Mi madre siempre me dijo || private

The door to Kistiñe's room was locked as it had been for several days. Not a peep had been heard from it's occupant, not a glimpse had been seen of the resident Latina in the time the door had been locked. If one did not read the note left on the front with a piece of tape--which read, "Gone for a few days"--they might have suspected that she might have locked herself in...however, that would not turn out to be the case. With the hood of her jacket pulled over her head, her duffle bag hanging on her shoulder, and an uncharacteristically sullen expression on her face, she walked in the front door of the guild hall. It was that time of the day when most everyone was out doing jobs or otherwise occupying their time outside of the guild hall; as much as she loved and craved social interaction, she was relieved that there wasn't a soul around as she entered the building. The night she had left for her small break from guild life, she had a rather...unfortunate encounter with a particular tanuki, one that she didn't want to think about right that moment.

She climbed up the stairs, and walked down the hall towards her room, fumbling around in her coat pocket for her key. She stopped in front of the door, not moving for a moment as she stared at the note, a single half-hearted laugh coming out at the handwriting in which it was made. The key in her hand, she fit it in the keyhole and turned to unlock the pins....however, she hesitated as she put her hand on the knob to open it...

When Azaleas had been returned to the guild, she had spent much of her time receiving medical help for the trauma that had been inflicted upon her poor mind. Most of the time, she refused to go. Azalea was terrified of anyone getting too close to her that wasn't her Big Sis. So, of course, Iza would have to spend some time encouraging Azalea to get help. Even then, she would never go on her own. Azalea always needed someone to go with her. However, she wouldn't let just anyone go with her because of the shame she felt. Azalea was, once again, terrified of every one in the guild. She was afraid they would reject her. She was afraid they wouldn't want her now. She didn't know how they'd teat her but she always had them on her mind. She missed her big brother but she hadn't seen him yet, since her return. Every time she thought about him, tears would escape from her brown eyes. What if he didn't want her anymore?

On this very day, Azalea just wanted to be close to her big sister. However, the only place she knew to look was the guildhall. Lucky for her, Azalea found nobody around. So, she would quietly tiptoe around tying to remember where Iza could be. Eventually, she would find her way up some stairs. Brown eyes would peak around ever single corner, until her eye captured something. Azalea would press her body to the wall, as she peaked around at a woman. The small girl was terrified. What would she do? That woman reminded her so much of someone she believed she once loved. She wanted to talk to her but she didn't want to be rejected. Was it even right for her to be around? Maybe, she shouldn't be around. The small girl would look to her bare feet, not realizing she forgot to put on shoes and begin to cry silently. The only sound coming from her would be little tears hitting the floor.

Perhaps it had been the sound of tears hitting the floor, or a stray whimper that may have left the child’s mouth as she tried to hide around the corner, but something caught the Latina’s attention as she turned the knob to open the door to her room. Her hand shook on the brass surface of the door knob. She knew who it was that was crying, that was so terrified of everyone around her and petrified at the thought of being rejected by her guild mates. She took her hand off the door knob and rolled the gym bag off of her shoulder and sat it at her doorstep, removing her hood and walking around the corner to see the girl with her own eyes…

It had been such a long time since Kistiñe had last seen Azalea; so long that she doubted the girl even knew about her misadventures that led to her current state as a woman. Such a change would likely come as a shock for many reasons, none of which were humorous at the current moment….was it even appropriate to be talking to her right now? Despite the fact that Azalea was practically family, the girl had been through so much these past several months that it was impossible to know whether to talk to her, or to leave her be until she calmed down...then again, it wasn’t like Kistiñe to let family wallow in their problems, even if she had so many of her own weighing her down at the moment...

She ruffled the girl’s black hair before placing a hand on the girl’s shoulder. She tried to offer a smile and a half-hearted chuckle, but it was impossible to do anything at the moment without her thoughts immediately turning to her sister… “Niñita, ¿Qué tienes?” she asked, her voice soft with a tone of care. It was hard not to start crying in turn—her voice cracked as she tried desperately to blink away tears—but, for now at least, she managed to keep herself together long enough to ask that one question.

Translation: Child, what’s wrong?