The Moondrops

~Ten~ Fairies Breaking Spells

"Why aren't you going with her?"

I'm sitting at one of the three window seats of our room, looking out onto the fields of the castle. Several groups and pairs of striplings are doted across it, making use of the well-deserved leisurely time we have.

I look behind me to come face-to-face with Jimena. She's recumbed in her bed and glancing at me from above the book she has in her hands, waiting for my reply.

Taking my legs off the seat, I rest my back on the leaded window pane so I face her fully. For a second, I had forgotten I wasn't the only one in the room, lost in my thoughts.

Thoughts that consist mostly of how different my life has become over the span of five days, my home back in Port Harcourt, and how worried my parents are right now.

I sigh, "I don't know, I realised I haven't had much time to myself since I got here. I didn't go on the walk with Zeeta because I'm feeling a little caught up with everything and I usually think things out alone."

Jimena raises an eyebrow, "What am I, crushed tezzens?"

I chuckle lightly at her remark, "You know how reserved you are. Whereas if I went with Zeeta, she'd busy me with enough chats to make me forget why my mind feels weighed down."

"Understood. I've already told her more than twice now that I truly am happy with silence, but she won't take a hint," she says as she rolls her eyes and I laugh at that too.

Zeeta, as I've come to know, loves nothing more than being lustrous company to the people around her. She is the epitome of 'people person'. Jimena on the other hand, though convinced and plainspoken, appreciates quietude, as you'd often find her immersed in a book she'd gotten from the castle library.

"Well?" she shuts her book and places it beside her. "Would you like to talk about what's on your mind? I'm sure sharing will help you feel lighter as compared to repeatedly mulling it over alone."

With the encouraging slight smile Jimena sends me, I momentarily contemplate sharing my hassling thoughts with her. But why should I? It wouldn't be right of me to burden her with them too.

Burden. Why did I ever ungratefully refer to my responsibilities with that? I know it's unfair of me to think so. My adoptive parents have every right to expect the absolute best of me, they've invested a lot after all, though I wonder why they haven't abandoned me for the disappointment I am yet. Maybe they still consider me a gift, showing up at the time they'd discovered they could have no children of their own. A blessing from God, they would say.

I still don't know precisely how I got here or when I'll see my adoptive parents again. But for now, the fact that I'm surprisingly getting better with the training and that I could be of use to the moondrops makes my stay feel worth it. Not forgetting the possibility I may find out who my birth parents are.

"Don't think too much into it. You don't have to talk if you don't want to," Jimena says, bringing me out of my thoughts again as she shrugs.

"Oh...I just-"

Knock-knock. I'm interrupted by someone at the door.

"Lemme check who it is," I say to Jimena, looking at her apologetically. She nods and reaches for her book again.

Getting to my feet, I walk over to the door-which is to my left-and open it. A royal guard stands a foot from the door, looking formal and stolid as they commonly do.

"The royals require your presence at the throne room, you have to come with me now," he tells me.

"Okay," I reply simply, both hopeful and uneasy that this might be about what I think it is.