Excerpt: Sigea

“Sigea! Sigea! Time to get up now, you hear?” Again came her mother’s voice, more shrill and angry than it had been ten minutes ago, which in turn was angrier than the ten minutes before that.

“Mmmm…I don’t want to get up!” the girl groaned in protest, pressing her face further into her feather pillow and pulling her blankets up over her head.

This was apparently the final straw in the early morning duel as it was then that the door flew open. Hecka Gioklily tore into the room in a fury and yanked the bunched up knit wool off of her daughter. However, this was not going to be a task so easily accomplished, as with lighting speed the girl grabbed onto her sheets tightly and pulled back.

“What are you doing?! It’s cold!” Sigea seethed, steadfastly clutching on to the fabric stretched between them.

“Oh it’s not that cold. Stop being a baby. You need to get up! We’re running late enough as it is!” her mother scolded in reply.

“I don’t care! I’m not going!” the young teen spat, pulling on her blankets.

“How many times have we been over this? Yes you are! It’s tradition!” Hecka pulled back.

“I don’t care!”

“You’d better start caring!”

“FINE! Maybe I do care! Maybe I HATE IT!”

With a sigh Hecka let go of the blankets and Sigea fell back onto her bed hard. She quickly pulled her blankets over her head and buried herself under her pillow as her mother began massaging her temple.

“Please don’t do this. Not today.” This time the woman’s voice was soft, almost defeated in its tone.

Sigea’s voice sounded back from within her makeshift feather down cave. “I don’t want to go!”

“I know, sweetie, but this isn’t about what you do or don’t want. That’s not how it works.”

“I don’t care. I’ll make it work.”

“You can’t go against the Avarim. It’s…”

“Screw the Avarim!”

This last statement caused Hecka to jump as if a loud noise had just shattered the silence unexpectedly, bringing about the return of her sharp tone.”

“Don’t say that. Don’t you DARE say that! The Avarim are to be reveared and respected!”

Sigea finally dug herself out of where she hid to face her mother. “Well maybe they should let me stay home! Why do they get to make all the descisions? Who put them in charge?”