Blue: Trying to fight my overall embarrassment of this story by uploading the rest of it. May as well prove I can finish a story somehow, right? Ugh...Okay, this is a very fluffy chapter that's been done for about a month now. The next chapter is almost done. Hey! The story's half over. WHOO! Oh God, it hurts to upload this. *weeps*

Chapter 3: Zei, Keelee, and Zei’s Mother

As he examined Zei’s torso, he applied some bandages across the small scars that had been placed there the night before. “It’s a good thing it didn’t scratch you very deep,” Arce spoke as he continued on. “I wish you would’ve said something last night though.”

Zei flushed slightly in embarrassment, though she did giggle slightly. “Sorry. I was too excited.”

Arce leaned away from her after applying the last of the bandages. “Don’t worry about it. You’ll be completely fine. Just don’t let something like that slip your mind again.”

“Got it!” Zei nodded, cheerfully.

The three of them had traveled all night in the cart. By morning, when the girls had woken up, Zei had complained about the pain in her abdomen from the smack she received from the werewolf. Keelee hadn’t liked the idea of Arce checking to make sure no real damage was dealt from the blow, but Zei didn’t mind removing her robes to let him as much as she should have. They stopped the cart near a creak for a little break. Keelee went to sit by the creek as far away from the other two as she could get. She’d rather sit and enjoy Arce’s horse’s company.

Zei pat her abdomen with a sense of astonishment. “Wow, you’re good!” She squealed.

Arce laughed at the compliment. “I hardly did anything.”

Keelee glared over her shoulder at the other two as she stroked under the horse’s chin. Zei was pretty much in nothing but her skirt and a small undershirt with the newly placed bandages wrapped around her abdomen. She didn’t seem to mind being outside with hardly anything covering her with an older boy at all. Just to add insult to injury, she was simply carrying on with him as well, while who knew what was really going on through his head. Keelee hated the sight. She hated every bit of it.

“You have so many skills, it’s amazing!” Zei said to Arce again. To her, just about everything about him being a hunter was amazing. Hard to believe anyone could be so ‘wow’ed by someone else.

Arce laughed modestly. “But, all hunters are like that!”

“No, no they aren’t!” Zei disagreed.

Keelee interrupted the duo’s conversation by strolling over and stepping between the two. They looked up to see her glaring down at Arce, who she was facing. Zei blinked her big, confused emerald eyes at the other girl while Arce blankly stared back at her.

“Is something wrong, Keelee?” Arce asked her in a very polite manner.

Keelee sneered. She appeared to be disgusted by the very sight of him. “Don’t you think that letting Zei remain topless in the outdoors could cause her to get sick?”

Both Arce and Zei blinked at that question; neither seemed to understand where it was coming from.

“Um…” Arce began, he looked past Keelee at Zei. “I suppose you’re right. I’ll just…”

Keelee cut him off by putting her thin hand up to his face. “No. I’ll do it.” Keelee quickly turned her back to Arce. She knelt down and reached for Zei’s robes, brushed the grass of them, and then wrapped them around her securely. Keelee snapped back to look in Arce’s direction causing the older boy to flinch at the instant sight of her cold stare. Her eyes narrowed on him before she stood back up. “Perhaps it would be best that we continued on our way.”

“Okay, if you’re really…”

“YesI’mreallyreadytogosolet’sgo.” Keelee quickly snapped at him as she made her way to the cart.

Arce blinked his confused eyes as he watched Keelee’s back make it’s way across the grass. He glanced over at Zei who was standing up and brushing herself off. Arce let out a nervous chuckle. “It seems your friend isn’t exactly fond of me.”

Zei giggled. “Well, she only started liking me recently. Just give her some time.”

Keelee had reached the cart and was just about to struggle to climb into it before she had glanced over her shoulder only to find the repulsive sight of Zei carrying on with the older boy once again. “Zei!” Keelee shouted, getting her anger across. The other two jumped with a start and looked in her direction. “Get your behind into this cart right now so we can leave!”

“O-Okay!” Zei called. She tugged her hat onto her head and ran for the cart hurriedly as not to upset the other girl any further.

Arce took that as his cue to follow so they could get the show on the road.

Keelee’s pale violet eyes watched Zei climb into the cart and sit beside her. They then made their way to Arce who appeared to be fighting off his own nervousness as he reluctantly made his way to his horse. He glanced out the corner of his eyes at the girl only to be met by her loathing eyes. The poor boy tensed at the sight before quickly looking away from her and climbing onto his horse.

