nerves, but what you're doing is very exhausting. The concentration, the energy, everything is just very tiring.
  
  Meanwhile the rabbit look at you with dead eyes as if waiting for further commands. You've made some real progress today.
  
  Then you suddenly hear laughter approaching, it's two older teenagers who are walking and kissing each other. They haven't seen you or the zombie rabbit yet, but their presence catches you off guard.
  
  Enough so that you lose concentration and the rabbit ceases to stay put. Its attention is now not on you, it's on the teenagers and it runs towards them.
  
  You can't stop it in time, in fact if you tried, you'd just out yourself and get into major trouble. The only thing you can think of to do is run off before they see you, which they don't because they're too busy screaming about a zombie rabbit viciously attacking them.
  
  With the screams of teenagers behind you, you quickly make your way out of the park before anyone really notices you or city guards come running.
  
  Part of you is genuinely worried now. Will this be traced back to you? You remember Chloe talking about the type of magic you were messing with being against the rules. Maybe they'll just think the rabbit is rabid.
  
  All you want to do is hide and get as far as you can from the park. You don't want to go back to the orphanage since you imagine the adoption day is still going on. Part of you doesn't even want to be in the city right now.
  
  You briefly think about leaving the city, but that's just not possible. You have no idea of anything outside Nuro, let alone where to go or how you'd live. You just pick a direction and start walking without paying much attention.
  
  You start thinking about all this magic you've been practicing and wondering if you should stop. Though, it's not really all the magic, but one specific type of magic you've had a bit of a compulsion ever since...well since you discovered you had the abilities at all.
  
  You can't help it though, there's just this desire within you. You've even been having more dreams lately. Dreams of darkness and death. You'd like to tell someone, but you know you can't.
  
  You can't tell Miss Olga, you can only imagine her reaction and it wouldn't be good. You can't even tell Chloe, at least not everything that's been going on with you. She'd be even more scared of you than she already is. They're arguably the closest things you've ever known to family and you still hold them at a distance.
  
  The thought goes through your head that while leaving the city isn't really an option; maybe at least running away from the orphanage is in order. It's obviously too confining for your personality.
  
  You'd have to figure out where to stay and survive mostly by theft, but you think you could do it.
  
  As the day grows darker while you struggle with your thoughts, you know you need to make a choice about what you're going to do. If you're going to leave or go back.
  
  > head back to the orphanage
  What are you even thinking about? Running away? You don't seriously want to be living on the streets. You're going back.
  
  Your concerns about your magic practices have subsided a bit anyway. As least as far as being in immediate trouble over them. You're certain that nobody at the park noticed you and certainly nobody saw you bring the rabbit back to life.
  
  Though you believe you'll have to give the park a rest for a while, especially since you figure Miss Olga is going to be angry with you with you get back so late. You'll probably be restricted to indoors until you're old enough to leave by law.
  
  As strange as it is, there is a bit of comfort in that idea. Granted you were just thinking about how confining the orphanage can be, but it is home you suppose. You guess maybe that's why you don't really want to leave. It's the only home you've ever known and despite everything, you don't want that to change.
  
  You eventually see the orphanage and prepare yourself for the scolding and potentially worse you're going to get when you enter.
  
  You get a few steps in and you already hear Miss Olga call you from the kitchen. No point in avoiding the inevitable.
  
  You enter the kitchen and see Miss Olga cleaning her pots, plates and other cutlery. She's not even bothering to look at you.
  
  "So, you have a nice time in the park today? You must have, if you're coming in this late." Miss Olga says.
  "Sorry Miss Olga I lost track of time." You say.
  "You can't tell when the sun is setting?"
  
  You don't answer. Miss Olga looks over at you and shakes her head.
  
  "I swear I don't know what to do with you. It's bad enough you left in the middle of adoption day as usual, but now you're just coming and going whenever you feel like it."
  "I'm sorry, I just..."
  "Just what Catalina? Just decide that you're going to do whatever now? Fine. I'm done with trying to guide you."
  
  Your eyes widen and back up when you hear this, thinking you're on a one way trip to where Patty went. Miss Olga once again shakes her and sighs before speaking.
  
  "No, not that. Though I'm surprised you're even worried about it given how little you care about getting adopted and how little you seem to respect me."
  "I...do."
  "Do what?"
  "Respect you."
  "Huh. You have a funny way of showing it then child. In any case, it's obvious I've failed to get through to you. I have several other children I have to worry about and I can't constantly worry about you. So if you want to remain a parentless orphan drifting through and stay here until you have to leave, then fine. But if that's the case, you WILL be pulling your weight more around here starting tomorrow. Go to the park all you want on your free time, but you'll find you will have less of that soon, because you'll be helping me with everything I have to keep up around here."
  
  Well you sort of knew there would be repercussions, so you're not exactly surprised. You're just glad Miss Olga isn't sending you away. As far as having more to do around here, well you were going to give the park a break for a while anyway.
  
  "Yes, Miss Olga." You say.
  "Hm. Now head on up to bed and I'm sure Chloe is going to speak to you about her news as soon as you get there, but keep it brief. You're going to have a lot of work tomorrow and you'll need the rest."
  "News?"
  "Well if you'd been here, you would have found out she got adopted today. In fact she would have probably left today, but I won't just give her away to some man without proof of him having a wife. So he's coming back tomorrow with her and if everything checks out, Chloe will be going to her new home."
  
