{Halo} {spectre-operative-zero}
Aya was waiting by the gates, shivering. She wasn’t sure if it was actually cold outside, or if it was her body playing tricks on her and exaggerating her sensitivity to the elements again. There was a slight breeze, causing goosebumps to spring up on her bare legs, and she drew the worn over-sized leather jacket that was draped over her shoulders around her frail frame as tightly as possible. The dress she wore, a simple cotton frock that she’d sewn from old flour sacks, provided little warmth, so she was grateful she had taken a coat with her. Of course, Lily wouldn’t be thrilled when she found out that her sister had borrowed her jacket without permission, but she wouldn’t stay mad long, either. She never could.
It was a delivery day, a time when farm hands came to Lights to sell their wares at market. She had come to the gates, hoping they’d have something, scraps, or some over-ripe produce, or meat about to spoil, that she could have. She had some money to give them for it, a few coins that jingled in her pocket, but it was nowhere near enough to afford food at the market itself. The last time she’d tried this, one of the boys had given her a loaf of bread (stale, but plenty edible) and some dried meat, and had seemed perfectly happy with the meager amount of change she had offered in return. She hoped he’d be with the group coming through today, because while farm folk had a reputation for being nicer than the city folk, there was no guarantee that this would go well, since she was relying on their famed hospitality.
It was maybe an hour later by the time the first few carts rolled through the gates, and her teeth were chattering terribly, her lips almost blue.
“D’you have anythin’ at a lowa price, sir, mad’m?”
She called, her voice quiet and hoarse.
“I got money, I do.”
The woman with the first cart, which held produce, shook her head sadly, looking almost sympathetic. The man beside her, her husband most likely, acted as if she were invisible, but that was okay too. Aya could understand that.
Aya asked, and asked, and asked, and for all her trouble, all she had earned was a single mealy apple that had cost half of what she had. She slumped against the gate, thoroughly exhausted and feeling the pain of defeat. She had gotten her hopes too high again.
