When they got outside, they were in for a shocker. Curled up and peacefully sleeping in the middle of the cubs was a teenage girl, about sixteen years old. She woke up at their arrival, and looked sleepily around.
Hmmm, where am I ? oh yea. In this nice place with these nice kitties. *yawn* lets play!
Trowa stared in shock as the young woman blatantly stretched like a cat, as if unaware that she was so scantily clad and in such an odd place. "Who ARE you?" The girl, because yes, she was but a girl it seemed, looked up at him with complete trust in her eyes, something only seen in children's eyes. "I don't know" was her answer. "Will you play with me?" as Catherine scurried to get a shirt for the girl to wear, the ringmaster bent down and asked, "how old are you, little lady?"
"Ummm, I'm 10, I think. Does that matter? You'll still play with me, wont you?" The girl was terribly frightened. Aren't people supposed to be nicer?
"What's your name?" Trowa asked, thinking how could a girl with such a mature body be a mere child? She answered, "I think its Sallah. I don't really remember, like there’s something in my past missing. Sallah, yeah, that's it. It's nice to meet you, sir. Will YOU play with me?"
Trowa turned to Catherine as she dressed little Sallah, pleading to not have to play with the child. He wanted to call Quatre and talk. "Why don't you take her around to all the animals" she told the stricken Trowa, and to Sallah, "Why were you in with the lions?"
"Because their nice. They let me play with them and brush their fur. Wanna help? I need a toothbrush to finish mister stinky breath." she said, turning to the largest male, the one with the largest teeth. "He's such a sweetie, but… I don't think he understands the importance of good oral hygiene. Do ya, mister big kitty?" The lion answered her with a yawn and a shake of his head. one of the female tigers went up to Sallah, rubbing against her. "But you do, dontcha, little lady ^_^ Well, lets go play!" the female lion led her to her cubs and nudged Sallah towards them "Yeah, I guess they need more tiring out than you do I bet! Lets play!" and the teen girl started playing with the cubs, rolling around but reprimanding them when they got to rough. One of the cubs bit her, and she didn't even bat and eye...
"Oh, come here Sallah, lets bandage that up" and Catherine pulled the struggling girl out of the cage and sat her down right next to it.
"Oh, but the little kitty didn't mean to, did you?" and the cub shook its head in response.
"See, he was just playin."
"How sweet, he almost seemed to understand you! Yes, you belong in the circus.. You have an adventurous soul ^_^"
Trowa looked at Catherine, pleading with his eyes in his own quiet way, while Sallah danced around him, bouncing around, "Please will you take me to see the new movie? please??"
Catherine- "Trowa, come on, take her"
"But do I have to?"
"Please?? I finished all my chores! I fed the horsies, washed the elephants, finished the dished, brushed the lions, oh, but I didn't finish brushing their teeth, and you didn’t let me finish the first time I was going to either, is that ok?"
"What?!! You brushed their teeth?!"
"Ya, it was easy, come see....."
Sallah, while sitting in cage with head in lion's mouth, "See? Now what was it I wanted to do? Oh yeah, the movie!"
"I think the movie is the least of our worries! Ringmaster, come over here!"
"What?! You mean she can talk to animals?"
"Yes, she just thinks/talks to them, and they respond"
"Can you talk to those animals?!?!"
Sallah, oblivious to all the ruckus she caused, "A course! I remember getting really bored... wherever I was... and so I learned to talk to the animals to pass the time. See, sometimes I remember little things. I can talk to birds best, and I used to talk to the pigeons outside my window. I've always been able to hear animals"
"Wow! That’s amazing! I wonder if we could use that in the show?...."
"Before I put her in my circus, I want proof."
"You don't believe me? Well, h, I know!!" Sallah whistled, and suddenly a large golden eagle landed right next to her. "This is Ramoth, I made friends with her this week. Ramoth, why don't you go do some of those flips and things, then land on the Ringmaster’s shoulder? Make sure you land on those big shoulder pads. Mhmm...... yeah!" after being transfixed in conversation with her bird, and after Ramoth performed the required tasks, the ringmaster just shook his head in amazement....
"So I can be in the show?!?! Yeay!!! Yippe! You see, I've had this idea, but I can’t use Ramoth! She can’t fly well in the tent, there's no thermals, and its too small. Bbut I have an idea......." ^_^ !
2 WEEKS LATER:
Sallah stuck her head out her trailer as Trowa walked by, the day of her first performance. "Umm, Trowa, could you help me with my costume? Please?"
Trowa nodded and walked in her room, to see Sallah standing in front of him with her costume 1/2 on and the top precariously placed. "I just need you to zip it up" Sallah turned around, and Trowa gingerly zipped up the tight leather jumpsuit. Sallah turned around, tugging the hole in the front of the outfit into place, and tugging down on the impossibly short skirt. "How do I look?"
".............."
"Come on, Trowa! And be honest.."
"It looks fine."
