15 ~ November 1921

Autumn was setting itself slowly over the country, and softly surrounding the manor.

Its three inhabitants were now well used to one another and lived together peacefully.

Despite her youth hardship, Isha kept at all times her diligence as a maid. Her mistresses were not too strict with her furthermore, probably because they were lacking some of the standing to be real ladies themselves.

They hadn’t really felt concerned checking if even hiring her was legal or not, with the recent trend of things occurring in London. None of them really cared because they all found something good in the current situation, and they made their life as a small family something nice for all of them.

Most of the daytime, Isha was cleaning the house and preparing rooms or meals. When she was not, she usually was going to the town market to buy supplies. If some merchants there knew her a little by then or from before, they never realised or felt any concern with her being a housemaid at the Herson’s manor. Moreover because the sisters themselves were also doing the chores or market by themselves on occasions, for a reason or another. They had their whims.

But for Isha, it really was a full time work nevertheless, with little time to spare.

The little free time she had for herself, she then often was nowhere to be found, venturing in the surrounding lands on her own. Also if Isha could be pleasant to discuss with and enjoy herself discussing on a matter or another with the sisters, she rarely spoke of her childhood. They understood it had been surely more painful than theirs and tried not to be insensitive with her.

Isha was a little private but still rather open and kind.

With their compliments, she was able to sustain her workload despite her young age and frame, partially because they were considerate and not restraining her with unrealistic objectives. They weren’t cheap with her either when it came to sleep and food allowed. She could eat and sleep about as she wished. Isha appreciated their care and generosity.

During the days, Blue and Rose were doing as usual, most days of the week heading into town to work. Rose at the shop and Blue somewhere else. Isha was left to care for the manor on her own, however she could understand that their meagre business was not nearly enough to allow them to live as comfortably as they know did. They were living off their inheritance and she a few chances to overhear some details on that matter.

Rose was still puzzled as to how much savings they were the sole heirs to, with more than enough to last their lifetime, or venture loudly into some businesses outside their home.

To Isha’s understanding, this mostly meant that how the sisters worked in town was useless, and she couldn’t quite understand why they continued doing so, if they already had enough capital to run different kinds of businesses in bigger cities.

The sisters had different perspectives on things and weren’t looking for building further growth and profit. It seemed they enjoyed their mundane existence and heading to town walking every morning, no matter the weather and season. They had oddly flopper lifestyles to her eyes where work was a necessity and a goal in life. A life that was not meant to work and grow capital was irresponsible.

Learning that opinion one day, Blue tried to explain to her how they really felt about it.

The two women were educated and grew without any ties toward respectful higher classes of society or aristocracy. The important thing there was in the deeper meaning of what ties could mean and imply.

Because of how they grew and who they were, they were utterly free to live as they pleased.

They had no honour or sake to defend, no image to sustain. What their parents had managed to do, at the cost of some isolation, was providing for them a nearly absolute freedom from modern society’s requirements and duties.

Thanks to a wealth without debts, only to them, and no legacy to maintain or defend, while they had no need to work they also had no need to do anything but what they fancied.

So they did go to work diligently like Isha would, because it was meaningful to them, even though it was not profitable at all.

In a large freedom like the one they enjoyed, in their extraordinary luck, what would someone else do? Spend their inheritance pointlessly? Accumulate goods? Invest and grow this capital beyond what they could ever use? Throw endless parties with the higher ups to build standing and reputation? Try to build an industrial or political empire?

B - But why would we want any of that?

Their fondest memories were with their family, within the frame of that house and its surrounding lands. The truth was, though they knew little of the world, they already were aware of where their happiness resided. They did not need to live any differently. With their current lifestyle they had quite everything they had longed for, and their work in town was part of it.

Maybe it was wasted potential and playing pretend, but they were happy already. And Isha couldn’t deny they were clearly happy with their lifestyle.

Isha felt she was perhaps still a little young to fully understand their opinion and feelings about the duties of life and the quest for happiness. Her past being different and from lower extract, she would keep differently marked opinions about wealth and happiness likely all her life.

She could understand that there was some kind of blissful feeling floating around this manor ever since she arrived, thanks to the ladies choices. She was enjoying too, more than she fully realised. It was a warm and comforting house where she felt at ease and even good, all the time. She was contaminated or converted gradually by their floating feelings and the lasting mood they kept. This little haven was not something she could have resisted to, not that she tried or wanted to. So somehow, she was already lured and learning about what their lascivious ideas of happiness was, and who they were beyond.

