How do I also tell this kind of story without resorting to some of the things that I felt weren't where her story should take her? (ie. childhood sexual assault.) It's not that I fear writing about this topic, but rather the one thing I AM certain of is that this story hinges more around an understanding that even the more gentle aspects of slavery are wrong.
Not every slave in this world endures horrible abuse...and that simple fact is the terrible creeping insidiousness of the institution that she fights with later in her life. I imagine so many people brought up this example to her as to why she is foolish for wanting to abolish the whole institution as a successful business practice. Surely there are good masters and well-treated slaves that are exceptions to the rule? She was, for the most part, one of those exceptions and to this aspect she can speak most thoroughly.
I realized the answer to my writer's block was in the fact that this lack of understanding of the worst of things IS her flaw in this early stage of life. She dreams of better things even when she knows she should accept what she has. This kind of dreaming in this kind of life has consequences for everyone, not just herself.
Once I realized this, the story began to flow so much better!
RATING: G
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Djali tore from his chrysanthemum haunted dreams with a jerk, his head rung like a bell from someone wrenching him by the shoulders.
“Djali, wake up. Please!”
“Kallie…what?” He managed to ask, barely recognizing Kalara through the crust of sleep over his eyes. The resistance of his eyelids and the dimmed lamps above hinted at the ungodly hour it was.
She only turned, beckoning him with a strange quickness in her voice. “Just follow me. I have something to show you.”
Kalara led them through familiar work tunnels, a single pebble of a glowstone temporarily borrowed from a lantern lighting their way. Spinel wouldn’t be happy if he saw her with that, but the silent purposeful intent of her steps and the way she clutched his wrist and pulled him along as they walked made him think twice about poking fun at her. Even he knew when to be serious. She led them to a nook they often hid for mealtimes. The small, circular loop of an inlet carved from natural erosion was the perfect space to get away on a busy day. She stopped there, kneeling and running her hands across the cavern floor like a lunatic.
“Kallie, what are you…?” He didn’t have time to finish his question when her fingertips found the edge of the rock she’d been using as camouflage, pulling up the large piece of slate to reveal a cache dug into the floor.
Djali’s jaw dropped when it dawned on him what he was looking at. “You’ve been stealing food!?”
