24 ~ February

Blue was looking at the night sky by the window. Everything was quiet. She was stargazing by that clear night sky, without clouds or moon.

The household was sleeping quite peacefully.

It was a time to enjoy.

For some reason this time, Rose entered the same boudoir and was surprised to find her sister there already.

She called out her name, but Blue didn’t seem to hear her.

Blue looked absent, maybe as if she was sleepwalking. She wasn’t really there. Her eyes were wide open, looking outside the window.

Rose called her again by her name, a little more concerned.

They looked at each other, but neither one seemed to recognize the other. A heavy and oppressing silence crushed Rose’s heart.

She muttered the short question that crystallised her fears.

R - ... Esther?

Blue seemed to react. As if a spell had just been lifted, she was still standing but appeared to wake up. She realised quickly where she was and what just happened. Blue touched her forehead with visible worry.

B - I’m sorry... I feel like I’m losing my mind...

~

Rose had written every story Blue brought back over time from Esther, down there.

She had attempted publication without much luck, and most of her success came from the distant friends across the world, who used to share the same friendship with her father before her. Sharing her thoughts and draft with them, she was in the end not writing as much for common editor, but for this kind of wider epistolary family. She was in the end writing more for them who enjoyed a newer and fresh touch of eerie in their wilting life...

Rose wrote every adventure down mostly as testimonies more than fantasy, while her sister was living the worst of them.

Over time, Blue was showing more and more signs of an illness that they attributed to Esther’s doings.

Blue was getting worse, and the mood within the house turned softly sadder because of it.

She was waking up tired, with muscle aches and sore throat. She was far less cheerful, and even going depressed. She spoke with far less enthusiasm about Esther, and her visits to her within her dreams became fewer and fewer.

Over time, they even turned from eagerness to dread sadly. They were no longer pleasant memories and something was wrong.

Blue felt guilty not being able to help Esther, and she was feeling increasingly uneasy toward her.

The document of Daiûa as Rose called it, or document of transmigration as Isha called it, turned out to be of little help in the end. Even if it collected the few legends and tales that rang close, and held the highest probabilities of hiding a true unnatural occurrence; in the end it was not a book of engineering or even spells. Nothing could be made of it, beside studying the uncanny resemblance between what some depictions were, and what Blue and Esther were experiencing.

Besides that, a few other tales from the documents allowed them to learn a few unexpected details about their situation. Hopefully they could be of use somewhere down the line.

Each of them three had read the translation entirely, and understood the teachings it held a little differently.

But what first turned out to be true, was the worsening of Blue’s situation.

This was not a pleasing realisation, as she was apparently playing the role of that old man who wrote the final chapters of the testimony document, long after the first writings. The health was deteriorating in body and mind, as she was meeting her daiûa in her sleep. It took a straining toll onto her head and heart, every time they spoke.

It was as if her body was hosting another sentient being, with whom she could talk only when her body was at rest, but who took the same energy in thus as when she was awake. So she was wilting.

And in later stages, Blue could even perceive her presence around if the surroundings were quiet. It was as if whispers were permeating from the ground or walls, and she turned around to almost notice the elusive figure vanishing.

She was haunted, in Blue’s very own words. She was possessed, in Rose’s concerned words. She had a parasite in Isha’s words.

Such stories were not uncommon, but in the end the document did not describe anything particularly extraordinary. But most stories there were not lit with hope for a cheerful ending unfortunately. This daiûa in her feared no god furthermore.

Even by Esther’s words, if she was where she currently resided, it was thanks to Blue and the connection between them. So for Esther, it was a link born from their mutual affection from before that kept their words and worlds together.

She recognised that lifeline and cord, and recognised plainly more than once how she could not have made it this far without Blue’s help before.

Esther had grown on love so far, only what had been shared wasn’t enough to grow further anymore.

Now the side effects were even becoming dire for Blue, Esther turning out of control.

The appendix by the man writing his encounter at the end of the document was concluded by his imminent death, and obvious insanity perspiring through the nonsense to make it worse. Meeting his daiûa had sealed his fate.

The main other tale that related to them was the one of Daiûa into the well. The beginning gave it a more folk picture of a tale, but when the woman or daiûa finally fell into that strange well, then it became whimsical in an ominous way.

