![Image](https://i.imgur.com/x6EsVx1.jpg)
Dinner would be soon, they might notice if he was absent but then again, they might not. Sometimes, he wandered into the kitchens and got food from the servants, ate his meals there with his apparent inferiors. It was sad really, a child taking scraps from his family’s table like an osta but it couldn’t be helped. He was less than an osta, the family pet doing far better than he did. The Lost Boy.
He’d squirrelled himself away in his little nook in the library, hidden away in a niche with a blue phosphor lamp, some books and paper. He’d gotten bored flicking through his books, doodling despondently instead. The osta had found itself in the space with him, curled up under the phosphor lamp and so he had taken to drawing it. He was just trying to get the shape on paper, creating something that looked somewhat like the creature. In truth, the drawings were childish, practically caricatures of the real creature. He wasn’t really trying to capture it properly, he not a real artist or a dedicated one but it was just idle fancy, something to do while he sulked. He was used to being left alone while he had his sulks, the dark and miserable moods far more frequent these days so he didn’t expect anyone to appear, especially not someone looking for him.
”Fionn? Fionn? Are you in here?” the girlish voice called, trilling, bright. Happy. She was looking for him and she sounded happy.
”Go away, Niamh!” he screamed back, curling in on himself more, pouting as he went back to his scribbling. That’s what it was now, heavy marks scratched into the page in a haphazard fashion.
He heard the quick steps, his sister following the direction of his voice. The freckles face popped around the corner, red plait swinging down over her shoulder. ”Hi! All right?” she questioned brightly, her smile faltering a little as she spotted his expression. ”Oh... what’s up with you?”
”I told you to go away. Don’t they teach you how to listen at school?” he retorted petulantly. She ignored his request, squeezing herself into the little nook across from him, picking up the rusty-orange osta to deposit it in her lap.
”Here, leave him! He was asleep! What did you go upsetting him for?” Fionn questioned, smacking down pencil and paper. Her hazel eyes widened, the girl gazing at him as if she’d never seen her brother before.
”Uh, 'cos I missed him? At least he’s happy to see me and he’s not cross like you!” she threw back a little sullenly, his ill mood seeming to rub off on her. She pulled her legs up, tucking them in a way that prevented a view up her skirt and pulled the osta up against her chest, rubbing her chin on the top of its head.
”You were weird with me during Summer Break but you’re weirder now. What’s wrong with you? Don’t you like me anymore? Is it because I’m at Brunnhold? You can be tested next year you know, it’s not that long,” Niamh assured him, a sweet but self-conscious smile on her face revealing that she’d lost one of her canines. The rest of her teeth looked straighter these days, more even. Adult. When had that happened? It wasn’t just the teeth though, it was her face too, something different about it. Less childish.
Fionn frowned. How long had she looked like this? When was the last time he’d really looked at his sister? Having her leave and go away where he couldn’t see her everyday had brought the changes into stark relief.
”It’s not you but- Haven’t you seen? You were back for Summer Break and you didn’t see it then! Didn’t see me then!”
”Of course I saw you. I saw you during all of Roalis. I was home, Fionn,” she remarked uncertainly, eyeing him quizzically. The osta squirmed about in her arms, making itself comfortable and drawing a giggle from her. It began to play with the end of her plait. It was cute to watch, the feline nibbling on the girl’s hair, her sunny giggles coaxing a smile from her brother.
He liked Niamh, he’d missed her and it wasn’t simply because it had been better before she’d left. She had a way of brightening things up and she actually seemed willing to talk to him, even now. Oísin would talk to him but he was beginning to resent the boy, hate him a little for having what he couldn’t ever seem to get - his parent’s love.
Mum wouldn’t look at him anymore. Sometimes he caught her glancing his way, quick, furtive, guilty. They were emotions on her face that he couldn’t understand though, a wealth of adult misery that he couldn’t yet grasp. Father... Father had never looked at him right. There was always something odd about Father, that funny feeling he got in his stomach when those eyes fell on him, always wanting to shrink away. He wasn’t a coward but it was so... a father wasn’t meant to look at his son like that.
The smile on her face faltered, the osta put to one side as she suddenly came closer to him, moving to throw her arms around him. She gathered him up in a hug, a tight hug while the boy sat rigid and confused.
”Don’t cry,” Niamh whispered. ”Whatever it is, it’ll be okay.”
”I’m not- I-“ he stuttered out, voice squeaking, spluttering. He was crying. When had he started crying? Well, now that he’d realised, the tears came in earnest, the blond boy burying his head against his sister’s shoulder. He breathed in her sweet scent, a mix of something floral and fruity - he thought it came from her hair. He sobbed against her, pouring out all the grief and loneliness that he’d accumulated since she’d left, possibly since before she’d left.
He wasn’t meant to cry. He knew he wasn’t meant to cry like a girl but he couldn’t help it.
[color-#145474]"I don't wanna- Just stay. But don't-"[/color] he stuttered out. He couldn't tell her, couldn't explain; he didn't have the words.
"It's okay. I'll stay. We don't have to talk about it, just... sit and stuff."
He'd missed his sister. She was the only one he treated him properly like a person. She didn't expect anything either. He could just stay here in her arms. No one had to know. It'd be their secret.