"I am terrified by this dark thing that sleeps in me."
― Sylvia Plath , The Collected Poems

Glory let out a relieved breath as she arrived at her room. Gingers company was excruciatingly suffocating.

Hands clamped around her neck and she was slammed into the wall.

Black, glittering eyes glared at her as she struggled to breath.

"Who are you?" Sarai hissed. "How do you know about her?"

Glory clawed at his fingers, trying in vain to signal the fact the she could not answer while she could not breath. 

In an act of desperation, she kicked him, hard, in the place where no shines and he let go of her with a yelp letting out a string of profanities.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Glory gasped. "My name is Velvet, I am a RainWing healer sent here by my Queen, Glory. If you know of another Velvet then I'm sure I don't know who she is."

He was breathing nearly as hard as she was. After gathering back his dignity, he stood up.

"Velvet's a strange name for a RainWing," he said.

"Sarai is a strange name for a SandWing. What does it even mean?"

He stared at her for a while, not saying anything. That was when she noticed the blood soaking his shirt.

"You're hurt!" she exclaimed, and reached towards him. He stepped out of the way with a growl.

"I just want to help you," she explained, and resisting the urge to slam her foot somewhere unpleasant again, tried once more to help him.

This time, he stayed still as she fought down her disgust and lifted his shirt to reveal several long gashes running across his chest.

Another quick glance cast over his person brought to her attention his blood coated finger tips and the skin under his nails, clearly stating that the injuries were self inflicted.

Fighting down a chill that threatened to rise up her spine, she began to clean them, and then bind them with some left over cloth.

"You did this to yourself," she noted aloud. "Why?"

"It was better," he spoke quietly, and unexpectedly. "Better than the pain underneath."

"Your heart?" she questioned. "Your heart was hurting?"

"Yes."

"Does this pain in your heart have something to do with this other Velvet?"

He stood up abruptly and slapped her hands away. "Don't mention her ever again." He hissed.

"Is she missing? Do you want to find her?"

She knew she was treading on thin ice, but the chance of getting answers was too good to give away.

"She's dead!" He whirled on her. "She's dead and we-I killed her!"

Then he was gone.

Glory let a triumphant smile spread across her face. She was getting somewhere. Then it fell. 

Dead?

Ocean Flow

Over the course of a week, Ocean Flow found many occasions to bump into Riptide, and they had begun to grow closer. He would listen as she sighed at the fact that everyone refused to accept her, and would tell her the way when she found herself "lost" by chance.

It was all going rather excellently well, so, one night, a week and some days after she had bumped into him the first time, she decided to try her plan once again.

"What are you doing here?" Riptide asked in surprise when she came to his door. "Are you alright?" he asked when he saw the tears coursing down her cheeks.

She shook her head wordlessly and bustled past him to settle down by his fire place.

Riptide sat down opposite her. "What's wrong?" he asked.

"Oh," she sniffled. "Nothing all that important, I suppose I'm just, well, hurting. I got yelled at today."

"Why?"

"I forgot to say "Princess" when addressing Tsunami. I had supposed, given that we are cousins, that maybe we could have dropped the formalities, but no. Oh, Riptide, I believe Tsunami-Princess Tsunami really does hate me, though why? I can't think of a single thing I have done to her. What shall I do? I have tried everything I can to make her like me," she wiped her eyes with her sleeve.

Riptide frowned. "Tsunami has never been like that since I've known her. She carries grudges of course, but she'll always have a reason. Are you quite sure you haven't done anything to anger her?"

"I'm positive!"

"Okay then, I'll talk to her and see if I can figure things out between you-"

"Oh, Riptide!" Ocean Flow threw her arms around his neck.

"Wh-what are you doing?" he stammered.

"I know you feel it, even if you won't admit it."

"Ad-ad-admit what, exactly."

She released him from the embrace and pushed her hair over her shoulder, and pulled down the shoulder of her gown. Silk and satin it was made of. The finest cloth to be bought in the kingdom.  

"Admit that-"

Suddenly an image flashed through her mind.

She, herself, in flowing bridal robes. A smiling Coral, a sorrowful Riptide and a distraught Tsunami. A disapproving crowd watching as two hands were bound in a silk string. The wrong hands.

A flood of feelings washed through her body, and slowly, she let her arms drop from Riptides neck.

"You should admit," she said slowly. "You should admit that you're in love with Tsunami."

He looked surprised. Surprised and relieved. "I do admit that," 

"Then you should do it."

"Do what?"

"Marry her. She wants you to."

"But Coral-"

"Aunt Coral, she loves her daughter. She wants her to be happy. If you can give her a show of sincere love and affection for Tsunami, I think she'll allow it."

Riptide tilted his head to the side inquisitively.   "Since when did you become so wise?"

Ocean Flow smiled quietly. "Since I've learned that family is the most important thing a person can have."

"The next morning, he woke up, and turned over to ask, "Did you sleep well love?" But to his horror he found in the place of the beautiful woman he thought he had taken to bed, the grinning face of an ogre woman, beard and all and she said, "Verra' well scrumptious, care for anotha' round?"

Sadhi burst out laughing as Velvet finished speaking. 

"I'm not done yet!" she scolded. "Then, he asked, "How did you get here?" And she answered, while patting her large breast (which was the only agreeable feature on her person) "Why, ye put me here scrumptious, and verra' good ye did it too."

"I'm afraid I might have been far in my cups last night," he said, trying to inch away from her. "Tell me madam, did you perhaps eat something that did not agree with you last night?"

The ogre woman grinned at him again, showing off her rotting teeth. "If ye won't mind me saying so, I believe everything I ate last night agreed with me," she said, wiggling her caterpillar like eyebrows suggestively."

"Three moons," Sadhi wiped the tears from his eyes as his laughter subsided. "I don't know how you come up with these things!"

Velvet shrugged and stretched out on her back beside him. "I pull inspiration from my surroundings. Can you guess who the Ogre is based on?"

Sadhi winced. "The cook? Briar?"

"Correct."

He shuddered. "And the unlucky knight? I can't think who he would be."

Velvet smirked. "Salamander. He creeps me out with those perverted words he's always spouting. It would do him good to wake up in bed with an ogre."

They both laughed together, and even when all was quiet again, they relaxed in comfortable silence.

Suddenly, Velvet sat up. Hay was stuck in her hair and all over her clothes, and her eyes were alight with hope.

"I want to leave this place, Sadhi." she said. "I want to run away to some beautiful place where we can be happy together."

Sadhi sat up as well. "I'll take you there," he promised. "Soon, I'll take you to the most beautiful place in the world, and we'll never have to think about this place, or the people here ever again."

She beamed at him. "I know you will."

They settled back down again, happy, despite knowing that they would be punished if they were found.

"It will have to be soon," Velvet added in a whisper, barely recognizable. A shadow fell across her eyes. "If there will be any chance of saving them, all three of them."

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