A Blessing and A Curse (A Bane/Talia/OC Fic)

3. The Lion's Den

Sienna

It was now lunchtime. After training with Talia, she allowed me to eat breakfast with her out in the courtyard. Nothing special. Oatmeal. Dried Fruit. Water. I had showered and was now standing in the large dining hall with my lunch tray in my hand. I looked at all the crowds of men in front of me. They were rowdy and loud. They were also all without their samurai gear and were in shirts and sweatpants. I could see all their faces clearly now. I did get a few fingers pointed at me, and some chuckles from a few people. Not too many. Some were eating, laughing, yelling. Some even spoke in a foreign language. Being here made me anxious. How could anyone stand to be in a room with so many people. You could barely hear yourself think. Plus, I had no idea where to sit. This wasn't like school where I could find an empty seat and hope someone would join me, or could hope someone would notice me and ask me to sit with them. These were all grown men and a handful of women, so I doubt they wanted me near them - and If I did find an empty table, it would probably just attract more attention towards myself.

I scanned the room. Where was Talia? Maybe if she was here, I could eat with her. All I had to do was get my food. I had gone through this too many times since I was little. Being biracial in a dominantly white country, I was always being left out. Behind me, a group of men entered the hall. I followed behind them as they went into a line that was serving food. My plate was filled grilled chicken, rice and vegetables. I took a water bottle from the counter. That's when I spotted Talia sitting alone in a table in the back beside a window. I sighed and felt relieved.

I watched Talia take a sip of water. She spotted me as well. She looked at me, then averted her eyes towards her plate of food. She began eating as if she had no care in the world. A man walked past her. As he did, he must have said something that made her laugh. He walked off and then she continued on with her meal. A woman who was sitting beside Talia, a slightly older Japanese woman who looked about 30, got up and they kissed on the cheek. The woman placed her hand on Talia's shoulder, then the woman pointed at me, smiling. Talia nodded and laughed, but didn't look at me. She looked like she was telling the woman to hush.

I imagined the conversation went like this: Is that the girl? She's cute. (bitchy laughter, some shhhhs) I'm going to go say hi. (more bitchy laughter from the woman, then Talia gave me her "dead eyes" stare) I didn't think she was at all shocked or embarrassed by what her friend was about to do. She seemed content. Talia watched as her friend made her way over to me. She was wearing cargoes and a black cami and her hips swayed as she slowly approached me. Her eyes were set to kill.

Talia watched her friend walk most of the way, then went back to her meal. She was not smiling anymore.

The woman then stopped beside me, rather than in front of me. "The League isn't a place for little girls," she whispered into my ear, as she walked past.

I stood there at the front of the line. Frozen. It was clear she didn't want me to join her. It was also clear that they were both in agreement on what the woman whispered to me. I slowly stepped out of the way, unsure of where to go next. I took a couple more steps before a man from behind me who was in a rush, ran bumping my shoulder. It jolted me and almost knocked me and my tray to the ground - but I felt a strong hand grip my elbow and pull me up.

Loud, throaty breathing filled my ears before I even had the chance to turn around - though I had a clear idea of who it was. I turned around to see that it was none other than the masked man.

I was apprehensive about looking him in the eye, but did so anyway. If he helped me, he couldn't be that bad of a guy.

"I - I'm sorry." I said, softly. It was all I could say. Sorry he had to go out of his way to help someone as pathetic as me. I could probably now add him to the list of people wondering what I was doing here. I didn't want him to feel that he had to watch out for me because of my age.