Ninth in a series of character-building vignettes following a bunch of characters through their time at Addergoole & beyond. One more (maybe) and I move on to Year Two for them all

This is Nyyrikki’s first time in print; Ayuda is the daughter of canon-Original-Series character Joff and background character Liza. Pandora is Liza’s daughter with canon-Original-Series character Rafe.

Nyyrikki, Her First Year
Addergoole Year 21: September of 2015

She could tell her other classmates were primarily from wastelands. Things that were basic to her were startling to them – power, running water, fresh food.

She’d known people were still alive out there. A few people here and there, she’d been told. She’d seen the traders, talking about a couple other enclaves.

She’d really thought that’s where the rest of humanity – the parts that survived the fae wars – lived. In enclaves like hers, places where there was still a vestige of the modern world.

She’d been eleven years old when the gods came back; it stood to reason that her classmates had been about the same age. And they were looking around as if 2011 was the last time they’d seen an electric light.

After three days of trying to figure it out, Nyyrikki asked Ayuda. The slender blonde girl was in a lot of ‘Rikki’s classes, although she was clearly struggling with the material.

“What was it like, where you were?”

“After the Fae War, you mean?” Ayuda rubbed her arms. “We were living in Philly, Mom and I and my sister, and Mom’s… boyfriend. And the roof fell in. Pandora and I got out, and Mom… mom did, sort of?” Her voice raised up in a squeak. “After that, we were on the run for a few months. Then Pan and I woke up one day and Mom was gone.” Her shoulders twitched in something that was probably meant to be a shrug; it looked like a spasm. “That was pretty much what it was like.”

“Oh, oh…” There weren’t words.

“What about where you were?”

“Oh, it was a place.” She didn’t ask about people’s lives, after that, and she never talked about home. It just seemed disrespectful.

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