They liked stories, like their late parents before them.

They were sweet dreamers.

~

Blue was still crafting these strange animals from time to time, no matter how poorly they sold.

For now, the most original work she was doing from time to time was in these queer stuffed animals or things...

Because whilst she didn’t expected to sell many, and rarely a customer asked about them, she continued crafting replicas of the remembrances from a long dream that still lingered in a corner of her head.

She couldn’t give them the ability to make the sound of something slowly stepping into a pile of ashes, or to give them that acrid smell, or to make them move. She somewhat managed to give them the ability to mimic the sound of falling sand with some hourglasses, but it wasn’t the same.

They looked like cartoon animals, but the weird perspective around them was disturbing for Isha, and Rose. To Blue they were more trophies than toys. They were partially undeciphered misrepresentations of their mother in that dream. Something was behind, but its comprehension was lost.

To Rose, they were mementos from a journey she didn’t experience herself, and didn’t quite wish either she had.

In the realm where identities were as confused as space and time, turning people into monsters, no matter how ethereal or cute they could be, was an unpleasant prospect of a dream. It was as if their souls and images were to be butchered and turned into other things.

Rose’s work at the shop was the same as usual, although a shelf contained the collection of this odd toys for sale. Although most of the time there she could spend with a fountain pain in hand, over a blank book beside the heavy ledger.

She kept trying to write a few lines of the story about Esther she was floating around. She had a few other ideas as well, but clearly lacked the talent so far, feeling envy toward her long late father for his sweeter innate ability on that.

While Rose mulled over her blank pages hardly getting written over, at least Esther was not forgotten. She was a little like another lost family member to them. Rose kept her memory as one of a late friend, even though she never exactly met her.

Rose was trying to work on that, to give some life and lines to Esther’s story, or Mary-Esther as she had become in Blue’s long dream, but to struggling progress.

She tried in desperation to push a romantic twist to her lines, but felt only frustrated with the result.

Rose scribbled very little and scratched nearly as much.

The odd truth of this past adventure might be in the end better preserved inside Blue’s personal diary she reflected.

~

On some of the days, one of the sisters remained at home to work from there or do some other things like a day odd. It was not a regular basis. In these days Isha might have a little more company. Sometimes it meant a little more work, and sometimes also a little help to get the chores done more swiftly.

While being too friendly with her employers wasn’t really allowed by her job, she was always glad to see them and chat a little here and there during these days. They were nicer times in good company. Both ladies were quite friendly with her.

Generally Rose would spend her day in the master’s office, working and writing or filling papers. She was handling their businesses, banking , family relatives and friends relations from there.

Her breaks were a little erratic and unpredictable. She would then drink something or try to smoke a little. She tried her best, but it never really worked for her.

She appreciated Isha’s presence and company during her breaks. They could talk a little about anything, even if it was odd and unexpected topics, or things one of them knew nothing about.

Rose was clueless about what could have happened in Russia in February 1917.

Isha could share what she knew and experienced about it as a young child back then.

Little by little, Isha was sharing her history, chapter by chapter, with Rose.

Rose was strangely fascinated by it, trying to make connection between this very real story speaking directly to her, and other letters addressed to her parents in the past. From what Isha had learnt herself afterward, Rose was curious to hear about how these recent changes had transformed the country over the recent years.

Isha would otherwise talk about the work around the house and property. Rose could talk about the various strangers to her but people related to her family she was still often writing to, or her own ideas for the future novels and prospects.

On that topic, if there was one thing Rose could repeat again and again, it was her admiration for Blue’s vivid imagination. Most of Rose’s ideas came directly from her. Rose wasn’t hiding it, rather feeling sorry for how insipid she could make them turn out in writing.

Blue’s imagination and strange experience were the source of it all. Not, perhaps it began before that with their parents. When Blue was already... One of a kind.

Rose herself knew how to write and describe situations plainly, from experience. She however had painful troubles coming up with the slightest original idea or poetic construction. If a solution was to be calculated or written, she could do something about it. But if there was something more open to imagine, inventing it in any way, she was at a queer loss.

