Worlds of Waves and Shadows

Forty One

"We're here." Her mother informed as they landed.

Sleep had evaded her, and numbness had risen to take its place. Kaenisa had never even imagined that such a day would come when she would be seeing the walls within which she had spent the entirety of her life, go down in flames.

She cast a glance around, at her friends who looked all kinds of shocked and shaken, before getting down to find that they had landed in front of a house.

A bit small, compared to her mansion, with a broad wooden door and halo lanterns lighting the path that led up to it.

After seeing her home burn down and barely escaping with their lives, all of them had run straight for the aircraft, found whatever change of clothes they could find, which was how she had ended up wearing a somewhat futuristic version of a hoodie with black leather pants.

Her mother had joined General Cazek in the cockpit while the others, including herself, had sat, buckled up within their seats, unable to understand how to react.

They slowly made their way up the cobbled path in complete, unbreakable silence. After a twenty-something second long wait, while her mother punched in the code, they entered the house.

Gardens, filled with trees of all sorts, sizes and shapes, surrounded the house. The carpet of grass was growing back out, indicating that it had been mowed, not too long ago. But the bushes looked rather unkempt.

"Where are we?" Rolan asked.

"My farmhouse." She replied.

She had just voluntarily blown up her home and, now she was here, staying within the walls of a house she had last seen roughly a decade ago.

Because her home, which Kaenisa had left behind, was already rubble and ash.

The main door gave way to a spacious living room, sparsely populated with mahogany furniture and inviting wall decor. She had adored this place once upon a time. That was probably because the bought of spending an entire summer with her mother seemed like a jackpot.

But now....looking at the dusty interior and moonlight streaming through the windows, she felt nothing but a sort of sadness, nostalgia and the urge to avenge all that she had lost.

"Kaenisa," Shefali spoke, in a surprisingly gentle voice, "Why don't you take your friends and show them their rooms? You'll have to share."

"Okay ma.." Kaenisa nodded, deciding on giving her mother a quick hug before leading her friends upstairs.

"Hey..." Zaic began, entering the room after she was done changing into something more comfortable. Which, unfortunately, meant wearing a twelve-year old's pyjamas.

"I know it must have been hard, watching your home burn down like that....Harder still to be the one make that call and I just wanted to say-"

Kaenisa didn't wait for him to complete, burying herself within his arms, "Just....for a few minutes...Let's just stay...." She mumbled against his chest, taking in his scent, eyes closed.

She was dead tired, felt liking crying a river and wanted to kill someone, but all of that went poof, like smoke when his arms caressed her back.

He lifted her off the ground in a way that made her think she weighed nothing and laid her down on something soft. It almost made her purr in delight.

The bed. Right. Zaic must have put her down on the bed.

"Don't go..." She mumbled, grabbing his arm as sleep fogged her consciousness.