“Keelee,” called Zei’s timid voice. Keelee turned her attention to her. “Why the scowl?”

Keelee narrowed her eyes on the younger before saying, “Don’t trust him so easily!”

“W-Why?”

“Look at him!” Keelee hissed as the cart began to move. “He’s an older guy. That plus your incompetence could get you into trouble!”

“How?”

Keelee leaned back and sighed with frustration. “You’ll never get it, will you? Just…don’t let your guard down around him.”

Zei cocked her head in curiosity. “You say you don’t trust him…and yet here you are getting a ride from him.”

Keelee winced at the statement. She made a valid point for someone so oblivious. “True…” Keelee admitted. “That’s mostly because I wanted to make sure you were safe,” she excused, silently hoping Zei would not notice.

Zei stared at her as though she suspected something. Keelee was embarrassed enough at having said something like that excuse and anything Zei decided to tack on afterward wasn’t going to help her. However, Zei unexpectedly shrugged it off and turned away from her. With the pressure off of her, Keelee let out a relieved breath.

*

The woman looked up at the morning sun with a smile. The rays glistened off of her curly purple locks and her expression was a playful one with expectant emerald eyes.

She had been standing outside of her isolated hut in the middle of the forest for a little over ten minutes now, just waiting and looking up at the clear blue sky with a smile. It was a little odd, though probably not as odd as living alone in the middle a forest.

At the sound of hooves trotting, the woman reached her long arms over her head and stretched. She turned to look up the dirt road at the oncoming group of travelers. With a big grin and a friendly wave, she called, “What have you brought me today, Arce?”

At the sound of someone calling his name, Arce looked up to see the woman walking into his path. He smiled as a greeting and slowed the animal to a halt. “I found something you might like, Hennetta.”

Zei’s head perked at hearing that name. She turned around to see the woman walking their way. At the sight of her, time seemed to freeze for the young girl. “Ma…ma…ma…”

Keelee stared at Zei who stared dumbly at the woman, mouth opening and closing repeating a single syllable over and over. Keelee shook her head. She took her attention to the woman and froze. Though, this wasn’t the same reaction as Zei’s. Not in the least.

“Mama!” Zei finally managed to get out. She girl quickly climbed up to the edge of the cart and leapt over it, headed straight for the woman. The woman smiled and held out her arms, catching Zei who hugged her and cried into her chest just like the little kid she acted like.

Hennetta pat her sobbing daughter on the head, her smile still in tact. “It’s nice to see you too, Zei.” Hennetta’s emerald eyes took to the other girl in the cart who continued to sit and gawk at her. “Oh? And who might you be, my dear?”

Keelee snapped back to reality at the question. She shrank back into the cart, at a loss. She didn’t know how to answer that question. Especially not to this person. This person who… “Y-You should know that already, right?”

Hennetta was able to catch those muttered words even with her daughter’s loud sobbing.

Arce looked over his shoulder at Keelee with a curious look.

“Hm, perhaps.” The woman said, obviously trying to provoke the girl. “Though I don’t know why you believe I would know who you are…”

Keelee forced a smile through her pent up anger which looked very unfitting on her scrunched up face. “You’re hilarious, miss. Playing aloof. The mysterious woman who knows all but won’t say all.”

Hennetta laughed. She lowered her daughter to the ground and ordered Arce to take her inside. Arce climbed off of his horse and led it by its reigns. He approached Zei and guided her with a gentle hand to the hut, telling her he’d show her how to take care of his horse. Zei, somehow easily distracted at the idea of taking care of animal, rubbed her eyes and beamed at him, following willingly.

Keelee continued to sit in the cart which Arce left behind, somehow feeling much safer inside it then she thought she would if she stepped out of it.

When the other two were out of earshot, Hennetta grinned wickedly at Keelee sending chills up the pale-blue haired girl’s spine. “Climb out of the cart, Keelee. You know I don’t bite.”

Keelee flinched. This woman was giving off vibes that only made Keelee tremble and inch back further into the cart. Keelee didn’t want to come off as scared, not of Zei’s mother anyway. She mustered up her best tough voice and asked, “H-How do you know my name?”

The woman blinked. “What? Keelee? My dear, you and I both know that’s not your real name…”

“But HOW do you KNOW it?!” Keelee reprimanded.

“Because I gave it to you.”

