102

--The Enclave--

Trying to get out of the office as fast as she could, she shoved a stack of paperwork into her purse. In her haste and carelessness, a few of the pages bent . She tried not to be annoyed, but cursing under her breath only served to help keep her from totally breaking down again.

“Dassah?” Stella was standing by the door, arms crossed. “What’s going on?”

“Nothing,” Dassah said, swinging her bag over her shoulder. Thankfully, Bahena had left a good hour before, but her other coworker wasn’t so keen on letting her leave unnoticed.

“You are a terrible liar.”

“What do you want me to tell you?”

“Something other than nothing, because clearly you aren’t okay.”

“Why is it that everyone seems to know me so well that everyone has opinions about my emotional-mental state,” Dassah said, brushing passed and through the door.

Following close behind, Stella said, “Dassah, sweetie, you just tried to pick a fight with Bahena. Bahena,” she stressed, side-eyeing her as they walked. “You don’t pick fights with Bahena. You cower and have major anxiety issues in front of Bahena.”

“Yeah, well, maybe I’m over garuli, now.”

“Stop,” Stella grabbed her hand and pulled her back. “If you don’t talk to me, I won’t know what’s going on. If I don’t know what’s going on, I can’t help.”

Dassah pulled her hand back and rubbed it. “I never asked for help. Don’t worry about it.”

“And why aren’t you asking for help?” the young woman asked with pleading eyes. “Please don’t expect me to ignore the fact that you came back from your free period with — with red eyes, messed up hair, and botched up make-up.” At her friends words, Dassah’s hands flew up to her face. She had completely forgotten to consider the state of it. Even when she had gone to the restroom she hadn’t bothered with the mirror.

Throwing her head back in surrender, Dassah whined, “I wondered why my students were looking at me with more pity than usual. I guess I should thank them.”

“They probably thought you went through a bad break up, not knowing you like I do,” Stella winced. “I told you to switch to the valkyrian kind. It would have stayed in place…”

“Make-up tips are the last thing I need right now.”

“The point is, I want to help, Dassah. You’re one of the few friends I can actually count on in this floating bath toy of a place,” Stella said, pushing a stray hair behind Dassah’s ear. “I’d like it if you’d let me return that favor?”

“Even if it means you get hurt?” Dassah asked.

“As long as it’s not you doing the hurting,” the young woman winked.

Letting herself laugh a little, Dassah shook her head and clapped the palms of her hands to her cheeks. “I don’t even know where to start,” she said. “It’s been a terribly long couple of days.”

“Let’s start with getting you back to the bathroom to fix your face, and then you tell me what happened last night!” Stella smiled and started pushing Dassah back towards the office.

Groaning, Dassah half-heartedly resisted. “Nothing ‘happened’ last night,” she said. “I’m serious. Sav and I have a class together. We were both stressed out about a whole bunch of different things and decided that misery loves company. The end. People have bad days — in my case, good ones are terribly rare.”

“You really did go drinking with him,” the young woman observed, sounding far more impressed than she should have. Dassah stared at her. “Well, I mean, I just thought there had been an even greater amount of exaggeration…”

“And by that you mean that you doubted it was true at all,” Dassah said, allowing Stella to pull her into the bathroom.

As she started pulling out her magical makeup odds and ends, she said, “By that I mean that you really are closer to him than I thought. I thought it was strange in the game — he’s a garuli, afterall, forget the fact that he’s Bahena’s brother. Wash your face with this, please, then rinse with warm water,” she instructed, handing her a wet cloth. “But then, that’s probably why Bahena is upset with you, isn’t it? Bit of a brother complex, she’s got. Tread carefully, my dear.”

Dassah nodded dismally before following Stella’s instructions. The cloth was cold, but the warm water of the rinse felt wonderful against her tired face. After patting her skin dry, Stella pointed to several bottles of moisturizers and creams. Without much argument, Dassah performed each step as if it were a healing ritual. It had been a long time since her skin had seen this much care.

“So what are you going to do?” Stella asked as Dassah pat the products into her skin. “About our garuli friends.”

“I don’t know,” Dassah answered, rubbing her hands over her arms to get rid of the extra moisturizer. “I’m pretty sure Sav disowned me earlier, too. And maybe that’s for the best. I just won’t worry about him, that’s all. If I focus on Bahena then everyone will be a lot happier. That’s all I want.”

Stella hmmed as she started repainting Dassah’s face. “And that’s going to make you happy?”

“I don’t know,” Dassah answered.

“And if you weren’t working with Bahena, would that really be your choice?”

“It’s funny,” Dassah started, smiling a little as she pulled at hangnails. “I only ended up talking to Sav a lot because of Bahena. Somehow… I feel like…”

“You’re a lot closer to him?” Stella finished the thought. “Don’t move for a bit. Look, Das, I know that you tend to do what you think is best. I respect that, I do — even if I think you’re one of the most boring people I’ve ever met. I can appreciate the fact that you are just as happy sitting on the sidelines as you are being the center of attention. Really — it makes things so much easier on people like myself who relish that spotlight!” Though she was trying to keep still, Dassah couldn’t help but scowl. Stella waved a mascara wand in her face. “Look up, I’m not done. All that said, love, I am worried about you. I sincerely believe that if you stopped trying so hard to put up this innocent-good-girl-who-overthinks-everything-and-doesn’t-need-anything front you’ve got going, and started acting on a few of your more terrible impulses, you would be happier. And when you’re happier, so are the people around you,” she told her, putting the last touches on. “There. Simple and clean and in place. And I don’t mean you should start going wild and being an absolute wreck, but you can, you know, relax. Things will work out.”

In the mirror, Stella’s witchcraft really did make her look like a whole new person. Dassah had the most basic of makeup skills; just enough to hide the bags under her eyes and the blemishes on her skin. But Stella used her skills in other ways; ways that it was hard for Dassah to understand. It felt as if she really were a witch, granting Dassah a small buff to her confidence and resolve, and it eased the burden of the debuff that’d been placed on her through the events of the day.

“Well if it’s impulses you want, then I guess you’ll be proud that I have a date with Jake tonight,” Dassah said, fixing her clothes a little in attempt to match the elegance that’d been granted to her face.

Stella cast an odd look at her through the mirror. “I didn’t realize you were still… interested, in him,” she said, then leaned on the counter. “But you aren’t, are you?”

Groaning, Dassah rocked back and forth. “I think… maybe not?”

“Silly girl,” Stella said. “You need to be more honest. If you don’t like him, you don’t like him. You certainly don’t need to feel obligated to date a guy just because he’s nice to you when you meet — especially if there is someone else that you like!”

“I’m… curious… about him,” she answered, picking at her fingers again. “It’s not like I’m not… not… interested…”

Growling, Stella opened the door of the bathroom and said, “Come on, difficult one. Let’s get out of here. Tell me how this all came about first place, please, so that I can get some context for your latest terrible choice.”