Stolen Scales

Chapter 25

Lahira smiles at Kyma. "It's getting dark, would you like to go get something to eat? Alai, you're welcome to join us."

Alai smiles. "That would be lovely, thank you Queen Lahira."

Lahira smiles. "It is no trouble at all, Alai. Shall we go?"

The two girls nod, and finally step out of the water the rest of the way. Once ashore, Kyma digs her toes against the cool stone, relishing in the feeling. Her mother leads them out of the room to the hill above the city, with the small group followed by the two guards. As they approach the house. Lahira turns to Alai.

"I think it would be a good idea if you told your family where you are going to be. We don't need Roan in a panic."

Alai giggles, and darts off to her house. She's barely gone for a couple of minutes before she returns, her face flushed and grinning. Kyma frowns, not sure if that flush is from the run or maybe something else. She shakes off her thoughts as Alai approaches, and grins at her. Surprisingly, Alai turns an even deeper red at that. They continue on to the house, and step through the door into the living room. When Kyma looks over to where the kitchen would be in the underwater house, there is a kitchen in this house. But of course, you can't swim up on land, so the sleeping rooms are on the other side of the living room as the kitchen, and more spread out than in the underwater house.

Lahira leads them into the kitchen, and Kyma peers around curiously at the room. Because the house is on land, most areas where there would have been storage ledges now have cabinets, with a few small exceptions. Lahira begins to pull some things out of the cabinets, presumably in order to start prepping food. Both girls step forward to help, but Lahira turns around to look at them sternly, despite the twinkle in her eye.

"Don't you dare. I can prepare the food, you two sit down and chat." Alai nods and moves to sit on the bench, but Kyma remains in her spot. "Kyma, I promise, I can make food. Go sit down."

Kyma frowns. "I'm used to cooking, I've always done it."

Her mother sighs and steps forward to put her hands on her shoulders, "If they made you cook, you don't have to do it here." Kyma opens her mouth to speak, but her mother holds up a finger to stop her. "If you want to cook, then we can choose a time for you to do so, and we could even have a day where you do that. But for tonight, I'm going to make dinner, alright?" Kyma nods. "Good. Now go sit down with your friend."

Kyma does so, settling gingerly on the bench beside Alai, still slightly uncomfortable with the idea of someone else doing the cooking, having always been the one to do it in her foster home. She cranes her head around to watch as her mother grabs a strip of white meat and begins to slice it with a dagger both similar to and different to the one currently resting in Kyma's bag. She frowns when she remembers the knife and carefully pulls it out of the bag. Alai sees the movement and flicks her eyes down to Kyma's hand and back up to her face, shaking her head to tell Kyma no. Kyma shakes her head in response and carefully draws out the sheath for the dagger and sliding the blade into it.

As Alai watches Kyma's actions, she realizes that Kyma doesn't mean to take the dagger out and relaxes as the dagger is slipped back into Kyma's bag. Kyma returns to watching her mother as she starts to set out the food onto plates. Only a few more minutes go by before Lahira turns, two plates in her hand. She sets them down before Kyma and Alai before turning around to get her own plate. She seats herself beside Kyma on the ledge and picks up a strip of the white meat between her fingertips. She takes a smile bite of it and smiles, clearly enjoying the flavor.

From beside Kyma, there is a quiet "Yes!" Kyma looks at Alai in confusion, and she elaborates. "It's hogfish. It's the tastiest fish here. You'll love it. Try it, Kyma!"

Kyma nods and looks down at her plate. She picks up one of the strips of push and takes a small bite. She almost moans at the taste. The hogfish is both flaky and smooth at the same time, and feels like it is melting by just sitting there on her tongue. It tastes sweet, not at all like most fish. Encouraged by the flavor, she looks down at her plate again to find the next item. She halts in surprise at the familiar sight of Hijiki seaweed. Nami has told her about it, but it is found in Asia, so why is it here, in the Dominican Republic? She frowns in confusion, and her mother notices.

"It's Hijiki. Try it, it's quite tasty."

Kyma shakes her head. "I know it's Hijiki. Nami has told me about it, but how is it here? We're nowhere near Asia and the locations where it grows."

Her mother laughs. "It grows here, there's a little spot in the city cavern where it has the right conditions. Someone brought some of it over from Asia along time ago, and it began to grow here, so now we eat Hijiki."

Kyma nods and takes a bite of the twig-like Hijiki, and smiles at the familiar taste. She can't wait to tell Nami about the Hijiki, knowing that the last time she had it was when her birth family lived in Japan. It doesn't take long for the meal to be demolished. In fact, Kyma stole some of Alai's Hijiki, due to her having stuffed herself with the strips of hogfish.

Alai stands from the table, beaming. "Thank you, Queen Lahira, the meal was delicious."

"You're welcome, Alai. I assume you can make it home safely? Or would you like me to send one of the guards with you, just in case?"

Alai shakes her head. "That won't be necessary. But could I walk with Kyma?"

"Of course."

Alai smiles gratefully and pulls Kyma out of the house. They walk over to Alai's house, faces barely lit in the twilight. When they reach Alai's house, Alai turns to Lyma, her face serious and ghostly in the moonlight.

"Don't tell anyone about that dagger, and don't let anyone see it."

"But what-"

Alai's voice is harsh. "No one, Kyma. No one can know of the dagger. Trust me on this, please. If you want to know more, we can talk about it in the morning."

"But where?"

"Meet me in front of my house tomorrow morning, and I'll show you some place where we can talk in private."

With that, Alai turns and walks into her house, leaving Kyma to return to her new one in the growing darkness.
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What do you guys think is so important about that dagger Kyma found? Why does she need to hide it? Ok, I know the questions are getting a bit redundant, but . . .

Sadly, you guys won't be getting any more chapters for a week, because I'm going to an area without service, and Wattpad doesn't like those areas. But I promise, I'll be back with more chapters on Saturday, ok?

Happy reading, and I'll see you in a week!

~Goddess of Fate, signing out.