His Dark Materials

Chapter 2

Her heart beat fast as she hadn't stepped one foot inside the study. She flinched when she heard someone call her name, she stumbled back a little, wincing at the pain of the monkeys claw deeply scratching her leg. She stood there ashamed, guilt flooding her. If she hadn't upset her before, she definitely had now. "s... Sorry. I. I... I was just interested. I can't help my curiosity" her mouth was dry and blood was running down her leg. She nodded and profoundly apologized, she didn't want to get kicked out. She took the pajamas and ran off to her room before anything else could happen. She quickly shut the door behind het wishing she could lock it. "pan, are you hurt?" she asked her daemon.

once lyra left her standing by the door to her office, marisa leaned down to the floor right next to her monkey and gave him a disturbing glare before clutching her hand into his fur and pulling it with force, whimpering beside him. ‘what have i done’ she kept asking herself over and over again. she lost her temper, she always did when things didn’t go her way. her daemon shouldn’t have hurt lyra, especially after they’ve been talking about how the scholars treated her. “it was all your fault” she screamed at the monkey who quietly sat there by her side, feeling only a flicker of guilt unlike marisa who felt it deeply. he couldn’t behave himself, he never could no matter how hard she tried. she stood up and walked back to lyra’s room. she knew shouldn’t come in without knocking, especially after what ozymandias did so she knocked on her door. “lyra, can i come in?” this time her voice was almost as quiet as a whisper. “listen, he- .. i am sorry lyra, i shouldn’t have done that to you, maybe i can fetch you some bandages?” mrs coulter certainly wasn’t used to apologizing but she truly was sorry, so her tone appeared to be a bit warmer than ever before.

Lyra sniffle, she could hear a few noises outside the door but couldn't clearly understand them. She sat on the windowsill, as close to the cool window she could get, the cold of the night seemed to bring her back a little, pan curled up in her lap, lyras cheeks wet with her slow tears. She'd found an amazing woman, willing to bring her along on her journey and into her apartment, and she had to go and mess it all up. She clutched onto the purple silk pajamas, her knee stung though she was determined to be brave. She bit her lip anxiously, hearing Mrs Coulter at the door, she seemed to be truly sorry. "go..." she growled, but instantly stopped, her fierceness could wait for someone else, someone other than the only person who genuinely seemed to be interested in her. "come in" she whispered, for these weren't the scholars at Oxford she was talking to anymore, her heart was heavy with guilt and sadness. She gazed out of the window, slowly stroking pan, trying to control her breathing.

marisa opened the door to find lyra sitting there, by the big window, stroking, comforting her daemon. she didn’t want to talk about what her own daemon did, who was now standing in the corner of the room with his head turned to a wall. more specifically.. mrs coulter didn’t want to talk about the sorrow and anger behind her actions, so she decided not to bring up this painful subject, ignoring everything that just happened “do you like london? it’s so calm at this hour.. the view is as motionless as a photogram or a painting, i like this city best when it sleeps” the young woman admitted to lyra, trying to put on and smile and carefully stepping closer after each word. she didn’t want to overstep any boundaries between her and her child, lyra didn’t trust her enough yet so she had to be careful now. “i do regret what happened back there, i never meant to do you harm” marisa sat down next to the girl for balance, both physical and emotional, she was so lost in her thoughts that she couldn’t even resist bring it up again and explaining herself.

Lyra made sure her gaze remained out of the window, onto the street below. She held pan closer to her chest, noticing that Mrs Coulter seemed to be getting closer, she knew she overstepped, so it was ok right? Besides, maybe lyra overstepped too. Reality was hitting her way too fast since she left Jordan College. "i... I should have listened to you. Sorry." she mumbled the apology, she too was not one to apologize unless absolutely necessary. She flinched when Marisa sat down beside her, she wasn't expecting that and it caught her severely off guard. She swallowed, looking up at Mrs Coulter. She carefully placed pan in her lap. "i... Thank you, for the offer. But, i... I'm exhausted" she admitted, she slowly leaned forward and onto her mother, unknown to her at the moment. She put her cheek on Mrs Coulters shoulder and nuzzled her neck gently. "i dont think I've ever been so tired" she light heartedly joked. "i forgive you" it seemed Marisa needed to hear that. So she wrapped an arm around her neck and stayed like that for a while.