Mima and the rest of the people that were at the market had dispersed to go back to the inn. It was a quiet walk back with everyone in their thoughts. The whole town seemed to be quiet that day. Mima had gone straight into the kitchen and she was followed by a few, Daya, Rai, Mia, Finn, and Caldor. The others lounged around seated doing nothing. They had found Daya back at the inn, calm.
"Do you think she's fine?" Daya asked Mima.
"I don't know." Mima said. "In times like this, she has her walls up. It's hard to read."
"I think what she's trying to ask... or specifically what I want to know is if she's going to be alright after this." Finn asked Mima. "You know what happens when something like this happens."
"I don't know, Finn." Mima turned to him. "I don't even want to think about it. This is why I let her travel. So that things like this don't happen. I just hope she doesn't go into depression."
"Isn't she always depressed?" Marie asked. "Sorry, I'm just asking. She's usually quiet and in the past few days she's been more... outgoing."
"Yeah, she's even managed to school Caldor." Daya added just because.
"There was no need for that but Marie does make a point." Caldor commented. "I thought she was always... no offense... depressed."
"That's her minding her own business and that's also her coping being around a lot of people in a community, in an institute specifically." Mima said. "When she's depressed, you'll know... and you'd wish for things to have been different."
"So what do you think will happen? Will she have to disappear again?" Finn asked. "We can't afford that. I can't afford that."
"Maybe we should stop worrying about that now." Mima said. "And please stop asking me about the future. I have a funeral to attend."
"Funeral?" Mia asked.
"I'm not good with funerals." Finny's eyes were sad.
"That's okay, Finn." Mima said.
"Where's this funeral?" Caldor asked.
"Where you almost took her the other day." Mima looked at him and he understood.
"I want to come with." Mia said.
"Me too." Daya and Rai said.
"Then wear white. It's a serpent's fangs funeral." Caldor told them. "And cover your hair too."
"You know this how?" Daya looked at him.
"I have friends." Caldor left for his room.
Soon they were out of the inn all in white. Some had to ask Mima for help with their attires too.
"Rai, why are you wearing a veil?" Marie asked.
"I thought Caldor said we should cover our hair." he looked around.
"He meant the women, sweetie." Mima told him.
"Oh!" he took off his white cloth. "Damn! It was hard fixing it. Anyway."
"Let's just go." Mima said as they walked. "And please do keep to yourself. Keep your distance from Bella."
"Why?" Daya asked.
"Rather than her pushing you away, I'd prefer that, please." Mima said.
"Can we come with?" a serpent's fang girl came by with a few other serpent's fangs.
"Why?" Daya frowned.
"We'd like to help with the water ritual." the girl said.
"Saheeba..." Marie started.
"Please!" the girl, whose name was Saheeba insisted.
"Again, just keep your distance." Mima reminded and proceeded to walk.
They walked all through the streets and into the thin woods where Caldor couldn't get to go the other day when Bella walked out on him on the search.
"Alright, we're thirty feet away." Mima said.
"Take off your shoes." Caldor told them as he did his.
"Why?" Mia asked.
"It's tradition." Saheeba told her.
"And Daya, no cursing, no worldly possessions and please put your hair inside the veil properly." Caldor pinched the bridge of his nose.
Everyone did what they were told and they walked until they could see a pile of wood bed with a white covered little body except the face. Only the eyes were covered by a white cloth. It was Queenie.
Far ahead near the river bank sat a distraught Arabella giving them her back, hugging her legs to her chest.
"Stay here!" Mima whispered as she left to her.
"What's that?" Daya whispered to Rai and they all turned.
"It's a..." Marie started.
"Tombstone!" Rai finished.
And from the writings on it, Caldor knew why Bella didn't want to go to that side of the woods. He felt a pinch in his chest. Guilt!
"Kai? Bella never said she had a brother." Mia said.
"Bella doesn't say anything." Daya looked at Mia.
"I think I'm also not a funeral person." Rai said
"No one is." Caldor said. "So stop gossiping and keep quiet."
They all went silent as they watched Mima talk to the distressed Bella. After fixing her hair inside a veil, she was able to get her up from where she had sat. She stood in front of the tombstone and said something in a tongue none of them understood and then walked with Mima to them.
"Thanks for coming." Bella managed to mutter as she eyed Saheeba. "Let's just get this over with."
She turned to Queenie's body.
"Here!" Mima gave her a clay pot. "If you want, I can help with..."
