The four women had been talking for a while when Gogo suddenly excused herself and darted out of the room, she came prancing back in shortly afterwards with a smug smile.
Eliza narrowed her eyebrows at Gogo. “What have you been up to?” she asked accusingly.
“Nothing! Whatever do you mean, Eliza?” Gogo’s face was now the picture of innocence.
“Hmm..” Eliza stood, “anyway, you should get yourself unpacked Sharna, it's nearly dinner time. Marjorie always rings the bell when dinner is ready, so make your way down then.”
Eliza nudged Gogo in the ribs and spoke to Gabby. “Come on, we should leave Sharna to unpack on her own, give her some space.”
Gogo and Sharna both tried to protest, but Gabby and Eliza dragged a grumbling Gogo along with them, and a solo Sharna made her way back to their room.
Truthfully, she was grateful to have a minute to herself. She needed some time to process - so much had happened this morning, not to mention over the past month. She had been surrounded by others since her grandmother had died and relished the thought of some alone time now.
She smiled widely at what greeted her back in her new room. The curtains were now a sunny yellow. This must have been why Gogo had snuck out earlier and come back looking very self-satisfied.
She started putting away her clothes, when she suddenly remembered Quinn. She opened the window and called her name softly.
A small shape immediately flew in. “Took you long enough.” Sharna could hear the pout in Quinn’s voice.
Quinn was what Sharna called a fairy. Sharna had created Quinn, in the overwhelming distress and loneliness she felt in the wake of her grandmother’s death, and now found her companionship comforting. She looked like a small, fluffy ball of light, and was linked to Sharna’s soul.
Quinn was manifested from a part of Sharna’s soul. It didn’t diminish her soul in any way, Quinn was part of Sharna, but separate. Sharna had found an obscure mention of the concept of soul genesis in one of her ancient texts, and the concept had instantly excited her interest. While the text hadn’t explained how it was done, Sharna’s study into the surrounding branches of magic had given her a place to start, and surprisingly, she had been successful on her first try.
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Her grandmother had long known of Sharna’s wish to manifest a being that was connected to her soul, but had wanted Sharna to gain more knowledge before creating something so elemental. Sharna had understood her grandmother’s concerns, but her loneliness without her grandmother had escalated her plans, and now, here was Quinn.
She still hadn’t decided on a final form for Quinn. For now, her small floating ball form worked well as it was easy to hide her, which was important while Sharna was in such a transitional time of her life.
Quinn now flitted annoyingly around Sharna’s head.
“Stop it Quinn!” Sharna chuckled and batted at the mischievous fairy. “I’m sorry I took so long. I had to wait until I was on my own before I let you in.”
She paused and looked at Quinn uncertainly, “I’m sharing a room now, I’m not sure what I'm going to do with you..”
“What do you mean ‘do with me’?” Quinn asked curiously as she stopped her circling.
“Well, I probably can’t tell everyone about you straight away. I need time to get to know everyone, and have them get to know me before I start showing them all my quirks.”
“I’m not a quirk!” exclaimed Quinn indignantly.
Sharna wasn’t really listening though. “Maybe I could keep you in a drawer, or in my pocket..” she mused thoughtfully.
Quinn’s light dimmed a little, then brightened, she spoke telepathically into Sharna’s brain instead of aloud. “As long as you keep me with you. I can put up with being in a pocket for now, just don’t leave me out in the trees, and definitely not in a drawer! But I think the sooner you tell everyone about me, the better.”
“Agreed,” murmured Sharna. “Oh, and did my uncle and cousin talk about anything interesting while I was inside?”
“Nothing we haven’t heard before,” Quinn replied with some contempt. “They both want you to give up on this and come home. Although I think your uncle is not keen on you ending up as his daughter-in law. He was talking to Jarrah about organising some parties while you’re away, sounds like he is thinking of some unattached women that they could invite.”
“Good!” snapped Sharna sharply. “I have zero interest in being his daughter-in-law, so that suits me perfectly!” Her tone changed. “Maybe Jarrah will meet a nice girl at these parties and forget about me?” she continued hopefully.
“I’m betting that’s your uncle’s plan.” Quinn said dryly. “Anyway, I get a good feeling from this place. Do you want me to go out and have a quick scan around the neighbourhood?”
“I’m so glad, the atmosphere feels right to me too! Everyone seems great!”
Sharna held out her hand and Quinn softly landed in her palm. She could feel her faint warmth.
Sharna continued “and that sounds like a good idea Quinn. Can you please check out if there are any gardens around here with interesting plants? I’m thinking of leaning a bit more into my herbalism, but it doesn’t look like they have much of what I need here. Hopefully I can start my own garden, but even if they let me it will still take some time for the plants to grow. Let me know when you get back. I’ll have to get you to wait outside for me until I am on my own again though, okay?”
“I’ll be back soon, don’t leave me out there too long please!” pleaded Quinn.
“I won’t.” agreed Sharna. “See you soon, be careful and stay out of sight.”
Quinn floated off into the garden.
Sharna rested her arms on the window sill and leaned out the window for a little while after Quinn left, relishing the peaceful afternoon sunshine and gentle breeze, then, with resolution, returned to her unpacking.