Borealis Fifteen - Born to Smile

     A large, red, semi-transparent, stained tarp-sized cloth greeted Aurora's weak consciousness as she awoke. Along the cloth's edges, and even through the cloth itself, she could make out the blue and lightly clouded sky... Peace. It had been long in coming, and the cloth above rippled ever so gently at the touch of a breeze, almost as if to say that everything was going to be alright for a while.
     It was. The world was quiet but not too much so. A masked face leaned over Aurora and asked her how she was doing. For all that she felt, Aurora displayed a simple grin that spread from cheek to cheek. Her one friend, Garnet. Then, a blonde headed face leaned over as well. A new friend. That made two. It was a good day, for sure.
     "Good morning, Garnet," Aurora whispered and half mumbled through her still yet to fill, conscious lips.
     Garnet must have smiled. His mask wiggled a bit. "Well, good morning to you too, Little Mouse," he chuckled. "Don't strain yourself. Ember and I are taking good care of you." Garnet adjusted a knob and a few switches on the table bed Aurora rested on. "You should be back to full strength here in an hour or so." More smiles.
     Ember, Aurora thought. What an interesting name.
     The effect of Garnet's twiddling and adjustments kicked in just then. Sky and cloth disappeared as a glowing green took over Aurora's vision. Warmth encased her. It was good and only lasted for a minute. Then it was over. Sky and cloth came back, as did Ember's face. Garnet, however, had moved aside, probably to check on something else that needed his attention.
     Ember smirked. "What? No good morning for me? I only said it to you half an hour ago, and I've been waiting here this whole time thinking you were never gonna say it." Another smirk. "Aurora."
     Aurora couldn't remember.
     "I mean, you looked right at me for crying out loud. You'd been squirming, too. I thought you were in pain, but Garnet, here, said you were just having a nightmare. As, um..." she trailed off.
     "A reaction to the drug I had to administer, or rather," he continued, "Ember had to administer before we teleported you here."
     "Yeah," Ember giggled. "I didn't even know it was a drug."
     Aurora grinned. How fortunate am I, she thought. It had been such a long time since she had felt so happy and sure. Life had gotten so boring and tedious. Day in and day out it had been that she would wake up, sneak around the factions, the Unfortunate Ones, even her own Roof Rats, make her way down to Garnet, a Grounder Bird himself, and see what loot he had procured for her. Then, she would sneak off to one of her many hiding places to stash the loot, unless a few Sun Cats spotted her, in which case she would have to run from them for the next two hours until she lost them. The rest of the day after that was spent competing with the Rats for anything interesting that had been left behind in the wake of the Riser Dogs' morning patrol. It was tiring, and sleep, rest, and peace, sadly, always came last and never in between.
     Aurora must have been frowning while she was thinking. Ember stood over her with a concerned look on her face.
     "I'm okay," Aurora managed to say, this time with a full on smile.

Borealis Seven - Curiousity Hangs

     Evening crept in, as did the oranges, yellows, and purples it often carried with it, pulling away the clear blue of the daytime's sky to make room for the night's dark. Aurora dangled from the side of a tall building. A hand held her left ankle. It was the only thing that prevented her from meeting the filthy streets below. Aurora stared down at these streets. They were about as boring as her day had been, at least in her opinion. She had slept through most of the day, after all, and the parts that had been punctuated by consciousness had been far too violent and haphazard for her liking.
     Aurora looked up, bored with the view below, and saw Ember, a short, blonde headed girl who had clean, white clothes on, not to mention a clean face with a clean head of hair. Now, that was something interesting, indeed. What faction could she possibly belong to? She was short enough to be a Roof Rat, tough enough to be a Riser Dog, quiet enough to be a Sun Cat, and clever enough to be a Grounder Bird. Aurora didn't know quite what to make of the girl.
     "You're probably wondering what or who the hell I am," Ember said, glaring down at Aurora with a slight smirk. "Well, I'm obviously not going to tell you anything out here..." She glanced behind her at the fleeing Riser Dogs she had just beaten away. "Too many ears..."
     Out here? What did she mean by "out here," Aurora wondered. She couldn't think of a single "in here" that they could even go to on the rooftops of Borealis. Of course, it was entirely possible that this girl was a Business Type, which would explain her cleanliness, but there had never been a known instance of a Business Type emerging from within the city walls to explore the outside of the city ever. Then again, Aurora thought, how on earth could any of the four factions on the outside know that any sort of people existed on the inside if no one had ever seen someone from the inside before? It didn't add up.