That day seemed to spark a change in the students. For the rest of the day, more and more "pranks" were thrown towards the Hero kingmates. Some were simple things like changing hair color, and others were elaborate and almost cruel, such as making some of their backpacks explode with a foul-smelling liquid.
Rose—as she was at breakfast—was conflicted. A part of her that she didn't want to acknowledge loved it. Every attack on a Hero kingmate felt like personal vengeance had been enacted on her behalf. Every time she saw a student in gold run past her crying, a shot of triumph pierced her.
It was awful.
Feeling that kind of—kind of—gleeful malice made her feel sick. It was a part of her she wasn't proud of, and a part of her she wished would go away.
And the rest of her felt that this would only make things worse. Fighting fire with fire was rarely a good thing, and Rose was never the sort to hold a grudge.
At least, she didn't want to be that sort of person.
She had hoped talking to Galio and asking him to cut back on it all would help, but her king only called her "too pure for this wretched world" and completely ignored her. By the end of the day, Rose's feeling that something even worse would happen only continued to mount.
She hoped, more than she ever had before, that things would go back to the way it was. She didn't want any more pranks tossed her way or the Hero kingmates' way. She wanted everyone to get along and let her focus on the wonderful thing that was magic.
Because, really, shouldn't that be her focus? Less than a year ago she found out she was a dragon and was getting to attend an honest-to-goodness magical school, but—
But all she could think about was: what are they going to do now?
Something inside Rose told her it wouldn't be anything good…
She wished she was wrong.
...🌹...
In hopes of keeping her mind off those unpleasant thoughts, Rose decided to approach Delilah after classes that day, grabbing her attention as soon as the last class ended and before dinner.
"Delilah?"
Delilah let out an 'eep', doing a little jump when Rose called out to her. The Chasm kingmate turned around, clutching at her notebook. Given Delilah's reaction, Rose half-expected the laslyst to start reeking of that sour stench that meant she was afraid.
While Delilah's pale blue eyes were certainly wide, and she squirmed under Rose's gaze, Rose didn't smell any fear. Certainly sweat, which meant Delilah was anxious, but not fear.
Was she ever afraid of me in the first place? Rose wondered. Delilah had been one of the quietest students in class, nervously fluttering around like a butterfly. She never appeared comfortable, and when other students approached her she would run off.
Rose always thought she was simply shy, like Viola… but Viola turned out to be that way because she was absolutely terrified of Rose. Whenever Rose saw Viola nowadays, the Hero kingmate always reeked of fear.
It was nauseating to be in the same class as her for long, and Rose had begun to carry around some eucalyptus oil that she would dab under her nose. Keinan also had a sensitive nose, and his father accurately predicted what would happen their first year at Gardenia and sent along several tubs of the stuff. Keinan had kindly shared a couple of them with Rose.
Rose waited a few more seconds, wondering if that unpleasantly pungent stench would show up.
"Y-yes?" Delilah squeaked out.
"I, uh, I got your mom's package," Rose began, resisting the urge to fiddle with her fingers.
She doesn't smell like she's afraid—wait.
Would it be considered rude if she said she didn't know what to do with the stuff? Rose really hoped she didn't offend Delilah for asking.
Deciding to risk it, Rose hesitantly said, "I, um, I'm not familiar with the… products. Would you be able to, um, maybe, help me out with some of them?"
Delilah's eyes stretched so wide Rose thought they might pop out of her head. Then the Chasm kingmate relaxed, her entire demeanor softening like a rubber band no longer being stretched thin.
She smiled shyly, "Oh, yes, of course."
"Great, do you want to come over on Saturday?" Rose asked, surprised by Delilah's change.
"S-sure." Delilah gave a small curtsy to Rose—Rose reflexively curtsied back, the habit instilled in her by Mother Mara—before she scurried off. Rose watched her leave, wondering if it would be okay to hope that Delilah wasn't afraid of her.
Keinan and Chester popped up on either side of Rose, startling the dragon with their sudden appearance. She didn't even notice that the duo had been waiting for her.