Keelee felt her heart pound rapidly in her chest. This woman wasn’t making her feel any better. The longer she stared at her, the less she wanted to go near her.

Hennetta must have sense this, for she approached the cart and effortlessly climbed in. The action resulted in Keelee scrambling to get away only to fail. There weren’t very many places to run when you were in the bed of a cart full of junk.

Hennetta gently placed a hand atop Keelee’s head and rubbed her hair. Keelee was startled by this action, but by this point she had shut her eyes as tight as they’d go. “It’s okay, Keelee. Like I said, I don’t bite.”

“Who-who are you?” Keelee stammered, still refusing to look at the woman.

Hennetta continued to pat her hair as she spoke. “A mother. A sorceress. Some jerk living in a forest. Or just even Hennetta is fine.”

Keelee was somehow able to relax with her head being petted so gently. She slowly opened her eyes to look up at the woman who stared down at her with a warm and reassuring look in her eyes. Hennetta withdrew her hand from Keelee’s head and leaned away from her. The girl decided to sit up straight for the first time since seeing this woman.

Hennetta was definitely a mystery to Keelee, especially at this point in the game. She knew right off the bat that she was somehow connected to this woman based simply on what she had gathered from the memory she had had just yesterday back in Seadan. She was the same in that memory as she was now; not giving any straight answers when asked for them. Keelee already knew that she would be annoyed easily with people like her.

Hennetta climbed out of the cart first. She turned and looked back at Keelee who only stared. “You must be hungry, right? Why don’t you come inside?”

Keelee grew hesitant. Though it was just as Hennetta had suggested; she was hungry. She crawled over to the edge of the cart, and with help from Hennetta, she climbed out. Though even when she was on the ground, Hennetta didn’t release her hand. “Come along then!” She cheered and led Keelee towards the hut.

*

Keelee held the basket, somehow very happy with helping Hennetta with laundry and watching her hang them on the clothesline.

The girls had been living in this isolated hut in the middle of the forest with Hennetta, Zei’s mother, and Arce, some hunter boy that Keelee still didn’t trust that had some affinity with Zei, for a little over a week now. At first, it had been very awkward living with these two new strangers with Zei clinging to her mother for hours at a time. But after days of waking up together, playing together, and sharing a bed together, it began to feel like some kind of family for Keelee and she actually liked it.

While she and Hennetta hung the laundry up to dry, Arce was guiding Zei around on his horse and, just like a kid, she was having the time of her life.

Keelee watched the sight with an eyebrow raised.

“What’s the matter?”

Keelee jumped a little. Hennetta had a tendency to do that; notice little things like the kids spacing out without taking her attention from what she was doing. It didn’t seem like any of the kids were used to her doing that at all. “It’s just…” Keelee muttered when she regained her composure from the start. “It’s Arce. He…he really bugs me.”

Hennetta chuckled. She reached into Keelee’s basket and pulled out a bed sheet to hang up. “Oh, I wonder why,” she sang in a sort of mocking sense.

Keelee pouted slightly, but she continued. “He really seems to like Zei and I…”

“He does like Zei,” Hennetta interrupted her in a hum. “A lot, a lot. He likes Zei a lot.”

Keelee’s expression showed how flustered she was at this new information. “How can you be so calm about it? You’re her mother!”

“That’s why I’m so calm, my dear.” After hanging the last piece of laundry, Hennetta lowered the remaining clothespins into the newly emptied basket and took it from Keelee. “I told the boy he could marry her one day.”

“WHAT?!” Keelee shrieked.

Hennetta laughed. “As I said, I’m the mother. I can do what I want.”

Keelee’s eyes were wide with shock and her face was scrunched with frustration that she wanted to take out on Hennetta.

“Let me race ‘im!” Zei was heard demanding of Arce. Keelee looked in their direction.

Arce laughed at her childlike demand. “You can’t! You’re still a rookie!”

“Why?” Zei pouted.

“I just told you why,” Arce laughed again.

Keelee sneered in detest at the sight of them getting along. Over the past week, she often found herself marching over and breaking these things up and they were quickly becoming more frequent. However, in cases such as this, Hennetta would stop her by telling her she had to help her with something else.

“Let’s go inside and get lunch ready, okay?” Hennetta told her. She carried the basket toward the hut. With a huff and a final glance back at the other two, Keelee followed suit.

Once inside, Keelee grumbled out the words, “I still can’t believe this.”

