-Chapter 48-

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Day: 24

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Giddy about their future trade, Corinna and Harmony headed to Ivette's warehouse with enthused nattering.

"I could then retile the roof!" Corinna beamed. "And get rid of that rotten floorboards, reinforce the door-"

"Just focus on one project for now." Harmony smiled through her fangs. "You'll end up making a whole new house from the sounds of it."

"I could, you know." The young woman tilted her head in thought, determining where the best foundations would be.

They arrived at Ivette's trading post, returning the smiles and greetings that the old woman gave out.

"So lovely to see you again, my dear," said Ivette, holding Corinna's hands.

"You too," said Corinna. "We've got a list of supplies we need. I was hoping we could trade." She took her red notebook out of her rucksack and showed the list to Ivette.

"Yes, I should have almost all of it. I do have a ladder, but it might be a bit too short."

"That's alright. The house is only one storey."

"I assume you have food to trade?" Ivette directed this at Harmony but continued to look at Corinna.

"Yeah," said Harmony, placing her satchel on the coffee table and began to empty the contents.

"Well, that's-" Ivette paused and turned around to face the chimaera. "You... you don't have your whiteboard with you."

"I no longer need it," replied Harmony, so occupied with taking out the food packets from her satchel that she did not see the trader's face.

Ivette cleared her throat and turned back to Corinna. "I suggest you go and find what you need and then we'll discuss the price. Harmony knows where everything is." She glanced back at the chimaera.

Harmony nodded and stood up, heading towards the shelves further into the trading post. Corinna followed, then stopped upon hearing the old trader heavily breathing. Stepping back and turning around, Corinna saw through the shelves Ivette at the coffee table with her hands cupped over her mouth. She was trying desperately to not make a single sound, but the tears had caused her nose to block up, and she breathed in and out with sharp sniffs.

"Ms Ivette?" Corinna spoke softly as she approached the old woman.

Ivette jolted upwards allowing a tear to escape and slide down her cheek. "Oh, my dear, I thought you were-" She swallowed, wiping her pink face with her sleeve. "Is there anything I can help you with? Harmony hasn't broken anything again, has she?"

"Are you alright, Miss Ivette?" Corinna crouched down and placed a hand upon the trader's. "Is something wrong?"

"No, no, of course not!" Ivette beamed, her eyes still watering. "Nothing is wrong at all."

"Then why-" The young woman stopped, realising that these were not tears of sadness but of happiness.

"She finally-" Ivette sniffed and exhaled a wobbly and shaky breath. "She can talk again." The trader reached up and caressed Corinna's cheek. "Whatever you've been doing, keep at it. She'll be human again in no time."

"I found the ladder!" Harmony bounded towards the front of the shop, carrying the ladder over a shoulder, almost knocking over some objects on the shelves.

"Be-careful-with-that!" Ivette wheeled herself over to the chimaera and whacked her with her dinosaur claw-stick.

Though the hits were light, Harmony still winced and backed away. "Sorry." She then grinned at Corinna and motioned to the ladder.

Corinna gave a thumbs up.

With Ivette's help, Corinna and Harmony found the majority of the items they needed, the rest they would have to find at The Land of the Lost.

When it was time to trade, Harmony displayed the food packets that she had brought with her, as well as a few other knick-knacks, on the coffee table and sat near it. Corinna joined her and squatted down, with Ivette laying on her skateboard on the other side.

"What's this?" Ivette gasped. "Food that is not special stew?"

"Yes," said Corinna. "We're now on a healthy and balanced diet, one that doesn't just consist of special stew."

Whilst she wasn't looking, Harmony pulled a face of disgust behind Corinna's back.

"Harmony is very happy about it," Corinna added sarcastically.

"Well, that's great, my dear." Ivette picked out all of the special stew packets. "But I have gotten sick of special stew so I won't be trading for those."

Grinning, Harmony shovelled the special stew packets back into her satchel, then cowered in guilt once Corinna saw how ecstatic she was.

The young woman returned her attention back to Ivette. "We also found this for you." She retrieved the neatly folded blue dress with camellias from her rucksack.

"Corinna found it for you," Harmony corrected.

"Harmony repaired it."

Ivette gently took the dress from her Corinna and inspected it, holding it across her body. She smiled, seeing that it was long enough to cover her legs and had a zip on the side which allowed her to easily put it on. "Thank you, my dears. It is beautiful." Her hands traced the stitching where Harmony had sewed the hole shut. "I believe this and the food will cover everything."

After the trader had recorded the deal in her logbook, she shook hands with both Harmony and Corinna. The young woman and the chimaera then bid farewell and left with the supplies.

"She seemed a lot happier than usual," Harmony commented. "She must have really hated special stew. Which I can't understand why. It's the best! You like it, don't you?"

"Yes, the first few times in a row, it was great," said Corinna, then smiled back at the chimaera.

"I suppose it's better to have more variety." Harmony let out a deep chuckle that almost sounded like a growl through her fangs. "We still have plenty of time to search the Land of the Lost for the rest of the materials, if you want."

"Don't you want to wait by the portal?" asked Corinna. "You haven't been able to go lately."

Harmony stopped for a moment. She had almost forgotten about her plan to escape. It had been in the back of her mind for some time now. Then, she realised that she hadn't traded with Ivette for some new additions to her collection, or rather her horde, down in the basement. All that had been occupying her mind was Corinna as she was looking forward to helping her in making a new fireplace.

"Harm?" Corinna tilted her head, looking up at the chimaera. "If you want to go, I know my way back."

"No." Harmony shook her head. "Let's get this wall fixed. We should go to the Land of the Lost."

"You sure?" Corinna frowned.

"Yeah," replied the chimaera.

After a moment of silence, Corinna asked, "do you really like special stew that much?"

"Uh, yeah!"

"Then why didn't you just trade with Ivette ones that weren't special stew and keep them all to yourself? More special stew for you."

Harmony's face twisted into a disgruntled image of pain and regret. "Gah!" she grumbled. "Why couldn't I have met you sooner?"

Corinna bit down on her lip to hide her smile. "Good thing Ivette gave all the special stew back, huh?"


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