Bonding Ties Between Reality and Non-reality
Chapter 2: New Beginnings; A New Life
Five full months had passed since young Mia left Imil with her father to the lively town of Prox far in the north of Angara. Prox was said that to be the place where the legendary Fire Clan resided. The inhabitants were clearly different than those Mia ever saw. Most of them were easy to be distinguished; they either had reddish skin or pale bluish skin. They wore flowing robes followed with long cloaks, which had the same shade as their skin for good matching. All in all, Mia felt very awkward in this town.
If her father did not give a care about it, she did.
She lived with her father in a small miniature house. Everyday, she would rise up from her bed and find her father's bed empty, for he had gone to work. What his occupation was, Mia herself did not even know. He seemed so distant from her as day-by-day passed and as it was, she did not feel like asking him if he did not wish to tell her willingly on his own accord.
Truth be told, she very rarely set her eyes on her father, for Miguel always left the house early in the morning and only returned in the wee hours of the morning, or so Mia assumed. She had once waited for her father to come back until two in the morning and he still had not returned. Whether the bachelor was truly occupied with his mysterious job (though the young lady had no doubts whatsoever about his honesty), or that he just he just wanted to avoid direct eye-to-eye contact with his daughter, Mia had not a single clue.
All she could hope was that the latter assumption was crazily wrong.
Her life was, indeed, very boring. During the day, she would take the trouble to find a speck of dust in the house just to keep her busy. Once, she had even found joy in clearing the snow off the house porch during the coldest winters. She prided herself in carrying logs for the fireplace in the living room when firewood was running out. When she had nothing to do, she would just sit on a rickety chair and stare at the wall blankly.
Sometimes, she felt that even the walls in her home were more communicative and friendly than the villagers. At least they couldn't stare and sneer at her.
Once, she had walked around the town when boredom positively took her out of control, and it turned out to be an unpleasant trip for her. As she quietly walked along the streets, all the busy chatter would die down. She could feel many Proxians' eyes on her, whispering in low tones. She would bow her head low, her eyes firmly cast onto the ground, putting pace into her steps. Ever since then, she never went out of the house except when she needed to go to get fresh supplies and food.
Mia felt so lonely; she never had anyone to talk to. The past five months living in Prox was neither beneficial nor exciting at all, it was so just the plain opposite. Often she wondered whether her father had been given the same treatment as her, but she did not think it was as bad as hers, for once she had seen her father chatting with a Proxian reasonably and normally. Even on those rare times where she met Miguel, she dared not approach the subject, though for some reason she was not certain of herself.
Perhaps she was embarrassed to admit the truth that she was disliked. Then again, human nature was such that they tend to expect the same treatment after having loyal, welcoming friends over the years.
Why, in Mercury, could they not accept her presence as well? Without a shadow of the doubt she was different from them, that she was, frankly put, an outsider; but could they not sort out their differences and accept each other? Had she done anything terribly wrong? She could not fathom something she did not understand.
And so life for the twenty-year-old young woman continued on, until one day...
---o---
"Merlina and I are getting married in two months time."
"W... what? I...I beg your pardon Father?" Mia couldn't believe her ears.
"Your father and I are getting married." Merlina spoke, in a soft purring-like voice.
"B... but..." The aqua-haired girl was beyond any words.
-10 minutes ago-"Mia?" a male voice hailed.
The girl in question bolted up from her chair. She was very pleasantly surprised; she would recognise that voice a mile away. Her father! Rushing to the door, a mental note registered in her mind that a stranger was beside her father, but she dismissed it as quickly as it came. She threw her arms around him happily. "Father, you're home!" she exclaimed.
A rich chuckle made her once more conscious of her own actions. Excusing herself, she half-embarrassedly let go of the hug. This time, her attention was drawn to the unknown stranger. Mia was rather startled to find that it was a Proxian woman, roughly reaching her early thirties. She was most probably one of the few Proxians that looked beautiful with extraordinarily red-tanned skin.
Everything about her seemed to shine an impression of fiery red. She possessed deep ruby eyes, long maroon-coloured hair slightly curled at the end, and fair reddish skin. Wearing a white dress that had tiny patterns around it with a short red cloak and black boots, she reminded Mia of a female fighter.
