When morning came, I was surprised to discover that I was pretty ready to return to Meria. Don’t get me wrong, it was nice to see my mother again, but there really wasn’t all that much for me in Vernal besides her and Almon, who had up and left without explaining why yesterday.

  That wasn’t necessarily true of Cassie though, and even though neither of us had brought it up now that we were almost ready to leave I felt obligated to mention the large, apparently manipulative elephant in the room.

  “Cass,” I started hesitantly. We were both sat inside, because it had decided to rain this morning. My mother was still asleep, and Noren was… somewhere. His absence was the main reason that we hadn’t already left, in fact.

  “Yeah, Lia?” She glanced up from the book Almon had left her on Honing.

  “I was just wondering, since we were leaving soon…” I struggled to find the words. “Um, before I say actually, I just want to say that I’m not gonna weigh in here. Whatever you want to do, I’m happy to support you with.”

  She out her book down, looking at me more intently. “You have me a bit worried now, but I take your point. What is it?”

  “Sorry. I was just wondering if you were going to visit your mother? For… closure, I guess.” I braced myself, wondering if I had made a massive mistake bringing it up. “I know it isn’t really my business, but-”

  “It’s fine,” Cassie interrupted me, surprisingly calm. “I’ve already thought about it, and I don’t mind you bringing it up. It’s a fair thought.”

  I leaned in. “So… what did you decide to do?”

  She shrugged and went back to her book. “Nothing. We’ve been seen going to and from Almon’s house, with how fast news travels around here there’s no way she doesn’t know. If she visits, we’ll talk. If she doesn’t, then it’s another reason she’s not worth worrying about.”

  “That seems… harsh,” I admitted. “But fair enough, I guess. You aren’t wrong, she really should know we’re here.”

  “Exactly,” Cassie finished simply, turning back to her book. She was being weirdly casual about this, but I guessed that she must have given it a lot of thought on the way here.

  I felt… weird, when it came to Cassie’s mother. I remembered always thinking she was really nice. She always acted like a fairly happy woman, if a little strict sometimes. I’d though that she was a bit like my mother, who was great. Before I had known what had split mother and daughter apart, it had confused me what she could have done, because she didn’t seem the type to do anything worth cutting her off.

  So when I learned from Cassie that she was so… calculating about how she presented herself, as well as how stern it sounded like she had acted when they were alone, I’d been shocked. It completely recontextualised the memories I had of her, and not in a good way.

  It was for that reason, among about half a dozen others, that I decided that if Cassie wanted to leave the ball in Jolene’s court, I would go along with it. So long as she knew what she was doing, then maybe I could just stay out of it.

  It still didn’t quite sit right with me, though, and part of me still hoped that she would visit, or that Cassie would change her mind. I wanted that closure for Cassie, and part of me wanted to keep the hope alive that the jovial woman I had known growing up was at least partially real. I really wanted to believe that she was just misguided, her good intentions twisted by her own worry over her daughter.

  Then again, another part of me wanted her to trip into a pit of hungry arachne for how she had treated my girlfriend, which was another reason my decision making wasn’t to be entirely trusted in this situation.

  The door slammed open suddenly as Noren swept in from the rain, pausing dramatically in the rain like he was expecting a lightning strike to announce his appearance. When that didn’t happen, he just shut the door and slunk into the room, thoroughly soaked from head to toe.

  He was wearing a thick dark cloak and hat combo which I hadn’t seen before. I didn’t know where he’d gotten them, and at this point I was in too deep to ask. I did want to know where he’d been though, so I already had a question prepared when he sidled up to us.

  “Ladies,” he greeted us.

  “Where have you been?” Cassie and I asked at the same time.

  Noren took a moment to give us a flat look before answering. “Self-care. We have a decision to make about our travel arrangements.”

  “Not so fast,” I interrupted him. “You can’t disappear over night, swan in like nothing happened and then dodge the questions. I know you have a thing for being mysterious, but you have to give us something.”

  He sighed dramatically, but eventually relented. “Fine. I was managing my scales. They’re wonderful things, prone to flaking off in little fragments and getting stuck in injuries, incredibly helpful for long-term hunting. They just need some looking after, and it isn’t exactly safe to do around all you fragile humans.”

  “So what, you had to find a cave to go and preen yourself in?” Cassie asked, a small grin on her face. That grin only grew when Noren said nothing. “You did! Oh, that’s great.”

  “It’s uncomfortable enough as it is, alright!? It’s… itchy.”

