Danni paused, face sliding from a smile to one of complete surprise. "But," he stammered, forest green eyes shining, "you're imaginary!" He jumped forward, his body not contained within the normal space of a human being, arms flying, feet tripping over the deck in a rush. He ended up bent over her at an almost 90 degree angle, sandy hair falling over the sides of his face, undeterred by the bandana. He narrowed his eyes in inspection before sitting on his haunches, grabbing one of her hands in a sort of curious, familial way. Danni had few conceptions on the idea of personal space, and felt it necessary at this moment to be as close to her as possible. He hadn't thought about this girl in years. She looked different, but that would naturally be true, as this was in fact the real person, not Danni's idea of her. Memories flooded back, right from the start.<br/><span style="font-style: italic">"Momma, the other kids won't play with me," A young Danni, likely around the age of eight, was huffing to his mother, hands balled into fists of annoyance. They stood some ways away from an encampment, clothed in brown sacks that matched the lifeless ground. It was easy to see there was no escape from such a place, with dull gray mountains on all sides, reaching to the heavens itself. Clanging of chains and shouts could be heard in the distance, from variosu dark holes dug out from the mountains' roots. <br/>A woman with wavy brown hair looked down at the boy, a small smile on her face. If he had been even a bit older, he might have noticed the sadness hidden in her deep eyes, or the weak bend in her body. But for now he was just a child. "They're busy, honey, they can't play," she said patiently, tucking a loose lock of hair behind her ear. The other hand was occupied by a pickaxe, which she clung to as if it was her life, yellowed, broken nails digging into the wooden handle.<br/>"I don't think they like me," he complained, hanging his hand and kicking at the dirt with a shoeless foot. "They're all older, and say I'm annoying." The boy had held a pickaxe, but it was discarded, by his feet. The mother frowned at this observation, but did not mention it. If he could escape the burden just for a little while, it was enough.<br/>"Oh honey," his mother tutted, bending down, "that's not true! Fossil certainly didn't think you were annoying, and she's quite a bit older than you." She liked to play this game, giving the boy the barest scratching of a new piece of information, dangling it over him like a prize. If he did well, he would learn. With what barest scrapings of time she could, she taught him to read and write, and do basic arithmetic. It was one of his favourite pass-time to count each stroke he made with his pickaxe, the sound of which brought the mother to tears.<br/>"Fossil?" Danni wrinkled his nose, "that's not a pretty name." Not that many around the mines had pretty names, he mused, there were few nymphs and only they seemed to have the nice ones. Was it a choice of the other races to pick lame things like 'Ed', or 'Fossil'?<br/>"Dan-i!" his mother emphasized his name like that whenever he had done something wrong or impolite. Danni didn't like it, wincing and looking stubbornly down at the ground, as if he had been hit. A curiously obedient child.<br/>"Sorry..." Danni didn't want the interesting mystery of Fossil to disappear, so he remained silent now.<br/>His mother understood this, giving a knowing smile and starting up again.<br/>"Fossil," she began, "was a little girl that we knew when you were just a baby. She loved playing with you." <br/>Danni crossed his arms. "But she isn't here now," he complained, "did she not like us?"<br/>"No," his mother countered, slowly lowering herself into a cross-legged position. Danni rushed forward and crawled into her arms, hugging her around the middle tightly, "she just isn't here right now..."<br/>"She should be here, with me, and we can play games every break time," Danni waved his arms after the utterance of his lofty ideas, as if the sky would take them and make them come true.<br/>"No," his mother said quietly, "she wouldn't want to be here..."<br/>Danni didn't hear his mother's last statement, and instead crawled off her lap to inspect a feeble, dusty ladybug lying in the dirt. Fossil could be here, he figured, if he just used his imagination.<br/>"Hey!" A harsh shout come from some ways off, followed by the crack of a whip, "get your lazy asses out of the dirt and get back to work!"<br/>"Danni, stay close to me," his mother said quickly, in a nervous, frightened manner. She reached out to grab his hand as the noise of the whip grew louder. </span><br/>The memory faded, leaving Danni with many questions. "You knew my mother?" He asked breathlessly, taking a step back, likely pleasing Fossil, as he was no longer in her personal space, "what was she like? What did she do? How did she get in the mines? She said she'd tell me everything when 'I was old enough', but now..." He looked down at the wooden floorboards of the boat, one hand raising to pull out the bandana in his hair. It was the only thing left of her, a little symbol of the now-gone Rose. She had told him once that if the right person saw it, they would understand. Danni disliked cryptic messages, and had discarded the useless information in the fit of anger that had occurred after a year's freedom from the mines. He waved it like a matador, holding on to one end like a life line. He never wanted to lose this precious piece of cloth.<br/>"Do you recognize it?" He asked. The other people on the boat had disappeared: only him and Fossil remained in his mind, the complete focus he presented to their conversation somewhat disconcerting.