Feel of Healing - Children of the Serpent part 2

Learning & Forgetting

I stared at the knife in my hand. They came to me, the memories of all the times I'd been hurt, but yet never had a wound. My stomach twisted and turned, feeling afraid at the thought. I shouldn't be doing this, my whole body was screaming at me. But yet I didn't put the knife down.
There was a theory I needed to test.
Slowly, I pressed the tip of the knife to the pad of my index finger and dragged it across my skin. It did, indeed make a cut, and I hissed in pain. A second after moving the blade away from my skin, the cut had healed.
It still felt like I just cut myself with a knife. But there was no wound. Now that raised even more questions. Did that mean I would heal quicker than normal people? Or did it mean I healed instantly? Did I always heal my wounds automatically? Or did I only have the ability to heal myself from wounds I caused, purposeful or accidental?
"Pearl!" My mother called. I quickly placed the knife in the knife drawer, before walking to the room she was in. "What is it?" I asked. Then I saw her. A tall woman, with very dark skin and bright, unnatural yellow eyes. Dark green scales dusted her cheekbones, and she had a long, scaly, dark green tail. A cloak hung on the back of the chair she was sitting in.
"Hi, Pearl." She said, smiling softly. I felt shy, and a bit intimidated under her yellow-eyed gaze. My mother focused her green eyes on me, and gestured for me to come near her. Tentatively, I complied, walking beside her. "My name is Zinnia Amary, and I saw what you did on the street a few weeks ago."
There was a subtle glare from my mother, but I attempted to ignore it. "A lot of people did." I murmured. Her tail flicked lightly. "And I must thank you for saving Kira, she...she's my daughter."
Her daughter? "I-it's no problem. I just...acted..?" Zinnia's bright yellow gaze softened, and she reached for my hand. Being her overprotective self, my mother grabbed Zinnia's wrist before she could get close. A flicker of disappointment crossed her face, but she withdrew her hand anyway.
"Now, as for the reason I came, I already explained to Diane. Your gift is a very unique one, and I wanted to help you learn to control it." Zinnia said. "Which I am opposed to because it is not a gift it is a curse." My mother crossed her arms.

"I saved a girl's life! How is that a curse?" Now I was mad. A dark green tail touched my mother's shoulder, and she looked back to Zinnia. "No matter what you think, she still must learn to control it. Granted, she seems to have a better idea of how to control her magic than I did when I first got mine..." Before my mother could argue, she continued, "However, she needs to know how to heal herself."
"She's never gotten hurt before, she's too careful."
I decided not to tell my mother about the endeavor with the knife. "She could get hurt from someone else, though. And she can help other people if they get hurt. Plus if her grades are slipping I could help her."
A skeptical expression made it's way onto my mother's face, although I could tell she was beginning to be swayed. "And if something like the incident in high school happens again?" She asked. That was odd. My mother never mentioned her high school days. Both sadness and anger flickered across Zinnia's face. But then they were gone, making me wonder if I only imagined it. "I promise."
My mother sighed. "Fine. One week. For now."

