Love and Other Crisis | Season 1

Episode | 33

"Ah." Eli raised his bonsai prune shears like a man who'd experienced an epiphany. "But everywhere is different from nowhere. Perhaps you've built your walls too high and too thick."

Kaliope frowned. "Meaning?"

"Meeting the right people makes you more of who you are, not less. You'll blossom where you're meant to grow once you're comfortable and let down those shields." Professor Reynold smiled fondly at his bonsai tree and continued his pruning.

Kaliope wasn't one of the professor's treasured bonsai trees. All the same, he handled her with the same care, snipping away at her defenses until he inserted himself solidly into her life. Bit by bit, he shaped her, helping her regain who she was outside of her mother's influence. Though she fought him tooth and nail at the onset, she was grateful to him. Her greatest fear was losing sight of herself again for the sake of love and acceptance.

"But, professor, how will I know where I'm meant to grow?"

"Where you feel more and not less. But, there is a caveat."

Kaliope stuck her tongue into her cheek. "Right. There are always conditions."

"Of course. Everything in life has conditions and consequences and multiple facets. It's what makes life interesting. All the possibilities. For you to grow, Kaliope, you must also put in the effort."

~~

Hmm. Put in the effort.

Surprised to see Inola at her desk when she returned, Kaliope froze. The fox demon showed her kindness. Tended to her when she was sick. Wasn't that the definition of a friend? Weren't they already...?

Kaliope pursed her lips. She gazed towards Ronin's empty office, then down at her coffee. But what if things didn't pan out as expected? What if she lost her job at Sage Tower? Would she lose her memories of everything she experienced here? All the people she met? And if she made friends. Formed attachments. Was she meant to blossom in a world she wasn't truly a part of?

"Kaliope?"

Her head snapped up at Inola calling her name. The fox demon stood with a folder clutched to her chest. Head tilted sideways in curiosity.

"I-I thought you left for the day."

"Forgot this." Inola waved the folder. "I'm headed out."

"Inola, wait."

"What's up?"

Kaliope swallowed the lump in her throat. "I'm not good at making friends. Well, I don't have any friends. Except for Professor Reynolds. But I guess he's more like an uncle." The words rushed from Kaliope's lips, and she grimaced at how pathetic they sounded. She was in her mid-twenties with only one meaningful relationship to speak of. "What I'm trying to say— I want to be your friend. I honestly don't know how to be a good one."

Another fear teased its way in. What if Inola discovered who Old Kaliope was? Would she want to be friends then? Kaliope hadn't considered her past might rear its ugly head. She mentally flailed for a way to retreat. For a way to...

Inola bounced on her toes, and her tails popped out, startling Kaliope. With a swing of her hips, they disappeared.

"Sorry. They pop out whenever I'm overly excited or worried."

Like the night Ronin brought her to the med mage ward after her collapse at Katerina's store. Inola had been fidgeting with her tails in the observation room. Inola linked her arm with Kaliope's. Her eyes glowed a vibrant, happy green, her toothy grin wide. Hopeful. How could anyone be so unreserved and open?

Kaliope swallowed. She was in it now. She doubted the fox demon would allow or accept any takebacks.

"Friends then."

Kaliope nodded. "Friends."

~

In the elevator ride to the lobby, Kaliope addressed her curiosities. "What's a Southender?"

Inola's nose twitched, and for a second, it seemed she wanted to refuse to respond. "We have four fox clans—East, West, North, and South. You can sometimes tell us apart from our eyes. Westenders have gold eyes. Northender, gray. Eastenders, blue or green. Southenders are light brown."

"Ah." Tobias had sandy brown eyes.

"My colors are mixed because my dad's an Eastender, and he married my mom, a Northender. What about your family?"

Mentally, Kaliope withdrew from the conversation, almost on instinct. Inola sensed it as the fox demon frowned.

"Don't you have any family?"

"I do. We...don't get along. We're not like..." Kaliope recalled the collage of pictures Inola displayed like a shrine to her happy family life. If anyone could read her aura, would she shine green with envy?

"It makes you sad."

Kaliope gave her a waned smile. "Once in a while."

And in those times, she missed her older sister, Norah. Except for their last name and parents, they shared no other similarities. At one point in their lives, it didn't matter. And once it became an issue, the gap between them yawned open and swallowed their relationship. The name of that gaping hole was Myra Norris-Barnes, their mother.

Kaliope shook off the encroaching melancholy. "But us not being together is for the best. I don't like who I am when I'm with them. Sometimes," as the Falgors and Katerina's situations illustrated, "your family's what destroys you."