Our Forbidden Love 2

28: Starley

When I wake up the next morning I try and ignore the vision I'd just seen. I didn't need to remember it for any purpose, it was just making me sad that I'd never met her and that she'd brought Daddy so much upset when she died. She hadn't deserved to die. Not then. Not in that way, not at that age, not to those people. Not then.

I rub my eyes and look down at my wrist where the bandages had been for quite some time now. Usually, they were covered in my purple blood, having not healed one bit, but today I had to look twice. The bandages were a complete white, no sign of any of my blood anywhere on the material. That was weird. Another thing that was weird is the way my stomach fluttered with anxiety and my heart started pumping faster in my body. I knew what the healed wound was supposed to mean but I hadn't expected Weedy to be this early with the recovery. I thought she would've let me suffer a lot more than what she had. Also, I wasn't ready. I wasn't ready to fight her. I wasn't ready to tell her we were no longer in possession of the Stonal Shell that she so desperately had wanted, for reasons I'm not too sure why. Like the Kiwi Civitatem citizens. I shake my head. No, Starley, don't think about that now.

On a few of the days during the week, I'd opened the new Scout School and had begun better training with my scouts. So this time, I was prepared with all of them waiting for my call if I needed them. And I had Alex. Alex would protect me at all costs but I didn't want to put him in danger any more than I had to. Speaking of Alex, I think, checking his energy that sits at the edge of my mind. It is peacefully asleep, I wouldn't wake him. Carefully, I withdraw my senses from his and I take a deep breath in.

Gingerly, I use my right hand to remove the bandages I'd actually gotten sick of looking at. I pull the bandage away and just like that, the wound is completely gone. Only a long red scar runs down the centre of my wrist, but other than that, completely healed. My screen was pretty much back to normal. There was only a bit of glitching and short circuiting in the centre part of the screen, where the wound had gone through, but like the rest of my arm it was almost completely healed. It was so weird but I was glad to have my regular arm back now and not needing to cover it with bandages all the time. Still, my heart pumps and my stomach continues fluttering with anxiety as my brain circles with the thought that Weedy could be coming back today and myself and the rest of the Government were not at all ready for her to return.

I get out of bed, run my comb through my hair and secure the starfish clip in the top of my hair, atop my head. Then, I head out to the kitchen. I'm not hungry at all, so I just decide to go out and swim off a bit of my anxiety. I open the door, swim through and then I close it behind me. The city is quite quiet for this time in the morning, only a few merfolk are swimming around. As I pass anyone, they all wave or bow or nod to me. It's so weird being in a position where people feel they have to acknowledge me if they see me in the streets of a morning. It's never been like this before. Like, people had known I was one of Walter and Sandy Star-Bub's daughters, but they didn't acknowledge me in the way they did now. Now, I was their Scout-Keeper and I was the person who'd solved the Stonal Child mystery and I was the person who was going to marry the Stonal Child himself. Apparently, all of that required a wave, bow or nod when they saw me around the city.

Intuitively, I'd taken myself to the Government House. I didn't really want to be here, it reminded me that we might have to be ready to fight her today. Also, the memory hall was inside those walls which was where Mummy was. I turn around and look out at the city. It's so beautiful. The shopping aisle is directly alined in the centre of the city. Why was anyone looking to attack the city or any of its citizens. They were innocent and they lived in such a beautiful city in such an amazing part of the ocean.
"You're up early, Starley," someone says behind me. I turn back around to face Government House and in the doorway stands Lilliana.
"Hey, Lilliana. Yeah, I uhh, I had another vision," I reply.
"Ahh, yes." Her eyes trail down my body and suddenly I feel very self conscious. "The bandages, they're gone. Why'd you take them off?"
Oh, I think, she was just looking at my arm.
"It's healed," I say, swimming forward, my arm outstretched towards her. When I reach her, she takes my arm in her hand and carefully examines the scar that remains.
"Wow, that's some pretty good healing," she comments, letting my arm fall.
"All I can think is that we all have to be ready for her return if she means what she said," I say.
"S**t!" Lilliana exclaims, surprising me with her choice of language. "I'd forgotten she was coming back when that healed. Starley, you and your Scouts have to be ready for anything she throws at you. Don't put anything past her," Lilliana warns and I take her advice, saying goodbye and then heading over to the Scout School.