Friends on a Different Path

Cautious Topics

The rest of the trip was an absolute delight, the kind where we're singing and talking like sisters that were used to such interactions. Moana soon stopped sitting at the sidelines and rested comfortably under Anya's arm in the light, friendly sister sense. Which made me briefly wonder if she liked girls.

"...and then I said; shut up Aurora, you keep your tapper shut during your sleeping spell and you can do it again." Moana's jaw dropped at Anya's statement. "You really did that?" "Sure did, got me kicked right out the door, but gee whiz it was worth it." Wendy laughed from up front, Alice rolled her eyes with a pff sound.

"Something wrong Alice?" Anya asked with a raised brow, the blond turned around with a slightly bored look on her face.

"Bringing up the sleeping spell with Aurora? Come on, I gotta real story for you." All heads swiveled in her direction, she leaned forward to emphasize her actions.

"Once, the princesses had invited to one of their tea parties, to see if they could mold me into one of them. But I hated it right from the start and wanted to do something about it. Back then Scar and I were good buddies so I tipped him off that I wanted a distraction and he let his hyenas do the rest!" Everyone laughed, I gaped at her. "You were friends with Scar? As in Mr revenge against his family?" "Well yeah, he and I were best buds back in the day!" I arched a brow. "Were?" Her smile vanished before looking away.

"Scar got too attached." Piped Wendy. "He had never been with a girl like Alice before and eventually got...carried away." Without looking at any of us Alice tugged down her shirt neckline to reveal a scar in the shape of a bite mark on her shoulder. Everyone was silent except Anya who whistled with wide eyes.

"He was lonely, unsure what to do with a girl like me so he decided to experiment." She let her collar bounce back while still avoiding everyone's gaze. "We basically ignored each other after that, it's been two years since then." "Poor guy, must be so lonely as ever." I looked at Anya, her blue eyes were thoughtful and far off, something about that expression made the gears in my mind start to turn.

"Anya?" She looked at me. "You are happy with Demetri, right?" My words came out soft and cautious, I knew all too well I was trending on thin ice with a topic like that. The rest of the group all froze, looking at her straight on or out the corner of their eye. The silence that settled in was suffocating, poked at slightly by the gentle rustle of the wind.

"I-I guess, although..." she fiddled with her fingers, "I do kinda wish I could've met more people before we married, got to know more personality types. I rushed into things too quickly, I should've waited a bit longer." We were all quiet as this sank in.

"You know," said Moana, "it's a good thing we don't have any official princesses with us." "Why's that?" Asked Wendy. "They'd be telling Anya she did the right thing because they were lightheaded enough at the time to get married without a second thought." We all laughed, Anya ruffled her brown hair with a smile the chief's daughter shyly returned.