Two more.

The kids ran along the beach, laughing, the wind tugging at their hair. Not a care in the world for children. One of the older boys stopped by a tidal pool, and the younger children quickly turned back to crowd around him. He pointed at the various critters in the pool, the youngins listening with rapt attention. He was teaching them, likely the same way his father had taught him. Their father was probably a sailor, or maybe a soldier, not around to do the same things for his younger children.
 While everyone’s attention was on the pool, the oldest child, a girl with sandy blonde hair, snuck up on them. All of a sudden, she reached out and splashed the older brother in the face. The kids shouted and screamed, running off down the beach laughing as the boy took to chasing his sister.
 One of the smallest children, a little girl who looked very much like her big sister, broke away from the group without their notice. She wandered up the beach towards something that had caught her eye. After glancing over her shoulder and seeing nothing, Rhia realized it was her the girl was coming to see. She sat up straighter, a smile touching her lips.
 The girl came to a stop just in front of her, the wind tangled in her hair. “Hi,” she said with the simple innocence of a young child. It tugged at Rhia’s heart, and it took all of the self control she could muster to keep from snatching that little girl up into her arms.
 “Hello there,” she managed to reply.
 The girl stuck out her hand, something clenched in her fist.
 “For me?” Rhia asked, somewhat shocked by the sudden gift. The girl simply nodded. She reached up and the girl dropped a shell into her hand. “It’s pretty,” Rhia said after a brief once-over of it.
 “Put it to your ear,” the girl said. Rhia smiled and did as she was told. The sounds of the beach were dimmed in that ear and she heard the steady thrum and roar in its place. “John says it’s the sound of the blood in your ear, but sissy says it’s the sound of the ocean.”
 Rhia lowered the shell to her lap and gazed at the girl. “Which do you think it is?”
 “Well…John’s really smart, but it sounds a lot like the ocean,” she said, apparently torn.
 A smile crept back onto her lips. “Well, perhaps it’s both.”
 That smile spread to the girl, quickly filling in the suntanned little face. “Yeah!” Struck by that new possibility, the girl whipped around and raced back down the beach to her siblings, calling out for her big brother all the while.
 “Make a new friend?” came a voice over her shoulder.
 Rhia wiped her eyes on her sleeve and glanced back at Ramirez. “I suppose so,” she said with a weak smile.
 His own smile faded upon seeing her distress, and he sat down beside her. His arm slipped around her and pulled her close. She sank against him, the shell clutched in her hand.
 “I’m sorry,” she said softly, brushing a few tears away once more. “I just… I miss that feeling. I miss being a mother.”
 “I know,” he replied.

Rhia hated this day. Just about the only thing that could take her mind off of it was off being trained by a crazy old wizard. Even her nightly rounds in the city couldn’t free her mind from it. Snow was lightly falling, a sense of purity falling over that broken city. It only dampened her spirits and further chilled her aching heart.
 Her mind was far off, and she wasn’t quite paying attention to what she was doing, or where she was going. She should have been on the rooftops, hidden, but the relative quiet of the city in recent days led her to simply stroll the streets. Unfortunately, not all was quiet in Damascus that night. She stepped past an alley, her mind so filled with thoughts of that day in past years, that she didn’t hear him. A hand darted out and grabbed her roughly around her mouth. A swift tug drew her into the alley. Whoever it was didn’t giver her a chance to retaliate; if it had been a robbery or a rape, she might have stood a chance, but this man wanted only one thing.
 Rhia’s eyes widened at the sharp, familiar pain of a blade passing through her. Her senses grew sharp; she could smell stale whiskey, taste tobacco on the fingers around her mouth, hear the shuddered breath of the man behind her, but it’s what she saw that stunned her. The sword had passed clear through her back and out her front, and though covered in her blood and a handful of snowflakes, Rhia could tell it was a soldier’s sword.
 In the next moment, the sword was withdrawn, and she was released. She wanted to turn, to see who it was who’d done this to her, but her legs would no longer support her, and she crashed to the ground. Footsteps rushed away, leaving her alone in the alley. She couldn’t die…right?
 “The fox is cunning,” spoke a voice in the night. Rhia’s wasn’t sure how much time had passed; minutes, hours maybe. Her eyes fluttered open, and she struggled for a breath.
 “The raven…is late,” she managed. She could taste the blood in her mouth, and was sure the puddle by her head was more than just melted snow. When silence followed, Rhia almost believed Jace had left thanks to her little bit of sarcasm, but for whatever reason, he hadn’t, and crouched down beside her.
 “You were careless.”
 “Quite,” she wheezed, fighting the urge to roll her eyes.
 “Why?”
 She glanced up at the cowled face, wondering if Jace had developed a sense of humor, but no, he was serious. “Long story.”
 If the answer displeased him, she couldn’t tell, but he mercifully left it at that. He hoisted her up, and started out of Downtown. She could only hope he was taking her someplace safe and warm. At least warm.