Miguel cleared his throat. He seemed to have aged quite a lot ever since that incident, Mia thought sadly. He had lost his cheerful smile... "Mia, there's something that I'd like to tell you. It's very important."
Today is full of surprises, Mia concluded with a wry smile. "What is it, Father?"
To her astonishment, a smile was plastered on his face. Not a wide happy smile, but a smile nonetheless. 'It's been so long since I saw him smiling... he was always moody and looking forlorn, but then again, it's not like I get to see him everyday... it really must be something that makes him happy,' she thought inwardly.
"But let us get into the house first," Miguel decided. As the three of them walked into the house, a feeling of suspicion of the Proxian woman crept into Mia's heart. Her sixth sense told her that whatever Miguel was going to say had something to do with the unknown stranger too. Her first impressions were often wrong, but her women's intuition told her that the stranger could be uncanny and also sweet if she liked at the same time.
When Mia finally sat down on the rickety chair (her favourite chair) after serving drinks to her father and his companion, Miguel cleared his throat and spoke. "Well, first of all, I would like to make some introductions. Mia, meet Merlina Larfax, my good friend here, and Merlina, this is my only child and daughter, Mia."
Merlina Larfax rose from her chair and offered a slim hand, a polite smile on her pleasant face. "Pleased to meet you, young Mia. I've heard quite a lot about you from your father." Her voice rang deep and clear.
And probably a lot from the villagers too, Mia said inwardly. Not that she was being skeptical, but spreading rumours in Prox were amazingly easy and fast. The unwelcoming details about her were probably known almost to all. Nevertheless, Mia was inclined to be nice to Merlina, partly because Mia herself was never cold towards anyone; besides, Merlina was very much her senior, and she was always prepared to welcome any of her father's friends. "Please to meet you too, Miss Larfax," said she, as they shook hands.
Merlina stifled a laugh. "Oh no, Merlina is just fine, if you will. I'm not a Miss anyway. I'm a war widow. My late husband passed away a few years ago. He was one of those that perished in the Angaran War."
"Oh, I'm so sorry...
"It's perfectly all right, Mia," said Merlina as she gave her an understanding smile.
Mia was about to ponder more about this new acquaintance's character, but she focused herself on more important matters at hand. "Father? You said you wanted to tell me something important?" she inquired.
"Yes, that's right."
"Well, what is it Father?"
-End flashback-Miguel leaned forward in his chair. "I know this may be a little hard for you to take in, Mia, but you must realise that one must... go on." Miguel's voice, a little confused, rang in her ears as she half-listened blankly.
I know that, but what about... Mother? It's been barely a year, and he's already... But I guess it's really up to Father. Perhaps he can achieve happiness in this way. I'll just... have to accept my new family... I guess. It's not like I have to right to tell Father what to do anyway... I don't even know how he feels...he probably understands himself best now.He took her hand in his, taking a deep breath. "I understand how you must feel now, my daughter, but I just want you to know that I did this partly for you too... You are still so young; I thought that having a proper family once again is what you want... and need... just like before..." he paused as he half-choked on his words, but steadily regaining his composure.
Now her mind whirled and twirled in complicated circles. For... me? Father is doing this partly for me? Oh Father... I... do I want a proper family again? She searched her mind fervently for an answer.
... I...I do partially want to have a real family again, but... this is a matter more concerned with Father than with me.
Now she understood. The more she delved on it, the more she realised how blind she had been to her father's loneliness all this while. She always worried about him, but she realised that she had never actually thought further than that line. Oh, how selfish I have been! she cried. If her father could regain back that cheerful demeanour of his by being together with Merlina, then she would gladly accept it – just to see her father smile again. Oh, how she missed the kind, loving father he had once been!
"Mia? Are you listening to me?"
Miguel's sharp tones snapped Mia back to reality. "I... I'm so sorry, Father... I was just thinking."
"It's okay, Mia. We understand. After all, we'll be one family soon, right Miguel?" Mia's soon-to-be-stepmother interrupted the conversation. She smiled sweetly, a dimple embedded on her left cheek.
"... Yeah," Miguel answered slowly. He hesitantly smiled back. Perhaps this is for the best after all... Saya, I pray that I have done what you would have wished me to...