The Daiûa wasn’t this time starting as a being from the other side, but a common folk woman.

She wasn’t translated as a demon or spirit from the wilds, but a witch of some kind.

That witch in the forest had fallen into an immense well, and died from her fall at the bottom of it.

Rising again, she had lost her strength because of her death, and was thus human again. Whether she had been human or not before was unclear even in the translation notes. The text was unceremoniously referring to the character in different and changing ways, like human, alive, dead, or daiûa, as unreliable concepts that could swapped. She was not human but became one for a time. She was waking up after her death. Nothing appeared logical if taken seriously or separately. But taken overall, it said something reminding the sisters of Blue’s adventures, and how the fall into the world of the dead had changed something for that Daiûa as well.

Daiûa had been then fighting her way out in that odd story, against the ghosts of the cave itself; in order to escape and live again, or at least return to her former state.

It was a trial by absent gods, an adventure where she was confronted to nightmares, dead friends and foes she already had defeated before. Enemies she had once killed with her own might, were now standing again before her full of wrath, when she was powerless.

It was a kind of judgement in the bottom level of hell, where she was facing all the sins she had committed in her previous life above. And she needed to face them somehow or somewhat again, before she could have a chance to crawl her escape and find new life.

Once again the overall picture wasn’t really uncommon when studying mythologies. Although this daiûa was facing rapists and murderers she had killed before, in the bottom of a cave from where she saw no sky, no hope, nor exit.

More than dragons or demons, more than angels or daevas, she was facing men. Just men. Only men.

This gave an unsavoury tone to the tale that Rose didn’t like.

Daiûa was facing soldiers, scoundrels, rapists and killers, and even a few plain and defenceless common people, but only men. Her greatest foe of all apparently, was the man.

And the woman or witch had to defend herself with everything she had, in order to free herself from that pit she had fallen in.

And slowly, violently but surely, the daiûa managed to prevail. She climbed and crawled along the wall for her way out. She was cursing her fate, escaping it through stolen magical powers, through trickery of her enemies, through wisdom and cowardice when violent strength wasn’t enough.

It was gritty, but she reached the top of the immensely deep well, leaving countless dead nightmares behind her.

The hole was filled with the screams she shed behind, and she found her way outside and into the forest again.

And then she left, exhausted and insane, but alive again apparently.

Going back to her journey from the beginning, crossing this forest simply and aimlessly.

This Daiûa who seemed guilty of countless violent crimes and trickery, was pictured as an odd witch, who seemed more to have outsmarted her judgement and reckoning in the end, rather than accepting her fate and being forgiven by something above or even herself.

What they learnt from that tale, but they already knew, was how the character was facing their past. Although Esther’s memories of blood and war were scarce and vague; most of her memories were from the owners of the doll she had been and not quite hers.

Something darker in the picture was the omnipresence of death and violence, with dead people at every corner. In that regard there was no surprise either... Although in Blue’s experience, it had been reduced to mostly the few people she could remember, and with the fact that considering Esther herself as being dead, it implied that she once had been alive.

For Blue, the story meant that once being cleansed from her sins and having proven herself, Esther should find her way out of this purgatory, maybe.

For Rose, it meant that the only way out was to rig the game and go around the rules. Since the Daiûa never acted fair, or only for the time when she was stripped of her powers to do otherwise, then she might face challenges fairly.

But as soon as she had found a new way to bypass the difficulties, she jumped for it. What she already knew but learned anew, was that you should never trust a daiûa, even if it looks human for a time...

For Isha, the morale of the story was that when you feel weakened, you will have to face your fears and demons fairly. To her it meant that it’s only when you are at the bottom of existence, that you can really vanquish your nemesis... To her, they were not ghosts born from guilt, but puppets born from the woman deepest fears.

Again rose the question around this of whether the two ghosts of Elise & Scarlett accompanying Esther were the genuine souls, or creations from Esther’s mind... Were they truly still existing in that place, along with Esther?

If Rose had heard sadly her sister’s voice in the past, that testimony had been unique and perhaps a simple coincidence. No other proof had come to solidify that hypothesis, and now they leaned more toward the thought that probably, they were impromptu or intuitive creations from Esther.