Those words made Hennetta laugh. She set down the basket and made her way to the kitchen area. The hut was pretty much just one room with a few little areas to do things. Example would be the kitchen and the dining table on one side of the hut and a single but big enough bed for the four of them to sleep on the other half. As small and quaint as it was, Keelee still felt at home in it for some reason.

“You act just like an overprotective big sister. It’s so cute!” Hennetta told Keelee, teasingly.

Keelee flushed. Hennetta really embarrassed her at times. Fortunately the other two weren’t around to tease her this time. Something else that developed over the past few days with these people, whenever Hennetta teased one of the kids, the other two would chime in too. Though the woman seemed to be more fond of teasing Keelee and whenever she did, Zei would hug her and tell her, “It’s okay! It’s okay!” and Arce would heckle. And when it was Arce who got teased, which was also common, it was Keelee’s turn to heckle and she loved the taste of sweet revenge.

Keelee looked up at Hennetta while she went about collecting pots and pans. She walked over to the kitchen area to help. Once she approached the woman, she realized just what Hennetta had been teasing her about. “An older sister is something that Zei needs anyway.” She told her.

Hennetta looked down at her. “I suppose that’s true,” she agreed. She raised an eyebrow and with a teasing grin, asked, “Do you plan on being that big sister?”

“If I have to be!” Keelee said quickly after blushing again. Hennetta snickered and looked away. Keelee suddenly felt a hint of sadness and looked at the ground. “Hey, Hennetta?”

“Yes?”

“Zei named me Keelee, you know?”

“I do.”

“I don’t remember what my real name is either.”

“I know this as well.”

“But you do.”

“Yes.”

“But you won’t tell me.”

“No.”

Keelee glanced up through her pale blue bangs at the woman who was still smiling, oddly enough. She went about filling a pot with water and told Keelee to heat up the stove. Keelee did as she was told but her mind was still troubled.

“If I can’t get my real name out of you, then…could you at least tell me about Zei’s sister?

Hennetta leaned back after filling the pot with water. “Ah, the ‘Zei’s sister story.’ You want to hear it again do you?”

Keelee blinked at the woman putting the pot on the stove. “A-Again?” She stammered.

Hennetta looked down at Keelee with a curious gaze. “Well, yes. Didn’t Zei tell you when she gave you the name? That Keelee was originally the name of her sister who died before she was born?”

“Oh…” Keelee drolled out. “Y-yeah. She told me. But that can’t be the whole story, can it?”

Hennetta shrugged. “What more is there? I had her. She died. So tragic!” Hennetta feigned sadness. Then she beamed. “And then I had my cute little girl, Zei. And we lived happily ever after. The end!”

Keelee glared at the woman, disbelieving. “Don’t ever try out for a theatre troop.”

“Wha? You don’t think I’m a good actress?” Hennetta questioned in dramatized offense.

Keelee sneered. “You’re awful.”

“How DARE you, you simple minded child! In my day, I could play dead like nobody’s business!” Hennetta waved a wooden spoon about the air to emphasize her nonexistent distress over false memories and even worse acting. This made Keelee laugh a little. After hearing that, the woman calmed down and smiled at her. She tapped Keelee’s head lightly with the spoon. “I suppose you’re right about my acting. You are the victor today, girl.”

Keelee sniggered in confidence. “And I’ll be the victor tomorrow.”

“Ha! Don’t get cocky.”

“And the day after that, and the day after, and all of the days after into eternity!”

Hennetta laughed. “I suppose the cockiness is in your blood. What a shame.”

Keelee stared up at Hennetta. That statement bothered her and totally ruined the girl’s mood. But Hennetta acted as though she had said nothing and turned her attention back to the stove. Thanks to that, Keelee was even more curious than before to find out what exactly Hennetta knew about her.

“Mama!” Zei called. Keelee’s attention went to the back door to the hut where Zei was standing excitedly. “Arce said he would take me hunting. Can I go?”

Keelee’s anger began to show again. “Such a kid.”

Hennetta laughed and walked over to her daughter. “Hunting? I thought you were practicing magic, not killing things.”

“Hey!” Arce said in offense upon appearing beside Zei in the doorway. “Hunters don’t just kill things, Hennetta.”

