Isobel

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“What if we find you someone to kiss tonight?” Vida suggested. Since she left home, she’d thrown herself into romance and music in an attempt to forget her. Music didn’t always work as well as she’d hoped, since she seemed to work herself into every song. Romance tended to work better; if she was with a girl she was fully with her, each kiss belonging solely to Cara, Aurinia, Carmen, Ellen, Leah, Megan, Amirah, Eloise– she remembered all their names, though after long enough the faces started to blur.

It could work for Destiny, too. Enough kisses, and she’d forget her love for Vida, or she’d learn how to push it down like Vida herself had.

She saw the way Destiny looked at her when she suggested it. A flash of heartbreak in her eyes, and then she agreed.

Vida regretted it the moment Destiny slipped away into the shadows with one of the girls who’d come to watch their set, and for once, Vida was left alone in the street. With nothing to do and no one to love, she started walking.

How was Destiny faring in her tryst? The girl was definitely into girls, Vida was quite certain of that. The way she’d looked at Destiny, Vida would have known even if she hadn’t been gifted with a nearly impeccable sense for it. So that was no danger.

Maybe the girl wasn’t impressed by Destiny’s inexperience. Or maybe she was naive too, and the two of them were fumbling their way through a handful of kisses.

Vida kicked a loose cobblestone. Ugh! Now she had Destiny on her mind instead of Isobel.

Suddenly sick of the constrictions of a human town, Vida took off running. The people still on the streets watched her, some stepping out of her way, others scowling.

“Girl,” one started, raising a hand as if to stop her.

Vida dodged him, her wings straining against the glamour binding them to her back. Not much longer–

She made it to a field of tall corn and let the glamour fall. Her wings sprang free from the cobwebby magic and oh, she could breathe again. Relaxing, Vida began to walk through the plants taller than she was. No flying, not this near to the town, not until it was fully dark, and by then she’d be inside. Part and parcel of being a sunlight faerie was that Vida hated full darkness.

Ironic, that.

“I don’t even know what I’m doing,” she told the plants. “I should be back there, off behind a house with Rodi again.” Rodi, the girl Vida had spent yesterday evening wooing. Vida could almost feel those thick curls between her fingers again, the sensation of Rodi’s fingers on her skin.

She moaned and slid to the ground, uncaring of the cornsilk dirtying her dress. “Why are girls so difficult?”

“You’re making it difficult for yourself.”

Vida shrieked and jumped to her feet, her wings flapping against cornstalks. “Fiachra! Don’t sneak up on me!”

Fia shifted his weight to one foot, pushed his bangs out of his face, and grinned apologetically. “You seemed a bit… distracted. Wanna talk about it?”

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Vida tipped her head up. The clouds above glowed red and gold, the last blaze of sunshine bidding her farewell. “I… I’m not sure.”

“Girl trouble?” Fia pushed his bangs back again. “Not that cute girl you went off with last night, is it?”

“It’s me trouble, Fia. I’m the girl.”

One furred ear twitched to the side as Fia tilted his head, a picture of confusion. “So… you need me to give someone else advice about winning you over?”

Despite herself, Vida laughed. Fiachra always knew how to bring her out of her worries. “No, I’m just… not really sure what’s wrong.”

Shading his eyes, Fiachra made a show of examining the sky. “Hmm, is it that phase of the moon?”

Vida swatted his arm. “No.”

“Then…?” Fiachra’s ears pricked up. “Is it Destiny? She’s off with some girl, is it the same one from–”

“No!” Vida pressed one hand over her ear, feeling the tip heat far too much. “Rodi’s– I wouldn’t do that to her. And neither would Destiny.”

“So, is it Destiny, then?” Fia asked, almost too casually.

No, not almost. Vida narrowed her eyes at him. He returned her gaze with an open, angelic smile, but his flicking tail betrayed his delight.

“Maybe,” she said grudgingly. “It’s silly.”

“You’re regretting sending her off with that girl.” Fia’s eyes glittered.

Lying wasn’t something faeries could do, even to themselves. Not if they knew the truth. And now that Fia had said it, the idea had the resonance of truth in Vida’s chest.

“Yes,” she admitted. “But I’m not going to say anything.”

“Why not?”

Vida looked up into the twilight. There was the moon, a sliver of a crescent. “She deserves better.”

An arm around her shoulders made her tense. “Now, that’s no way to talk about my sister,” Fia chided. “I happen to know she’s kind, caring, and every girl who’s met her feels lucky for it.”

“But I leave them all.”

“It’s the experience of it, V. You’ve said it yourself, it helps them know they’re not alone.” He patted her shoulder. “And neither are you.”

Vida swallowed past the lump in her throat. “Thanks, Fia. But there are too many problems. She doesn’t love me–”

“Respectfully, bullshit.”

She elbowed him. “She only thinks she does because she was lonely. Gods, what was I thinking letting her come? And even if she did it’s too soon, we can’t try anything yet.”

“You didn’t let her come,” Fia pointed out. “Da did. Just like he let you come, and Dream and Bloom. And you know Dream and I were off and on from the first week until we settled in.”

“Agh, don’t remind me. Every other week you’d be fighting about some slight or another, and kissing over it that night.”

“Yup,” Fia agreed cheerfully. “The point is, you need to work through whatever this is, and I’m here if you need to talk anything out, but I’ve seen the way Destiny looks at you and it’s the same look Dream gives me. Sleep on it.” He patted her shoulder again and turned towards the town. “Coming?”

“They’ll all think we were kissing.” She picked her way through the corn, crafting a new glamour around her wings and ears.

“Since when do you care?”

“I don’t like it.” It was undeniably more dangerous to be known as a girl who liked girls, but the idea of being thought to be in a relationship with a man made Vida’s wings itch.

“You could always proclaim your preferences. I'm sure that won't end badly in any way.”

“You ass.”

Fiachra blew her a kiss. “Race you back?”

“I'm not stupid, wolf.” Vida slowed, forcing him to slow to keep pace with her.

The moment they were free of the corn, she took a breath and launched into a sprint. Her wings protested, straining against the glamour pinning them to her back– they wanted to fly!

“You just said no!”

“Said… I'm not… stupid.”

She could hear the eye roll in Fiachra's sigh.