R - When I try to think too much, to imagine an event I don’t recall experiencing, my mind goes something almost blank, and I feel like I’m floating. It’s been like that for as long as I can remember. It’s as if the part of me which is in charge of imagining things is numb or mute since I was a child. There’s nothing else but a large white fluffy cloud that occupies my mind, making me forget what I was trying to reach, and nothing comes out.

Rose speaking about her flaw, she was putting a finger on her forehead as if to show where the cloudy wall was. Something was locked or gone in there, and she was at a loss every time she tried to explore it.

At worse, it became physically painful for her, the numb feeling of getting lost turning to migraine and piercing sensations through her flesh. When it turned dark like that, she couldn’t push further and returned to herself as if she was waking up from a bad dream.

Rose could get lost in her own thoughts, but they were not really coherent or structured in that fog. And since nothing came out of it, she just worked her life and way around it somehow, compensating the miss through other means instinctively.

She kept reading books on her days off, from genuine taste of reading, and also hope to nourish that weak part of herself through this mean.

Unfortunately it didn’t seem to work at all. Although she enjoyed reading and was proficient at it, it never inspired her for any written line. Since reading was a reward in itself, she didn’t feel too frustrated about that.

Rose couldn’t help sometimes giving advices and opinions to Isha about books she could or should read.

Isha was really not into reading, no matter how interesting they could be, and how hard Rose was trying to sell them to her.

On borderline ridiculous occasions, she was trying her best not to laugh at Rose’s innocent and obstinate persistence, trying to make her read some fascinating book she had just finished.

Sometimes, a smirk or a giggle escaped the blond girl anyway.

Rose was brought back to her senses then a little, and took a liking into playing that part quite much in the end. She would try to sell a book to Isha as best she could, until she would just laugh it off gently, unable to hold her amusement anymore. Isha was a real sunshine in the house.

When it was Blue staying at home for the day, she was unpredictable.

She could be anywhere at any time, doing nearly anything. If she was working, it mostly meant drawing on patrons and crafting things. Her materials were inside the office closet, but she liked to carry her tools and change of working place upon parameters obscure to Isha. The light, the air, the smells, humidity... Or maybe Blue simply disliked sitting more than an hour in the same place or room at home.

Unlike Rose, she sometimes came looking for Isha to engage a conversation or request a service. Blue was more requesting, and sometimes sounding a little crude or seemingly insensitive. She was sometimes talking plainly about her dead sisters, or parents whom she barely remembered. This odd behaviour aside, she was really kind in truth to Isha in all sorts of ways, and she noticed it too anyway.

Blue was just not quite a natural born diplomat, or laking a little in manners. She still was friendly and caring for Isha, perhaps bordering on a little too friendly.

Isha had this repeated impression that Blue wished she was a little more than a maid toward her, making it slightly uncomfortable at times. She had to remain respectful at all times, though not trying to make their relationship evolve to a too friendly one when they were bound as employer and worker. Blue did her best to respect it as well, but was obviously bothered sometimes that Isha wasn’t plainly a friend rather. Sometimes she made Isha feel that was more what she was looking for.

Isha couldn’t rightfully be both, and that was annoying Blue a little at times. Still these disappointments thankfully remained light, and these days were cheerful too. Gradually they both learnt also to laugh from these little events as well.

When both sisters were at home, they usually spent most of their time together, whether it was about work or leisure and rest. They liked to spend time reading together, outside when the weather allowed it. Their home on every other day was almost designed to allow one to read anywhere at any time, with numerous places scattered for this purpose.

While Isha’s presence then was far less needed when they were reading, she was still warmly welcomed.

And days flew away gently.

~

On a new morning, Isha was entering Blue’s room to wake her up, but met her already siting in her bed.

Something had happened. Something wonderful that she had to share with Rose immediately.

She left the room in her night gown and hair undone, rushing downstairs much to Isha’s concern.

Blue barged in the dining room where Rose was having her breakfast already. Rose was a little shocked to see her like that, but mostly saw the gleaming eyes and smile. Blue’s lips were trembling a little as she was trying to speak.

She had a strange dream that night.

It had been quite frightening at first. It was dark, cold, damp, and she was suffering then. But then...

Then a shadow was getting closer to her and surrounding her, and in that shade, the shape of someone could be guessed. Someone dear and caring.

