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 Four - Pillars and Folly

  
     It was the champagne bottle shattering next to her head and the spray of wasted alcohol that finally pulled Aurora away from her dreams. Above her stood four dark figures, their bodies silhouettes in front of the freshly risen sun. The figures swayed back and forth ever so slightly on the balls of their feet, their toes slanted up, pointing into the air. Aurora had a feeling that these were the Riser Dogs come to punish her for staying out in the sunlight for too long. She had never been this close to a group of them before, as she was usually very good at keeping her distance from them, but she knew all the same that she had to act very quickly, faster than she had ever acted before, if she wished to escape them. Only a few Roof Rats, to Aurora's knowledge, had managed to evade the Riser Dogs over the years, and they all said the same thing, "Do not let their toes touch the ground. If that happens, you are as good as dead."
     Fear filled every vessel, vein, and artery of Aurora's body. Her blood boiled and steamed adrenaline, and every sense shut down in order to send more power to sight. Aurora was ready to make her move. The Riser Dogs were still on the balls of their feet. The sun was high, and the champagne glistened. And the champagne... Aurora had forgotten about the champagne. She had forgotten about the bottle's destruction, about the sound it had made, about the sound that had woken her up. And so, Aurora reached out blindly, her eyes fixated on the Dog closest to her, and set her left hand down upon the surface of the roof, shifting her weight to the support of her hand as she went. It would have been a good first move, too, had the shards of glass and the puddle of champagne not rested between her hand and the roof's surface. Every shard, big and small, pushed into Aurora's palm as though fingers into the softest bread dough. Blood soon found its way out of the punctures and into the champagne and glass. Had it been up to Aurora, she would have soldiered on despite her sudden and unexpected pain, but the slickness of the champagne and blood and the cold sting of the glass and alcohol was too much. She had slipped.
     The sway of the Riser Dogs ceased, and their toes came down. They lunged. They grabbed. And they pulled. They did not, however, hit or harm. It was all very confusing. The world was a blur of dirty, tan muscles, dark green clothes, and blue sky to Aurora. Somewhere in the midst of it all, a hand emerged holding a sickly yellow, damp cloth. The cloth pressed against Aurora's mouth and nostrils, and the last thing she heard before she fell asleep once more was, "Where the hell did she find that bottle?"