They were dead. Their bones were in the ground behind the house.

The only true thing remaining of them beside their bones were their memories in those who survived them.

As for the two ghosts below...

Rose wanted to believe they were trickery used to better lure Blue. She wasn’t keen on thinking they were really the ghosts of her late sisters.

Isha thought they could be unconscious wishes or dreams from Esther, and perhaps Blue’s past experience also.

Blue was mostly feeling sad about them when she was awake.

She had not had a chance to talk to them again, if only to clarify what they were.

But she had a feeling she would never have this chance again...

After all, they were gone, and that grief was settling still for her as well.

~

It only left memories. The adventure was nearing its conclusion.

Blue was visiting her friend so rarely then.

The weather was growing cold again, but time remained quite sweet. Only Blue, when alone or lonely, felt that presence watching her.

And at every mirror and every window she passed by, she thought she could have a short glimpse at it, a glimpse at her.

She was always closer. Just behind a window, or over her shoulder, looking jealously at her. Blue saw her in her back in the mirrors. She was now scared of Esther.

Scared of seeing her wings or feathers by the corridors corners. Scared of being played and manipulated by her, in order to grant her a life that should not be...

Sometimes Blue couldn’t remember how it could have turned into something so cold, when things had begun so kind. When exactly did the helpful daiûa who saved her life turned into a danger to it? When did her saviour became a threat to her life and sanity?

Was she all along like that? Had she played her right from the very start? No, that could not be... No, most probably she had changed slowly, as if something poisonous had changed her on the other side. Maybe the true Daiûa was somewhere else... So she hoped.

But not a single proof came to highlight her illusionary hope that Esther herself had been manipulated by something else’s voice.

Truth was dire, and reality was suffering.

Esther was now dangerous to her, and they were now searching for a way to protect Blue. They were looking for clues in the document, and tried to lessen the affect she had on her. Blue was allowed to sleep a little more since the encounters rarefied, but things were not growing better nonetheless.

Rose had switched side along the way, and so did Blue and Isha. Their balance of wishes had gradually tilted from the wish to help Esther, to the priority to protect Blue from her...

Blue’s health were deteriorating slowly. And one night, something most terrible was discovered in the basement of the house.

~

During a night most likely akin to any other, Blue ventured in spirits again into the otherworld.

She met Esther anew, only fear had replaced everything.

That upside down day or night, Esther pressured Blue for insane demands.

She oppressed Blue and hurt her like never before.

The dream had become fully nightmarish, and Blue tried to escape early.

But this time, something different twirled inside her brain, and she felt most awful, unable to wake up again.

Esther had found the uncanny strength to keep her asleep, to keep her imprisoned down there with her...

Blue felt the grasp of something terrifying closing in over her mind, and her sanity tilted slightly in terror. As her dreamt self was trembling in fear, so was she above. Esther was seemingly now swallowing her, pulling her into that cold world of hers.

Blue had felt that she was facing mortal danger, and managed to push her escape abruptly, as everything in her mind was screaming with real pain that she ought to leave this place for good, if she still wanted to live another day.

Like a bolt, her consciousness left Esther’s side and hold, to reach another place.

Hopefully it would be where she truly belonged, in reality above.

Unfortunately on that night, the place where she woke up was not what it should have normally been.

Blue woke up in cold sweat in a room that wasn’t hers.

There were no visible windows, and Blue began fearing the worst.

She dressed up rapidly with what clothing she had nearby, which were her usual attire and shoes.

She immediately ran to the door to leave this room. It led to another room, similar.

Despite the electrical lights she could switch on, everything appeared dim and cold.

Some damp moisture left some mould begin to grow in the ground and bottom of the walls. The furniture looked like her own from home, but it wasn’t. She felt as if she’d been there before, but it looked more like a basement room than a house she would have been to before.

She felt trapped. She felt danger.

Some water running along the floor was flowing toward a hole at the bottom of the wall next to the door. The water disappeared into there with little noise.

Blue noticed that with cold shivers, now pretty sure that what lied on the other side was the colosseo...

Further behind that next door was a stone corridor where she found mist and mushrooms lying quietly. The mood was similar to most of the corridors she had seen below previously.

