A long forgotten keep, fallen into disrepair. This is the first building that our refugees stumble upon on their search for a new home.

Sileas stumled along, bringing up the rear of the ragtag group of fellow survivors. Until a few days ago, she called them family. But her connection had been severed the moment the invaders had slaughtered her family. Her parents, grandparents, sisters and betrothed, all gone. If she had not been out to the market, she too would have been lying in the remains of her home. Truthfully she wished she were instead of being all alone again. It cut like a knife, being alone again.

She ground her teeth together. Love, family, it all made a person vulnerable. Never again. No one would find a place in her heart, she would no longer accept the warmth of friends and family. She heard a cry from up ahead and glanced in that direction. Towering in front of them was the remains of a keep, apparently long forgotten and left to crumble. At least they would be sheltered and warm for the night. To her right she spotted a cave. The perfect place to call her own.

Sileas's gaze darted back and forth to make certain no one was paying attention to her (and why would they? Once again she was an outsider, one with no place). Satisfied that all attention was on the keep, she stole away from the group, making no sound as she disappeared through the trees, heading toward the cave.

Yehudit, clutching a walking stick, kept stealing glances back at her cousin Sileas. When Yehudit noticed that Sileas was gone she broke away from the group- they were so interested in the keep they did not notice her departure either. Yehudit could guess that Sileas was trying to be alone so Yehudit tried to follow her quietly. But her gimp foot slowed her up and Yehdit was falling behind fast.

"Sileas! Wait for me!" Yehudit cried, stumbling through the trees.

Sileas barely managed to not sigh with frustration. She didn't stop walking. "Go back to your family, Yehudit," she said, picking up speed. She began gathering brush to use to hide the entrance to her cave. Her home. The only thing that would be hers now. When she was to the bend of the path to the cave, she used a branch filled with leaves to hide her tracks,  dragging it behind her. Once at the cave, she artfully placed the brush before disappearing inside. Briefly she hoped there was no bear or any other critter in residence but in all honesty,  she didn't care.

Yehudit lost track of Sileas, and lost her trail. But Yehudit stubbornly refused to give up. She limped around the area, calling Sileas and sounding increasingly upset. Her ankle was starting to hurt from so much walking and she leaned on her walking stick.
"C'mon Sileas!" Yehudit called pleadingly, unknowingly only yards from the cave entrance.

Sileas covered her ears with both hands. She was not going to be a burden on any of them. She was nothing to any of them, she doubted she ever had been. Sileas was pretty certain they had all pretended to care about her simply because her parents had adopted her. The thought of her parents was like a knife to her heart, her stomach clenching at the sight of her sweet innocent little sisters,  lifeless in the rubble. Sileas shook her head. It hurt too much to care about anyone. It was better this way. "LEAVE! CATCH UP WITH YOUR FAMILY!" she cried out, the sound echoing off of the cave walls. That was good, it would be impossible for Yehudit to discover the source of the sound.

Or would be, if not for the fact that all the echoed sounds were coming from behind a bunch of branches over a cave mouth. Yehudit ignored what Sileas told her and listened to her voice. She staggered into the cave and fell to the cave floor.

Sileas managed to restrain a curse or further speech. Instead, she wrapped herself tighter in her dark cloak and disappeared on of the pathways, deeper into the cave. She didn't care if she got lost in the depths of the cave.

"Sileas- c'mon Sileas, my ankle is killing me." Yehudit's eyes were tearing. She usually did not let on when her ankle hurt, especially not to Sileas. But she had been walking so much lately it was becoming unbearable. Yehudit could not walk back to the others if she wanted to. Yehudit scooted into a sitting position and leaned against the cave wall. She began working on taking off her shoe.

This time Sileas did let out a sigh. She trudged back through the cave toward the entrance. "I will help you catch up with your family and then we part ways," she said simply. Sileas shook her head. "You should have considered your ankle before you came after me."

"I wanted to be with you." Yehudit pulled off her shoe. Her ankle was swollen. Difyr was so low on supplies Yehudit did not think her ankle was worth being treated. She shook her head. "I'm staying with you."

In reply to GM Killer (msg # 1):

Liadan looked at the keep, it looked better than some places she had to live in, and was barely good enough for her family.

Then Liadan realized someone was missing, Yehudit. Liadan squeezed Aron's arm. "Aron- Yehudit- where is Yehudit?" Liadan wildly turned her head to look around again. "Sileas is missing too... Oh Aron, where is Yehudit?" There was a frantic edge to Liadan's voice.

"You can't stay with me. Caves can be damp, that's not good for your ankle. You deserve better and your family will want you with them," Sileas pointed out. "I'll be fine on my own. I did all right as a child and I'm an adult now."