S a l e t é I I

XVIII - Pieds - Dix

Monet hadn't said much of her own accord during her time with the rest of the girls, but she hasn't appeared uncomfortable, or sounded put off whenever she had spoken. She always replied to everyone with the confidence that Cassia had always pictured her with, carrying her usual demeanour, whatever she may have been genuinely feeling a little more difficult to discern, her eyes shrouded by their usual air of experience and her expression almost entirely unchanging.

She could crack a smile when the girls teased one another though, even if it was only a small, brief one each time. In any case, actions spoke louder than words, and her actions had told Cassia long before their current gathering that she cared deeply for the others under the warehouse roof.

"Don't you get annoyed though, Zisel? I mean, everyone gets to go out and take risks and do all sorts of cool stuff, whilst you get to sit at home and fix pants. You must get tired of it, surely?" Uliana was asking, all things that Cassia found to be reasonable points, even if she would have put them a little more eloquently herself. 

"What you find exciting or fun would be a nightmare for me. Next time you go out, try doing the whole run with a blindfold on, then you'll understand. Besides, I like doing what I do. You know that!"

"I dare you to actually do that." Klavdiya immediately said to Uliana upon hearing their friend's reasoning, and for a moment the girl she had challenged actually looked as if she was considering it. Monet interrupted whatever ridiculous line of thought she was now on before any madness could come to fruition.

"You're not wearing a blindfold to the old street."

"I bet I could do it though! I know my way around here like the back of my hand, it'd be easy." Uliana said, trying to get some sort of merit out of the whole discussion. Monet didn't appear impressed, whilst Klavdiya didn't look convinced.

Their various discussions continued for what could have been anywhere from half an hour to a whole hour, or perhaps longer - it was always difficult to tell. Cassia couldn't have cared less, and she was entirely prepared to spend the rest of her day there if the other girls were up for it too, most of them looking content with the same course. Every now and then, one of them would stoke the fire, ensuring that it didn't go out, although they did let it run low on occasion, the dim glow produced when the flames were waning holding a small charm of its own.

Cassia recalled nights in the living room with Adeline after they'd gotten ready for bed, nightgowns on, the fireplace lit, the memory bringing her a sense of warmth that inadvertently left her with a burn. She would have liked to share that setting with all of them, alongside her sister - Monet would be sat with a good book, Klavdiya and Uliana would argue over what to put on the television, Zisel would be listening to them with a look of concern, Taya would be on the floor playing with a few dolls, in her own little world again...

"Hey, Cassie?"

Uliana had been the one to divert her away from the future she'd dared to envision.

"Hmm?"

"What's the first thing you're going to do when you get home? The very first thing?"

It was a question that she hadn't expected to hear in that moment, but it was also one that opened the gates for a sheer multitude of thoughts and ideas. After getting home? She'd not really considered an actual course of action much, typically because of that sting that came with imaging it. Now that the letters were on their way, however...

"I'll talk to everyone, and let them know that I'm okay." She said, coming to such a decision surprisingly fast. As she thought about it, it wasn't really surprising at all.