And then the sun rose behind, and for a moment, she could see her face and recognise her.

B - I saw Esther...

Rose couldn’t swallow anymore. She put back on the table what she held and waited for Blue to finish her story telling.

Blue had found herself in a circular square that looked like a little like ancient roman or Greco theatre. It was raining a lot around, but there was a bright sun too over their head.

While Blue was surprised and still puzzled on how to react or what to say now, Mary-Esther was apparently crying with joy, and hugged her firmly for a long time. She hugged her again, kissed her and touched her cheeks to make sure it was really her and not a fantasy. She had been more happy to see her again than anyone could ever be apparently. When Esther was finally done with hugging Blue and letting her go, a little dizzy, they had hugged for a long and warm time. They were both soaked to the bones.

Blue and Mary-Esther had run to the shelter of a nearby building. Then Esther began to talk. She told Blue what was happening to her. That she was still alive in her own way, in a different place; and that she was now trying to reach her in her own world...

Rose couldn’t help but stop Blue when she heard that part.

R - She’s trying to become alive?

B - That’s what she told me.

R - But... How could that be possible? It sounds insane...

B - She wasn’t specific on the details, but she told me she had a few plans up her sleeve. And that being able to talk to me from now on would mean the world and help. She seemed pretty confident we would meet again from now on.

Mary-Esther had been looking different then, her hair more curly than before, and she was taller than Blue. She still couldn’t mistake her even if her look had somehow shifted in unexpected ways. It had been a surprised not to peer at her own reflection this way, but she still looked a lot like her... and more importantly she was still alive.

She was still alive.

Would they meet again, during Blue’s dreams, her world along with Esther’s world, they would become suddenly a little different, and reach an intertwined possibility beyond what they expected on normal times.

At the end of the dream, Mary-Esther had been saying something as if she was to introduce Blue to someone else close by. When Blue had been about to see that other person, the dream had ended.

Isha’s puzzled face entering the room had replaced the bright albeit rainy agora.

Blue was excited.

B - What should we do?

R - Celebrate Esther’s survival might be in order. Afterward... We’ll have to see then?

Rose was altogether happy and slightly worried, because she couldn’t tell the line between fantasy and reality over Blue’s new experience.

Was it a sad fantasy or a strange reality? And if it was a little of both, where was the dividing line around this?

Not knowing birthed some concern in her.

~

Blue became even more of a cheerful one, because she had something magical happening to her.

About once a week or so, she could spend some time talking with a unique and fantastically interesting friend.

Someone who saved her life before, and whom she admired a lot beyond gratitude.

It occurred again and again, to the point that it quickly evolved into a part of the family routine. As if this Mary-Esther was an estranged cousin of the Herson, whom only Blue could visit sometimes, but someone dear nonetheless to everyone.

Blue couldn’t bring in or out her meetings with Esther anything concrete and physical, but she could carry messages and information one way or the other. She was mostly lucid in these times, although even she could tell she was a little different and her memories slightly not the same.

One of the first messages Blue carried for Mary-Esther was Rose’s deepest recognition and gratitude, for saving Blue’s life before.

The next morning, Blue carried the reply to Rose directly.

B - She said she did it because of her love for you as well... Her love for both of us kept her going to this end.

Some of Rose’s worries faded, and the unnatural situation was growing repetitive and thus normal, accepted as any new technology they knew nothing about could also be.

It was not because they had no way to explain what was happening to Blue that it was truly mystic, sorcery or divine magic.

Esoteric clubs from their parents’ times would have been thrilled to hear all about it, but for now they didn’t care about sharing this experience outside the walls of their home. They just enjoyed this peculiar new ability that Blue revealed at the end of her teens, a way to communicate with her hard to describe friend on the other side.

~

Blue was happy to see Mary-Esther again, in a way where she didn’t felt trapped or doomed. She was truly happy, although she wouldn’t express it with as much touches and hugs as Esther would. Mary-Esther needed to touch her every time they met, whether it was kissing her cheeks, hugging her between her arms, or simply holding her hand as they walked along.

It was a little strange for Blue to realise how affectionate her behaviour now unhinged could be, toward her within dreams.

Mary-Esther would share first and foremost about her progress in her ambition, her work toward her incredible goal.