"She didn't smell afraid," Keinan told Rose, tapping his nose. "I think she's just shy."
"Or maybe she has social anxiety," Chester suggested. "She fainted when it was her turn to give her presentation in Professor Laye's class."
Rose's eyebrows rose up at that. "Really? Why wasn't she taken to Doctor Basileus?"
"She only fainted. She woke up a few seconds later, and Professor Laye excused her from the work," Chester explained. "When I wrote to Mother about what happened, Mother thought she might have social anxiety."
"Social anxiety…" Rose repeated. It wasn't something she had heard much about, but she could only guess what it meant. "So she gets nervous when she has to talk to people? I only smelled sweat. Or, um, what I thought was sweat."
"Kind of sweet?" Keinan asked, and at Rose's nod, he said, "That's definitely anxiety."
"Isn't that the same as fear, though? Shouldn't they smell the same?'
"Not really," Chester answered. "Fear is a response to what someone perceives as danger, whereas anxiety isn't quite that severe. Anxiety is what you get when you must walk down a dark street, and you don't know what's ahead. Fear is what you feel when you know you're in danger."
Keinan made a 'hmm' sound at that. "I don't know. Some people might be afraid walking down a dark street."
"It's only an analogy, don't nitpick." Chester scratched the back of his head. "Anxiety is more of an apprehension, a reluctance, or something unpleasant. Fear is when you feel like your life is in danger."
"Oh," came Rose, scratching her cheek as she thought over this new information. "You two always seem to know a lot."
"We had to spend all our time with our parents before we came here, and both are arcanists in Atlantis," Keinan explained. "The only things we could do was either read, or experiment."
"We can't even visit any human settlements until after we graduate," Chester sighed. "We both want to at least see NASA."
"You guys know about NASA?"
"We know about the important stuff from humanity," Chester clarified. "Things that directly relate to our parents research, at least. But we couldn't tell you the intricate, or cultural stuff."
"Oh. Well, if you wanna know, I think I could help with some of that stuff," Rose offered.
"What's God-Zilla, and why are people so afraid of it?" Keinan immediately asked, his eyes widening. "What's a Sure-Lock, and why does it make girls scream?"
"Who is Lord of the Rings, and why is he so important?" Chester added.
Rose blinked once, twice, then giggled. "O-okay. Let's see…"
...🌹...
Saturday morning, after breakfast, Delilah met with Rose at the Warrior Kingdom. She had that sweet smell about her, so Rose could tell she was anxious, but it wasn't as pronounced as it was when they talked earlier that week. After Delilah began to dig through the boxes and explain their uses, the smell grew duller. Rose hoped that meant Delilah's anxiety was slowly starting to fade.
Delilah pulled out a transparent box that was filled with a rainbow cream. "Th-this is for your claws."
She popped open the box, and the smell of fresh rainfall filled Rose's bedroom. Delilah reached back into the box and pulled out another box that had some brushes inside of it. She picked one of the brushes that had a pink handle and black thistles.
"Y-you use this brush to rub it in. The thistles a-are made of dried out ingles. Ingles are a-a kind of herb that after drying out when y-you rub it on claws, c-can act like a buffer. This ointment m-moisturizes and shines, s-so you want to use it in conjunction with this brush."
Rose wrote down Delilah's advice, knowing she would likely have to consult these notes in the future when she used this stuff.
"A-after that, you'll want to use this," Delilah continued, first closing the rainbow cream before pulling out another box filled with a clear, gel-like liquid with pink and red sprinkles mixed in. "This a-acts as a sealer…"
Delilah went through each of the boxes, taking out every product and explaining them to Rose. Rose had no idea that apparently her wings and tail required a variety of condiments to keep healthy... so did her horns, and even her human skin! Everything needed something different, and there were a lot of options. It was almost dizzying, the amount of choices Rose had to make for proper scale-care.
She hadn't really bothered with any of that stuff before, but apparently if she didn't take care of it, her scales would start to fall out! Her horns would become cracked—which Delilah told her hurt terribly—and a tail with missing scales was itchy beyond belief.
