The Zodiacs

14. Asarte of Virgo

Sneaking out of the open cave, Asarte found herself wandering through the packed village as the sun began to set on another day away from her older sisters. She looked around through the long brown hair that fell over her face in a way that didn't call additional attention. Sneaking out without letting Akil know was one thing, but the amount of trouble she would be if she got caught would outweigh her initial worry even more than anybody could imagine.

"Figs! Would you like some figs?" A persistent lady suddenly stepped in Asarte's way with the determined question, making the young girl stumble back in surprise. She'd never had much contact with people in this way, so the abrupt volume of her voice caused her to flinch.

Quickly moving back in surprise, Asarte's back made solid contact with another body. Two hands flew up to either side of her waist, steadying both of them before they fell back into the pottery cart behind her. "N-no, thank you," she whispered to the lady, falling further beneath her thick hair to hide herself from the lady's view.

"Relax a bit, Fifi," a masculine voice came from behind her. Asarte froze --she'd never been this close to a man. "You're scaring the poor girl," he chuckled. His voice wasn't as deep as Akil, Odion, and the rest of the older men from her group. He must have been younger than all of them... but Asarte liked the light undertone of his voice.

Pulling herself away from him, lowering her head to apologize nervously. So much for not attracting attention. "I'm sorry," she whispered, wrapping her arms around her body to tug the loose brown cardigan her sisters had given her tighter with building anxiety.

She only had to glance once at the boy above her to be stricken with even more panic. He smiled kindly at her with straight, perfect teeth and a slightly crooked smile. The tan complexion of his skin reflected the orange lights that hung from every cart around them, complimenting the thick brown hair standing an inch off of his head. Her gaze froze on the sharply-pointed eyebrows and crinkled green eyes smiling down at her.

"I'm Zane," his smile grew when their eyes met as he reached out to shake her hand, intrigued by the stranger he'd never seen in the streets of his village before.

But Asarte panicked when his open hand brushed the front of her arm, unsure how exactly to act around the opposite gender. Her oldest sister had gotten married to a man as well, but he'd taken the girl and disappeared to some other country. It's been seven years since she last saw the girl who raised her for the first ten years of her life.

Pulling herself away as more anxiety began to build in her mind and chest, the girl quickly spun around and raced down the crowded street to get away from the boy. His expression dropped in surprised confusion, watching the strange girl race away.

Ducking between two distantly placed carts, Asarte hid herself against the wall of a dark alley, peeking around the corner to make sure the boy didn't follow her. In the distance, he blankly looked around for her before pressing his lips together at the misfortune of having scared her away and continuing on his way.

She sighed, resting her back against the wall as her legs continued to shake. Asarte slowly allowed herself to drop to the ground, spreading her legs out in front of her to fan herself of the increasing temperature. It was just like the other day when Aharon had spiked the temperature around them to burn Odion... but Aharon's fire powers weren't here.

It was just her unresolved anxiety that made it so difficult to relax after having such a close call. Maybe coming here on her own wasn't as good of an idea as she'd thought, especially not with the identifying birthmark slightly visible at the collar of her purple shirt.

Going back would be the best decision now, even if Akil and the others caught her. But she'd have to find another route to prevent any more run-ins with the same boy. What was his name? ...Zane.