As much as Mia knew that Miguel had never forgotten her mother, Saya, she still could not help the slight feeling of hurt inside her, but those feelings were only natural. She was a child very loyal to her late mother, so getting a stepmother before a year had passed was something that disturbed her sense of 'loyalty'.
Her thoughts were again disrupted when Merlina exclaimed out to her. "Oh and Mia, you won't be alone anymore. I heard from Miguel that you always stayed at home alone. Now when we're a family, you'll be able to be together with my two daughters. My daughters, Menardi and Karst, will take good care of you, for they are good company. You three will get along well, for they too are roughly the same age as you, just that they are slightly older."
Mia was taken aback when she saw, or so she thought, a glint in Merlina's red eyes. She quickly dismissed it from her mind, saying that it was just her imagination. Menardi and Karst... hmm, I wonder how they will be... I hope we can get along together well, then I won't need to stare at the wall anymore. Mother...
"We've already planned everything. The wedding will be held exactly two months from now. That's all I wanted to say," Miguel cut in. His mouth opened as if there was something else that he wished to say, but he apparently changed his mind and firmly shut it.
"Let's get along together, okay Mia?" asked Miguel's future wife-to-be.
"Y... yes, of course."
"Well, I've got to do some other things for work, and then I'll come back home again. Look after the house as usual."
Without another word, Miguel and Merlina rose up and left the house, leaving a speechless and thoughtful Mia in the house.
---o---
A year later...
Miguel was unfortunately never seen again ever since his journey to another foreign land started a few months ago. His journey was in search of the legendary 'Tundaria Tower' that had existed many thousands of years ago, rumoured to be located in the far south tundra region of Angara; a challenging task entrusted to him by his authorities which Miguel bravely undertook. After waiting for many months, Merlina and her two daughters had given up on the search for the Imilian. And as determined and hopeful as she was, even Mia had already lost hope for seeing her father again.
She even partly blamed herself for his unfortunate disappearance or even death (though the latter was a more popular choice with the crowd), as she had not persuaded Miguel enough to drop this task even though she had grave doubts and worries as to her father's safety. Nevertheless, even Mia knew that her persuasion would most probably not bear fruit, as Miguel was just as persistent and determined as she herself was (probably even more so) when it came to the sense of duty.
Still, she blamed herself for not trying hard enough... not even crying her eyes out until no more tears were left could bring her father back. She was forced to live with that regret, and only prayed that her father's death (if it forcefully came to that) was merciful. She could only hope for the best.
Wild rumours concerning Miguel's disappearance spread like a wild fire. Some proclaimed that wandering pirates had attacked Miguel's ship during his journey by sea. A case of where his ship was caught in a storm that killed him, or that he had washed ashore alive on a beach with all his memories gone had also given rise to possibility. Some said that some dangerous wild animal had viciously killed him, whereas some others suggested that he might have died from pneumonia while investigating the Tundaria Tower in the icy region.
Whatever the case was, everyone in Prox did not expect the Imilian to come back again. Mia's new family took that fact rather well. She was curious though; her stepmother did not seem to miss Miguel as much as she did. But perhaps it was not a weird thing; after all, they were just married for less than a year.
Since their wedding ensued, Mia and Miguel had moved into Merlina's house, as it was much bigger and more comfortable than theirs. At first glance, a luxurious life was in store for young Mia.
She did not have much time to dwell on this however, for her life had taken another abrupt change once more. Now, instead of having a leisure and bored time everyday, she was very tied up with her housework. Somehow, Mia herself did not know how and why, Merlina had suddenly adopted a very bitchy and snobbish attitude, treating Mia like how one would throw rubbish, whereas her own daughters were given superb treatment with the impression that they were the purest delicate gold.
To Mia, it was not a calumny to say that Merlina was the haughtiest and proudest woman Mia had ever met, and that her two daughters took after her in every single way.
Sometimes, Mia even wondered how on Mercury did the Proxian woman ever manage to put herself in her father's heart.
Merlina would always give Mia many jobs to do during the day to keep her busy until night. In fact, the aqua-haired girl was the one who did all the housework and kept the house clean; the rooms were all brushed up, not a single speck of dust were on the windows, even the attic (normally full with all kinds of trinkets and junk) was spick and span.
