The Girl with an Owl

Chapter 41

Ajana was appalled about what she had heard, but after Cassie finished her story, Ajana's main focus was on the family which lost Delinda. Could it be possible that the person she was talking about was Orla's mother? Was pain and anger what led one sweet little girl to become the nightmare of the whole school?

There were so many questions swirling around Ajana's mind about everything she had learned, but the main questions focused on Orla. She needed to know if that was the reason for her behavior, for such hatred displayed towards Kieran. If it were true, it would explain a lot about Bob's and Orla's attitudes towards the elves, though maybe not his attitude towards Ajana herself.

"Cassie, was Delinda Orla's mother, Bob's wife?" Ajana finally asked.

"Yes, she was. How did you guess? Don't tell me she is the girl you had problems with at school." Cassie said.

"Well, she is the girl the whole school has problems with, so I think it's no surprise Ajana had some problems with her, as well." Bluebells said.

It felt to Ajana like he was defending her, and although she appreciated the effort, she didn't understand why. Thinking about it for a few seconds made her realize that once upon a time Cassie was probably very close to the girl, considered her as a member of her family even.

"That is unfortunately true. I guess I shouldn't be surprised, having in mind the role humans played in the attack." Cassie said.

The moment she said that, she put a hand over her mouth. She wasn't planning on telling them that part of the story. It felt like too much information to burden Ajana with, but the words slipped out without her permission. Cassie relaxed a bit too much around the young ones, and now she had to pay the price.

"Humans? What did humans do?" Ajana asked immediately.

Before Cassie had to answer the question, they heard the front door being opened, and Cassie recognized her husband's footsteps. It was also obvious that he was not alone.

"We'll talk about it another time." She said as she hurried off to meet the newcomers.

Bluebells and Ajana, sick and tired of adults hiding things from them, followed close behind in the hopes of getting first-hand information. They thought that it would be great not to always be in the dark, not to always be protected, but to do the protecting, as well. They saw their chance to do that at that moment.

As they entered the living room, they could see that Zephyr was accompanied by Wallace and a few others Ajana didn't know. They seemed to be in deep discussion, but the moment they noticed Ajana and Bluebells, they stopped talking in an obvious effort to hide the truth from them. Ajana really disliked when adults treated her as if she might break any moment, but she tried to be understanding.

After all, most of the children wouldn't be able to deal with the burden of knowing all there was to know, but she and Bluebells were ready. Still, their eagerness went unnoticed by the adults.

Before she had the chance to say anything against being treated like a child, Wallace flew over to her and landed on her shoulder. His soothing presence made her feel like everything was okay, that she was okay.

"I know what you are thinking, and I am sorry, but there is something that children are too young to know, even if they think they are ready. There are some things better left unsaid." Wallace said.

"What we can tell you is that Wallace took care of everything," Zephyr said.

"After all, we were prewarned, and Wallace is the most powerful being in this land. He persuaded them to leave. There was no fighting, just a lot of harsh words from their side." Zephyr said.

"I heard that they want you to ask Kieran to leave. You won't do that, will you?" Ajana asked.

Her question was aimed at Wallace because he was the only adult present who treated her with the respect she deserved. After all, he was her familiar, her friend, and he always did his best to tell her the truth, to help her understand.

"Don't worry about that. No matter what happens, I will make sure that he is okay, but I am afraid we can't talk about that any longer since Kieran will be here at any moment. I don't think he is ready to deal with all of this yet, so let's just talk about this later." Wallace said.

"Doesn't he know?" Ajana asked.

"Yes, he does but, for the time being, the only thing we can do is go on with our lives and try to deal with the problems as they come. Right now, you two have to work on your homework. After all, the threat of war is not a reason enough to skip school." Wallace said.

Although Ajana didn't fully agree with Wallace, she decided that the best course of action would be to just do what he said. She didn't want to make things worse for Kieran since she had already accidentally done so by standing up for him. It was her fault that he became the focus of Bob's attention, and now that she could understand how deep his hatred for the elves truly was, Ajana wanted to do her best to protect Kieran.

As she was born with empathy so vast it encompassed everyone, Ajana could understand and sympathize with Bob's pain, but at the same time, she wanted to protect Kieran, as well. It was her goal to protect Kieran from unjust treatment for something that some of his people did, that he had nothing to do with. She couldn't understand how people always blamed the majority for the mistakes and crimes of the few, but it happened often enough for her to be able to understand that she needed to help him stay unnoticed.

On the other hand, she knew that everything she had seen done and said by Bob and Orla was a reflection of their pain, of their lives being devastated by some of the elves, and she didn't want to remind them of that painful fact. It would be best to keep to the outskirts, both at school and outside school, which was one more reason for her to spend more time with Kieran.

As she was deep in thought, she was startled by the knock on the door. However, for Bluebells, it was as if a bell was rung for his cheerful, happy self to reawaken as he ran towards the door to greet Kieran.

"Can I stay and watch what you do for your homework?! Can I?! Pretty please!" Bluebells said the moment he opened the door with his mouth.

Ajana expected Kieran to burst out in anger, having in mind how tense he looked, but instead, he smiled at Bluebells and nodded his head in agreement. It was so odd to see the transformation from the angry, reserved Kieran, to the one whose eyes seemed to generate certain warmth when talking with Bluebells.

Surprised as she was by the interaction, Ajana didn't question it, she just led the way to her bedroom ready to finish the project if possible. There were so many, more important things, going on and Ajana wanted to have enough time to figure out how she could help out. Still, it was obvious that Wallace wouldn't allow that to influence her schoolwork.

It was so odd to her, that the school would continue working, but she guessed that having in mind how many magical creatures worked in the school, it was the safest place in all Mag. Still, one would assume that an impending war would worry them more. On the other hand, it seemed as if they were well prepared if it were to come to that.

Instead of worrying about the future, Ajana decided to focus on the present and the transformations that they were supposed to do. Also, she needed to make sure that Bluebells didn't interfere in any way which was a challenge in itself.