"That's okay. I'll do it myself." Bella told her and went to pour oil over the pile of wood as she circled it carefully. Clockwise, three times.
She took out another pot from beneath the wood and put it on top of the wood bed. It was Esme's ashes that she couldn't send away without finishing the ritual because she wasn't from the Serpent's Fang order.
"Life starts when our heads peep out from our mother's wombs..." she started.
"It goes on as we grow and can crawl, walk, and run by our feet." Caldor proceeded with the chant.
"Then we start living to find purpose..." Mima looked at Caldor.
"...and then we follow our dreams." Saheeba spoke as Caldor lit the wood bed on fire.
Arabella moved away as she watched the fire consume the wood and the body on top of it. It broke her once again. She watched as her failed promise burnt to ash. She watched as a little girl rested at such a small age.
Maybe it was guilt. Guilt that burnt in Arabella's chest. For not revealing to the girl that her mother was gone, for not telling her about her mother's death, and for letting her die with the hope of seeing her mother alive.
"We thank the gods of water of life." the members of the Serpent's Fang order prayed.
Saheeba stepped forward and raised her hand in front of the fire but her energy was concentrated on the river ahead.
"For life started from water, hence water is life itself. It gives, it takes. It blesses, never curses. We thank it for purpose, for dreams and we give back accepting the losses." Saheeba looked at Arabella. "Of a mother and child, Esme and Queen."
Arabella inhaled sharply, holding back tears. "Don't cry! Don't cry!" she thought.
"We thank and give back. We bless and give back. As you give, you take, we give back. Give more, so we're mostly grateful to give back." they continued.
"From the waters we come." Mima led.
"To the waters, we return!" they responded. "Hearts full of thanks for seeing the light in turn."
"Take, as we humbly return!" Saheeba pulled the water from the river and a stream formed crawling to the burning wood bed. "Take as we humbly return"
Sweat prickled Saheeba's skin as she drew the water and it formed a crawling stream around the fire bed.
"Take, as we humbly return!"
The water from the stream circled the fire and it raised as Saheeba raised her arms. It raised like a big bubble, it raised over the fire and covered it. It went silent and when Saheeba dropped her arms, the water swallowed the fire consuming the bodies and everything was flat on the ground as the area formed a small pond where the wood bed laid once.
Mima started her serenading as she sang softly and suddenly, they could hear a melody... it came from the waters. It was soft and mournful. It was from the sirens. Still, it felt quiet.
Until two green long and thick serpents emerged from the small pond and slithered on the ground around them. Daya caught Rai's arm as she gasped and so did Mia to Marie. Most of the females from the Serpent's Fang order fixed their hair properly inside their veils.
The serpents went around quietly hissing as they grew thicker and thicker. Finally, one of them stopped at Arabella's feet and she almost gasped. Caldor almost closed the distance. Everyone was quiet except Mima and the sirens who sang.
The serpent climbed Arabella as it rolled around her just like the tendrils that rolled around the men who killed Esme and her child. Arabella stayed still as she was trapped in the Serpent's hold. It finished by rolling itself around her neck and pushing away to stare at Arabella. It pinned her, rolled tightly around her and Arabella felt the suffocation.
It suddenly pulled off her veil and the majority gasped. There was fear in most of those who understood. Caldor almost went over when Saheeba held her hand up to stop him.
A tear slid down Arabella's cheek and the serpent caressed it. It hissed at Arabella as it ran its tail along her hair. Arabella's heart thundered.
"The hair is the nearest to the brain, to the mind." she remembered her father's words. " Always cover it in a Serpent's Fang funeral or else the serpent in them will attach itself to your hair."
"What will happen?"
"For a serpent, she'll be possessed with the dead party's serpent. They have rituals to remove them. But for someone of a different order, our minds weren't built to interact with the serpents. You'd immediately die."
She had looked at him scared.
"Unless they spare you."
Her father's voice rang in her head. Would Queenie's serpent spare her? Or would she attach itself to her and kill her? She deserved it, she thought. She lied to her, she couldn't protect her.
"Don't torment yourself, Bella." Mima warned.
But she loved her. She thought. She'd failed her but she'd loved her immensely. And she'd have to live with that.
The serpent then rolled off her body as Arabella stood still. When it was fully gone, she almost stumbled from that. Caldor caught her in time as she caught her breath.
The two serpents slithered back into the pond and circled its edges.
"Come look!" Saheeba told Bella.
