A Tall and Small Collection | S2

True Colors Revealed pt. 5 (Finale)

The next morning was a rough one. The swelling and darkening of Ashlynn's bruises made all of the boys anxious. She put on a brave face, but she was still very sore and was moving a little slower than she was the day before. After a long shower, she came out to find that Soren and his brothers had prepared some hot tea for her.

It was quite the acrobatic feat, but Soren, Dorian, and Rey had climbed up to the kitchen sink, pulled the rinse hose over to the electric tea kettle, and filled it. Dorian understood how to work the machine and was able to set it to the perfect temperature while Rey flipped up to the cabinet and got her a tea bag.

While they weren't able to pour the hot water into the mug, they had everything prepped and ready for her.

"You guys," mumbled Ashlynn, her lip slightly swollen as she looked at the work they had done.

"Next time, I'll have an invention to do it all for you," said Rey, who had already pulled out his sketchpad as they all settled in on the couch and was drawing out blueprints for a machine that would actually pour or syphon the hot water into a mug directly from the kettle.

"How are you feeling?" asked Dorian.

"That's what we'd all like to know." The family of five glanced over toward the edge of the couch to see Casper and Hero pulling themselves up onto the edge of the couch. Hero's eyes widened as he was unable to disguise his surprise at seeing Ashlynn's injuries. Casper maintained his composure, but he also seemed a little unnerved at Ashlynn's injuries. The look in his eyes held the look of someone who didn't believe something was possible. Undoubtedly, it hadn't occurred to him that certain humans could be dangerous to others.

"We?" asked Ashlynn, lowering her voice a bit more than normal to make sure Casper was comfortable.

"The... community. A lot of us heard what happened last night, and the rest of us heard about the aftermath this morning," stated Casper. "We wanted to make sure you were alright and... to thank you. You didn't have to defend us the way you did, and if it wasn't obvious before, it is apparent now that you are an ally."

Ashlynn smiled as much as she could manage as she nodded. Words escaped her, not that they were needed to understand what she was feeling. Friendship and trust is hard won, and now she had it.

"At any rate, we came to ask if you needed anything from us and if there is anything we can do to help prepare for the move," offered Casper.

"Yeah! We thought we could help with the boxes and if there are little things we can stitch or rearrange," chimed in Hero as he glanced at his father and then back to Soren and his family.

"That's certainly a relief that everyone's willing to help," said Soren. "Actually, today was the day Ashlynn was going to get the totes we need to move everyone. She has to go to the hospital first, right? But then she'll be back with what we need."

"Yeah, I need to make sure I get the pictures I need to file a proper civil suit against Austin," said Ashlynn. "But I can get the totes first. There's a place just down the road. That'll give you all space to come out of the bedroom and work. Get some supply lists together and I'll set everything out before I go to the hospital."

Casper nodded and turned to leave, giving Hero a little pat on his shoulder, before leaving to go back to the bedroom.

Hero looked up at Ashlynn, bright green eyes latching onto the bruises and emotion filling his eyes.

"Are you feeling okay?" asked the teenage Borrower.

"I've been better, but thanks for asking," smiled Ashlynn. "Anyway, I need to get moving if I am getting anything done today. The store shouldn't be busy now too, so less people staring at my bruises."