But she was feeling fully awake, so it couldn’t be it...

Blue proceeded slowly. The corridor only led to one other old door on the same wall. Two more rooms to go through, again damp and decrepit.

This time there was a proper other door at the end, but it only led to another corridor decaying slowly.

This place did look like their home, a little. But she feared that the other one now could appear at any time behind her, demanding awful things.

Blue now feared to see Esther appear behind her, looking for her.

So she couldn’t allow herself to take too much time looking through this odd place. There wasn’t anything really pleasant to look at anyway, but she didn’t understand where she was.

The next corridor was going along three of the four sides of a dining room in rubbles. But aside from this main corridor, she finally found the stairs going up.

And much to her sadness, as she had feared, they looked exactly the same as down there...

These steps made of wide stones were the same. Climbing them felt suffocating to Blue. The cold stream of water that passed through the room below was also running along the steps here, freezing her feet at times.

She needed to escape before it was too late. Before the day would rise... Or she might be trapped forever. Perhaps, no, rather surely she would die if she were to stay there for too long.

Her head was in migraines like none she could recall before.

How could have Esther done that to her? How could she have turned so bad...

Blue was angry about her, but couldn’t hide the fact that she also felt very guilty about it. If she had been stronger and if she had found a proper way to help her fulfil her dream, none of this would have happened.

Maybe it was not too late to make her regain her senses and help her later.

Her anger might be natural and couldn’t be definitive.

Blue wanted to be kind, no matter how afraid. As she was climbing this long staircase, she was feeling a mixture of guild, shame and fears, mostly fears still driving her for now.

Something fundamental was driving her, telling her to escape before it would be too late for herself, rather than worrying about a being that she never fully understood.

Esther was not something she could ever fully comprehend. She might have been friendly and harbouring a human face for a time, but she was not human.

And if there was one thing she should have learned from the very beginning, from earlier childhood even, it was to be careful and sceptical when dealing with that sorts of things, daiûas.

And yet, her past history with her couldn’t be dismissed just like that...

While agonizing over what she should feel or do for Esther, Blue reached the end of this high and endless looking staircase. She arrived out of breath, because she had climbed many stories high, way more than usual. She had seen stairs climbing upward on a different direction in a fork near the end, but had continued straight in doubt.

She now arrived in an unexpected sort of temple.

The sound of water streams could be heard.

The quite wide room was shaped like a dome of stones, circular looking with everything coloured grey and blue.

Maybe this place was real?

That hollow place large as a cave, with a pool in its centre.

It was like entering an empty church to her. It was wide like a cathedral or basilica, with quite a dome, and a waterfall in the middle, straight into a pool.

Blue walked across the wide space toward this central pool, realising this place looked nearly as wide as the colosseo. Streams were reaching the pool as well, and one thin channel carried the overflowing waters toward the stairs she had climbed.

As she reached the edge of the pol, she noticed some rusty iron stairs making its edges and diving into it. Above her the rain that looked a little like a waterfall was condensed into a hollow but large pillar there.

She noticed stalactites covering the ceiling from there, far above her. It was constantly dripping water, soaking from far above and then raining here.

Perhaps she was in a cave under a lake or a river?

But the place still seemed oddly familiar in some aspects... There was no other noises but the water, but she was sure she could have heard something else. A faint sound from somewhere further up.

Blue felt dizzy and had to sit for a moment to catch her breath and hold her head. She was exhausted, she was starving. She felt that she might truly die there if she didn’t manage to stand up again and leave.

She thought about Rose for a moment, and managed to stand up again.

Her legs were weary and weak, trembling, but there was still climbing to do to escape.

The water church was an odd place, with both a soothing look and calm colourful tones, but also felt as if it was filled with poisonous air to her. It felt like a trap for melancholic people.

The water was making little twirling motions here and there in the pool, flowing through the rusty holes of the rotten metal.

Somewhere below, the rain kept falling for sure.

Blue was biting her lips, reaching the stairs to climb further again.

She held herself against a wall, having increasing difficulties to move.

Thankfully as she had left the waters behind, these new climbing stairs were dry and silent.

