Closed Growing Up, Growing Together

[Rion Pendleton]

Rion wasn’t upset. Just… underwhelmed. All that anxiety, all that determination, all that practice, and the game had ended almost as soon as she’d left the ground. She hadn’t even had a chance to touch the quaffle, let alone score. She tried to look on the bright side. No chance to score meant no chance to fail to score. But she had been so looking forward to showing how much she’d improved. Now it would be months before anybody saw.

There was a tree not far from the quidditch pitch that usually had three or four students sitting in it. Today, it was empty, and Rion climbed up easily and scooted along the long, nearly-horizontal branch that made it such a popular spot. The farm had been full of trees like this one. Rion felt a pain in her chest, as she always did when she thought of home, and, lately, when she thought of Ainmere. What she wouldn’t have given to play in the woods with her sister again. But even if they’d still had the farm, they were growing up; Ainmere probably wasn’t interested in playing any more. Rion could only guess. It had been so long since she’d exchanged more than a few bitter words with her sister. Sometimes she wondered if she and Ainmere had anything in common at all. Even grief felt like a burden Rion carried all by herself. How could two people who had been through so much together, be so different?

 

[Ainmere Pendleton]

Ainmere may have hated the way her sister and her last spoke, but she had her other's pride and couldn't bring herself in this moment to apologize to her or ask her how she was. The ginger girl ay have looked more like her father, but she had a stubbornness that matched her mom. Not that Ainmere thought about it too much. No comparing herself to them hurt because it meant she was thinking of them. Instead she focused on supporting her sister from afar until she was ready.

After an underwhelming game Ainmere watched the quidditch players leave. Did Rion look sad? She didn't take losing well if memory from being young and playing board games served her right. She made her way down and away from the pitch slowly. She watched her sister walk toward a tree and in a split second decision decided to follow her. She stood below, looking up for a second. "Oi, why ya so high up?" She asked, raising her voice slightly so Rion could hear her.

Ainmere moved to climb up the tree, hoping her sister didn't jump down in the mean time. After all it took her a fair bit more work to get up in the tree than her sister had displayed. Ainmere was out of shape clearly. "Good game today." She lied.

 

[Rion Pendleton]

Rion leaned forward to look between her feet. "Why are you so low down?" she quipped back automatically, forgetting for a second she was supposed to be angry. And then, just like that, she didn't care about the fight any more. She just wanted her sister back.

Scooting closer to the trunk, Rion offered her a hand up. "No it wasn't," she said, brushing bits of bark off her palms. "It was rubbish. I didn't even get a go with the quaffle. And maybe, if you actually came to watch me, you'd know that. Oh! You have a caterpillar in your hair. Come here, I'll get it."