Blue was listening to theories hard to relate with, and shared her thoughts for a few things from reality she could comprehend at least.

They always met at the same place at first, the sunny and rainy circular square of a kind, feet deep into the icy water. When Blue started to notice that light and feel that rain in her sleep, it meant she was to be reunited with Mary-Esther soon. And she would feel like waking up, opening her eyes soon after, now holding a large umbrella in that other place she could better recognise.

They went to take shelter afterward. They would enter a strange building again doing so, a dark place with mouldy rocks that Blue wasn’t really eager to visit.

Esther told her how this wasn’t her true home, but some ruins she was settling in for the time being out of necessity.

And also that because the first levels of catacombs like corridors were so inhospitable, they were living in places higher up, in apartments in the upper levels.

The first times Esther hinted at the fact she wasn’t alone, Blue didn’t manage to pick up on that enough to ask the question. This detail was lost to the night on awakening again.

On another longer night, they did ventured through these dark corridors, and Esther brought her up beyond these first unfriendly levels. Corridors endless and cold, storms suddenly raging outside, and feeling like the walls were creeping onto them, ready to swallow them at times.

However as they stepped fast enough through these places, they reached a large and odd room with a statue in the middle.

The statue was depicting Atlas holding the sphere of skies, as Blue recognised him.

Mary-Esther was smiling and letting go of Blue’s hand to show her something more.

She went to the balcony behind, open to the rain and daylight, to pull a large and heavy curtain, stopping the light from pouring in.

When Blue began to wonder why she was cutting the light, she realised that Atlas’s sphere was glowing on places. It was quite pretty.

Mary-Esther told her to look up to the ceiling and walls. Blue discovered the night sky filled with stars. They were lighting up in a great summer sky as if they were outside. It was mesmerizing.

M - I call this place the Planetarium, in lack of an official name. I wanted to show it to you ever since I discovered it.

Blue was discovering things that belonged to neither of them in that place. A place that wasn’t born from their memories nor from any of their relations identified.

Amazing treasures were apparently scattered through this old place, and Esther was unearthing some of them.

Blue spent a wonderful time gazing at these indoor stars that night, feeling as if Mary-Esther’s dream had come true for a moment in some field outside.

~

B - Mary-Esther had faith in her success. She was confident. Her reunion with me is to her a sign that she will make it someday.

She had told Blue that her current objective was to climb that ziggurat surrounding the central rainy square, but that she was only working when her dearest guess wasn’t around. She couldn’t progress otherwise.

That next time when Blue appeared, a large waterproof drapery was hanging above her head, sheltering her from the rain. Then Mary-Esther also approached with an umbrella.

Some things in the landscape were changing every time. They were working on improving the place, along with their living quarters Esther said.

Who were they? Blue pondered on the repeated meaning. Mary-Esther seemed to think about it, before replying that they probably should not meet just yet.

Perhaps they still weren’t ready. Esther was clearly a little embarrassed, and Blue forgetting the topic rapidly.

That time, Esther brought Blue downstairs instead of up. They walked cautiously against the flowing streams of water by their feet and boots.

Mary-Esther had something else to show her underground.

When they reached the cave where the water was going in a whirlpool inside the well to disappear below, Esther pointed a finger at it, and told her that below, was the place where she was born.

Blue’s surprise was considerable, and that made her wonder further about her friend’s real history. What did Esther could recall about her life or presumed existence before?

What was her history that brought her to be?

~

Blue and Rose talked a lot about it. Isha had learnt gradually the story as well since the time of the first dreams, but was mostly keeping her thoughts on the topic to herself. She stood quiet most of the time they talked about Esther.

Rose shared Blue’s interest for Esther’s memories.

She wanted to write them down, and eventually to make these stories come to life more clearly. But first they wanted to hear Esther speaking about her past as she recalled it. About everything that came before...

She was someone it was worthy to hear out, because she really was one of a kind.

Blue explained it to Mary-Esther on her next occasion, whom listened carefully.

She understood what they meant. She didn’t hide to Blue that she felt a little sadden that they seemed to care more for their curiosity about what she had been through, rather than finding ways to help on how she wanted to become alive in the future.

Blue promised her that they would start searching and try their best to help her from their side too.

Blue realised as she spoke that she was perhaps making a dangerous promise, and Esther felt that way too.

