Aravic walked away feeling very confused. Chylissa has spoken to him, and he had answered accordingly, but there had been a surreal quality to the whole thing, like he was in two places at once.
Ever since he'd first touched Chylissa's roommate, he'd felt a sort of electric hum inside himself. Everything had a strange haze over it. First it was green, then pink, and then almost black, where he couldn't see very well. He stumbled onto the street, his brow furrowed and his mind deep in thought.
"Excuse me, sir," a Law Enforcement Officer stopped him.
"Yes?" Aravic snapped out of his reverie with annoyance.
The LEO scrutinized him. "Have you been drinking, sir?"
"What? No." Aravic stepped to the side of the LEO, but was blocked.
"I think I better test that anyway. Young people can be quite dishonest. If you'll step over here, sir."
Aravic sighed and pulled his hat off, revealing his messy blond hair. The LEO stumbled back, his mouth slightly open.
"I'm so sorry, Mr. Upland! Terribly sorry! I didn't recognize you with that nice hat on! Please forgive me, Mr. Upland!" The LEO bowed.
Aravic rolled his eyes. It wasn't like he was the wizard. But, he supposed, it was fun to have some authority. "I'll look past it this time, officer. But next time, I might just have to talk to my mother, do you understand me?"
"Oh, yes! Thank you, sir, thank you!"
Aravic gave a curt nod and kept walking with a smile on his face. It was always fun to play with the shallow LEOs. He continued walking down the street to the High Chancellor's Manor, where he stayed with his mother. He had been knocked out of his daze by the LEO's harsh speech.
He reached the manor and went around to the back door. The front door was showy and magnificent, what with it being solid gold adorned with intricate patterns formed by beautifully cut and polished emeralds, but was really of no use to anyone because it was too heavy to push open.
He shoved the thin wooden door open and walked into the kitchen. He was just pulling some bread down from a cupboard to make a sandwich when he heard his mother's voice seemingly come out of nowhere.
"Ari! My Oz, are you all right? You're so pale! Sit down, sweet! What happened? Are you feeling sick?"
"I'm fine, Mom!"
"You don't look fine!" Glinda squealed with concern. "Ari, something happened. What happened? Tell me!"
"Well, I'm not sure, exactly. It's no big deal."
"Ari, something happened. Tell me now. I command you. And disobeying me would get you sent to-"
"I know, I know." Aravic rolled his eyes. "Jeez. Well, I was visiting Lissa-"
"Who?"
"Chylissa, the girl I went on a date with yesterday. So, I was visiting Lissa, and her roommate was feeling sick, so Lissa asked me to carry her into her room, and I did, and then I just felt really strange inside."
Glinda's face hardened. "You're not having feelings for this other girl, are you?"
Aravic didn't notice his mother tense up. "Well, sort of… Every time I look at her, something just… Oz, this is going to sound corny. Well, something just stirs inside me. Like, I feel memories that were never there. And feelings. I keep feeling, like, guilt and anger and desperation, but most of all, I feel this love. It's not the normal kind of love, either, I don't think. It's kind of hard to describe."
Glinda had only heard him use the word "love" about a girl that was not his girlfriend and began to get angry. "Aravic Arlestein Upland! I did not raise you to be a little heartbreaker who cheats on beautiful, classy, smart girls! You can't just think about this other girl, this… What's her name?"
Aravic was taken aback by his mother's rage. "Um, I heard Lissa call her Glenna or Glessa or something like that."
"Well, you can't just parade about think about this Nessa… I mean Gless-" Glinda gasped suddenly. "What does she look like?"
Aravic looked confused. "Um, why?"
"Just answer my question."
Aravic shrugged. "Well, she has black hair, brown eyes…"
"What about her skin?"
Aravic's mouth opened. "Mother! Are you saying that the color skin she has matters? You racist-"
"No, that's not what I'm asking. Does her skin have any… tint? Like, any abnormal color?"
Aravic could recall her face exactly in his head. "Well, it's normal, I guess. Maybe a little bit toward the yellow side… Maybe even a little green…"
As Glinda fainted, Aravic barely had time to catch her.
"Mom!" he shouted.
He dragged her over to a chair and plopped her down in it. He frantically wet a towel and put it across her forehead, not really knowing if it would help or not. He recalled learning something about lowering a person's body temperature to wake them.
Glinda's eyes fluttered open. She groaned. "Ari, dear, what is going on? Why am I sprawled out over everything?"
"You fainted, Mom," he said gently.
"Why? What caused me to faint?"
"Well, I was telling you about Lissa and the other girl and…"
Glinda drew in breath sharply, causing Aravic to stop talking. Her knuckles whitened as she clutched the chair hard with her thin hands. She scowled at the floor, looking angry and frightened.
"Mom? You're still looking a little pale. Here, let me get you some water." Aravic began to get up to fetch a glass of water when Glinda pulled him down with a surprisingly strong and unyielding grip.
"No," she said hoarsely. "We need to have a talk."
"What?" He rolled his eyes. "Mom, we really don't need to be having this talk again. Lissa and I will be perfectly safe when the time comes-"
"No!" Glinda barked. "That's not what I'm saying! I just… don't want you to go off with this Glessa girl and leave Lissa behind."
Aravic's brow furrowed. "Why should you decide my relationships for me? I think I can decide for myself."
Glinda's eyes flashed with hurt that seemed like something only partially caused by Aravic. "I have a reason, Ari. I'm not meddling in your relationship because it gives me pleasure. I'm trying to do what's best for you. Listen, I, um, knew this Glessa girl's mother; I'm positive of it, and her father as well. "
"Wait, how-"
Glinda raised her hand up. "Don't interrupt me, Ari. This is important. Running off with Glessa may seem like the better option, but in the long run, you'll regret it. If she's like her mother, she'll charm you, and make you fall in love with her, and then you'll regret it! You'll regret it, I swear!"
Aravic detected a note of guilt across his mother's face. She seemed a little sad to be saying this thing about whoever the girl she once knew was.
"Ari, if you leave Lissa for Glessa, she will be heartbroken. Just think about the impact it could have! She might go to bars searching for relief, get into bed with total strangers, always be lonely, have a child whose father she doesn't know and not know what to do about it… Cause and effect, Ari! You have to think about your actions! It may seem like getting a new girlfriend to you, but it's so much more! Don't you understand, Ari?"
Aravic looked at his mother's expression, which was close to manic, and he understood. The puzzle pieces fit together perfectly.
Glessa was the girl he had heard only stories about, about an evil woman who took people from others as if they were objects. Lissa was his mother. And he was the man his mother had always loved.