What would I have done without this stuff? Rose thought with wonder. Doctor Basileus had mentioned that her scales were duller than normal, but he hadn't brought up anything else about it.
By the time Delilah had finished her explanation, Rose was fully aware of how much of a scale-saver it was.
"Thank you," Rose said fervently, taking Delilah's hands. "Truly, and really, thank you."
Delilah blushed. "P-please don't worry a-about it. Um, it's, um, th-the least I can do—"
There was a knock at her door and Havi opened it up to shove Keinan and Chester inside. "Rose, your friends were meowing outside like stray cats."
"We were not!" Chester snapped, flushing.
"I was," Keinan said, accepting such with a dignified nod. "Hi, Rose! Ready for more experiments on the stones?"
"Oh, yeah—hey, can Delilah join us? She just saved me an itchy tail."
"Sure," Chester said, still glaring at Havi. The vampire princess smiled mockingly in return. "Hi, Delilah."
"A-are you sure y-you, um, want me to join?" Delilah squeaked out, her thin black tail popping out from behind her and rapidly waving back and forth. It reminded Rose of an overly excited puppy, and an anxious cat. "I'm not very, um, good at—at anything, r-really."
"That's great, neither am I!" Keinan cheered. "We'll be screw-ups together."
"Now, Keinan, that's simply not true. You can eat like a pig very well," Chester praised his friend.
"Thanks, man." Keinan's chest puffed up with pride.
"Really, though," Rose cut in, "you should stay and experiment with us since it's more fun with more friends."
Delilah's entire body froze, her eyes widening and her mouth forming a small 'o'. "F-friends?"
Rose's brow furrowed at Delilah's response, and the young dragon worried she might have offended the shy girl. "W-well, yeah. Do you not want to be?"
Delilah's bottom lip quivered, and the little girl started to cry.
"Ah!" The trio shouted in surprise, both boys looking in abject horror at the crying girl.
"What did you do, Rose?" Chester cried out. "Don't break the poor girl!"
"I-I didn't mean to," Rose defended herself, nervously rocking from side to side, her own tail coming out and anxiously trembling. "U-um! I-I'm sorry, Delilah, p-please don't cry."
"We—we didn't mean to make you cry, please be okay," Keinan pleaded, giving Chester a look as if to say 'do something!'
Chester shrugged helplessly, staring at Delilah like a deer caught in headlights. "W-we're sorry?"
Delilah shook her head, wiping at her eyes. "N-no, yo—you are all so kind, I-I just—I've never had friends before."
"What?" Chester and Keinan looked at her in plain disbelief, but Rose felt her heart twist in cold sympathy.
"I was s-sick a lot as an infant," Delilah explained quietly, "s-so my core was compromised f-for a long time. O-only a couple months before I-I came here w-was I allowed outside."
Rose reached across the bed and placed her hand over the back of Delilah's, her heart aching. She could understand why Delilah had been so emotional, then.
Rose didn't have any real friends aside from Mr. Whiskers for a long time. The children in the orphanage rarely stayed for more than a year, and the other kids snubbed her because she didn't have parents. The Sisters were kind to Rose, and many of the adults treated her nicely, but there was no one really to play with or talk to. It was why Rose frequently went out into her forest to play with Mr. Whiskers.
In the forest, she could pretend she had a home to go back to, or that she was playing hide and seek with people that didn't exist.
It was easier to play make believe there.
For the longest time, Rose had simply accepted that was her life. She hadn't realized how lonely she was until she came to Gardenia and made her first genuine friends.
"Well," Rose said softly, "you have friends now."
This made Delilah start to cry again, but Rose was better prepared, so she patted the girl on the back, letting her finish. Keinan fished around his pocket before producing a wrinkled handkerchief and handing it to the girl which she used to wipe at her eyes.
"S-so, let's go over the notes in the last experiment to get Delilah caught up," Chester said, stumbling over his words once Delilah had calmed down again. He produced a notebook. "Let me know if you have questions, Delilah."
"Thank you," Delilah said. "Thank you very much."