S a l e t é I I

XIII - Cheveux - Onze

Monet wasted no time once she was inside.

"Gather the others around the fire." She said to Klavdiya.

As Cassia got through the hole as well, she could see that the girl who'd been on guard duty looked quite puzzled. Still, such gatherings were customary, and she dropped the recency of their return to do as she'd been instructed.

Given that all she possessed was a stick, Cassia expected Klavdiya to struggle much more than she ever seemingly did; she could stand in a short span of time, even if she was understandably shaky at first, and once she was up she was able to move with a decent speed, using her weight and her aid in a well-practiced unison in order to get to where she wanted to go.

There were several times when Cassia had been sure that she would fall, and yet she'd always stopped herself before she did.

Uliana was the one to move everything back into place once they were all inside, bringing up the rear, and Cassia waited for her to finish instead of simply following Monet right away; the girl in red had moved to the fireside on the ground floor, pulling up a chair, ready to begin her meeting with everyone.

Being back was... Strange. On the one hand, Cassia was glad for some sense of familiarity - however new - but on the other, it wasn't exactly the most cheerful place.

Uliana acknowledged Cassia's patience with a new smile.

"Come on, let's get sat down. Everyone is going to be hyped." She told the newcomer, her optimism continuing to flow, and she nearly skipped ahead as she led Cassia over to where Monet was already sitting, the girl going through her backpack.

As she and Uliana pulled up their own seats, making sure to stick together with such an arrangement, something caught Cassia by surprise - Taya came running down the stairs, an urgency in both her expression and her tone, the sound of her hasty footsteps hitting the stone floor of the warehouse almost making Cassia jump.

"Monet! Monet!"

Monet looked up as she heard her name being called with such insistence, though - unsurprisingly - that look in her eye remained entirely unmoved. Taya paid no attention to either Uliana or Cassia as she ran over, the matter at hand apparently far too pressing.

"Look..."

Cassia could see that she was carrying something now - her pack of crayons. In particular, she directed Monet's attention to her blue crayon, which had snapped in half, much to the young girl's clear dismay.

"Oh dear. How did you manage that?" Monet asked, looking from the damage to the troubled girl.

"It wasn't my fault! I was drawing, and it broke... I didn't mean to do it..."

Taya looked pained, almost immensely so, as if she'd committed some sort of grievous crime or horrendous mistake. If she could have cried, Cassia was certain that the tyke would have.

"Don't worry, I believe you. We'll have to see if we can get you some new ones, okay?" Monet replied, the youngster at least somewhat relieved as she heard that answer, and as she realised that she wasn't angry or disappointed. Taya nodded in response what she'd said.

As she did, her left hand began to twitch in swift, yet short motions as her arm remained at her side. The motions struck Cassia as odd, to say the least, and yet it was as if Taya herself hadn't noticed in the slightest.

"It's time for our meeting now. Would you like a drink?" Monet asked her, to which Taya nodded again, some light returning to her eyes. Her hand's motions stopped at this point, as quickly as they had started, leaving Cassia slightly unsettled.