***

I walked into the dark building, watching as Zinnia shrugged off her cloak. From behind one of the three doors in the room, I could hear music playing. The room we were in was relatively cluttered, with textbooks, papers, and pillows all over, although I could tell it was a sort of organized chaos.
"Good thing your mom said goodbye at the door, eh?" Zinnia asked, chuckling and nudging me in the side. I smiled, "Yeah." I replied, watching as she walked to the door on the back wall. I noticed there was a curtain beside it that was pulled away. "I want to show you something, but as I'm sure you can hear, my daughters are practicing something right now so we need to be quiet."
I nodded, then a thought came to me. The music itself was muffled, so I couldn't tell what style it was. "Incidentally, what kind of music are they playing?" I asked. "Um...usually they play folk or alternative, and sometimes acoustic covers of pop songs. Kira mentioned something about them doing a more alternative pop style, so I'm not sure." Then she chuckled.
"Okay." Really, I understood. Music styles were very complicated. With a scaled hand, Zinnia pushed open the door. The music instantly flooded the room, and I noticed that there were two voices singing as well. It wasn't in a language I understood, but it was very beautiful.
Zinnia led me to the second room on the right and opened the door. "It's all yours." She murmured. As I walked in, I found myself quietly gasping.
Sure, it wasn't much. Just a room with grey walls and blue tinted lights. But the lights cast such a nice shade of blue over the dark wooden floor and walls. And there were a few seashells on the walls. Maybe it was easy to tell from my name, or maybe it was kind of stupid for the same reason, but I loved the ocean and the beach.
"It's not much, but you're free to decorate it with whatever you want. This room is like...a study room, of sorts." Zinnia explained, chuckling nervously. "You don't have to use it, but I have a lot of spare rooms, so..." She trailed off, and as she did so, I hugged her. She was tall, and I only was about as tall as her hip, but I was also only 10. "I like it. Thank you." I said.
She smiled down at me as I pulled away, her long tail curling around her to come and rest on my shoulder. At first it was unsettling, but after barely a heartbeat, I was used to it. Strange, how that worked. "Then let's get started, shall we?"
I nodded. It was at that moment the music stopped playing, which was honestly surprising. From the room across the hall, I heard the sound of happy shouting, and then the door opened. The two girls' eyes widened when they saw me.
"Hey..." The one with dark eyes said. She was the one I healed, so she must've been Kira. Zinnia turned. "Pearl, this is Kira and Jade. Kira and Jade, this is Pearl." She said. "Nice to meet you." Jade said, nodding. Her face had settled into an almost black expression. "You too." I replied.
It was a bit weird. I was only truly meeting them for the first time, however I'd spoken with them on the street after I healed Kira. And yet despite technically knowing them, all three of us seemed to be a bit awkward. Jade was shifting from one foot to the other, Kira was playing with her sleeve, and I myself just awkwardly stared.
Sensing our confusion and awkwardness, Zinnia touched my shoulder with her dark hand. "I know she saved you that day, and I wanted to teach her to harness her abilities better. Just like with you two." She paused as Jade cocked her head slightly. Under the girl's catlike pink gaze, something in Zinnia's head must've clicked. "I mean, it's just part-time classes. It's no trouble to you guys, right?"
She didn't seem to be anything like my mother. Or what I'd seen of my friends' mothers. Zinnia just seemed...genuinely open with her daughters. "Sorry I didn't mention it before." She loved them greatly, and it was obvious. She seemed like she would be okay with them doing anything, as long as it wasn't dangerous. And maybe it was because of her young age, but she also seemed to be unsure of her actions. It was strange. But at the same time, it seemed to work well.
After a moment's hesitation, Kira's face broke into a grin. "Yeah. I'm fine with it." She shifted her gaze to me, and if I wasn't mistaken, her smile grew gentle, welcoming. A ghost of a smile graced Jade's soft face, and she nodded as well. "Should we do a group lesson for the first one?" She asked.
Zinnia thought for a moment. Then she nodded, smiling. "Yeah. That way it's not awkward, right?" She looked at me, and I smiled too, nodding.

***

"You sing really pretty, Jade." I said. She looked unsure of how to respond, before she smiled softly. "Thanks." She replied. "You're welcome." I smiled back at her. Kira leaned back against the wall, chuckling. "Say it."
Jade gave her a look I couldn't quite read and said something I didn't understand. I was confused, but she looked back at me after Kira nodded. "Okay, so, um, I know I don't...speak that much, but, um... I'm really glad you're here with us." She said. "Oh, it's nothing!" I said. "No, I mean, I'm happy that you take classes from Mom. And I know I'm older than you so it might be a bit weird sometimes, but it's like being back at the orphanage, and it's...calming."
I hugged her, and for a moment she stiffened, but then she pulled me closer. I knew she didn't speak a lot, but when she did it was simple, yet easy to understand. And she often had a blank expression, making her a mystery. However I could tell she cared for her younger sister. And it made me glad to know that she was comfortable with me, because I couldn't tell that myself.
"I'm glad too." I said, looking up at her and smiling. Jade cracked a small smile. Her eyes were kind. Then she pulled me into another hug. I noticed for the first time she smelled vaguely of wood. Like a guitar.
As I pulled away, I looked at Kira, who was smiling. She moved forward to hug us both, drawing out a laugh from her sister.

A warm feeling rose in my chest. A feeling of belonging. These people were like a second family to me. It was...nice.
With them, I could forget the chaos I had in my own family. All the fights and the pain just seemed to...melt away.