“Oh, forgive me!” Hennetta pretended to weep. “You’re the only hunter who kills things!” Arce flushed in embarrassment. Hennetta grabbed Zei and cuddled her affectionately. “I don’t know if I should let my cute little daughter go out hunting for the first time with a boy so careless…”

Now fully embarrassed, Arce got on the full defense. “Come on! I’m not that clumsy anymore, Hennetta!”

From across the room, Keelee could be heard snickering. “You used to be clumsy? How clumsy do you have to be to kill things all the time?” The girl heckled.

That really struck a nerve with Arce. “Not fair!” He whined. “I was a rookie!”

“Those poor little bunnies and raccoons…” Hennetta continued to weep with Zei still in her arms.

Zei’s eyes widened in distress. “He killed bunnies and raccoons?! Oh no!”

“Hennetta, stop it!” Arce cried.

Hennetta laughed and released Zei. She walked over to Arce and playfully pat him on the head. “You know I’m kidding. Just take care of Zei, you careless child you.”

“I will. Geez!” Arce huffed before turning away, red with embarrassment and walking out of the hut.

Before Zei could follow, she turned to her mother and hugged her good-bye. Hennetta in turn rubbed her head and pecked her forehead lightly.

Keelee’s face softened at the sight of a mother and daughter expressing their love to one another. The thought of it made her wonder what her own mother was like, or even if she had a mother.

Keelee pushed the thoughts to the back of her mind. She turned around to face the stove and tend to the pot of boiling water there.

But when she turned around and looked down, there was no stove there. She was looking down at a hardwood floor. This wasn’t the flooring in the hut.

Her attention was caught by the sound of sniffling. Someone was crying. Was this another memory?

Keelee glanced up to see she was in what looked like a bedroom. A very elaborate looking bedroom, like something that one would find in a palace. In the middle of the room she saw two people sitting on the edge a large bed. One wasn’t really sitting. She was on her knees on the floor with her face buried in the lap of someone else, sobbing. Based on the long, pale blue hair, Keelee had deduced that the one crying was herself. Though at what age she was when this happened, she couldn’t really tell.

The person she was crying on made Keelee’s eyes widen in surprise. It was Hennetta. She was sitting on the bed with a soft smile and rubbing the Keelee of the past’s hair while she cried. “What is she doing here?” Keelee asked herself aloud.

“It’s not fair!” cried the girl, her complaints muffled by the woman’s lap. “It’s just not fair!”

“Hm? And why isn’t it?” Hennetta asked the girl as she continued to rub her hair.

The girl lifted her tear stained face to look up at her. One of her cheeks was bruised red; she’d probably been hit recently. “Mother doesn’t understand at all! Why would she take Zei away from me? Why can’t we be together?”

Keelee’s eyes widened at the name. “Zei?” She repeated. “I used to know Zei?” The idea came off as completely shocking to her. How did she know Zei? If that were the case, then shouldn’t Zei have known who she was when they met?

“Your mother has her reasons…” Hennetta said, her smile shrank slightly. Her eyes seemed to be hiding a feeling of sadness.

“She’s being too cruel!” The girl screamed. “Zei didn’t do anything wrong! If not for her, I’d still be a spoiled jerk! Why would mother wanna take something so great away? And even worse…” the girl began to cry harder. “She won’t even remember who I am! Why?! What’d I do?!”

Hennetta closed her eyes and let out a small breath when the girl threw her face back into her lap and continued to weep as hard as she could.

“If we’re not allowed to see each other again, then it wouldn’t hurt so much! But why erase her memory too?! It’s cruel!” The girl cried.

Keelee didn’t like what she was hearing in the least. From what she was gathering, once upon a time, she and Zei had known each other. And Zei was her best friend. Which made sense. When she remembered her second memory about the girl who had saved her from the well, that was apparently Zei. And back then, Zei was strong enough to use magic to get her out. That part didn’t make sense.

Based on the first memory, Keelee had never been very nice to Zei and Hennetta had teased her for it. Though apparently, Zei had kept trying to befriend her anyway and changed Keelee for the better. Kind of like what was happening now. That made Keelee let out a small laugh.

And now, based on this newer memory, her own mother had told the girls they couldn’t be together anymore. And to worsen the blow, she had Zei’s memories of Keelee erased. Somehow, she felt the same pain as her past self that she was watching cry in Hennetta’s lap. She could no longer look and pity her past self because she was now almost as miserable, but without the tears.

“You know, Princess Alanis…”

Keelee quickly looked at Hennetta. That name. Her name. She’d said it. And Keelee had heard it. She had heard her name for the first time. Hearing it for the first time since losing her memory made it seem like time had somehow stopped for Keelee.