It climbed forever again, and the air became so dry, that it made even the damp air from before feel nicer to breathe.

Her clothes previously dripping with humidity were now hurting her skin as she moved with the accumulated dry dust everywhere. She coughed, blowing away decades of old dust away.

She could still see her way somewhat despite the lack of light. She wasn’t carrying anything to lit her path, but some ambient gleam remained, leaving every shape softly visible, including the cloud of dust she raised at every step.

Blue brought a piece of cloth from her sleeve over her mouth to breathe a little better and inhale less dust.

She felt hopeless after spending more time than she could relate to only climbing these stairs, step by step, to no end.

Where was she?

The stairs eventually and finally made a turn left, while keeping climbing abruptly. Spiders were now around and cobwebs covering the stones along with dust and dry dirt. This looked even more familiar.

At the end she finally reached flat ground and a short corridor. A single last corridor with naught that she could yet see at its end, and only webs around here.

There was like sand on the ground, a thick layer of dust and dirt that was soft like saw dust.

She walked over it, leaving her footprints, while it stuck to her shoes.

A few metres further she was still having troubles breathing, with or without the piece of cloth over her mouth as a mask. She was close to collapse but she pushed further.

Now she noticed soot marks along the walls. These she had a closer look as her fingers caught some of their sticky stains. The walls were damaged, fissured on parts. And some of the rocks were even split in half or more. By these fissures going from ground to ceiling, dark marks of soot were staining everything.

They were like scars of something that happened before.

Something she knew in tales.

The dust grew darker onward, mixed with the soot and pieces of ashes or fragmented coal. Blue left more marks of her dirty hand blackened by soot along the rocks going further.

She brushed more or of it away gradually.

Above her she saw growing traces of the ceiling being pierced by these exploding fissures and flames. Some roots reaching this deep had been turned to coal. The light dusts at her feel were agglomerating ashes from something light that had burnt here before.

Blue felt dizzy again a few steps later.

She was about to realise something, but she was reaching her limit. She thankfully fell down into a soft layer of dust muffling a little her fall.

It made not much sound. She was feeling bad and realised afterward that she had fallen suddenly.

She thought of Rose again and clenched her teeth and fists. She tried to stand again, trembling all over.

A few steps ahead, there was the exit. She knew it, and crawled for it, trying to stand up along.

She could see and hear it; she knew it was there.

She crawled and stood up against the wall

Blue was trying to catch her breath back but it struggled to recover. She felt how her heart was beginning to hurt even more than her lungs did. With what strength left within her limbs, she still pushed her legs to the only end of the corridor from another time.

She stumbled against a wall of rocks and cement. There was no door but a condemned dead end instead. The exit was gone.

Only a small fissure was left on the side, letting air escape and producing a soft whistling sound.

Her fingers couldn’t pass through. Blue’s nerves broke down and she panicked. She tried to scream but no sound or air was left to escape her lungs. Attacking the wall in vain, calling for help with what was left of her voice, she despaired.

There was no way out. She was trapped until her death, and maybe even after...

She managed to inhale a little bit before really passing out, and to scream for help with all the might of the hopeless for her. She called for Rose until she fainted there against this wall.

Blue fell into the dusts there and didn’t move anymore. The place was filled with floating and twirling dusts around her now returning to their former silence.

~

Isha was having bad dreams as well. She was hearing noises and voices that shouldn’t be there, again. She was feeling something queer, which she analysed as Esther’s presence she could feel. In every shadow cast at night in the house, there was a little of her.

In her painful dreams, Isha was walking alone in the place she knew, the corridors and rooms from the manor, only twisted and filled with the ghost scent. She was not a being but a shapeless miasma in there, a large amount of vaporous poison from the world of the dead.

It had escaped Pluto somehow, and it was slowly seeping into everything, until she would grasp everything between her hands, and make it hers.

Esther was slowly taking possession of everything and everyone around here like poison.

Only Isha was alone in that dream, to face that shapeless evil will. If she didn’t do anything hastily, it would take over everyone she loved, and consume their souls, stealing their bodies. And then it would do the same atrocious things to her.

Hopefully Isha was sure that the beast had a weakness. And that was within a doll, somewhere in the house. She just had to find it before the evil thing could secure it for herself, and then Isha would have the upper hand.

