Zoeya had done the same routine morning after morning. She would wake up, looking into every bedroll in the camp to find each empty, and then move to the water's edge to find breakfast. Without the support of the people who cared about Zoeya, she was too afraid to make fire, not that she couldn't. Zoeya had always been a quick learner, being able to light fires for her family, though she was never the one afraid. For a long time, she couldn't remember why her sister was afraid of flames. Yet it never occurred to her that it correlated with the scars across her own body. However, as time progressed and everyone Zoeya knew and cared about vanished, her memories began to fade back in droplets. Small bits of what she knew in the passed came back as she learned to survive on her own.
The camp was was exceptionally bleak one morning when Zoeya was around the age of seventeen. She had spent the past two years on the same cliff top over the river, sleeping curled up in the fur shawl that was left with her. It was one of the only last remaining keepsakes she had, though the scent it once carried had faded over the years. Loneliness had already settled into Zoeya's heart, to the point she barely noticed it when she woke up like she use to. Instead, allowing her to get up and move on with the same pattern as if there was nothing wrong. She was alone, the last of the small band she had traveled with for years.
But anyway, Zoeya had learned a talent of stabbing fish with the old sword that was left behind. She also learned that eating raw meat from rabbits and such made her sick, but eating raw meats from fish didn't bother her most times save for a rare exception if it had been left out for too long. She also taught herself to filet the fish so that she wouldn't choke on the bones, since she still had a little boot knife she had carried around since she was young.
Zoeya then turned to the tree, determination plastered on her face beneath her mask. She wrapped her arms around the tree, attempting to pull herself up until she reached the first branch, the first achievement. She then turned her goals up higher branches, though she never made it to the second branch before she fell, falling back to the ground with a heavy thud. Her breath escaping her lungs as she closed her eyes, her mind whirling through a storm of the past.
'A man reached his arm out to Zoey when she opened her eyes, his face resembling the same features of her own save for her burn scar. Zoeya was almost startled, but she felt her arm move out to take his hand, her hand seeming much smaller than his. He laughed, ruffling her hair as he pulled her towards himself, saying in Zoeya's mothertongue;
"Zoey, sweetie. It's not hard. It takes strength and determination."
Despite the confusion Zoeya felt, she heard her own voice squeak out in the same language, though a much younger rendition of her voice, "But daddy. I keep falling."
Zoeya's father smiled, moving to the tree nearby as he pulled himself up, moving to the first branch, "See Zoey, I can do it."
"But you're bigger than me." Zoeya responded, pouting a little.
"You'll grow Zoey," he leaped down back beside her, hugging her as he whispers into her ear, "Just never stop trying."
She then felt him slip a something around her neck, her gaze moving down to see a wooden pendent in the shape of a heart with a tree silhouette in the center of it, a grin spreading across her own face. "Daddy, this is beautiful."
"I made it for you my little Zoey. So you can always remember I love you." He then kissed the top of her head softly, the scent of him swirling around her in a comforting sensation.'
And then suddenly, as soon as he appeared he faded as Zoeya opened her eyes to reality. The pang of loneliness came as the scent of her father faded with the flashback. She slowly sat up, looking at the tree in front of her, it was different, yet so the same. She then moved her hand to her neck, sliding the wooden pendent from under her robes as she traces her finger over the shape. She would then murmur out softly beneath her breath, "I promise I won't stop trying."
With that, Zoeya slid the necklace back into place, pushing herself to her feet as she moved to the tree, wrapping her arms around the base. Although she did fall quite a bit that day and the days following, she refused to give up. Until she found she was able to scale the highest trees without failure.
