Liana could feel Cole’s gaze on her back as she mingled with the crowd. His embarrassment and awkwardness amused her, and she nearly laughed out loud recalling his shocked reaction when she had kissed him. She tried not to dwell much on what she did; it made her blush. Instead she concentrated on getting back to her apartment.
   The roar and whoosh of cars and trucks were confusing, but by now she had learned to recognize the patterns of how the vehicles drove and twisted to identify the movement of the street. A small group of people’s footsteps stopping told her there was a traffic light up ahead, and she stopped with them. She waited with them a moment, then heard some of the traffic slow and the citizens begin walking, and she walked with them. She heard their slight change in footsteps when they stepped over the curb, and she stepped with them. She slightly misjudged the distance and her toes knocked into the stone, but she quickly adjusted and kept going.
   The stench of the streets made Liana scrunch up her nose, but at least it was a little better than the odor in Stixx. Whenever someone walked close to her she instinctively fingered the nunchucks strapped to her pants. Her life in the dregs of Ninjago had taught her caution and to be alert for any sign of danger. She knew Ninjago City was relatively safer than Stixx, but that didn’t stop the natural feeling of wariness of being out in the open.
   Like every session, training with Cole had been fun and a good workout, but now that she was alone again, she was reminded of an issue that has been troubling her for some time now. She had kept her worries to herself, but now that she was older, maybe it was time to bring up the subject to her uncle.
   She was at the Lullaby Hotel now. Someone held the door open, so she kept walking and said “thank you”. Up ahead she heard an elevator door open and she trotted to it to join the others inside. There were three other people inside; she could hear their movement.
   Her fingers trailed over the buttons, and she thought to herself. OK, there are ten stories in the building. I’m on the eighth. One is at the bottom, ten and the emergency buttons are at the top. Her fingers felt up the panel of buttons. They were in rows of three, and the one for the eighth floor was in the middle. Three, six, nine. . . She counted silently.
   “You need some help, sugar?” A female voice asked. She sounded like she was in her late thirties or so.
   “No thank you, I’ve got it.” Liana responded politely, biting back a sharp retort. Inside, she absolutely abhorred it when people took pity on her because she was blind.    Couldn’t they see she was perfectly capable of taking care of herself?? If anything, they were the blind ones. She knew they meant well, and she was fine with people being kind. It was just pity that made her blood boil.
   Liana stepped out of the elevator when the robotic voice announced; “Eighth Floor”, and made her way down the hall. Knowing the carpet floor was flat and clear, she
tucked the support cane under her arm, thinking. Take about thirty-seven steps straight, then turn left. She reached out and felt the doors she passed by, counting. One. . .Two. . .Three. . .Four. . .Five. . .Six, and. . . She brought out her room key and unlocked the door.
   As she stepped in, she heard Rosie’s chipper voice from her right, where the tiny little kitchen was. “Hey, Liana!” She greeted. The rustle of soft, thin plastic told her that her cousin was looking for a late snack from a grocery bag. “Where’ve you been?”
   “Working out at the gym.” Liana replied carefully.
   “That would explain why you look so exhausted.” A plastic bag opened—potato chips, by the sound of it—and Rosie asked. “Are you about to head to bed?”
   “In a minute.” Liana took off her sunglasses and placed them with her cane on a little table by the door. She heard the TV playing loudly from the living area and followed the sound. “Uncle George?”
   The deep voice of her uncle grunted a few feet away. She guessed he was sitting on a chair and watching the TV. “What is it?”
   She took a breath. “Could I talk to you?”
   “Sure.”
   “With the TV off, I mean.” She added. “It’s kind of distracting.”
   “Not during this game,” He retorted. “No way am I missing out on a match between the Tigers and the Wolf Wardens.” From the TV, sports announcers were talking about the game and a crowd was cheering. The constant noise irritated Liana; she wished she could shut it off so she could hear herself think.
   “Fine.” She hesitated.
   “Well, what is it?” Her uncle asked.
   Liana twisted her hands nervously, then took a deep breath and said. “I want to go to college.”
   “. . . And the crowd goes wild!” Whilst the TV kept blaring, George was quiet for a moment.
   “College??” He sounded perplexed. “Did you say you want to go to college??”
   “Yes.”
   “But—but Liana, dear—Surely you’re not serious?”