M - Knowing that you care for me, and that you will try to help me, that’s sufficient...

Mary-Esther then began to tell her sight of history, her past memories rekindled from other times and places...

Her oldest one, earliest one, was being about the place where she felt she was born, in sand under a blinding sun.

~

Rose was writing carefully everything Blue was saying and bringing back. And something was blooming along the lines that Blue could speak and Rose write.

Probably more of a fairy tale than a biographic testimony, but something interesting to them nonetheless.

She had interesting materials, along with a way to give respects to that strange friend Esther was. She was writing down that first testimony about her modern whereabouts with care.

Rose had struggled to write something from the other’s point of view, but putting her failed ambitions aside for now, she could transcribe Blue’s experience as she voiced it directly.

The mornings and evenings became a little more exciting now to the sisters.

Isha on her side wasn’t smiling much at the odd things occurring and was a little less talkative in reaction.

She wasn’t sure about what she should believe in or trust.

More than being slightly worried she might be the last one keeping touch with reality, she was rather a little saddened as she felt she had been replaced by a doll in the ladies’ concerns.

She knew it was petty jealousy and a childish feeling. One could forgive her to have such as she was still a teenager. She was intelligent enough to realise that.

But she had liked the now rare times where Rose was gently mocking her to read, and Blue struggling with the desire to make a friend of her. Now she had lost some of that over a lost doll.

So she felt the miss, and a little of a frustrated jealousy against that Esther that was nowhere to be found, but was filling the place. She had her unavowed memories as well she wasn’t finding the right way or time to express.

Her life was still pretty good, but when life had felt perfect like shortly before, the slightest deception was now all she could think about. Perhaps they had already spoiled her a little.

She was still working diligently, but was growing more jealous and curious about that Esther.

~

One day as Isha was working, she thought she saw someone standing in the field behind the house for a moment.

Someone apparently gazing at the clouds. But stepping forward to look closely, Isha saw no one there.

She was just imagining things now, probably because of how much stories were read and told in that house.

That mistake amused her, making her think how this house truly was something else.

At the end of November, something slightly more unusual happened however. A small event reminding everyone that time kept a steady flowing pace no matter how anyone felt.

Isha experienced it first hand in the morning. It was still quite dark outside and there wasn’t much to see through the windows then. She was used to misinterpret movements she could see apparently outside, when it was only her reflection and the shades playing trick with her senses.

She had so many times thought she just saw someone or something moving around the house, she was not really caring about these little things anymore. When thinking she might have seen something odd, there never was anything. There never had been.

That morning, she missed the reflection of someone walking up to her behind her back. Rose called her as she reached Isha, unwillingly spooking her strongly, making her scream and jolt in scare, surprising Rose in return.

Isha showed a face overwhelmed with fear for a brief moment, the likes of which Rose had never seen. The face of a someone who had really suffered, in pasts she had kept to herself.

Once they had regained their composure and apologised to each other, Rose explained why she had come here this early.

She requested Isha to bake a cake for Blue’s Birthday. Isha’s mood seemed to grow a little darker, more than merry as Rose had expected.

She stood there silent, head bowed, making a displeased face nearly impolite. It may have lasted for less than a second, but Rose had clearly seen it.

The blond girl did her best to repress the dark mood surrounding her and agreed politely. She was strong enough and with good will again.

Isha never complained, but Rose wasn’t really glad to see so much pain bottled up and kept within herself.

Isha was looking through the kitchen window, although it still was quite dark outside. Rose made a step closer.

R - Isha. I didn’t mean to hurt you... Can you tell me? I won’t judge you.

Isha glared at her reflection in the glass, but feeling a jolt running through her spine.

Just like Blue had told her some other day, Rose had the ability to make demands in such a kind way, with a mesmerising sweetness, that it was nearly impossible not to comply. Now was about the first time Isha really felt ensnared by that charm. Rose could really use it well when she wanted to...

Rose kept this card close to her chest most of the time, but she knew the way to do play it sometimes.

Isha felt like she was attempting resisting a flood behind that bittersweet stare, and quickly gave up.

I - I... I haven’t celebrated my birthday since I arrived in Scotland, many years ago... And my age...

Rose thought about it for a moment, holding her arms and elbows against herself. She was puzzled whether that was all there was to it.

