Orna Puella

- XI -

THERE

So yeah, let me start from the day when Vicky came back. It was May twentieth. She didn’t use one of the Tramp’s portal/vortex thingies. She drove her car again. I knew that she loved driving so it didn’t surprise me. She listened to my ranting about Elsie’s fit back in December patiently and when I got to the part with me and Raven making a deal with Brazin, she started to laugh.

“Oh, Dragon,” she breathed finally. “It’s so refreshing when you come across someone like your math teacher…”
“Tell me about it,” I grinned. “Speaking of teachers… Vicky, what happened between you and Ealarauc?”

Vicky smiled slyly.

“Let’s just say that I was able to clear her name from some certain… rumors,” she said.
“What rumors?” Like I would just let it go! Come on!
“Some rumors…” Vicky said carefully. “That had something to do with necromancy.”

I stared at her with wide eyes.

“An elf practicing necromancy?!” I said finally and Vicky looked at me with reproach.
“I said rumors,” she lit a cigarette. “And, Selena… If you start…”

I snorted.

“Please! I don’t even talk to people! I only talk to you, dad, and Raven. Well, Cerylia too…”
“Do not say anything to Cerylia!” Vicky warned me immediately and I rolled my eyes at that.
“Of course not! But believe me,” I looked at her with a tiny smile. “Raven is going to hear all about it!”

She laughed.

“Figured that much. How are the things between you two, by the way?”

I looked at her and my mouth started to stretch in a very wide smile. Vicky sighed.

“Never mind,” she said with a grin. “Got it.”
“We are going to move into the City after we done with school,” I said.
“Good idea,” she nodded seriously.
“I was wondering…” I bit my lower lip. “Ummm… I was wondering if you could maybe… You know…”

Now it was Vicky’s turn to roll her eyes.

“Of course I will help you! Good Dragon, Selena… Do you even have to ask?!”

I smiled.

“Thanks.”
“When are you done with school?”
“May twenty third,” I said energetically. “Three days away!”
“So when are you going to start moving?” she squinted her eyes against the cigarette smoke.
“Probably after that stupid Ball,” I sighed. “It’s on twenty fifth. I am not going but I promised Cerylia that I will help her to get ready and stuff.”
“All right,” Vicky nodded. “I’ll stick around until then. This way I can drive you back and forth… So you don’t have to take the train or something…”
“Oh, Talath…” I breathed. “Vicky, I…”
“Yeah, yeah,” she waved her hand. “I love you too.”

We both laughed. I couldn’t believe how great everything was. In less than ten days, I will be able to kiss Raven in public without being afraid to hear someone shrieking about the damn purity ever again.

****

Nothing dramatic or weird happened until the twenty fifth so I’ll skip those several days if you don’t mind. Let me just say that I didn’t clean much since Vicky was in the house and that Raven and I took advantage of that fact with great gusto.

Twenty fifth was a Saturday and we didn’t wake up until almost noon, since we didn’t fall asleep until almost four in the morning the night before. Don’t ask me why, just use your imagination.

The day was pretty uneventful until five or so in the evening. That was when Cerylia started to get ready for the Annual Ball.

“I can’t believe you are not coming!” she kept repeating over and over again while I was trying to figure out how in hell I could get those damn laces on the back of her dress to stop sticking out.

“Ugh, Cerylia,” I muttered. “I told you. I can’t wait to get the hell out of this town. And I could care less about this stupid Ball… Believe me, I’d much rather spend time with Raven...! How are things between you and Arlen, by the way?”

I was genuinely interested. Arlen actually became somewhat tolerable lately. He would ignore Raven - which was more than fine with me - and he wouldn’t say anything except “Hello” to me. It seemed like he was really into Cerylia finally. It made me happy.

“Oh my Dragon,” Cerylia turned towards me and I grunted and made her turn back.
“Stand still,” I muttered, still trying to figure out how to keep those damn laces to stay put. “You can talk and stand still at the same time, can’t you?”
“Ha!” she said seriously. “I guess I could try… Won’t be nearly as entertaining though…”
“Oh shut up,” I said and both of us burst into laughter.

