Leaning down, Tarina gave Laurel a peck on the lips. Then, she turned to me. “I hope you feel comfortable here.”

I nodded.

“Good.” Tarina sat down on the couch, diagonally from me. “I always thought,” she started, “that humans could lie.”

“We can.” I tried to refrain my fingers from fidgeting, but to my dissatisfaction, I squirmed a little in my seat. I could not even discern what I was afraid of for I hadn’t harmed anyone.

Tarina saw my reaction to her sudden interrogation but chose to ignore it. “Then why didn’t you lie about why you came here? You could’ve just told us Aeron was searching for you,” she crossed her legs at the ankles. “You didn’t need to actually make him come after you.”

“How…” No further words came out of my mouth—how did she know…was she going to send me back to the Kingdom of Water?

Tarina pointed at my hair. “There is dried up fluid, most likely of a serpent, in your hair,” she said.

My hands went to the strands of my hair, examining them. My fingers scraped over something rough between the strands above my ear, but it wasn't too rough — quite normal, actually, given the circumstances.

“Oh, there it is…faded,” Laurel chimed in. “Almost blended in with your hair colour. Tarina, you had to have an eye to notice that.”

“I am trained to notice these things, Laurel.”

Tarina looked at me, waiting for an explanation.

I drank some water, the coolness of it a nice sensation down my dry throat. “You could’ve easily checked if I lied,” I said, “I had to do it — I was afraid I was going to be sent back for lack of a valid reason. What was I to do underwater? I could not sit and hope all day.” I gulped down some more water. If they saw that I had no choice than to come to the Village of Magic, then they would let me stay there, I had thought the previous night, before going to the City.

Tarina swung an arm over the armrest and leaned back on the couch. “Fair point,” she said, her voice calm and controlled. “Still, you could have come here and see what happened, made us let you stay here if we wanted to send you back. An argument or even a fight with us certainly would’ve been safer than fighting that creature.”

“I didn’t mean to encounter the serpent,” I made a meek attempt at defending myself. “I wanted to go to the City.”

Tarina raised an eyebrow. “That was a worse decision,” she said.

“Tarina…” Laurel moved forward and rested her palm over her girlfriend’s thigh. Tarina looked at her once, then again turned her full attention to me.

Frustrated, I said the first thought that came to my mind, “I did what was necessary. I don’t see any reason why you would be concerned about my welfare.”

“We are kinder than you think, Venus.” Tarina smiled.

“My experience says otherwise.”

Tarina leaned towards me. “Your experience isn’t much.”

Laurel made a thwarting sound. “What Tarina means to say is,” she started, “Evilness exists everywhere. Yes, you had certain bad experiences, but there are others here, maybe even some fae, who will care for you. Moreover, most of the fae are interested in messing with the humans in the human lands.” Laurel shrugged. “They want to bring your kind here, but once they do so, they don’t care much.”

I played Laurel’s words over in my mind. I didn’t know the fae liked to bring humans here from our land. I swiped my palm across my face. Her other words were true too; except for some taunting and occasional cold glances, I was ignored by most of the creatures of Odalis.

“Ryan told you were staying with a mermaid,” Tarina took hold of the conversation. “Does she know the reason behind Aeron suddenly looking for you?”

“No.”

“Did you think of telling her? Did you think of consulting with her before deciding to go to the City?”

I remained silent. What was the point of saying no to her every question?

Tarina sighed — a long, extensive one. “I know Ryan didn’t want you to come here,” she said, “But you should have thought that maybe others will not prevent you from coming here. Do you consider that mermaid your friend? Do you think she would not have agreed with you?”

I shook my head.

“What?” Tarina chided. “You need to talk.”

I closed my eyes. Then, opened them. “I consider her a friend, and I think she would have let me come if I told her.” I felt like a seven-year old kid, who was caught trying on her mother's makeup.

Laurel shifted so that she was completely facing me. “That was a large risk you took, Venus. Relying on your luck isn’t always the best thing to do.”

“I wasn't—”

Laurel cut me off. “You were trying to do something, right? Not sit and hope all day,” she gave me an assuring smile. “But maybe you could have approached it differently? Could have taken a chance less riskier than the one you took.”

I bent so that my forehead touched my palms. “I had this…” I said, my head still bent down. “I had this sudden rush to do something,” I looked up; at Laurel, at Tarina. “I thought I had weighed my options, but now. Now I see that I didn’t think it over. That time, I was angry and upset and wanted to—” my voice cracked.