“It’s never easy to lose someone important to you,” Hennetta continued. “Especially if they’re your first anything. First friend…first child.”

Princess Alanis looked up suddenly, sniffling pathetically. Hennetta suddenly looked very sad and was looking away from the girl, towards the window. Alanis leaned away from the woman, gazing up at her curiously. “What do you mean?”

Hennetta regained her sense of reality. She returned her attention to the princess before her with a fake smile. “Nothing. Just me reminiscing.”

Alanis wiped the tears from her face, but continued to stare up at Hennetta. “I’m sorry. I made you remember your first child with my complaining, didn’t I?”

Hennetta glanced away from her. “Well, it’s not your fault. It’s something that’s bound to happen…”

“Actually,” Alanis sniffled. “I don’t remember the story all that well. When I had heard it from my father, I was still a spoiled brat and didn’t really care about it…But, would you tell me now?”

Hennetta’s emerald eyes fell back on Alanis. “It’s nothing interesting…” Hennetta said, expecting Alanis to dismiss the topic. But Alanis continued to look up at her, eyes red, puffy, and waiting. Hennetta let out a small sigh of defeat. “In that case, it’s a very short story but…Before I had Zei, I had another littler girl. I was really happy to have her but I wasn’t able to keep her long. She was taken from me after only a couple of days…”

Alanis sniffled again, still recovering from her excessive crying. “You mean she died?”

Hennetta paused. She smiled and hung her head. “Yes…Yes. She died.”

“What’d you name her?”

“Keelee,” Hennetta told her after a long pause. She reached up and tugged her curly hair back behind her ear. “It’s funny really. Had I managed to keep her for a little longer, she’d have been able to meet Zei. And they could’ve been friends forever. I’m always working and Zei is going to be alone all the time without you now. If I just could’ve kept Keelee…”

Alanis looked down for the first time since the conversation had started. “Y-You’re a good mother, Hennetta. Don’t look so down.”

Hennetta laughed in an attempt to lighten the mood. “Oh, am I?”

“Yeah,” Alanis said, still refusing to look at the woman. “You raised Zei well. You don’t need to worry so much over something like a sister for her…If she could’ve been allowed to continue to live here, I’d have been that big sister even.”

Hennetta’s plastered on smile faded when she heard sniffling again. She reached forward and turned Alanis so that she would face her. And when she looked into those pale violet eyes, they were once again filled with tears. “W-Will I ever be able to see Zei again?” Alanis asked through her sobs.

Hennetta nodded without a word. She pulled Alanis forward and hugged her while the girl began to cry into her chest. “You’re right…” Hennetta muttered. “Your mother is very unfair.”

Keelee hadn’t realized it, but she herself had tears streaming down her face. And she didn’t find out about them until the scene had changed back to normal and Henneta was standing before her with a worried look. Keelee jumped when a hand was lightly placed unto her head. “Are you okay?” Hennetta asked.

Keelee nodded quickly and rubbed her eyes.

Hennetta withdrew her hand and tapped her chin with the wooden spoon. “That’s a little odd for you to stand here looking so spacey and start crying.”

Keelee glanced up at her. “I-I wasn’t crying!” She defended.

This fed the cynical side of Hennetta’s personality and she smiled wickedly. “Oh? Are you nothing more than a big crybaby then, Keelee?”

“No!” Keelee stomped her foot with a mini tantrum. Hennetta laughed at her childish response to her teasing.

Keelee glanced up at Hennetta very timidly after her briefly lived frustration had faded. She remembered what she had just seen. What she had felt when she had seen it. What she thought about it.

Hennetta caught the girl’s gaze. Still smiling, she asked, “Now what?”

Keelee flushed slightly and looked out of the corner of her eyes to the floor. “Um…Don’t make of fun of me for this…But…can I…can I hug you?”

Hennetta blinked, her smile fading. Where in the world was this coming from? “Okay…” she said, lowering the spoon on the table. She opened her arms and welcomed the girl. “Go for it.”

Keelee didn’t hesitate. She quickly went forward and threw her arms around the woman’s torso. She felt better when Hennetta lowered her arms and hugged her back. At that, Keelee just wanted them to remain like that forever. “I’m not Alanis,” the girl thought as she suddenly felt much warmer than before. “I’m Keelee now.”