(http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y66/pinkqueen90/fantasy_girls_317.jpg)<br/><br/>Valla let the bundle of sticks she carried in her arms drop to the ground, joining the slowly growing pile of fire wood. She stood for a moment, staring at the wood.<br/><br/>Some days were better than other days. This wasn't a good day.<br/><br/><em>I hate that wood. I hate this island.</em><br/><br/>A little more than a year ago she had discovered in herself a talent that raised her above her village brethren, a special gift that would take her places she had only dreamed of before. A bleak future as a farmer's daughter who would become a farmer's wife disappeared in a magical puff of smoke, replaced by a bright future as a source of power and wonderment; an apprentice to a real wizard, living in the big city, rubbing elbows with the rich and powerful.<br/><em><br/>I hate that storm, and the ship.</em><br/><br/>The dress she wore was soiled and torn, not suitable attire for labor. Aside from a few odds and ends, it was all she had managed to salvage. She shifted her gaze from the wood to the meager encampment. There was clothing to mend, food to gather, shelter to raise, animals to hunt, meals to prepare, wounds to tend.<br/><br/>In short, she was back to being a farmer again. Forever.<br/><br/>The gods were cruel to dangle such an unlikely future in front of her, only to snatch it away once she reached out for it with a grateful hand.<br/><br/>Valla turned her head and saw Tommy standing near the fire. She hated him too at the moment, maybe more than anything, because he knew what she had almost become. Maybe, though, she just hated him because he seemed so at ease with all of this.<br/><br/>Clenching her fists, she walked over to him.<br/><br/>"Tommy," she said, perhaps more sternly than she meant. She realized she didn't know what she meant to say to him, what really could she yell at him for? Then she blurted something out that surprised even her. "We should build a raft. Just, lash some wood together and set out to sea. I can't stand it here! I'd rather die out there in the ocean!"