I realised I was so dependent on Ryan, thinking him to be the only one I knew in Odalis, that after he came to Village of Magic alone, I was disoriented enough not to think wisely. But I had a friend in Myra too, and now possibly in Tarina and Laurel as well.

“We all experience that,” Tarina’s voice was soft for a second. “However, if you plan to survive, learn to control the rush. You can be angry, not stupid.”

“Now, Tarina, terminate this conversation,” Laurel bossed over Tarina. “The atmosphere has become too tense. I feel as if I’m being constricted to death.”

Tarina smirked. “Constricted?” she asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Absolutely.” Laurel took the candy pouch from the tea table in front of us and gave a candy to Tarina. To my utter shock, Tarina took the candy — she seemed to relish it. I didn’t pen Tarina to be the kind of person who would like candies, but it was difficult not to like candies.

“Then, maybe you should change the atmosphere around us. Make it airier,” Tarina said.

“Witches can change the atmosphere?”

Laurel laughed. “It’s…” she started, “I work in the weather tower. We predict the weather, prevent hazards around the Village of Magic, and sometimes if the natural climate becomes extreme, we can modulate it.”

“Oh. So, the storm…” I trailed off remembering the uprooted shrubs, the mess of branches and the leaves across the fields.

Laurel gave me a gawky smile. “The storm,” she said, “It got out of control. A particular batch of seedlings was not thriving well, so it was decided to alter the weather around a bit. This kind of anomaly is rare.”

“You have managed the situation quite well,” I said.

Tarina flashed her teeth in a proud smile. “That we did.”

“Yes, but Tarina, darling,” Laurel playfully pointed her finger towards her girlfriend. “You are not being a good host.”

Tarina, who was busy munching another candy, seemed confused by Laurel’s words. Then, after a moment, she looked at me and stood up. “I’ll bring you some clothes,” she said and went for the stairs.

Laurel watched her retreating figure and let out a chuckle. “Well, as you witnessed, Tarina is not a good host,” she took my arm. “Come with me.”

“How long have you two been together?” I asked as I followed her to a medium-sized room. The walls were colored sage green, and there were silver accents that prevented the room from being too monotonous. It had two big windows, a balcony, a large enough bed on one side, a desk pushed up against the wall, an armoire and a nice, long mirror. The room looked luxurious, and I wanted to sink into the comfort of the bed and sleep.

“About a year and three months,” Laurel replied, going across the room. “You can have this room,” she said, “Or if you don’t like this, you can have the other one, but this room comes with its own lavatory, so I believe you should take this.”

I darted my eyes towards the closed door she was pointing at. Honestly, I would have taken any room that they decided to give me, but I was glad at being given a choice. “Thank you,” I smiled at her. “This room is fine.”

“Great!” Laurel clapped her hands together. “You should freshen up. Tarina is bringing you the clothes and I’ll be in the garden.”

With that, she went out of the room.

***

The clothes Tarina had left for me were disproportionate — loose and big at the shoulders, tight near the waist and the neckline was a little too deep, for she was at least six inches taller than me as well as leaner.

I was wearing a long-sleeved, black top that went up to my thighs, with a pristine, black trouser. The pant was an okay fit, however, the top constantly slipped from my shoulder. Groaning, I combed through the pile of pillows, blankets, sheets and clothes (It was a mess) until I found a lightweight black jacket embroidered along the rims in gold. Among the clothes Tarina had given me, most were black except for one scarf which was grey.

Putting on the jacket, I went out of the room and headed downstairs. Bright sun rays illuminated the hall and trailed down the stairs and along the archway, scattering around the living room. There seemed to be no one inside the house — the two other rooms on the floor were closed, no sound coming from inside.

Laurel had said she would be in the garden.

I made my way to the front door and found it slightly ajar. Without bothering to put my boots on, I went outside.

Going a little further, I heard Tarina’s irritated voice. “Xander is late. Again.”

“He mentioned he was on his way.” Ryan.

I took some more steps forward.

“On his way to where?” Tarina asked sarcastically.

Ryan stared at me, ignoring her remark. “Venus?”

“Ryan.” I looked away from him.

<<•••>>

Hi! How are you all? God. I missed writing so so much. Literally, I was itching to write. Life's a mess, nowadays, so I haven't been able to update or write as much as I would have liked to. I wanted to participate in the Wattys this year, but idk if I'll be able to, but if I'm fast enough, then maybe? Who knows.

Anyway, hope you liked this chapter.
Ryan has returned to the scene, lol.

I am looking forward to being more regular. Do vote, comment, share if you are enjoying. Thank you. ♡