Chapter 2: Chapter2
#Chapter2
Meeting Ariel was a shelter from the rain of loneliness, it was a soothing rescue from the pains she didn't know existed in her dried wounds.
However, Ariel seemed rich. He wore a white silk, frilly, shirt and brown leather trousers with black leather boots and a red feather hat over his head. The corners of his cat green eyes were decorated with tiny gem stones and his shirt buttons were made of pure pearls. He had a pretty face, not handsome like a man, but pretty like a young girl. He was young like Jevelene, most probably fourteen, had just hit puberty.
He had tiny blonde hair on his face and dark brown hair falling on his forehead.
/"Ariel? What an ass name, woman,/" He crossed his arms. His accent was not that of a native Italian.
She giggled, /"But it's so pretty! Ariel!/"
/"Goddammit. What a boring name,/"
/"Oh, then...Poppy? Fleur?/"
/"I guess Ariel is better,/"
She laughed, /"Certainly,/"
Ariel and Jevelene sat beside the brook.
/"Where do you live?/" She asked.
/"I don't tell that to strangers,/"
/"Well, then, tell me more about your sila,/"
/"No, I don't tell that to strangers,/"
She laughed, /"Okay. Oh, I have to go now. Grandma must be waiting,/"
She trotted away with the bucket in her hand. He looked at her and then back into the water.
Meanwhile, Jevelene watered all the flowers, cooked food, cleaned the house, did the dishes and went to the market. She decided to buy some fish and potatoes. The market was packed with people and sailors from distant land. Costiera Amalfitana had always been an intimidating coast to her. Filled with foreign and Italian voices, all mixing and intermingled into one melody.
Her feet played playfully over the pink stones, as she hummed a melody, her petite figure walked through the crowd of huge men and fat, jolly women. Her skirt frilled in a controlled motion, her face turned red under the sun. She looked at various shops, and finally stopped at a jewellery shop, with a crown kept at its centre.
She looked at it for a while, knowing she could never buy it.
/"Well hello, Jevelene,/" She turned and looked at Beatrice, the prettiest girl in the town, a rich merchant's daughter, just like Jevelene was a few years back.
/"How are you?/" She asked.
/"I'm good,/" She bowed.
/"Ugly as always, huh. You've been looking worse ever since your father died,/" She said as she fixed her hair while looking into the mirror of the jewellery shop.
Jevelene laughed it off, /"I haven't been getting proper rest,/"
/"Well, as if you were any better when you did get proper rest. Am I wrong?/"
Jevelene looked down, /"I think,/" She giggled nervously. Beatrice looked down at her, /"So, you are coming to the festival?/" She asked.
/"Yes, I'll be selling some flowers,/" Jevelene smiled wickedly, /"Well, that's what you are made for, you know. Sell flowers all your life,/" She laughed.
Jevelene looked aside and saw Ariel in the crowd. He was well dressed and his hair was nicely done. He wore a white tunic with slashed sleeves, a red cape around him, and gold bracelets on both his wrists, a golden band wrapped around his left arm, and sandalwood slippers in his tiny feet.
She looked at him, standing in the sun, his long brown hair reached his nape, the blue and pink gems around his eyes shining under the sun, with his green eyes. That's how beautiful true demigods were.
Beatrice traced her eyes and looked into Ariel's direction. She was breathtaken, /"Oh wow, that foreigner is beautiful!/" She said.
He looked at Jevelene, she smiled at him and looked away. A young man, about twenty two, came towards him and held his hand. Maybe that was his guardian, she remembered her father in him. They used to walk around the market just like that.
She came back home, disheartened. She and Ariel, they lived in two different worlds. He was a white dove flying in a magnanimous blue sky, while she was an ant, toiling her way to build an anthill in the dark and barren lands.
The same storm he'd dance in, would destroy her.
The next day, she went to that brook again and ran into Ariel. He was sitting beside the brook again. She smiled, /"Bread again?/" She asked and he turned towards her, /"You are late today,/"
/"I had to deliver some flowers at-Wait, you waited for me?/"
/"Yeah, thought I'd meet you again,/"
He was well dressed again. Through the netted, transparent sleeves of his top, she could see the gold bracelets shining on his pink skin.
She laughed, /"You are really pretty, you know,/"
/"Well, unlike you, I am divine,/" He said.
/"I am too!/" She said, /"I think,/"
/"Yeah sure, kiss my ass,/"
She pouted, /"You are so rude to me,/"
/"You annoy me everytime our eyes meet,/"
/"Then, why did you meet me?/"
/"I like being annoyed,/"
/"...Okay?/"
He began laughing, /"I didn't come to meet you, dumbass, I just wanted to relax myself. This place is good to do that,/"
/"Alright, you relax, I have work to do,/" She filled her bucket with water and left the place. Soon after she was gone, he got up and left the place too.
The next day she came there, he was there again, laying on the grass with his hat over his face. She smiled, /"Hello,/"
He rose his hat and narrowed his green eyes at her, /"Oh hey, just fill the water and leave,/"
/"Okay,/" She walked to the brook, pressing the weight of her body over the bright grass beneath her. The white dasies swindled around and the breeze made the trees overhead move.
He rose his hat again, /"Man, she really did leave?/" He got up and walked back home. The next day, he jumped down the window and ran through the streets. He looked at the clocks in a clock shop, /"Still five minutes!/"
He ran towards the brook and quickly lay on the grass and looked at the sky. He was panting from running all his way there. Suddenly, he heard footsteps and covered his face with his hat.
He looked at the grass from the corner of his eyes, a long, floral, frilly skirt; thin, pale, unadorned arms dragging a small bucket towards him.
/"Oh, hello,/" She stopped. He moved his hat away from his face and looked at her white face, covered with brown freckles and unkept red wavy hair, /"Why are you always here when I am?/" He smirked, /"Have you fallen in love with me? Don't be shy, answer me,/"
She smiled, /"No, not at all. Besides, if I had to fall in love, I would chose a star spirit,/"
He covered his face back with his hat, /"You really are annoying,/"
She looked at him and then turned towards the brook.
/"Shut up,/" He said.
/"I didn't even say anything,/"
/"Dont care, shut up,/"
/"...Okay,/"
She filled the water and left for her home. He moved his hat away from his eyes and looked at the sky, he lay there for a while. He closed his eyes and everything turned black.
He walked back home that evening, dragging his feet through the streets. In the middle, he stopped and looked at the ocean. The ships, the noises of the town far away, he looked at the moon.
He looked at the glowing gold on his wrists, those metal bracelets.
/"Oh, you're back home?/" A servant asked him as he stood on the door of a huge mansion, /"Master said he'd like to see you before dinner,/"
'It's hard to look at other faces
When I only want to see yours,'
/"Hey, Jevelene,/" He said the next day, as he watched her fill her bucket with water, /"Yes?/" She was surprised he remembered her name,
/"Do you want to know about my sila?/"
-To be continued
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone