Stained in red

What A Coincidence

No word had come from Jax. It had been almost three days. Serta still didn't know, but Jax was safe. She slept in a tree which she tied herself to every night. Luckily, she had found a small part of the forest that hadn't burnt down, it was thick enough to avoid prying eyes but close enough that with a few minutes of running she could over hear the Yellow bloods. Meanwhile, the mourning survivors lived in harmony with the healers.

Lavender hot water swirled around me, the pinky bubbles high enough to cover my broad chest. I had borrowed Roseanne's soaps and lotions because I felt stupid to ask anyone else, and I needed a bath desperately. She told me to go to an underground chamber, where healers had channeled the natural springs towards a bowl shaped dip in the smooth rock. Stalactites hung from the ceiling, the mist forming droplets on their points and small candles lit up the cave. It was a large room that echoed with the slightest sound, all I could hear was the murmuring water and popping bubbles.

I dipped my head under. The bowl was big enough to swim in, and deep enough to stand up. My hair clung to my head, the black ends spiking around my ears.

I closed my eyes. A breath in had me relaxed. Two and my mind cleared. Before I knew it I was leaning against the side and drifting off...

"Oh, sorry." I snapped awake. Alertedly spinning my head around the candlelit room. I stopped when my eyes rested on her slim figure. "I-I just thought you'd be finished by now- sorry." Heat flooded my cheeks.

"Oh," I cleared my throat. "I-er... I fell asleep." It was the only thing I could have said.

"I told you they were relaxing." She muffled her girlish giggle. "Sorry." She repeated and made to leave.

"No, no. It's ok, Im getting out now." I said and started to pull myself out the dip. Immediately, she spun around. Facing away from me as soon as possible. "Oh, er. It's ok. I'm wearing shorts." I assured her. But she didn't turn.

"No. It's fine." The atmosphere around her had turned awkward. Right. I thought and jumped out. I didn't have anything to dry off on.

I strolled to the jaunty stairs that lead up to the surface. "Your turn my lady." I teased. It was fine for her to use the water, as the downhill springs gently filtered the pool, keeping it from overflowing.

"Thank you." She said politely, and with her back to me, got in.

Roseanne hadn't spoken to me since. Not that she'd been rude about it. But she always found herself caught up in something or other. Every time our eyes met from across the cave, her cheeks flushed a pale pink. Jax would've teased me about it. But she wasn't here.

"Serta!" Dana cried, her voice filled with joy.
"Hey!" I ruffled her golden locks. We hadn't seen each other in a long time, she had been mourning with her mother about the loss of her baby brother. To her credit she seemed to be fine, mostly. "You ok?"

"Yeah. Just a bit bored, I have so many chores! Like, help the healers, clean our bed section. Practice my magic. Bla, bla, bla. I'm not allowed out of Mum's sight! This time I finally managed to run away!" She gasped. I was sure she was grateful for the list of things to do, when I had lost my Father, as soon as I was alone it hit me like an arrow to the chest... "Can we go exploring?" She pouted and gave me her best puppy eyes.

"Show me your magic. Then we can go." I smiled, it was the best I could do for Dana's mother. She huffed but held out her hand. Her eyes squeezed shut. A flower grew steadily. Dana flipped her hand over so her palm faced the ground. An exact replica of her flower sprouted in the ground, then another. Soon five gentle flowers swayed to the wind. She pulled her hand back into a fist at her side, the flowers remained. "Dana! That's amazing!" I encouraged. She just rolled her eyes and grabbed my arm in a rock hard grasp.

"Exploring." She reminded me and pulled me through the grass.