afflicted

19: 14 months before

A/N: Who's ready for some mushy gushy slow burn actionnnnnn (and finally getting some answers)???? Side note that this isn't entirely canon, I had to alter Alis' character slightly for the story I wanted to tell. 

The late afternoon sun blazed along the horizon, heating Calina's cheeks. She hummed, smiling softly as she closed her eyes and allowed the rays to soak into her skin. The turquoise water lapped against her legs and she wriggled her toes in the cool sea. She sat on a lower wall that faced the ocean on the back side of her best friend Vera's estate.

Vera sat next to her, hugging her legs to her chest and propping her chin on her knees as she stared out into the water stretched before her. Her sunny blonde hair was pulled into a messy braid at the nape of her neck, the escaped strands whipping about her face as the breeze rolled off the salty ocean.

"Do you ever think about leaving?" Vera asked her, her voice quiet and apprehensive. She seemed upset about something, but Callie had no clue what.

"Sometimes," Callie whispered. "I don't think I ever will, though." She angled her body towards her friend and waited for her to speak again. Vera was beautiful. The kind of beautiful that brought grown men to their knees. She had a small, upturned nose and striking green eyes. Callie had always been in awe of her, always only steps behind wherever Vera went. The two were inseparable. Her mother joked that the two of them must have been twins separated at birth.

Her mother loved Vera, too. She always assumed Vera was coming whenever they had plans. She always sat out a placemat and plate of food in Vera's designated chair. It was the same unspoken assigned seat she'd occupied since they were toddlers and had to kneel in their chairs to reach the table properly.

"I think I have to," Vera said softly. She still stared out at the open water, as if searching for an answer that had yet to come. "I don't know what it is. I feel this kind of... tug. Something calling me somewhere different. I'm not really sure what it is."

Callie thought about Vera's words. She supposed she had felt some kind of longing to be somewhere else before, but she'd never considered it to be a true option for her. She always knew she'd need to take care of her mother, who was beginning to age rapidly.

Persephene, Callie's older sister, had been the same. The two had no desire to live away from their mother. Alis was as stout as a nurtured willow tree. Her branches danced in the wind, but still she stayed rooted. She'd taught Callie everything she knew about love. Her mother was love. She pinched Callie's cheeks and fed her her favorite foods and stayed up late to listen to Callie's ideas she was always scribbling in her journal. Her mother's favorite story was always the one of a far away assassin, one who loved her kingdom and fought fiercely for her people. That character had been based on Vera, of course, but Callie would never let her know that.

Alis was a mother by nature and by heart, even if she'd not been one by blood. Not to Callie, at least. Persephene was Alis' but Callie had been adopted into the family. Not that you'd ever be able to tell apart from physical attributes. Callie was Alis' daughter and would never be anything else.

Callie sighed, leaning her head on her friend's shoulder. Vera's leaving signaled the end of childhood. It was something to mourn deeply. No more sticky popsicle fingers and summer sun, giggling as they climbed trees and scraped their shins on the bark. No more late night talks by the water, crying about boys and how much they loved each other. Her friendship with Vera was sacred and foundational. Callie loathed the day Vera would go off and find a husband and fall in love and have babies. Callie couldn't picture that for herself. If she was being honest, she wasn't sure she pictured a future for herself at all.

"I could see you somewhere cold," Vera said, scrunching her nose. "Curled up with your nose in a book or scribbling late into the night. Somewhere with snow and twinkling warm lights with a mug full of steaming tea, being loved and tended to by a boy so sweet he gives you toothaches."