Far away from home

Gabrielle made her way to the owlery, paper clutched in her hands. Her parents made her write to them at least every week and Gabrielle found it rather tiresome. Not that she didn't miss them, it just was well, she didn't know. She turned the corner, heading into the owlery room, turning her head to take in the view.

Vivian walked angrily into the owlry. She had gone here recently, expecting a good letter after she had sent one over the break to her family. Instead, she had gotten a scatching howler from her brother. Typical. She now was convinced it had been a good decision not to go back home for Christmas.

Naturally, she wasn't going to let this go. She planned to send a letter back to her brother to show him how strong she was now and that he couldn't bully her.

She was furious as she clenched her fist around her letter and, therefore, didn't notice someone already there. Vivian collided into the girl with an annoyed grunt and said with irritation, "Hey! Don't just stand around like a... Oh!"

Vivian realized with a start she had crashed into Gabrielle and hurriedly apologized, "Sorry, Gabby! I didn't know it was you. Umm... why are you here?"

Gabrielle looked startled, but then she smiled. "It's okay. I'm used to crashing into people and being yelled at," She joked walking into the owlery.

"Oh I'm just sending a letter to my family. They always make me write one and it's so annoying! But I understand and I want to, only a little bit, because I don't know when I'll see my mom again," She sobered and looked at the ground, taking a deep breath.

Then she walked over to the nearest owl. "What about you?"

"Ha ha," Vivian laughed sheepishly. "Sorry again..."

"Oh, really?" she cocked her head and gave a small smile. "That's good. You're lucky that they write back to you with nice letters."

Vivian winced slightly at that comment, not realizing how bitter she had sounded. She grinned wider to hide it and then went on without skipping a beat, "I'm doing a similar thing, too, actually. Writing a return letter... though you may not want to know what it's about."

"It's fine," Gabrielle smiled at her friend. "Well you've heard about my mom right?"

Gabrielle could tell that something was bothering her friend and although she wanted to know, she wasn't one to pry.

"If you want to talk about it, I'm open ears, but if you don't feel comfortable, that's fine to," She offered another warm smile and watched the owl fly away.

"No... should I have?" Vivian looked sadly at Gabrielle. "What's wrong?"

She then blinked in surprise at her next sentence. No one ever asked her what was bothering her, let alone cared. The only who did once was... no! She didn't want to think about that woman. Vivian shook her head slightly and offered Gabrielle a brilliant smile. As usual, she was hiding her problems behind a fake face.

"It's nothing really," she lied. Vivian then stared sadly at the other girl's sympathetic smile and finally sighed. She crossed her arms over her chest, hugging herself, as she murmured, "Well... maybe there are some problems. I've never really told anyone about it. Can you..." She looked seriously at Gabrielle, her blue eyes sparkling. "Can you keep a secret?"