"Wash the windows! Clean the furnace! Bring in candles from the shops!" It was all orders, orders, and orders. She could not remember for the life of her a single compliment that she had received ever since Miguel's disappearance.
As days and months passed, some came to the conclusion that bluntly, Mia was just like a free servant girl in the house who was not paid any wages to keep the house clean. Mia herself found it to be disgustingly true enough.
Her stepsisters, Menardi and Karst, were rumoured to be the 'official beauties' of Prox. Menardi, the older of the two, was a slender twenty-five-year-old young woman with lovely long blonde hair (which Mia assumed the colour was from their late father). On the other hand, Karst was just two years younger than Menardi, and she had slightly shorter deep red hair with sharp ruby eyes like her mother. Both of them had reddish-coloured skin, had a good sense of sophisticated clothes, and were very close to each other.
If Merlina was not bad enough, then both stepsisters made up for it. They would always snub and scold her, remark about her dirty face and clothes when she was doing heavy and dirty housework cleaning, and practically spread bad rumours about her behind her back. To make matters worse, Mia was made to sleep on a very hard mattress in the cramped attic, a place nested by strange creatures, while Menardi and Karst had the best rooms in their house that had polished floors and where they slept in soft, comfortable beds.
The poor girl suffered in silence, for she had nobody to share her feelings and heartache with. When all of the housework was done, she would go to the big fireplace in the living room and sit in the ashes, among the cinders. Her two stepsisters thought this was hilarious for some odd reason which Mia could not comprehend as of yet, and they decided to give her the name of CinderMia. That name stuck on and everyone in town could be heard whispering her new name whenever she was seen around town.
As much as Mia disliked her new name, what could she do? If fate was so cruel on her, what could she do to fight against it? She had no say. Relentlessly, she continued her life and persevered, hoping that with Mother Nature's kindness, her burden would be lifted off someday.
But perhaps Mother Nature was already kind to her. As the days passed, although Mia was forced to wear old-fashioned, ragged, cast-off clothes, she was still a ten times, perhaps even a hundred times more beautiful than her stepsisters, who always wore their best and magnificent dresses in the house just to spite her.
Although Mia was treated badly, she still behaved with due respect to her stepfamily. She could not push away the feelings of bitter and mild hatred for her family, but nothing could be done. They had given her a home, food, clothes and all the basic necessities she needed. She could not complain.
Deep inside her, she was determined not to show them any of her sorrow and her weak side. If they wanted to relinquish at the sight of her crying, then she was all the more determined to put up a brave show. Only at night would she pour out all of her feelings to her one and only friend.
Yes, CinderMia had a friend. Not an ordinary human being friend, but a special friend.
A friend who would sympathize with her, hear out her problems, and comfort her when necessary.
A friend who was not human, but was of a creature; a small, cute and uncommon creature that Mia found in the attic a few months after moving into her new home. A creature that Mia loved and treasured as a good friend.
... What it calls herself a 'djinni' with the name Fizz.
---o---
Fizz was very tiny and small compared to normal human beings. She was such a tiny little creature that she was probably only around 15 centimetres tall, but nevertheless, she was cute and chubby-looking. She had round yellow eyes, a light green-coloured abdomen and a cute pink tail at the end. Other parts of her whole body were blue in colour. Fizz was an extremely optimistic and cheerful character, and both Mia and Fizz found good companionship in each other. Often Fizz would console and comfort Mia whenever the girl was sad, a common occurrence in her everyday life. Without a doubt, Fizz was a very dear friend to Mia.
One night, Mia was lying on the hard mattress, chatting with Fizz. Both of them shared the same small bed when they went to sleep; after all, Fizz's small body did not take up much space. Mia smiled fondly at the small creature, patting its head softly. Fizz is really a wonderful friend. I can't think of any other friend who is better than her... of course, families aside. I really should be grateful; life doesn't seem so bad now that I've got a real friend to share things with.
She smiled as a certain memory stirred up in her, slowly replaying it as it had occurred on that day. Our meeting was a little odd though, that's true...
-Flashback-Another busy day had gone by, and Mia was glad that all of her house chores had been done successfully. Retiring to the attic, she settled for bed. As she lay on the hard mattress, her head resting on an equally hard pillow, soft squeaking and chattering noises reached her ears. She sighed inwardly. "Mice again... it's a wonder all of my clothes aren't in rags and pieces. At least they don't bother me too much when I'm having my beauty sleep," she muttered under her breath.