   Behind her, Rosie quit munching on chips. Liana asked coolly, “Why wouldn’t I?” but she had a dark feeling she already knew the answer.
   George tried to avoid the question. “College is a lot of work, and a lot of money. . . Wouldn’t you rather help me in the grocery store? You’re so organized, and it’s a big help to me.”
   “I want to go to college.” She insisted. “I want to make my own living, get a job, do something I like. I want an education.”
   “Liana, honey, you know it’s—”
   “I know it’s totally expensive,” She interjected. “And I know you already used so much of your money getting Rosie into college. I can pay for it myself. I can do menial jobs and volunteer, and I can save up the money. It doesn’t even have to be a fancy college, I just really, really need an education.” She tried to ignore the loud TV. “What’s stopping me?”
   “Poor thing,” Liana heard Tiffany’s voice and realized that she and Hallie were standing behind her, nearby the bedrooms. “Doesn’t she know?” She whispered to her sister.
   I may be blind, but I’m not deaf! She wanted to spit. Besides being pitied, the top thing she hated was being patronized. Around here, that happened a lot.
   “What’s stopping me from making my own living??” She repeated, silently daring her uncle to answer. Her heart was beginning to race, and she clenched her fists.
   George paused then sat up in his seat. “Liana. . .” His voice sounded so gentle, so compassionate, so kind, so gosh-darn PITYING. “I need you to listen. I know you think you can do it, but you just can’t. You can’t go to college. You can’t get an education. You can’t make your own living. You can’t take care of yourself.”
   He leaned forward and said slowly. “You. Are. Blind.”
   Liana felt as if she had been punched in the stomach. Her throat constricted, and for a second she thought she might burst into tears. Those simple words burned like flaming arrows in her heart, stinging and ripping inside mockingly. Something inside of her began to shrivel pathetically. The noise of the TV echoed brashly in her head.
   “Ohh, poor thing,” Tiffany repeated in a hushed tone. “Did she actually think she could go to college?”
   “You’d think she’d know better!” Hallie replied.
   The flaming arrows in Liana’s heart caught fire, and those embers suddenly raged to a blaze. Anger—no, hatred pounded in her blood, and any tears threatening to spill suddenly dissolved. She clenched her fists until her fingernails dug into the flesh and made her palms bleed. She realized she was literally trembling with fury. A storm of both raging and despairing emotions roared in her head, and she wanted to just physically hurt somebody. Whether with her nunchucks or bare fists, she wanted one of these people in this room the experience the pain she was feeling in her heart.
   She wished she wasn’t blind. She wished her brother was still alive. She wished her parents were still alive. She wished Cole were here. She wished Tiffany and Hallie would quit whispering about her. She wished Uncle George would stop treating her with compassion and pity. Most of all, she wished that stupid, stupid TV would just. SHUT. UP!!
   BANG!
   Tiffany and Hallie shrieked in shock, and George swore. “What the heck just—?! AHH! The TV’s busted!!”
   Her cousins brushed by Liana as they ran over to see. She stood there, quite startled by the noise, and realized she could smell smoke. “Oh my gosh!” Hallie cried out. “It, like, exploded! Look, the screen is cracked and the stuff fell off!”
   “Ohh, my gosh, what if it catches on fire?!” Tiffany fretted. “We so need to call the hotel desk! And the fire department. And the hospital. And insurance.”
   “We don’t have insurance, dummy.” Her sister snapped.
   “Augh, the hotel’s going to sue us and we’ll be out in the streets!” Tiffany wailed.
   George growled. “This is going to be a pain in the rear to pay for. How the heck did this happen??”
   Whilst her uncle and cousins gathered around the busted TV and wailed about the money, Liana silently slipped away into the bedroom she shared with Rosie. Head swimming with mixed emotions, she didn’t even take off her shoes when she lay on her side on the bed and shut her eyes. She lay there in the darkness, burying her face in her pillow and wishing she could cry. . . But the tears never came.

I should hope not.

As a side note, with the project for the animated Wingfeather Saga short, there were certain goals where an author would write a short story with an illustrator.  We reached all the goals, so there are three short stories in a book called Wingfeather Tales.  I was afraid that it might be a small book, but it's the size of the first two books.  I would definitely recommend reading it!

Don't know why I said three short stories.  There are six.

I don't think so . . . if you click on the "Roots of Earth" part in your notifications, it should lead you straight to the post, if there is one.