R - Well, there are a few details here I should clarify. First, I’m happy to celebrate your birthday as well the way you wish for us to do so... And I’m sure Blue will feel the same. And... I have some sympathy for what you might have just felt right now. You shouldn’t worry about it, since it’s not going to be daunting. We like our peace... And, unfortunately, if birthday parties are supposed to be cheerful moments, today for Blue, you’re likely to feel a little disappointed.

Isha didn’t reply nor ask why. Rose left her in the kitchen afterward.

Isha went back to preparing the breakfast, wondering about what Blue’s birthday could be in the end. She wondered whether Rose had said such a think only so she wouldn’t feel too much jealousy about it until her own birthday?

She would find out in the evening when Blue would return from work.

~

Blue was tired, her fingers twitching and coloured from pain and cold. Even her hair was undone. She was tired, but getting better at her job.

As she reached the house as she liked so much, Isha was expecting her.

Blue was invited to the dining room, where the meal and a present were already waiting for her.

Blue appeared genuinely surprised at the attention. She was glad but looking puzzled mostly. She could only mutter a few disparate words for most of the meal time. Rose was almost making the conversation all alone.

Isha stood behind, unable to understand what was going on with Blue tonight.

Blue was feeling weird and very uneasy, and it showed. Even though Rose was doing her best to reassure and cheer her up. Blue couldn’t hold it any longer in the end and had to ask the few painful questions.

B - Have we... ever celebrated my birthday like this before?

Always, without a miss.

B - Hm... Rose? How old am I again?

It was her seventeenth birthday Rose sweetly replied, as if this question as well had no importance.

Isha however was gawking behind with some shock, hearing them address the painful situation.

Blue looked was a little younger than what Isha would have guessed. Her situation was weirder than for Isha however. Rose began telling how Elise was usually taking care of most preparations for her birthdays and Scarlett’s as well, just a few days after. So it was generally a merry time of the year, in a way.

Blue looked downtrodden, visibly sad and shaken. She clearly couldn’t remember any of it.

R - I know how sorry you must feel Blue. But this time is the first one when you do remember, and the first one you will now remember.

Blue tried to smile back at Rose, who was doing her upmost to be cheerful and lighten the mood.

Blue felt uncertain, but wanted to believe it. Rose was holding her hand, and that was a feeling she could remember.

While they stood there silently for a while, between odd emotional wounds or embarrassment, Isha excused herself and went to get the cake. She was not sure what to think anymore about Blue or birthdays.

But she realised, she too wanted to trust Rose in a way.

Isha brought the cake and the more or less successful tries of little puds she had done beside to test things.

The mood that had been painful in a way was slowly getting lighter for everyone, and Isha also had the chance to enjoy her share of deserts with them. Blue had invited her to celebrate the event as well, since the day was special.

And Blue wanted now to see others, making Isha smile a little shyly, and Rose sigh in some relief.

They were sharing a nice and friendly evening.

~

While Isha was carrying the dishes back to the kitchen, Blue was working on opening her gift-wrapped present. Rose humbly admitted she had not found anything particularly clever or exciting.

It was a rather heavy dress, quite warm and robust looking, with a vivid denim colour. A blue dress thus. It actually made Blue laugh a little and grinned then to ask.

B - Would you settle with a roses bouquet, or even a single pink rose for your next birthday?

R - Oh but that would be the perfect present for me my sweet.

Rose obviously had to answer in the most teasing manner possible. Now they were amused.

Blue held the dress pressed against herself with a soft smile. She liked it.

And softly the day ended.

~

Blue was making herself pretty in her room, and wore the heavy dress to try it. It was clearly winter clothing, not fluttery at all. She managed to fit in with her undergarments but it was a little tight. If she were to grow, it might become difficult to wear.

She looked at herself in the mirror, seeing a rather nice looking lady in a blue dress. It was a nice sight that made her smile. She turned around herself to look at the dress from every angle. The colour was rather bright and she really liked it.

Despite the uninspired pun, she found it suiting her quite well. It highlighted her chestnut eyes and hair rather prettily.

Blue got closer to the mirror to look at her face a little closer.

That was a queer feeling she could swear she had been a little older, before. Light and dressing could make the face of someone change drastically.

She smirked a last time at her reflection doing the same.

~