Isabelle

Really a stranger?

 "It was a fun experience." Isabelle told Jia and Nya how the fair went. She smiled from ear to ear which her audience noticed.

"I hope you brought some pastries for me?" Jia asked expecting her to bring some out the moment he said it.

There and then, Isabelle realized she had given Stanley all of the pastries and didn't leave any for Kia and Nya.

"Tell them Isabelle, tell them what you did with all the pastries I got you." Jia wasn't pleased with the idea of her giving it out just like that.

"I gave them out to a friend."

Jia didn't like the way she put it and he said.

"You mean you gave them out to a random stranger you met at the fair."

"He's not a stranger! He's name is Stanley." Isabelle retorted.

"Who is a stranger!" Jia said, firmly.

"It's a he." Nya commented, her gaze switching between Isabelle and Jia.

"Yes, Jia and I went to his shop to buy shoes for the fair and he gave me these." Isabelle directed their gaze to her feet.

"He said it matches my eyes."

"I think he likes you, Isabelle." Kia commented.

"I guess that explains the present he gave me then." Isabelle looked out the window and said.

"That is rather unexpected." Nya commented folding her arms.

"That seals it, he likes you." Kia concluded. "When will you see him again or are you planning on seeing him again?"

"It seems like you all are forgetting this is a stranger." Jia chimed in.

"Isabelle did you say his name is Stanley?" Nya asked trying to remember a particular someone. Isabelle nodded as a response.

"And that you went to his shop to buy shoes?" Nya continued asking.

"Yes I did."

"Stanley Gresile!" She was able to finally remember. "Why do you speak of him as though he was a stranger when we know him?" Nya turned to Jia.

"Wait! You all know him?" Isabelle looked at the trio, her eyes lingering on Jia hoping she would get a reaction from him, something, but there was nothing. His attention seemed to be elsewhere.

"Yes, we do, when you said the name Stanley, I was trying to remember where I had heard it from only for Nya to say his last name and then I remembered." Kia said clearing the pawns from the chess board, he was tired of playing.

"Stanley is an old-time friend." Nya said.

Without saying a word, Jia walked out the room.

"I will send him a letter." Nya said at the end of a long silence.

Isabelle washed her hair that night as suggested by the maid Irene, some essential oils were given to her. She has been using the potion for quite some time now and it has been working fine, although the solution was temporary, she was relieved the problem was now under control.

Isabelle has had nothing but peace of mind for the past few days, she had no reason to be scared to go to bed at night. She slid into her nightdress, grabbed the book she had kept on her nightstand 'The rickety old chair', she wasn't quite done reading it yet.

'Mrs. Wooven puff seemed angrier than ever, word about the maiden's death reached the subjects without the Queen herself having the chance to weave the story in a way that she would not be blamed, rumors got to the ears of the palace on the woodcutter's whereabouts which made Mrs. Wooven puff realized the maiden's presence in the palace was useless.

"I have been wasting my time all this while." Mrs. Wooven puff spoke out loud.

"Geeble! Find out the source of the rumors. I need that woodcutter." Geeble began to assign the guards.'

"My attention span has greatly reduced." Isabelle took note. She folded the page where she stopped, returned the book to its previous position and went to bed, she let the candles burn out, not blowing them off. It was a last-minute decision.

In one of the many rooms of the mansion, the trio sat round a table having a discussion on Nya's discovery, things are not what it seems.

"Are you sure of what you saw?" Kia asked again, the repetition of the same question irritated Nya the more, it made her begin to question her own sight and sanity.

"You already know my answer and let this be the last time that question will be asked."

"Jia and I carried out an investigation without the notice of Cyrene...

"Nothing gets past Cyrene." Nya commented.

"Exactly! The creature cosplaying as Isabelle would've probably been seen by Lord Cyrene, spotted by the gargoyles or sensed by us. There is no way it could've escaped being caught." Kia pointed out.

After the night Jia and Nya had a conversation in Isabelle's room, Jia began investigating silently but couldn't find anything tangible and then decided not to investigate alone any longer. He took it to Kia, two heads is better than one after all.

"If the creature had used magic to conceal itself, they would've been caught by the gargoyles. Nothing gets past them, especially when it comes to magic." Kia noted as he held out a book on gargoyles. They both concluded on having a conversation with Nya.

"And since none of the eight gargoyles, Cyrene and neither of us sensed it, it could only mean it was you Nya." Jia said.

With a confused look on her face, Nya pointed to herself and said,

"Me."

"It only makes sense." Kia commented.

She had gotten a letter that day from Henz on a picnic he was planning for them both the next day and she needed to get her beauty sleep. She thought the two was spewing nonsense.

"No! It doesn't, how can I not know my very own actions or what I look like?" Nya raised her voice.

"Nya please calm down." Jia said.

"Do not tell me to calm down! That creature seemed like it was having an identity crises!" Nya stood up.

"How can I be that creature?!" She raised her voice again.

"Because you're the only one who...

"You know what?" She raised her hands up in the air cutting Jia off. "I've had enough for one night. I need to get some rest. Get back to me when you both have something logical to say."

And with that, she walked out.

"She's forgetting we live in a world that defies logical thinking." Kia said, softly staring at the candle flames.