CONTENT WARNING - Child endangerment and abuse

Rin had never liked being alone.

But then, she was a Lyrin, and the thing that Lyrin valued above absolutely anything else was being together with other Lyrin. She hadn't seen another person, let alone another Lyrin, for days that felt like years.

She deserved it though. Or at least that's what the bad men with the sticks had said as they had beaten her. She deserved to be locked away. She deserved to have no contact with anyone else. That's what happened to little girls who lost their supplies. To little girls who twig the Guard on to their operation.

Rid had apologised, of course. She had apologised for losing the merchandise a lot. She had begged and pleaded for the big men to stop hitting her, but they never ever did.

Every day Rin prayed that someone would come and save her. Even on the days where she was allowed to sit with all the other little boys and girls that the Clan had hanging around. She didn't like it here, and she missed her mummy and daddy very much.

One day, while she was down in the hole, far away from everyone else, Rin started to hear raised voices and the heavy thud of footsteps running down the corridors of the Clan complex.

There were raised voices a lot of the time, but usually, it was because people were having a good time getting drunk or using someone in ways that she didn't like to think about. These were angry raised voices. Scared raised voices. They were the sort of raised voices that meant something bad was happening.

Rin felt her heart flutter as a little glimmer of hope started to shine through her pupils, coating them in a green shimmer. Maybe people were using their scared raised voices because someone was coming to save her from the cold and the dark.

The green was gone as quickly as it came. No one would ever come to rescue her. They had all forgotten she even existed, just like the Clan said.

Rin curled up into a ball and began to sob. No one was ever going to come and rescue her. She was going to live like this until she was old and her scales were all dry and cracked. And she'd still be trapped here, alone, far away from all the other Lyrins while some new big, strong man had their way with her.

She hated it.

It made her want to scream.

But she couldn't even do that, because then they would know she was awake, and then they would come for her all over again.

The raised voices and the heavy thuds had all gone quiet. Rin figured that whatever had been happening had now stopped, if there had been some sort of a fight or someone had made a break for an escape, they had been put down in the dirt by one of the enforcers.

That was when everything changed.

A huge boom ripped through the upper levels of the complex that Rin had been trapped in. She gave off a small squeak and wrapped herself into a ball as the rumbles knocked dust off the metal ceiling above her.

The shouting and running started up again, louder and more urgent than the time before it.

The hope was back now, right alongside the fear, her heart was beating faster than it ever had before.

Even if someone wasn't coming to save her, they were at least taking the fight to the Clan, and anything was better than having to stay here anymore. Even if another of the gangs were coming to take over.

But Rin shook that thought from her head. It wasn't going to be another one of the gangs. It was going to be the Guard. The Guard was going to save her.

Rin stayed like this for a while, curled up in a little ball underneath her bunk so that if anything broke the ceiling or any manna attacks worked their way through into the room she would be as small as possible and less likely to be hit.

After what felt like days, but was probably no more than an hour or two, the rumbling and loud noises had stopped altogether.

Had the Clan been defeated? Was she safe now? Rin didn't know. She almost didn't want to know. While she didn't know she was safe, in limbo, in a state where no one could hurt her anymore.

The door to her room in the hole opened.

"This is the Guard, if anyone is in here, come out with your hands up and your manna disengaged!" Came the call of a voice that she had never heard before. It reminded her of her mama's voice. Authoritative, commanding, yet somehow soft.

She crawled out from under her bead, carefully and slowly with her hands raised just like the voice had asked of her.

A torch swung her way and bright light blotted out her vision. She jumped back with another squeak, ready to dive back underneath her bunk where it was safe if need be.

The torch swung away from her, and as the light bled away from her eyes and her vision returned, Rin was witness to a sight that she never expected to see.

There was a Lyrin in front of her, dressed in the iconic suit and tie of Squadron Leader Belana's Guard. Even she knew what they looked like.

The lady had her own hands up now, clear and in sight, as if she were trying to make herself look as non-threatening as possible.

Rin stepped forward, slowly at first, then all at once with long strides. She ran into the other Lyrin's arms and buried her head in the ladies side.

"My name's Fal, I'm with the Guard, and you're safe now. No one's going to hurt you again," The nice Lyrin lady said.

Rin couldn't help herself. She began to bawl like a newling.