S a l e t é I I

XX - Dents - Neuf

"It's not like we didn't know this was going to happen. I told you it would."

"Yeah yeah, fine, but that doesn't change things now, does it?"

The hour of the next outing had arrived, only this one had begun in a manner that Cassia had never witnessed before, leading to the round of bickering that was now unfolding between Uliana and Klavdiya. Monet had come downstairs as she always did, key to the storeroom in hand and ready to get everything organised, only instead of selecting her two companions she had summoned all of the girls at once.

Zisel was sat on one the smaller containers closest to the storeroom door as she listened to the others, hands in her lap, a worrisome streak already dashing her expression. The two more boisterous girls sounded mostly unfazed, whilst Taya didn't appear to know much about what was going on - she'd simply come along as she was told - and now she was stood off to one side, uninterested in the others as she swayed back and forth.

Cassia was waiting for Monet to step back out of their storage space as well, making an attempt to figure out what was going on in the meantime, and she had a decent suspicion. Thankfully, she didn't have to wait long, as the girl in red had entered merely to collect the three drinks - one for each outgoing party member.

"There's no need to spend time whittling, I've already worked things out." She announced as she joined them again, closing the door behind her, the key still presently in the lock. Everyone in attendance was paying attention from the minute she began to speak, even Taya looking her way.

"We'll have to do halves today. It's as simple as that."

"That's what I was going to say." Uliana agreed, a hint of pride coming to her as the leader stated the same scheme she'd envisioned.

Indeed, what Monet had said had addressed the issue that Cassia had suspected as being behind their small meeting. Over recent days, they'd managed to keep their Honey stores up at a manageable number, scraping up enough in the way of results during each outing in order to get by fairly comfortably, with a little help from the factory children halfway through what must have been the week. Today, however, their stores were not so rosy, to the degree that they had five bottles remaining before anyone had even set out, a fact that was slightly problematic considering that there were six of them.

By going with halves, as the leader had suggested, one bottle would at least partially sate two of them. Cassia was all for it, if it would help to stretch their supply of the cherry kissed nectar she revered, but that didn't mean she was entirely pleased with the plan.

"Is everyone okay with that?" Monet asked, keen to hear their thoughts on the matter before she went ahead with her solution.

"Will that be enough? Just half?" Cassia asked, wasting no time in putting her concern forward.

"It'll be fine, we've had to do it before sometimes. No biggie." Uliana assured her, giving her a small smile, the response one that went quite some way in putting her mind at ease. Even so, Monet herself still gave an answer.

"It isn't ideal, but we must make do. Our luck will change, it always does."

She handed Uliana one of the bottles she'd been holding as she spoke, before she handed the second to Klavdiya and then the third to Zisel, placing it carefully into the latter girl's hands, earning an appreciative nod.

"And do you know why?" Monet asked as she concluded these handouts, addressing Cassia again, the younger girl shaking her head gently, such a gesture prompting Klavdiya to reply in her place.

"Because we're going to change it!"

"Precisely. There are always actions that we can take."

Uliana had quickly had her half from the bottle that she'd received. She handed what was left to Cassia now, whilst Klavdiya handed her remaining half to Monet.