Cecil Audition

Cecil was glad that need motivated him. If it did not, he would have never set foot in this city, where every alley and dark doorway seemed to hide something that Cecil would not want anywhere close to his wife. As he took a long glance down one of those same alleys that they passed, he instinctively took a closer step to the woman at his side, his hand moving to her back as if such little support would shield her from any danger that emerged from within the sticky air that seemed to breathe out from the narrow corridor. The uncomfortable feeling left as they passed by it, and Cecil’s attention again returned to scanning the streets – paved streets, something he’d never known until he’d come to this world – for their destination, after he’d taken another glance at Rosa and spoken. ”The man at the port never said we’d be walking for days to find this place he was advertising,” Cecil said quietly into her ear, with a rather disgusted shake of his head. ”I hope we find it more welcoming than these streets, or we may need to come up with another idea. Something about this whole city doesn’t feel right to me.”

Unfortunately for the two of them, it seemed as if they needed this city for the time being. As they’d been told several times, Initium, as the natives called it, was the only place with enough room for a family. Cecil was not spoiled by living in a palace, considering he’d spent so much of his time just before marrying Rosa having to deal with the hardship of moving a group from place to place in conditions that were not the best, but he could tell by looking at many of these buildings that whatever families were living within were not living at all comfortably. Cecil had been encouraged when the man back at the port, who was apparently receiving refugees, had told them that they could find a place to stay here in this city and been nice enough to provide them with the directions and the means to take the residence as their own if they wanted it. It seemed a rather overly-streamlined way of operating, but in a time of war, he supposed it was probably common. Still, he wondered again. Cecil had asked questions; now he wished he had asked a few more, and he and Rosa would not have been so far out in the city now with regrets creeping into their minds.

Still, he could count it a blessing that no one had bothered them. Again giving Rosa a light squeeze around the waist, he gave her his undivided attention. ”If you want to leave…don’t hesitate to tell me.” It wasn’t that Cecil was too afraid of whatever was here to stay, but he had to consider his situation. He had a pregnant wife, and he was in a world that neither of them truly understood in any means. They had no friends to call on that they’d managed to find thus far, and Cecil had no troops he could call on when he needed them. Comfort had left them in favor of constant and complete uncertainty. He had to consider the toll that it might take on both of them –Rosa, especially – if all they found were problems that would constantly pile on them. The thought brought a quiet sigh from Cecil’s chest. He shouldn’t worry until they’d seen the place and could make a judgment. Who knew? They could cross the next street and find a much better situation.

They did cross the next street, and what they found was…somewhat better. The buildings didn’t seem quite as packed, and though they were shorter, they all didn’t seem to be those…tiny cubicles from the last section of the city. Cecil looked at the “datapad” that the man had handed him, punching the screen on it with his finger to make the map from before reappear. Cecil didn’t even trust the technology in his own hand at this point, staring at it until it lit up the name of the street again and pinpointed the housing that they were supposed to find. Only then did he hold the screen in front of Rosa’s face for her to see. ”I…think we’re on the opposite end of the street from where we need to be,” he guessed, inclining his head opposite them.

I HAVE NOTHING CLEVER TO SAY

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