Alfea - A Rare Magic (ARM)

Truth

~After Liora bumped into her headmistress at midnight, she has to find an explanation or finally entrust Miss Dowling with the truth?~

"Liora, you frightened me! What the hell are you doing up so late in this part of the building? And what are you hiding in your bag?", the headmistress says and points at the bag Liora tries to hide behind her back. Liora turns flaming red, and awkwardly steps from one foot to the other. When the girl doesn't answer the headmistress sighs:"I think we better go to my office and continue our talk there..." And she grabs Liora by her shoulders and guides her into her office. There she signals the girl to sit down on the couch and without any rush continues to make a cup of tea for both of them. Only then does she sit down too, and examines the girl in front of her. It's obvious that Liora feels uneasy sitting there in the headmistress's office in the middle of the night. Miss Dowling tries to give her a reassuring smile: "You're not in trouble, I promise. What's so bad you can't tell me? You didn't plan to run away, did you? You know you always can come to me if anything bothers you. I guess there's a lot for you to take in this world, new to you and today was scary...but we're here to protect you..." Liora looks surprised:"No, I didn't want to run away. Oh god, I love it here!"
"So what is it then?" "It's...I don't quite know how to say it...I mean I think I should have told you right at the beginning...but I didn't know how and I just meet you then and...",Liora searchs for words. Farah raises her eyebrows surprised and interested and waits patiently for the girl to continue. Finally, Liora seems to have found the right words:"I, ehm, I have a disability, and, ehm...you can't see it...it's invisible and I am really embarrassed to talk about it, because it's quite a taboo topic regarding toilet issues..." Her cheeks are burning and she looks at the floor beneath her, not wanting to meet the eyes of her teacher. Taking a deep breath she continues:"I mean it's not exactly important for you to understand why I'm wandering around at night, but if I hafve to tell you I want you to know the background-story, the whole thing not just part of it which might create misunderstandings or else...You said I'm most probably a changeling, well I don't know about that, but on the second day of my birth it was discovered that I, ehm... didn't have a butthole to say flippantly. The surgeons could fix that with a few surgeries, but I need to do enemas regularly to avoid accidents, to be continent and also to avoid constipations..." Liora grimaces:"I didn't want to tell anyone, especially because I don't really know anyone that well...and also I don't want to bother anyone, I mean I can't just occupy the toilet in our suite for over an hour and besides it would be awfully awkward if the others latch on to it...you know...Nevertheless, I can't live a normal life without doing bowel wash-outs every second day, so I had to find a way...and that's why I started doing it on the school toilets when everyone is asleep and there is no chance of anyone noticing it..." She takes a brief, shy look at the headmistress, who has listened to her story thoughtfully. Farah hasn't taken her eyes off the girl while she listened. She can understand Liora's decisions. It certainly is a difficult situation and the decision to trust anyone with such a private matter, isn't one you would make lightly. It surely wasn't easy for the girl to tell her and she now understands her hesitation. However, it also cleared up something for her:"So that's why you have been so tired sometimes... Am I right?" Liora nods. "Thank you for trusting me enough to tell me today...I know I didn't exactly let you a choice, but I want to reassure you, that I am not going to abuse your confidence in me. ..and I do understand you, of course I can't speak from experience, but I can relate to it or at least I try my best to do so. However, I can't allow you staying up so late, wandering around, affecting your sleep...", Farah knits her brows:"We'll have to find another solution for it, but not now! Now we both need to go to bed and sleep." She looks after the girl, thoughtfully. She was just as shy and awkward as Liora she was her age...

The next day, Liora naturally feels very tired, but when her friends ask her about it she simple shrugs and soon the main interest is Mister Silva and his recovery. The burned-one hasn't been hunted down yet and you could see a good many worried looks, not only in the adults, but students as well that day. In class Liora doesn't really know how to face Farah at first, feeling still shame and embarrassment, but the headmistress just treats her as always and that puts her soon at ease. The only thing different is, that she knows the reason behind Liora's tiredness and therefore, doesn't demand as much as usual of her that morning.
In the evening everyone is getting ready for the party, when Sky bursts in their suite grinning from one ear to the other:"Guess what, they have killed the burned-one. Saul is already getting better, I just was with him!" "Oh my god, that are incredible news, Sky", Stella exclaims and hugs him. "Yes, and all because you found him just in time", he says:"By the way how have you explained to Miss Dowling why you had been outside the barrier?" "Oh that", Musa smiles:"the adults were so relieved that he was alive and wrapped up in caring for his wounds, that they didn't bother to ask, thankfully."