Harm and Harmony

-Chapter 106-

Day: 145

Days Left: 5335

Lives Saved: 0

Corinna sat on one of the armchairs, nestled under a blanket as she wrote in her notebook. Due to the fireplace being blocked to prevent intruders, the house had become freezing. The young woman gazed over at Harmony, who was lying on her stomach on the floor, wrapped in a blanket burrito style as she doodled pictures of frogs in funny hats.

Sighing, Corinna admitted to herself that she had treated Harmony perhaps too harshly. Having a mask in the Eternal Abyss was almost a necessity to survive. Harmony was free to do as she pleased and could take care of herself, only... Corinna recalled back to that blood moon. It wasn't just that she was worried that Harmony would get hurt if they followed her plan, it was that she would get hurt because Corinna wasn't strong enough to protect her. Harmony could have been attacked or her memories wiped whilst she was struggling against the puppet creature.

Feeling the faint line around her neck, from where the mark of strangulation had almost healed, Corinna shuddered.

If she had a mask of her own, it would have been easier. She could protect Harmony whilst she retrieved her mask. But of course, it seemed that her mask hadn't arrived yet, strangely late according to Salim. It would have been more than ideal if Rin and Sumit could help, but the nature of their masks did not allow it as she had heard from Sumit that they had little control over their actions during blood moons.

Thinking of other possible ways, safer ones, to reclaim Harmony's mask, Corinna jolted upon hearing something outside.

There was a rustling, something twanging and snapping, and then finally cries of frustration and panic. The traps that Corinna had placed around the house had caught someone.

Corinna and Harmony rushed over to the door, arming themselves. After giving each other a nod, Corinna flung open the door, and they rushed out, weapons raised.

Tangled in bundles of wires was the amphibian. They twisted and struggled to escape but somehow managed to get the wires even more entwined around themselves.

Corinna winced, seeing them continue to writhe on the ground, wire snaking around their body. "Are you alright?" she called out.

The amphibian, finally noticed Corinna and Harmony standing on the porch. Waving their webbed hands, the amphibian motioned to something in their other clenched fist.

Hesitantly, Harmony retrieved it, finding it to be a small piece of wood which she handed over to Corinna in confusion.

"Oh!" Corinna exclaimed. "I think this fell out of my rucksack at the drop-off." She didn't have the heart to say that she hadn't even noticed it was gone or of how little importance it was. "Thank you," she said to the amphibian. "You shouldn't have... and thank you for helping me back there too."

The amphibian attempted to return a smile as best as they could resulting in them opening their mouth slightly.

There was a long pause.

"Would you like to stay for dinner?" asked Corinna.

Harmony flipped around, mouthing a bewildered 'WHAT!'.

Corinna shrugged in panic, feeling awkward for turning the amphibian away immediately after it had gone all the way to return her belongings. "It's the... least we could do..."

After the amphibian was cut free, they invited them inside. The amphibian sat in front of the coffee table, back straight and posture perfect, glancing around the house, taking an interest in the books on the shelf as they waited for the food to be served. They gave a small bow as they noticed Corinna and Harmony staring from the other side of the room. Corinna and Harmony waved back, forcing a smile, then Harmony turned to face Corinna.

"I didn't know what else to do!" Corinna hissed, seeing the look on the young woman's face. "They helped me get the food at the drop-off. Without them, we wouldn't have anything to eat." She continued cooking the food packets in the boiling water.

"What if they keep coming back like a stray cat now that we've fed them?" Harmony whispered, readying the bowls and cutlery and pouring drinks of water.

"Would that be so bad-"

"Yes."

"Just... be nice for now, okay?"

They sat down, placing the bowls of food on the coffee table. The amphibian, once again, made a polite bow and began eating using their knife and fork in such an elegant and correct way that Corinna started to question her own table manners. They all ate in silence with Corinna and Harmony not knowing what to talk about and distracted by their bizarre guest.

"Thank you again for helping us," said Corinna to the amphibian. "We wouldn't be eating right now if it weren't for you."

The amphibian stared back with their unblinking eyes.

"I'm Corinna, and this is Harmony. What's your name?"

The amphibian gritted their teeth together, gurgling and hissing, then almost trying to spit something out.

"They better not be throwing up!" Harmony jumped up, backing away.

"No, I think they're trying to speak..." said Corinna. "It's okay! You don't have to force yourself! Don't damage your throat!"

The amphibian clutched the table, growling and spluttering, then bowing their head low in defeat.

"I'll be right back!" Harmony climbed down into the basement and soon returned with her old whiteboard and handed it to the amphibian along with a few coloured pens. "Here, you can write it down."

Nodding appreciatively, the amphibian wrote something down on the whiteboard and showed it to the two young women.

Corinna and Harmony stared at it. The amphibian's handwriting was so fanciful and elegantly written in cursive that it was unintelligible.

"That's... very pretty," said Corinna, then whispered to Harmony, "can you read that?"

"Nope," replied Harmony. "Try spacing out the letters," she suggested.

The amphibian nodded and wrote out:

"Cal-icks?" pronounced Corinna.

"Cal-eekst," corrected Harmony.

The amphibian known as Calixte bowed his head at Harmony.

"Well, it's nice to meet you, Calixte." Corinna extended a hand in greeting.

Hesitating, Calixte gently shook her hand. His webbed hands were cold but not slimy as Corinna had feared but rather smooth. Then, it changed. His hand became slightly rougher, warmer. That was when she noticed his arm changing colour. What once was blue scales became fair skin that travelled up back to the rest of his body until it reached its face. There was a pause and then his face-no a mask- fell off and clattered onto the table, revealing a rather human-looking face of a man.