  “It’s fine,” I found myself saying. Despite myself, now that Noren’s big secret was out I had found myself warming up to him a bit. Besides, I couldn’t exactly criticise him for having weird bodily issues. “Even if a bit of warning would have been nice, given that you’re our ride out of here.”

  “Is that all I am to you?” Noren gasped theatrically. “You wound me, Julie. I thought we had something special!”

  Cassie giggled at his antics while I maintained a carefully blank look. He really was too much like Cassie sometimes. “...Anyway, when are we going?”

  “Well, that's a good question,” Noren began as he took a seat. “We actually have a couple of options for the flight, given the weather. If you want to be quick, I’ll fly low. It’ll save energy, so I can be more active. If you want to avoid this weather though,” he nodded to the window, which had been shuttered to keep the rain out. “I can go higher up. That’ll take longer, though. Tiring business, flying above the clouds, so I’ll be gliding most of the way. My vote’s to avoid the rain, for what it’s worth.”

  “Why can’t you just… be fast,” Cassie asked. “I mean, you’re a dragon, right? Mover of mountains, devourer of worlds, that sort of thing? But moving quickly for a few hours is beyond you?”

  Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  “I’ll have you know that we’ll be beyond moving quickly no matter the choice. This decision is between ludicrous speed or merely an impressive pace, we are still travelling tens of miles in a matter of hours. I’m not a train, able to glide along no matter the conditions. I must look after my own health, and more importantly, leisure.” Noren’s rant wound down slowly, and we all took a moment to recover.

  “What’s a train?” I asked. I remembered Brian, the owner of the caravan that had taken us to Meria, grumbling about one, but he’d never explained it.

  “Do you want me to explain basic mechanics to you or do you want to go to Meria?” Noren pouted.

  “Fine, fine. I say we go above the clouds. We should still get there quickly,” I reasoned.

  “I agree,” Cassie said simply, standing up. “Oh, one thing first.”

  I watched on as she glanced around the room before lying flat on the floor and rummaging around under my bed. After a moment she stood again, now holding the jumper that my mother had made her for her birthday. She quickly put it on and straightened up, now with a small smile on her face.

  I tilted my head. “I thought you brought that with you?”

  “Nope. Didn’t want it to be damaged on the journey. I didn’t expect to be picking it up so soon, but I can’t say I’m upset.”

  “Right, well. Shall we be off then?” Noren asked impatiently, like he hadn’t been the one holding us up only minutes earlier.

  “Not yet. We have to say goodbye to Jenna first,” Cassie reminded me. “And also check if Laon came back, and maybe stop by the stalls if they’re open. The bread is really good,” she informed Noren.

  I began to see what was happening here. She was stalling. No matter how blasé she was being about her mother potentially dropping in, she was giving her a bunch of extra chances, in her own way.

  I nodded. “Right. There’s all sorts of things to do. Plenty of time before we leave.”

  I saw her lips curve up into a tiny smile for a moment, before she made for my mother’s room. I had to admit I rather wanted Jolene to show up. Even more now that I saw how Cassie was trying to help her make the right decision.

  “Fine,” Noren groaned, slumping into a nearby seat. “I suppose it might give the weather a chance to clear, at the very least.”

  --------------------------------------

  Much to our collective chagrin, Jolene didn’t show while we were doing any of the invented chores we ticked off the list. It was like the day we left all over again. I could see Cassie actively avoiding thinking about it as we bundled up in wet-weather clothing kindly donated by my mother, and it hurt my heart a bit. I was disappointed in her mother, truly I was.

  So, I decided to take action. Even if I didn’t think I was in the right place to make an unbiased decision, someone needed to do something, or they would never patch things up. So I stomached my discomfort and decided to, for better or worse, do what I could.

  “Hey, would you guys mind waiting like… twenty more minutes?” I asked them right before we were about to leave.

  “Why?” Noren moaned. “I’m never leaving this damned town, am I?”

  “Yeah, what’s up Lia?” Cassie asked less dramatically.

  “Nothing to worry about. There’s just something I feel I need to do,” I explained cryptically. For all I got frustrated at everyone else being needlessly cryptic, it was helpful in times like this. I had a feeling Cassie wouldn’t let me do this if she knew, but I also had a feeling that this was for the best, for her and her mother.

  “...Okay?” She drew out the words, clearly not sure. “Everything alright?”

  I nodded firmly. “Yep. Hopefully it will all be better in a bit.”

  Eventually she let it go. “Sure, we can wait. I trust you.”

