The Fairy, The Witch and Lost Items

7. Random meetings.

Terry opened her eyes and couldn't understand where she was. Again. This time, though, it wasn't a hotel room.

She was laying on the narrow bed in a tight room of wood, in the twilight, and in the round window she could see some sky colors of red, with lines of clouds on the horizon. At the first moment, she thought that she had vertigo again, but then she realized that she was on a ship, and the whole room was swaying with her inside.

Trying to sit up, she dropped the blanket on the floor with a quiet rustle and fell back down, with no energy whatsoever.

"You're finally awake." 

Terry turned her head on a woman's voice, but couldn't find her with a gaze. "Who—"

"Gimme a minute."

And truly, in a minute a woman appeared out of the corner of the room. She was small, short-haired and desperately tanned, wearing just shorts and a thin shirt with rolled-up sleeves. Her smile was timid, as if she had slightly forgotten how to do that. "How are you feeling?"

"Decent, I guess," Terry tried to sit again and swayed visibly.

"Yeah, I see. 'Decent'." She said it with a brief sarcasm in her voice. "Poor girl. Do you need something? Water? Toilet?"

"Everything." Terry tried to smile.

"Poor girl," she repeated, supporting her as she stood up. "Come on. You're just in time, the dinner is almost ready."

"Dinner!" She suddenly realized that she was ravenously hungry. "I should thank you for—"

"You should shut up for a minute," the woman said with a subtle tender, while they were walking over the room — cabin, thought Terry, it's called a cabin, "don't spend energy on speaking. There will be time to chat."

They were eating in the silence. Terry tried to say something, but caught the woman's look — uncontented, almost angry — and stopped. 

"Eat. Don't speak." She was, it seemed, a bit upset by something Terry was yet to understand. Finally, they sat back on the benches and stared at each other with a studying look.

"Alright. Now we can talk, but not for long — you need to sleep. So, bringing you up to speed, you're on my yacht. Name's Clara. Yacht name. My name is Eve. Don't mix." She laughed shortly, and Terry timidly smiled.

"I only remember that I was on the beach," slowly said Terry. "And oh! Where is my manners! My name is Terry." 

Eve nodded. "You were on the beach, fainted. It was such a surprise — I haven't seen how you appeared. Just puff! And you're here. Mind explaining? No," she interrupted herself, "none of my business, my apologies. One can have own secrets."

"I... Much obliged." 

Eve just waved it off. "Yeah, many thanks, yada yada...do you think I'm a kind of person who can just leave fainted girl laying on the beach? It's not even a big deal. Thank someone for a thing one done out of a normal."

Terry felt again how her other part popped up, and even her voice had slightly changed. "No, I think it's a big deal." 

Eve froze, her eyes widened. She clearly heard the change of tone too. 

"I didn't mean that you can leave someone in distress. I thank you not only because you've done that, but also as a reminder of what normal is, even if you don't need me to remind."

After a long minute of silence, Eve gave a voice. "You're too adult, aren't you?" 

Terry laughed devilishly. "It's a freaking destiny or what? You're the second who told me that this week."