Once a week, the backyard of Bird Manor was filled with the noises of the Orphanage kids shrieking with laughter as they ran around playing. This week's adventure came with the squirt guns and other water toys made available. A little fun in the sun.
Some people might've been annoyed by the sound of the children playing, the sheer volume and pitch some of those children could reach. But not the woman who was standing there watching them, grinning like mad.
Aja viewed their play as fun. She had been one of the shrieking people for a little bit, but stepped to the side to allow the children their moments of unadulterated joy.
Her own childhood looked nothing like this happy little backyard scene. It wasn't always doom and gloom, but the frequency of free, unguarded moments were few and far between. The Quistguards weren't known for the jovial nature, something seen in the haunted looks on the faces of the children that lived in the camps or on the ships. Aja had been luckier than most of her peers. Tanner and Josie would make it possible for her to be away from the camps to run around, play and laugh. They gave her all the opportunities they could manage under the watchful eyes of the Quistguard leaders.
Now that she was on her own, had the freedom she used to only dream of, she tried every way possible to save the children she found. Certain ones, like Hochi, struck a deeper chord in her. The look on their face a little too familiar to her. The way they moved, or looked at people, understood all too well.
Most people wanted to help, and bless them, but they tried too hard to be nice. To a kid not used to it, nice was a scary thing to encounter. Aja knew that letting them approach on their own was a far better way to earn the trust of such abused children. She knew, because she had been one of them.
She'd never let it define her completely. For that would be giving the past too much power over her current life. But it did motivate her to try to make things better when she could. She had the ability, so why shouldn't she share it' Right or wrong never factored into those thoughts for her, it was simply a matter of doing what Tanner and Josie tried to do for her. A way to repay them by saving others.
Hochi and now Yuki, were being raised the same way Tanner and Josie raised her. Lots of love, a little discipline and hope. Hope that the future would not be like the past. Hope that one day, it would not hurt anymore. And in her secret wishes, she hoped they found the one thing that took her decades to find. A home.
Aja viewed their play as fun. She had been one of the shrieking people for a little bit, but stepped to the side to allow the children their moments of unadulterated joy.
Her own childhood looked nothing like this happy little backyard scene. It wasn't always doom and gloom, but the frequency of free, unguarded moments were few and far between. The Quistguards weren't known for the jovial nature, something seen in the haunted looks on the faces of the children that lived in the camps or on the ships. Aja had been luckier than most of her peers. Tanner and Josie would make it possible for her to be away from the camps to run around, play and laugh. They gave her all the opportunities they could manage under the watchful eyes of the Quistguard leaders.
Now that she was on her own, had the freedom she used to only dream of, she tried every way possible to save the children she found. Certain ones, like Hochi, struck a deeper chord in her. The look on their face a little too familiar to her. The way they moved, or looked at people, understood all too well.
Most people wanted to help, and bless them, but they tried too hard to be nice. To a kid not used to it, nice was a scary thing to encounter. Aja knew that letting them approach on their own was a far better way to earn the trust of such abused children. She knew, because she had been one of them.
She'd never let it define her completely. For that would be giving the past too much power over her current life. But it did motivate her to try to make things better when she could. She had the ability, so why shouldn't she share it' Right or wrong never factored into those thoughts for her, it was simply a matter of doing what Tanner and Josie tried to do for her. A way to repay them by saving others.
Hochi and now Yuki, were being raised the same way Tanner and Josie raised her. Lots of love, a little discipline and hope. Hope that the future would not be like the past. Hope that one day, it would not hurt anymore. And in her secret wishes, she hoped they found the one thing that took her decades to find. A home.