  Don’t say that, I already feel a bit bad about this. It’s for the best though. I have to believe that.

  “Thank you,” was all I said as I stepped out into the rain, which had only gotten heavier. Hooray for winter.

  The walk was quick. Basically nobody was outside, and even though we lived on the outskirts of Vernal that still only meant about an eight minute walk into the village proper. That gave me some time to line up my words, so that I knew what I wanted to say when I got to my destination.

  It wasn’t long before the familiar house loomed ahead of me. The grey sky and torrential rain was really making this seem more dramatic than I would have liked, but hopefully the setting would make her take me more seriously.

  For once in my life, I resisted the urge to knock on a door. I couldn’t remember the last reason I just burst into someone’s home, but at this moment I needed her surprised, so I did just that. Jolene was sat, calmly drinking a cup of something whilst idly scanning through some novel I’d never heard of.

  She looked up, startled. Her smile wasn’t far, though. “Julie? I had heard you were back in town. To what do I owe the pleasure of your visit?”

  “No pleasure today, Jolene. We need to talk,” I stated, leaning on the table to get in her space. “It’s about Cass.”

  That smile only widened, although it didn’t quite reach her eyes anymore. “Oh, of course! Cassandra must be here too. Why hasn’t she come in?”

  “You know why,” I intoned. “And you can drop it. She’s told me everything.”

  She kept smiling. “Ah, of course. Children can be so uncharitable sometimes. We do what we can for them, but they never look to the future. I assume you know of her… predilections, as well?”

  “Is that what you call it?” I scoffed. “I do. But that isn’t why I’m here. You’re coming with me, Jolene.”

  “In this weather? I’ll catch a cold. You could too, although I hear that’s less likely. After all, the rumours about you weren’t far off, were they, fey-spawn?”

  I refused to let her get to me. “Oh, shut up Jolene. We aren’t talking about me, we’re talking about you and Cass. You’re fixing the mess you made, one way or the other.”

  “Why? She’s the one who decided to debase herself,” Jolene answered, and for the very first time I caught a glimpse of the calculated scorn that Cassie described in her eyes. I still wanted to believe that the nicer, more gentle Jolene was in there somewhere, though. I had to, for Cassie’s sake.

  “She’s debased nothing. You’re the one who abandoned her in her time of need. You don’t get to shift the blame here.” I straightened up and stepped away from the table. “Since you seem unwilling to make a reasonable decision on your own, I’m making it for you. You’re coming with me.”

  “I repeat, I would rather not. Until Cassandra realises her mistakes and apologises, I won’t be speaking to her.”

  I was taken aback. I didn’t know how Jolene had twisted around events in her head to where Cassie was in the wrong, but I clearly wasn’t getting through to her. Instead, I changed tactic.

  “Look, Jolene. Do you remember, almost seven months ago now, when you and Cass had that big fight outside my house?” I leaned back in again.

  “Of course. She was being very stubborn. Not an admirable trait in a young lady, in my opinion. Not that she listens to my opinion anymore.”

  I decided not to comment on that. “Regardless, do you remember what you said to me, before you left?”

  She paused, saying nothing. She did finally put her book and drink down though, as though she were actually giving my words some thought.

  I took the next step. “In case you don’t, let me remind you. You said ‘Take care of her for me’-”

  “‘Because you’ve always been better at it anyway’,” she muttered, and at last I saw a crack in the facade. Not just the jovial one she seemed to rely on, but the calculating one too. She seemed… sad, somehow.

  “Exactly,” I answered her, my voice soft but insistent. “If you still trust me to look after her, then I need you to come with me. To fix the damage you’ve done, or at least try. I can tell that you still care for her.”

  “If only she cared for that,” she sniffed, her armour back in place in an instant.

  “She does,” I insisted. “She’s spent the last half an hour making things up to prolong our stay, waiting to see if you would show up. It’s been weighing on her as much as I can see it weighing on you, even if she refuses to show it. I promise, you just need to open your mind a bit.”

  She was silent for a long time. Right before I was about to speak, though, she finally relented. “Very well. I… I make no promises. We do not understand each other, and we haven’t for some time,” she admitted. “I will speak to her, though. I will try to get through to her, one final time.”

  That… wasn’t particularly encouraging to hear, but it was what I had to work with. “Thank you. That’s all I ask. Now come on, the sooner the better.”

  I stood and stepped back to the door. I really, desperately hoped that I was making the right choice involving myself in this. Someone had to break the stalemate, and apparently that person had to be me.

  great way to fix everything. =/

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