All said too soon. Suddenly, the mice's noises stopped. Deep silence reigned over the dark room.
Mia was mildly surprised. But as the heavy waves of sleep began to wash over her consciousness, she quickly dismissed it from her mind as it was not of importance, and closed her eyes.
Yet... somehow she couldn't sleep.
Although her eyelids were tightly shut, the young girl could feel a new, unknown presence in her room, locking its eyes at her. She ignored it as her wild imagination up to its tricks, but the same feeling persisted over and over again.
Sleep, sleep, sleep, she chanted. But somehow she did not feel quite as sleepy as she was before. She kept her eyes closed, but her whole body was tense on alert.
Was it her imagination again, or did she hear low breathing sounds amidst her own? She could not be sure. She felt slightly alarmed, suddenly insecure. Oh, how she missed her mother, where in such cases her mother would envelope her in a comforting, safe hug and whisper such warm words to her!
After a few minutes which felt like moments of eternity to Mia, she sighed loudly in frustration and sat upright on her bed. She was going to get to the bottom of the matter, and satisfy herself that there was nothing and nobody else in the attic with her. Her hand reached out instinctively for a jagged-end piece of wood beside her uncomfortable mattress as she let her eyes adjust to the darkness around her. She did not bother to switch on the lights; the lights were all heavily spoiled. Even the small bulb was in poor condition, where it would just flicker on and off the whole time, and eventually pissing Mia off.
Her clear aqua eyes scanned the room thoroughly... nothing suspicious-looking. Clearly relieved, she severely reprimanded herself of her own wild imagination. She was stopped in the middle of her thoughts when she suddenly focused her attention on a pair of yellow eyes, looking intensely at a far corner of the attic. As brave as she was, she could feel her hair starting to stand up on its end. She jumped frantically and let out a small yelp.
"Shh!"
"W... what?" Mia felt scared; her teeth would have most probably chattered if she did not force herself to be calm, her legs pressed together tightly. Her fears increased second by second, and she tightened her hold on the stick. "Am... am I... dreaming? T... that... thing... just... just talked!" she muttered in half-shock.
Convincing herself that she really was, indeed, dreaming, Mia spoke aloud to calm herself down. "Get a grip on yourself, Mia! It's just a dream! If I pinch my own cheek, I won't feel any pain and I'll know that it's really just a silly dream!"
She then pinched her cheek hard, but yelped again when she felt acute pain. "What... this isn't a dream? It's... real?... Then, what in the name of Mercury is that... thing looking at me?"
The frightening yellow eyes seemed to soften at Mia's antics. "Shh, don't talk so loud! I can speak. Don't be scared of me. I'm not a ghost or something like that, see!" It emerged from the darkness and Mia's confused eyes saw a small tiny 'thing', something that might have been mistaken for a cute animal toy.
"W... wha?" Mia was speechless. "Is that a... doll or... a toy or what?" She just stared at 'it' blankly, no longer feeling that scared anymore since it didn't look like it possessed a threat on her. In fact, she thought it looked quite cute. Her fears lessened, but she still kept a tight hold on her defense weapon. Never judge a book by its cover, Saya had always taught her.
That 'something' hopped over to her with its two legs. "See, I'm not scary right? I'm cute! You don't need to be afraid, miss!" it beamed, its voice high-pitched but not too offending to the ears.
Finding her courage, Mia began questioning that 'something'. "Who... who are you? I've never seen the likes of you before! Are you some kind of rare animal?"
The 'thing' snickered. "Heh, well, my tribe is quite rare since we don't really promote our faces to people outside. But anyway, introductions first; my name is Fizz, and I'm a female Djinni, belonging to the Mercury tribe."
Mia shook her head helplessly. Fizz? What kind of female name is that? "Djinni? Mercury?"
"Well, I guess you've never heard of us. I don't mind telling you 'bout myself now, but aren't you sleepy?" it inquired cheerfully.
Mia smiled; this so-called 'djinni' was rather entertaining. She had learned not to trust strangers, but this one was somehow...different. She somehow felt that she could trust this new friend of hers. "It's okay; somehow I don't really feel that sleepy anymore, what with all this happenings. I'm curious to know more anyway. So spill it," she half-commanded. Suddenly remembering her manners, she smiled lightly and said, "I'm Mia."