She rushed as she fixed the veil on her head again and for the first time, she saw the faces of the mother and daughter in the pond like a mirror. She saw Queenie's green and beautiful eyes, something she never knew of her. A sob escaped her as she covered her mouth and a tear dropped into the pond.
The serpents finally followed the stream and went into the river as the stream followed behind them. The pond slowly closed in and finally, it was one stream flowing to the river as the ground went dry.
Arabella released another sob as she got on her knees. She felt her chest clench and her stomach churn. They were gone and for good. Mima's singing seized just as Saheeba's chants stopped.
The females finally took off their veils. The funeral was over. Daya turned to find Mia crying on her side.
"You're right, Rai." she whispered to him. "Funerals aren't for everyone."
They heard footsteps behind them and turned to see Finehas walking by. He was there, quietly. He walked towards Arabella and knelt to her.
"Hey!" Finn held her by the shoulders and Bella collapsed on his chest and cried. "I'm here."
"You came." she cried.
"Yes. I did." he held her.
Daya held Rai and there was sadness and vulnerability in her expression. Rai put her in his arms. Marie was the only strong one among them and held onto Mia.
Caldor jumped and left the area immediately.
The walk back to the inn was quiet as it started to get dark out. Arabella was in Finn's and Mima's arms as they walked. It was again, a quiet walk back. Arabella sat out on the bench outside the inn staring into space. Her face was pale and she had no tears left in her. Her mouth was dry from all the liquid she'd lost in her crying. Her veil was clutched in her hands tightly.
Most of them walked inside the inn as Mima sat beside Arabella. Daya, Rai, Marie, Mia, and Finn remained out with her.
"We should get inside." Mima told Bella.
"Yeah, it's cold out." Rai said.
"What would you do?" Bella finally spoke after being quiet for a while.
"What?" Mima looked at her.
"What would you do if you would've lost me?" she stared deep into Mima's eyes.
"Sweetie..."
"What would you do?"
"Bella!" Mia put her hand over hers.
Arabella pulled away and a dark void covered her, consuming her and it traveled into the inn and into a room that went dark, one could see it from the window.
Mia took back her hand from the air that it was left in.
"I don't know what I'd do." Mima's voice broke. "I don't know." she finally cried and Finn held her.
And it was quiet for the whole evening and dinner was quiet with them barely eating. The whole little town was surprisingly quiet. Mima wasn't at the table and so was Arabella.
"Can we have that drink now?" Rai dared to ask.
"Go ahead!" Caldor finally allowed.
And they sat and drank and no one had any differences, no one talked about their differences. It was a quiet drinking session, to end the horrible day. It had been quite a day.
*
Days of Caldor writing finally got a response the next day. The line was fixed and the train was coming by in less than five days. It was good news but his chest clenched. He knew he wasn't leaving with one of his trainees and he cared less about getting in trouble about it.
He knew there was no way of convincing Arabella to go with them. She had barely gotten out. No one had seen her since the funeral except Mima who entered and came out of her room and said nothing.
"I don't know." Was all Mima said when she was inquired about Bella. "I can't get into her head and she's blank."
"Is she saying a word at least?" Finny asked worried.
"No." Mima's brows furrowed.
"Do you think..." Finn started.
"No!" Mima stopped him. "Don't even mention that. It took me years to revive her from that situation." Mima left the spot.
Surprisingly, the town was quiet especially the man that almost died in Bella's hands. He was quiet permanently, not able to speak, his voice box broken in irreversible repair.
*
"She spoke!" Mima came down the stairs to Finn. "She spoke." she looked relieved.
"So?" Daya asked.
"So it's a good sign. Bella not speaking is bad." Mima told her.
"Bella doesn't speak." Daya said.
"You don't want to know what I mean, child." Mima told her.
"What did she say?" Finn asked.
"That she wasn't hungry." Mima told him.
"That's it?" Finn asked.
"Yeah." Mima smiled.
"Okay." Finn looked relieved.
"You do know that she hasn't eaten at all." Rai told them.
"I know. I know... I can work on that." Mima told him.
"Did she say anything about coming back to Greyenvir?" Mia asked softly.
Mima looked at her. "No, sweetie."
Mia just nodded and left.
"She's still blaming herself?" Daya said.
"Partly. Bella has her own personal issues." Mima told them.
"Talk to her. Maybe she'll come with us." Rai hoped.
"I don't understand why all of you want her to go back." Finn spoke. "That place isn't even good for her."
"Because she's good. She's a good trainee and she has potential." Rai told him. "That place isn't good to her, not for her.
