Jiwa

Chapter Fifteen

"What a day!" exclaimed Devi. I nodded excitedly as Kelly beamed. We were slouched around our room in the inn and had negotiated to get a third bed; after Kelly had leaned over the desk and spoken to the innkeeper, explaining that no, we weren't siblings.

"Good thing people in this town are pro-jiwa," I remarked. The other two nodded. In some cities, people would go so far as to publicly scorn the sisi-lain, the magical Other Side to which our jiwas were connected, or kill Magics. Some cities would scorn those who scorned the sisi-lain and commit troops to protect holy shrines. And then there were places like Braie, who didn't scorn the haters but didn't support them either. They didn't shame the Magics, but they didn't help them out either. And only a quarter of the infrastructure relied on magic; it was mostly technology or rustic inventions.

"Well, now for the topic at hand," said Kelly, bringing the group out of the strained silence, "what should we have for dinner?"

"Ooh, I want some makanan sedap!" said Devi.

I giggled. "We all like that, Dev. Well? Kelly?" I looked towards the chair she was slouched in, and she nodded.

"Let's go!" she said, and we hopped to action, stuffing our bags with wang and primping our hair.

Fifteen minutes later, we were sitting at a table in the local pub, The Baik Keyun, or the good friend. It was a Magic-owned business, their waitstaff replaced by paper cranes flitting about the room. Three flew over to our table and landed in our palms, unfolding itself to become a menu.

"Ooh, what looks good?" I mused. There was a plate of sedap that looked promising. I pointed this out to my friends, and they nodded. The crane folded itself back into a bird and flew off to tell the chefs of our meal.

"So, what do you guys wanna do tomorrow?" Kelly asked excitedly. Devi bobbed her head side to side and peered thoughtfully at the paper napkin she was slowly picking apart.

"I think...we should go swimming in the river," she said slowly.

"Ooh, that's an...idea. But that water-?" Kelly stopped abruptly and also began to pick at her napkin. An air of tension spread upon our little group, and I eyed Devi and then Kelly.

"Ok, what's going on? Swimming sounds cool! Why are you guys being so tense?" I said, with a forced smile. "Kells, tell me what's wrong?"

Kelly took a shuddering breath and looked at me.

"Fiona, I'm just so scared! At any moment, people could come and take you...or something could happen to you...wh-what if you were pulled under! And drowned! Or-"

"Kells, stop right there," interjected Devi. "She's a strong swimmer and she'll be fine. Plus, she can manipulate water to a certain degree, since she has so much history with clay."

"But Dev-"

"But nothing!" I said. I realized with a start my eyes were brimming with tears. Kelly looked at me in shock. I sniffled and gave her an awkward side-hug.

"Kells, I don't want you to worry about me! I will be fine; let's focus on enjoying the rest of the break, yeah?"

Kelly sniffled and nodded, and said yeah, we'll keep having fun. So when the sedap was delivered, we all tucked in and ate, giggling about past mishaps at school, and wondering what tomorrow would bring.

There was such a happy feeling during that moment, all three of us laughing together. We giggled all the way until we went to sleep.

That was the last time I giggled for a long, long time.