She could see that cheerfulness was one of its usual traits. "Okay, nice to meet you, Mia! Well anyways, you see, we djinn (djinni for singular) are somehow created to help human beings, but only for selected ones," Fizz explained. Her next words came hesitatingly. "When we say 'selected ones', well, we mean... uh... I can't really tell you now, unless you're one of those selected ones, and uh..." she stopped, clearly in a difficulty.
A wave of amusement swept through the aqua-haired girl. "Don't worry, it's okay. I understand if it's some sort of secret," she urged in a soft tone, careful not to wake the rest of the household downstairs.
Fizz was instantly relieved. "Hey, thanks... well anyway, I'll skip that part. Our clan is divided into four tribes, which is the Mars, Jupiter, Venus and Mercury tribe. All the djinn in a certain tribe look the same, but at least people can differentiate between the tribes, since a Mercury djinni doesn't look the same as a Venus djinn, say."
...Oh." Mia was having a rather difficult time to swallow the whole new bout of information down, as it did sound a little far-fetched, but she knew that there were various things all around the world that she never knew of, and this could be one of them. Besides, she did not think that Fizz would lie to such great extents with such a clean story.
The yellow-eyed djinni laughed. "Oh, I know I'm probably not making much sense, but I hope you can at least understand a little?"
Mia chuckled softly. "Yes, of course. Do carry on, Fizz."
"Right-o!"
And so, Mia's new friend, the everlastingly cheerful and full of gaiety Fizz, continued and launched into an entertaining talk. Mia was surprised that her stepfamily had not rushed up to the attic with pitchforks by the end of their interesting conversation. Perhaps they were indeed in a deep slumber.
-End flashback-
Mia smiled when she recalled that event; she was glad Fizz had entered her life. She was more than certain now that she had not make a mistake in making Fizz her good friend. Ever since then, Mia had felt much happier. The djinni's boost of encouragement helped her a lot during the days where she was forced to slave for her cruel stepfamily.
"Mia? Are you listening to me?"
Snapped back to reality, Mia looked quizzically at Fizz. "Huh? What were you saying? I'm so sorry I spaced out for a moment..." she smiled apologetically.
"Huff... anyways, never mind what I said just now. What were you thinking of, Mia?" she asked back.
"Nothing really, Fizz."
But Fizz knew better. "You say so, but I think I say different. Is it about your crude stepfamily?"
She cocked her head to one side. "Well, no, it isn't... but now that you say it..."
"Yes?" Fizz urged.
"Sometimes I can't help but... question my fate. There's always this thought in me that wonders as days and months continue on; will my life remain like this until the day I die? Has my life... been decided to be so?" As she spoke, she slowly balled her hands into tight fists.
Frankly, she hated her life now. What a miserable life she now led! How bleak her future looked now...
Fizz looked sympathetically at her companion. Cuddling up to her, Fizz tried to comfort her. "Don't worry Mia. Your life won't be wasted just like that. You're not that kind of type; you've still got so much ahead of you. Trust me, it will turn out for the better soon one day... maybe fate is just testing your endurance; to see how far you can endure this kind of suffering. Just wait patiently and be content for now. I promise that things will turn out even more than you expected in the future. You deserve that." The djinni spoke confidently.
Mia smiled; Fizz was really good at this. "Thanks, Fizz," said she, "you've no idea how many times you've comforted me. It really must be boring for you to say the same words over and over again, as if it's like a schedule."
"Hey, we're friends right? Friends don't mind saying the same thing over and over again! I'll always help you out anytime!" she beamed happily.
"Thank you... you're such a dear." Mia was really touched. Reaching out for the thin blanket and spreading it over her and her small companion, she kept Fizz in a tight hug. "Goodnight Fizz."
"Mm... goodnight Mia."
Author's Note: And Chapter 2 is now also reedited! Added more information about Menardi and Karst's physical appearances, Mia's meeting with Fizz, and a bit here and there. Hopefully it's a much better piece of work now.
Thank you to enigma4ever for proofreading this chapter! Again, any comments, suggestions and advice are greatly welcomed.