Finehas just scoffed and left the room with Mima following.
"Anything?" Caldor's voice asked Mima and she knew what he wanted to hear.
"No." Mima told him after Finny was far off.
"Talk to her."
"Like I said, I can't promise anything."
"I know."
Mima looked at him. "You're affected by the funeral."
"I'm fine." Caldor's eyes softened.
Caldor had been quiet all the while ever since he left the funeral that day.
"There's never a time interval when you lose someone you love. It's all the same."
"How would you know?" Caldor chuckled sadly.
"Because I went through what you went through. We just learn to move past it. We never forget."
Caldor didn't utter a word.
"She was from the Serpent's Fang...?"
"Please!" Caldor stopped her.
She tapped his shoulder. "I'll talk to her." she turned and left.
Caldor listened to her leave and felt something, someone stared at him. He looked up to a window and saw her. Arabella looked down at Mima who left then Caldor then swiftly walked away from the window disappearing into the room.
And he was the only one other than Mima who got a glance at her, even for a second.
*
"I'm not going back." Bella told Mima.
She was in her nightgown covered in a nightrobe. She had her hair down over her shoulders and she was pale. Pale from both mourning and staying in for a long time.
"Bella..."
"I saw you talk to Caldor."
"But sweetie. Nothing is holding you back here." Mima put the food on the table.
"I'm not going back to Greyenvir." Bella turned to the window.
"Your father would..."
"Please don't involve him in this."
"It's not what I was discussing with Caldor, anyway." Mima finally spoke. "He also has his issues but he chooses to fight them and keep going not lock himself up in a room feeling guilty and sorry for themselves."
"I need to be alone."
"Arabella!"
"I'm not hungry." she cut her off.
Mima looked at her with teary eyes. "You're acting just like Heydar."
"What does my father have to do with this?"
"He sat up all day and night brooding, mourning, weeping for what he lost." Mima's voice broke. "And he forgot what he had left. You!"
"He did not forget me." she turned to her.
"You were just a child." Mima told her. "I distracted you, kept you busy so that you don't have to go through neglect..."
"Pappy never neglected me." Bella became upset.
"He didn't. Because he finally woke up and saw you. It took me a while to get through to him and he finally saw what he had. The precious child he had." Mima said firmly. "It's time for you to see the same."
"What?"
"All your life! All your dreams, your hopes, your purpose... your friends." Mima looked hurt. "People who love you. You can't expect me to always sit here and be strong for you when you're not trying. I give you roses but I hide the thorns. Bella, not everyone is fine."
"Then, what do you want me to do?" Bella cried.
"Get up! There are some days that I wake up and feel like crap. I miss my late husband, I miss your father but I move on. I see you. I wear a face and pretend to be okay until I am okay. Do that. Don't brood over lost things. They won't be able to move on and so won't you."
Bella cried, curling on her bed.
"Be the strong girl your father made you. 'With a new site, comes a new smile!'" Mima spoke. She then took the lunch that wasn't even touched and left the room.
Arabella just crouched and cried herself to her own thoughts, deep, deep into her own thoughts.
*
"She didn't touch her lunch." Daya spoke when Mima came down the stairs.
"She'll eat. Give her time." Mima spoke.
"She's going to starve herself to death." Daya said worried.
"I said give her time!" Mima snapped and Daya backed away. "I'm sorry!" Mima put the platter on the table. "I'm just... I'm not having an easy day."
"Are you okay?" Daya asked.
"Honestly, no!" Mima left the inn and went to the main house.
Again, the night was quiet and most of them were just packing up the little they had to leave for the next train. Mostly, they went to bed super early that night.
Eron was outside sketching something in his book quietly in the dark of the night. With the help of the lanterns outside and the little light that the moon could give, he did just fine, until he heard a voice. He turned to see Caldor at his window speaking to... Arabella who was outside just like him and surprisingly behind him at the bench.
"Fuck!" he almost jumped as he shut his book. "What are you doing?"
Arabella just stared at him with pinpointed pupils.
"...Ms. Heydar! What are you doing out in the cold?" Caldor asked.
"Yeah! What the hell?" Eron stood.
"A walk... just a little walk." she mumbled and walked off.
Eron just stared at her walk away and felt chills go down his spine.
"What did she say?" Caldor asked him.
"She's going for a walk." Eron said. "Something like that." he mumbled and finally headed inside.
Caldor just watched Arabella walk down away from the inn, slowly disappearing.
She needed some space. he thought.
...or so he thought!