  You're a bit in shock. Miss Olga sees this immediately.
  
  "Yeah, she got adopted before you. Surprised me too. But then, it's what she always wanted."
  
  Miss Olga returns to her cleaning and you go to the sleeping area. You don't know how to feel right now. There's a part of you that feels hurt.
  
  You know it isn't Chloe's fault, but you just thought she'd always be here with you and now she won't be.
  
  From the description of the man, it sounds like the one you spoke to about his wife being sick. You guess he got over those assumptions he made about orcs.
  
  You crawl into bed and immediately Chloe get out of bed and goes over to you.
  
  "Catalina! Where were you? The park?" Chloe whispers.
  "Where else would I be?" you answer.
  "True. Practicing magic I guess too. Well I wanted to tell you that something impossible happened today! I got adopted!"
  "Yeah, Miss Olga told me. Congratulations. It's what you've always wanted."
  
  Chloe senses you're not exactly in a good mood about this news.
  
  "Are you mad? Please don't be mad! I...I could stay! Or...wait, he could adopt you too! He said you were talking to him earlier!" Chloe says.
  
  You give a brief smile.
  
  "No. This is what's best for you. You always wanted this and it was bound to happen that we were going to part ways eventually."
  "Yeah, but I figured it would be you getting adopted, not me."
  "Life is full of surprises. Look Chloe, it's fine. I'm really happy for you. I mean it. Now I have to get some rest because Miss Olga is going to start putting me to hard work for all my park trips."
  "Okay. Well I suppose it's not final yet. Maybe he'll change his mind or something and I'll get to stay."
  
  Chloe's words are followed by a pat on your shoulder before she returns to her own bed. You are left with your thoughts of the future, then sleep, then dreams of darkness...
  
  The next day, you're awakened from your sleep earlier and put to work by Miss Olga. She has you helping preparing breakfast for everyone. Since you're not exactly knowledgeable on cooking, she still takes care of most of it, while you're mostly doing preparation of the table and such.
  
  Most of the day passes with you doing a lot of cleaning. While Miss Olga has children pitching in to do chores, you've never had to do them like this. In fact, you realize all the times you snuck away to the park probably resulted in you doing less chores than the other children.
  
  No sneaking off to the park today though.
  
  Later on, you see the man who spoke to you yesterday come in with a woman. You're guessing this is his wife. She's pale looking and walking slowly, you're guessing he wasn't joking about her being sick.
  
  He sees you and smiles as you sweep the floor. You see Miss Olga greet him and his wife and they disappear into another room where she can presumably make the final judgment.
  
  "This is it." You hear Chloe say, causing you to turn around. She looks very nervous.
  "I'm sure everything will go fine." You reply.
  
  While Chloe offered to stay at the orphanage with you last night, now its very apparent what her desires really are. Even in all the mischief she's been involved in with you, this is the most nervous you've ever seen her. You stop working for a moment to try to keep her from completely freaking out.
  
  You start talking about all the new stuff she'll soon be able to see and do. She says how much she'll miss stuff here, which then leads to a series of "Remember when..." discussions, which takes her mind of things.
  
  Time passes and before you both know it, Miss Olga and Chloe's perspective parents exit the room they were talking in.
  
  "Chloe, there you are. Good. Go gather whatever clothes and such you want to take with you, because today you're going home with your new parents, Mr. and Mrs. Moznik or in your case Mom and Dad."
  
  Chloe upon hearing the news nearly collapses into tears of joy. You help her back up and her new parents come over to assist. You step aside and they both hug her and tell her to hurry up so they can show her her new room.
  
  Chloe quickly nods and runs to get her stuff, which honestly isn't a lot. Just a small bag of clothes.
  
  Chloe says goodbye to Miss Olga who smiles and wishes her well. Chloe then goes to you.
  
  "I'm going to miss you so much." Chloe says and hugs you tightly.
  "I'll miss you too...okay that's too tight." You say.
  "Oh sorry. Hey I won't forget about you! I mean I could still write to you or maybe even visit!"
  "Sure."
  
  Chloe turns to her new parents who take her hand and walk out with her. You stand at the entranceway with the broom still in hand watching her leave and get farther away until she's out of sight.
  
  "That could have been you, you know." Miss Olga says, walking to doorway to stand near you.
  "I know." You reply.
  "You really don't care do you?"
  "No, I guess not. Chloe needed it more than me anyway."
  "Well I suppose she did at that."
  "I hope it works out for her."
  "I was a little concerned with Mrs. Moznik's health, but they seem to be good people. I'm sure they'll be fine."
  
  You look down and nod.
  
  "Catalina, I think you've done enough work for awhile, why don't you go to the park for awhile. You can come back to help set up for dinner." Miss Olga says.
  "No, I think I'll stay here." You answer
  "Very well then. You know what time dinner is."
  
  You nod and go back to your sweeping.
  
  > Changing
  Things went on like that for a while. You can't remember all the details of course, but you remember how you became very helpful to Miss Olga.
  
  While you still practiced your magic, you weren't running off to the park to do so as much anymore. You mostly practiced in quiet to a limited degree in your own room which you got when you got older.
  
  By that time you were a teen and all of the children you originally grew up with had been adopted. New and younger children found themselves at the orphanage and you were playing a similar role as Miss Olga most of the time.
  
  You performed your new tasks at the orphanage without much complaint. It wasn't really that bad, the children feared you. You never actually did anything to them of course, but there was something about you that was scary to them.