The ghosts of people she never met were chasing her across the rooms and through the house, being slaves to the dark thing’s commands. People’s whose souls Esther had already swallowed and devoured in the afterlife, they were meeting the same fate that awaited the livings. Having your mind drilled out of your being, crushed between her teeth and swallowed to death; while the rest of your being or your body becomes a slave to her every whim, for ever.

If the ghosts managed to capture Isha, they would torture her until the demon would come to do that to her as well.

And if she fled, she would do that to Blue and Rose, and then everyone else in town...

And then she would slowly invade reality and enslave humanity...

In her terror, Isha was convinced she had to fight back, for her own sage and everyone else’s. Hopefully, whilst she was alone and trailed, she also had some powers to help push back the ghosts.

Isha was assaulted by the ghost of a woman who had her face disfigured. The grasp was stealing he strength, killing her. But Isha could do something to fight it off. She yelled at her, while pushing the palm of her hands against her opponent’s body. A powerful magical light blasted the spirit away. Some vaporous flames in Isha’s hands then shortly vanished afterward. She was not defenceless. She had magical powers to fight in this nightmare, so she could perhaps win against the evil one.

Isha made her way up to the library on the floor holding her room. She entered the corrupted floor and saw a different ghost. It was her enemy herself.

The obscure miasma had taken the form of someone, and was looking the doll holding the key to her defeat. She had found it before Isha, but it wasn’t over yet.

Isha came at her ready to fight. The demon opened its invisible wings, sending books flying against her like stones throws. She was then floating in the air and slowly drifting away, perhaps laughing.

Isha pushed her way after her, despite the rain of books being sent through wizardry at her.

And she reached her, and used her own magic to destroy her while she still could. Isha burnt the nightmarish vision.

The demon was banished in a shriek. Its body vanished. The doll itself was destroyed. The darkness that stood like a veil across the house was receding. Isha felt that she had won and defeated the evil!

The dream that had begun horrifically was turning hopeful.

The only remnant of the enemy was a little bit of cloth on the ground, decaying rapidly.

The thing that brought darkness was it, below Isha’s concerned gaze.

She crouched and picked up the small ribbon, now remembering what someone had told her about this before.

Isha remembered where she had seen this before.

Finding it might be important... And admitting what happened to it as well.

Because it could very well be that the speck of truth held by this tiny thing, could truly hold the meaningful will of the evil thing...

In her hand, Isha held again the root of evil, that if left unchecked, would eventually come back.

~

Isha woke up from her bad dreams suddenly. Though she had won in the end, it really concluded with an unpleasant aftertaste. Holding that ribbon and all that it meant...

This forced her to think about it again.

About her mistakes and shame, her weakness and what she had kept secret.

Perhaps it was overdue time to face what she had tried to hide, her son...

Maybe she would finally mutter the strength to tell them the truth about herself.

But until then, since she was fully awake and drenched by the cold sweat, she left her bed and began her day, no matter what time it might be.

Trying to go back to sleep to finish the night now would have proven useless.

While she washed herself mechanically in her bathroom, she kept thinking back about Esther, who was now haunting her dreams in even more vicious ways than before.

It was always her, behind every bad dream and event in the household. Always the same her, terribly envious of a life she could not truly reach. And in spite she could spoil others’ lives somehow, like a disease trying to take over their bodies.

And no matter how much she knew that ghosts weren’t real, they still spooked her even in dreams.

She couldn’t deny that she feared Esther now more than ever, even if she wasn’t sure what part of reason and instinct were behind that feeling. She couldn’t tell either who or what should be blamed for the turn the events had gradually taken.

Although if she didn’t feel responsible of everything, she still thought she had to tell the truth now. Facing her responsibilities like an adult should, it might also help indirectly in the current situation, since her faults were a little related to everything else that occurred in this house since.

Once more, she wasn’t sure about the extent in which she was now involved, but for Blue & Rose, she had to do it.

Even if it meant they could fire her.

With these heavy thoughts in mind, she ventured down, once cleaned and dressed properly.

She went into the kitchen and began to set things in order to prepare the breakfast.

She earnestly hoped this wouldn’t be her last time doing so in this house.

