Chapter 12. A Tense Home in the Making

The room was filled with silence as Carolyne slowly absorbed everything she had been told.

Carla was glad that she had gotten her friend back but she felt too rotten in her spirit to celebrate. 

The doctor or 'healer' as they had called them, had treated Stephanie who was now peacefully sleeping in one of the cottage's two bedrooms because of the medication she had been given.

Carla, Aria and Carolyne were not bruised enough for it to be considered worrying and after getting their wounds cleaned and wrapped up, listening to medical advice that they probably would forget soon and assuring the healer that they would take it, the group were finally left to themselves.

"I can't stay here," Aria whispered while shaking her head as she stared unseeingly at the wall. "I don't want to be forced into a relationship with someone twice my age!" She kicked the rectangular centre table in rage and flopped back into the soft cushions of the couch with an aggrieved pou