Downcast, Sallah finished positioning the jumpsuit and started to tug on the leather knee boots. Finished with that, she looked in the mirror and tucked a few loose strands of hair back in place, and upon seeing Trowa still standing there, she turned around with a hurt expression on her face. "What are you still doing here?"
I’m goin’ to have to try to remember better that she is just a innocent little girl, not the scandalous vixen she appears to be in that outfit.... "Sorry, I didn't mean to insult you. Your outfit looks great."
"Well, since your still here, would you help me buckle this on?" she asked, holding out a small, odd contraption that was hooked to a belt.
"What the...what’s that?"
"It’s a little jet propulsion gadget, for my act. It hooks on like this.." and she and Trowa strapped the thing on. "Now to add the finishing touch, my wings, and ready!!"
Sallah attached her little black wings to her outfit, and the Shadow Lady image was complete.
"Where did you buy this?" Trowa asked incredulously, still referring to the gadget.
"I didn't, I made it"
"Thats impossible! Only a person like the Doctors could have made something like this! And they've gone through extensive mech. schooling! I thought you said you quit school at about 9?!"
"I did, silly, that’s how I know how to make this" ^_^; duh!
"but..."
"I told you, I finished school when I was 9....."
"you mean you graduated?!"
"yeah, and I went to about the same training as they did, they were friends of my, umm, somebody, daddy I guess, and taught me everything. I’m a little genius ^_^"
"Well then, we'd better get you to the big top. You nervous?....." This one’s gonna be full of lots more surprises...
The spot lights of the circus focused on a blank spot in the center of the tent as the ringmaster called out, "And now, for our newest act, Shadow Lady."
The crowd watched in awe as a teenage girl casually flipped down from the top of the tent, floating, as if she were a feather, down to stand lightly on the floor, all the while having birds flitting around above her; birds of every shape, size, and beauty. She bowed, and with a whistle, the scantily dressed performer jumped up, the birds forming a lateral spiral around her. At midair, Shadow Lady performed a spectacular gymnastic act, flipping and twirling as if blown by the wind. The birds flipped and spun around her, obviously commanded by various whistles and calls. She stopped, and with a whistle the birds all dove down, hovering all at about 12 feet above the floor. Shadow Lady made a great show of walking in midair, roughly 30 feet above the birds, then suddenly jumped up, flipped, and dove strait down in a beautiful swan dive towards the birds. As she broke the surfaces of this "pool" of birds, they flitted up in a colorful and beautiful spray. Shadow Lady came up from her dive and zipped across the audience, swift as a swallow, with such birds trailing behind her, mere inches from the peoples heads. As she neared the top of the big top, she called the birds to her, and as she threw up her arms they formed great wings around her, as this angle-like creature floated in air. The audience cheered, and she folded her "wings" and took a playful bow. Then throwing her arms up her "wings" expanded again, there for a few seconds of magnificent beauty before she curled up in a ball with a great cry, and the birds exploded from her, quickly disappearing out of the tent and into the night. The audience sat transfixed, watching the little ball of a teen, curled up some 40 feet from the ground. Suddenly, she plummeted towards the ground, and just before impact, uncurled and stood with her arms up, like a magical gymnast. The audience stood and cheered as the little Shadow Lady took her final bow and strode out of the tent.
Later that night as the people were leaving the circus to go back to their lives working on the Mars project, there were many whispers about the two young ladies of the circus, the knife thrower and the Shadow Lady. And they heard great applause from the circus performers as they congratulated their newest member.
Sallah woke with a start, laying drenched in her sweat and tangled in her sheets. She started whimpering, although she couldn't remember the dream that had set her to such a fright. These dreams were becoming more and more frequent, and more violent. She knew what would happen next, an endless and restless night with no sleep. Terrified more than before, she decided to seek some company. Sallah crept down the hall and stood outside Trowa's door. I know he won’t mind if I come in, he's always nice to me. She softly opened the door and tiptoed in as the light form the hall swept across his face. He sat up, looking groggily around.
"Sallah, what are you doing in here? Go back to your room and go to sleep."
"I had a bad dream. Can I come in and sleep in your room tonight?"
Trowa looked at this strange girl, standing nervously by his bed. She obviously had had some horrifying dream, and he knew what that was like. *sigh* "All right, you can sleep in here, but just for tonight." He felt as if he were talking to a puppy as he held open the covers on his bed and she climbed in. This is definitely strange, a little girl who wasn't one was seeking refuge from her past, much like I often do, huddled up next to me......
Sallah curled up gratefully next to Trowa, laying her head against his bare chest as she slowly drifted off to sleep, listening to his heartbeat, as some sort of primitive lullaby. Trowa woke up, remembering finally why Sallah was sleeping in his arms. He nudged her awake, startled by the choking sob that came from her throat as she awakened. She clung to him, sobbing, drenching his front with tears, as he looked at her with bewilderment.
"Trowa, I remember, _everything_." *sob*
"...........!"
>^.^<