The door to the basement was not entirely shut. Isha noticed the oddity with curiosity and concern.

She had to pick some groceries down there anyway, so she opened the door to the dark basement wider and went in.

The cellar, under the yellow glow from a pair of light bulbs was the same as usual, and even the same as during daytime anyway. Here she stored food and wood as usual. It was quite like her third workshop there.

For Isha the first one was the kitchen, the second one the laundry room, and then was this place.

The blade of her axe reflected the light as it should when she walked by, it was thankfully still where she left it.

In front of her were shelves packing various goods, boxes and numerous jars of jam and marmalades. It was something Isha enjoyed cooking more than eating, all day long in a gentle bliss. The smells filling the house with the sweet perfumes were nice moments.

She loved to eat some too.

She was perhaps making a little too much of it though she thought again, now seeing how the shelves were filled with colourful jars. It was like a sweet and tasty treasure that she kept stockpiling there instinctively.

It was sweeter than honey for her.

And then, she heard a whisper.

She froze, hearing a small voice breathing or moaning softly something.

Somewhere behind her as she was about to go back.

Isha had a cold shiver.

She checked the handle of the knife hanging at the side of her apron like a sword, reassuring herself slightly.

She grabbed the torchlight she kept down there in case of someone accidentally turning the light off from the kitchen above. She also used it to check the corners of this wide basement room which the little bulbs couldn’t reach.

She stepped slowly toward the end of the basement, from where the sound seemed to originate.

Isha then saw something on her right and aimed the light at it despite her scare.

She found Blue lying there in her night gown, seemingly hurt and clearly unwell.

The fright gone, Isha was feeling pity and compassion now instead.

She released her nervous grasp from her knife and rushed to help Blue without thinking anymore.

Her lady was freezing and partially awake but still in a painful lull or daze. She looked like her spirits were completely elsewhere. Isha got hold of her and told her not to speak but just to breathe.

Isha was about to help her stand up, but realised she was incapable of supporting the entire weight of her collapsed lady by herself.

While Isha was struggling to remove her from here, Blue lifted a trembling hand toward Isha’s face and pressed her fingers against her right cheek.

Isha was not sure of what Blue was awkwardly trying to do or communicate this way. Blue’s face now harboured some strange symptoms of happiness at seeing her maid.

Pushing herself up on trembling legs and back, Isha managed to stand up. She had turned around to put Blue over her back, and managed to carry her like that over herself. Holding onto her arms above her shoulders, Isha managed to step away and even climb the stairs with surprising strength for her stature. It hurt her hips greatly, but she managed to lift Blue away.

Blue was clearly powerless, only moaning, her arms hanging devoid of strength, her head resting against Isha’s head and left shoulder. She was really cold. How long had she been there worried Isha.

Isha carried Blue away from the underground.

~

Isha made it to the summer salon, opening the door rather abruptly, and letting slowly Blue go on one of the two couches. Blue now seemed to be sleeping, but her eyes weren’t fully shut. She had no more strength after what must have been an awful night.

Isha wasn’t sure of what had happened, but could already tell that Esther was responsible. Blue was looking confused.

I - Should I bring you water? Or something to eat? Just a blanket maybe?

B - ... Just, stay with me please...

Her voice was weak and she was still shivering, while also looking like she was about to fall asleep. Isha used her lighter to start the fire in the hearth and pulled the couch with Blue on it slightly closer. She then sat by Blue’s side as the fire was growing.

It was still night time outside, and Blue appeared to be dozing off as if she had been sleepless all night.

Blue said nothing more, leaving Isha worried but calm. Isha relaxed by her side as her lady seemed to simply be now safely sleeping.

After a while, Isha went to the kitchen to quickly grab something to eat and came back to watch over her.

She sat herself in the armchair next to the sleeping Blue. She would wait by her side until sunrise or the other lady waking up.

Isha deeply felt that somehow, despite the weirdness sometimes lurking and her own worries, that this was the real place in the world where she truly belonged.

She would treasure it, and do what needed to be done in order to help them.

For now that meant insuring that Blue wouldn’t be disturbed nor cold in her newly found rest, until the light of a new morning would come to wake her.

~