It was beyond amazing how good of friends we actually became lately. We were somewhat friendlier ever since Elsie’s fit on that December night when Raven almost sat her ablaze. But in the last month or so, Cerylia and I became friends. Like friends friends, you know?

“We are doing great,” Cerylia said finally. “I am really looking forward to the Ball… I really have the feeling that the slipper will fit me perfectly.”

Suddenly she giggled and almost turned around again.

“Ah!!” I said with a warning and she froze at the last second.
“Sorry,” she said quickly. “It’s just I remembered something hilarious… Arlen has this thing…”
“Ummm,” I said thoughtfully. “A thing? Cerylia, I think they call them…”
“Not that!” she gasped and we laughed again.

Finally, she stopped shaking from laughter.

“What I was about to say,” she said almost calmly. “He has this thing about shoes…”
“Ah, yes,” I said darkly. “I remember…”
“Huh? How do you know?”

I snorted.

“After the Winter Solstice dance….”
“What about it?”
“Oh good Dragon… You seriously don’t remember?!”
“Remember what?”
“Oh for Talath’s sake… You two were going at it right outside my door… He was blabbering about your shoes and you were asking if you should wear them and he…”
“Oh Dragon!!” even the back of her neck was blushing now. I found that amusing. I thought she never got embarrassed. “Okay, okay, I remember…”
“Good,” I finally figured out what to do with the laces and started tying them in a certain manner.
“Well, anyway,” Cerylia said. “It’s a little weird, but the whole shoes thing is really funny. You remember my black stilettos?”
“Uh huh,” I said absent-mindedly, relieved that the laces finally behaved.
“Well, one day I was just wearing those and…”
“Okay, stop right there!” I commanded. “I don’t wanna know!”

She laughed again. And then I had a strangest feeling. I frowned, trying to figure out what it was.

“You okay?” Cerylia turned around and looked at me. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” I shook my head, still frowning. “It’s just… I have this weird feeling that I forgot something.”
“Like what?” now she was frowning.
“I don’t know…” I bit my lip. Ugh, this was frustrating! “Something to do with shoes… Somebody else was saying something about shoes…”
“Raven?” she offered and I immediately shook my head.
“No, not Raven… Someone who… Oh, Dragon, this is annoying! ‘I have a thing for shoes’ or something like that… And something about chocolate… Ah, forget it!”

I shook my head energetically.

“Probably something that Arlen said,” Cerylia shrugged.
“Yeah,” I agreed. “Probably.”
“Hey, could I ask you something?” she sounded so uncertain that I looked at her with surprise.
“Sure. What is it?”
“Well…” she sighed. “By the way if you’ll say no, that’s okay!”
“I am not going to the Ball,” I said quickly and Cerylia laughed.
“Not that! What I wanted to ask was… Selena, could I possibly borrow that emerald from you? Just for tonight? Please?”

I blinked. I knew that she was talking about a choker that belonged to my mother. It was really beautiful. The choker itself was made out of black lace and it had a large dark green emerald in the middle of it. The emerald was breathtakingly beautiful. I never wore it but I would look at it quite often, it would remind me of mom. I looked at Cerylia. Her dress was pale green, with black splashes on the bottom of the long skirt. I guess the choker would look striking on her tonight. The dress was strapless and the choker would really go with her long neck and sculpted shoulders. I sighed.
“Sure,” I said.

“Thank you!” she beamed.
“Let me go get it,” I grinned at her.

The next couple of hours I was helping her with the makeup, hair, and nails. She wouldn’t shut up about the choker and kept saying that it was probably the most important thing in her entire ensemble tonight. I agreed with that. That choker was perfect. Finally, Cerylia carefully blew on her nails.

“I think it’s good,” she said doubtfully.
“Give it five more minutes,” I said. “If you ruin that polish, I am not painting your nails again!”
“Just the right hand,” she snorted. “I did the left myself!”

I grinned.

“Let’s go make coffee,” I said. “You are leaving in what? Half an hour?”
“Give or take,” she nodded.
“Okay, let’s go make coffee then.”

We went downstairs without looking back. Neither of us remembered about the choker that was still sitting on her dresser where she put it an hour ago after we decided to put it on after her hair and nails were done.