Harm and Harmony

-Chapter 123-

Day: 184

Days Left: 5296

Lives Saved: 0

Corinna, Rin, Sumit, and the four imps returned to the trading post and were loudly and graciously welcomed by Ivette. The old trader wasted no time in fussing over Corinna, checking her injuries, dabbing her face with a wet cloth, and washing her hair to get rid of all of the sand and dirt.

"We're all so relieved to see you all safe and sound," said Ivette. "I must admit when we heard what had happened, you gave us all quite the shock, my dear."

"Sorry..." said Corinna as she brushed her hair.

"No!" Ivette gently whacked Corinna with her claw-stick. "There will be absolutely no apologising for something that was out of your control." She placed a woollen blanket around the young woman's shoulders.

"Okay..." Corinna wrapped herself tightly in the blanket. She looked to Rin and Sumit. "Thank you, both of you. Almost didn't make it out of there."

"Aw, no problem!" said Sumit. "We had time to kill. It wasn't like we were..." He paused. "Octopi!"

There was a moment of silence.

"Occupied... octopi?" Sumit looked around at the others.

Rin groaned and muttered to herself how she wished Sumit had still been trapped in the tunnel.

Corinna crouched down in front of the imp, the one that she had been trapped with. She could distinguish it from the others now, its face was more round, eyes darker, and the fact that its clothes were covered in sand. "I want to thank you too." Corinna smiled at the imp. "Not sure what would have happened to me if you hadn't gone for help."

The imp hunched its shoulders and glanced down at the ground, then flung its arms around Corinna's neck, giving her a hug.

The young woman laughed and returned the gesture, promptly followed by the other three imps joining in.

"There are the others!" called out Sumit.

Corinna looked to the distance and saw the rottweiler Reggie bounding towards her. She had never seen that dog move in all of her visits to Salim. Leaping with such force, the dog knocked Corinna down to the ground and lapped at her face.

Followed closely by Reggie were three imps that screamed in delight as they saw the other four of their group. The collective imps rushed towards each other into a group hug succeeded by pushing, shoving, and toppling their friends over and piling on top of them.

Finally managing to calm Reggie down, Corinna freed herself from the rottweiler's affection and stood up.

"It is a great relief to see you safe, 'iss Corinna," said a voice.

Corinna turned to see the amphibian before her. He bowed gracefully.

"Calixte!" Corinna pulled him into a hug, which surprised him and after hesitating, he gingerly patted her on the back. "It's so good to see you..." Her voice trailed away, spotting someone else.

There, standing at an awkward distance from everyone else, was a young woman with short dark curly hair, cool ambered-coloured skin, and radioactive green eyes.

It was Harmony.

The two stared at each other for a moment, a long moment.

Everyone else had gone quiet, even the imps.

Corinna stepped forward, her eyes fixated on Harmony. She then dashed into her arms, the two locked into a warm embrace.

"I thought you'd escaped!" Corinna sniffed away the forming tears. "Why are you still here? You should have escaped! You should be free..."

Harmony stroked Corinna's long blonde hair. "I... I got the timing wrong," she said. "Didn't make it."

"Oh..." Corinna looked up and smiled. "Well, there's always next time, isn't there?"

Harmony hesitated. "Yeah..."

Clearing her throat, Corinna broke away from the hug and retrieved Harmony's green notebook that she had been entrusted with from her backpack. The notebook was not only dented and torn but also covered in sand and dirt, as was everything else in Corinna's backpack.

"I'm really sorry," said Corinna, her voice squeaking upon seeing how damaged it was. "Your notebook..." She laughed in between sniffs. "I only had it for a few hours, and it's already like this. Guess I can't exactly be trusted with keeping it safe."

"It's alright," said Harmony, flipping through the pages. "I should have given it to you earlier at the house instead. I... I still trust you with it, though."

"You do?"

"Yeah." Harmony smiled and patted the young woman on the head. "Though I think I'll start over again. Writing isn't my strong suit."

The two shared another hug before joining the rest of the group and heard Sumit's overexaggerated and dramatic tale of the event from his perspective.

*

Henry Best watched the screen, a smile on his face. He then cleared his throat and composed himself as he caught a glance of Antonette Bancroft staring at him.

She gave him a quick smile in return and focused back on watching the many monitors before them.

On these monitors, the Eternal Abyss Surveillance Team observed the live footage, recording them as that they could be used later for the broadcasts.

Hiding his happiness at seeing his second-cousin Corinna safe and no longer trapped in an underground tunnel, Henry wrote down a few notes on the scenes he should present to the nobility. He imagined that the imps aiding Corinna and the others would be an unpredictable twist, and now due to the new mask technology, they had more footage of the infamous sandwyrm than ever before. But what was even more exciting was the clear internal struggle of Harmony choosing to escape or save Corinna. It was going to be a spectacular video to watch that nobles were going to enjoy. He expected that the country would profit greatly, especially from international viewers.

Bancroft gave Henry another warning look to keep his joyful expression in check. Henry nodded, returning it to one that was more professional so that the other technicians didn't catch on.

What do you all think of the new book cover? 

It was made by a friend of mine.