Stars Like Us

Chapter 2: Oralie

A/N: Soooo sorry about the long wait! We had exams this week so i was studying just about every night. But hopefully I'll have more time this week! Sorry about the short first part, I was tired. I'm trying to keep within a weekly schedule though. 1,033 words. Hope you enjoy!

When All of the unconscious bodyguards were lying on the 4th floor living room couch, Oralie and Edaline made their way down to the main living room.

"So, what was it that was so important you came up to our door and knocked, asking for Grady and I???" Edaline blinked innocently.

"I just... needed someone who understood. Understood... death. I lost Kenric, you lost Jolie, and almost lost Sophie a million times. I thought you might be able to help..." Oralie said this almost as if she was... guilty.

"Oh Oralie, I understand exactly how you feel. And I hope all that guilt you're probably feeling right now isn't pushing you under. But tell me, exactly how was it your fault that Kenric died? There was no way too save him anyway. He chose his own path, and that's the one you're going to follow if you truly love him."

Oralie noticed how she used the word Love instead of Loved. As for why? She didn't know. Unless he was...

But that couldn't be possible. Anyway, how would Edaline know??

She shoved that thought out of her mind for the rest of the conversation.

On and on they talked, for about four hours. But there it was, lingering in the back of her mind. That one stubborn question that wouldn't go away, no matter how hard she tried. But he couldn't be, could he?

By the time she got out of Havenfield, it was...She looked at the sun. It was just about noon.

Edaline's speech really did help her, but when she flopped onto her bed in her tower, that question was bouncing around in her mind. She tried snapping her fingers. Nope! That didn't do anything but make her cache appear in her palm. "Whoops!" She thought as she snapped it back into the void.

Nothing would get rid of that one nagging question.

"Kenric couldn't be alive, could he? Nonono, he couldn't, that just wasn't possible! But... No! He can't, he can't!!! But what if he is?" She argued with herself for the next ten minutes, before deciding to try and call him.

She grabbed her imparter and whispered: "Kenric Fathdon."

It rang before finally stopping.

Oralie started crying once again. She knew she shouldn't get her hopes up. But, she desperately needed someone to talk to. She ended up crying herself to sleep.  

When she woke up, it was midnight. But she couldn't go back to sleep, so she rolled out of her pink bed... Annnddddd fell on the floor.

She sighed. The nightmares that woke her up were both good and bad. She replayed the moments in her mind...

The first went: She was outside at Elysian with Kenric, and he was talking to her, and pointing out all of the red faced butterflies. Oralie recognized this quickly. It was the memory from Kenric's cache! But something was... Off. In her dream, she had walked to the mysterious tree behind Kenric. She grabbed one of the leaves and crumpled it in her hand as if it was a piece of paper. But then came the weird part: something looked as if it was dissolving away. She stepped through the tree and came out upon a bunch of Noxflare's. Then she saw a ring of them, hovering in midair, almost like a window looking out on-no, that couldn't be what she thought it was. But it was there. More like she was there.

Lady Gisela. And Sophie, and Keefe, and Fitz, and Maruca, and Marella, and-was that Sandor? He was being attacked by what looked like two baby trolls. There was also a mangled looking thing. It had split her of color, blue, black, and a lot of red. She could only think of one place this could be.

Where Vespera had died.

Sophie hadn't explained exactly what Vespera had looked like after she died, but she did mention horrifying.

But this?

This was even worse...

Oralie shook her head, reminding herself it was only a dream.

The second one was a tiny bit happier.

It went: She was inside her tower, sitting regally across her love seat. Next to her was Kenric. He was holding her hands, smiling, like everything was going to be okay. In the dream, Oralie was smiling too. Then dream Kenric said, "Ora, once this is all over, will you leave the council with me?" Dream Kenric looked so earnest, she had to say yes. But clearly, her dream self thought differently. "I can't Kenric, our people need me! We can't have two councilors leaving at the same time! That would cause havoc. So I have to stay so we can pretend everything is fine when it's clearly not. So sorry, but no." Real Oralie's eyes widened. That sounded like something Emery would be thinking!

Dream Kenric's draw dropped. His lip quivered as he stalked out of Dream Oralie's tower.

Real Oralie's lip was also quivering. She was shook at what her dream self had just said. She had to keep reminding herself it was only a dream.

It's only a dream, it's only a dream.

It's only a dream, it's only a dream.

She repeated that to herself until she calmed down.

It's only a dream. It's only a dream.

It is only a dream.

Her breathing relaxed as she cuddled up to her stuffed pink, fluffy, unicorn, then immediately fell asleep.

The next morning, when she woke up, she slid down the stairs on her butt. It was a family tradition to slide down the stairs on your butt when there is something important happening that day.

It wasn't that important.

It was a council meeting. But that meant she could talk to Liora about the previous day after the meeting.

It wasn't that exiting.

But it was enough to get her sliding down the stairs on her butt!