one

• she wakes up before her brother. certainly after the twins. she's not even at the dining room yet when she hears their barely understandable squabbles
• "pancakes or waffles?" her mama asks
• carla chooses pancakes, watching her droopy eyed brother come towards the table
• it's her dad that makes them for her, dripping chocolate over the flat cakes, bringing a mischievous smile to both their faces
• "not too much, cardan" jude warns over her shoulder as she spoons three portions of iron supplements into a blender
• carla wrinkles her nose. her medicine is a smoothie, every morning with no fail, sometimes strawberries and mango, sometimes banana and peanut butter. she likes the former best.
• when she was little, like the twins, and her mom had begun serving them to her with worried eyes, it scalded her. she and her brother coughed, spat, threw up the liquid and even cried after. it took many apologies and some quiet understanding to convince them to take it again, many weeks later
• things were better now. carla and her brother drank the medicine without fear. it left a slightly raw burning feeling in her throat but nothing she couldn't handle, couldn't brave to make her mom and dad happy
• the pancakes are before her. there is a smiling cat face on hers with whipped cream for whiskers. she smiles at her dad. he winks
• the twins don't take the medicine yet, but would start to soon. her little brother whines at the tiny bowl of fruit pieces in front of him
• "here you go, darlings" jude says placing tall pink glasses in front of her and derek. she turns back "eat all the fruit" she tells the twins
• "oh no, mommy forgot the cinnamon" cardan frowns, standing up to get the shaker
• derek almost bounces on his chair "put it on mine, i want lots"
• it is then when it happens, while carla slurps on her pink drink and her parents are turned back. she feels it rather then sees it. a tiny presence moving across the table. the slow screech of ceramic on wood.
• she turns and sees the twins moving the apple slices, bowls and all, slowly off the table using their tails. one tail to the left, one to the right
• SMACK
• the sound echoes in the big room, and even carla jumps, but only pretend. she can't let her mommy know she saw and didn't stop it.
• "no," jude moans, "again?"
• she suspects nothing. excellent. carla drinks from her glass while the twins laugh, while jude and servants clean up, while cardan sighs as he strokes carla's hair, and derek gorges his pink smoothie with cinnamon.
• it's a normal day. it's a boring day.
• she doesn't know she won't have many of those

two

• she goes to school. pretty dressing shoes and pretty purple hair ribbons and pretty sparkling clothes her dad picked out for her
• "would you be inclined for purple today?" he had asked from her dresser
• she didn't care. she was besotted with her dad but didn't share his love for clothes. he picked out every one of her garments anyway, and it always looked good. her daddy always knew how to make her look beautiful
• "here you go," cardan spread the dark purple dress on her bed, the one with silver embroidery. he smiled at her "my lovely princess"
• carla scratches at her neck. when she gets to the mortal school she takes her ties off her hair, soon to blame it on playtime. as usual.
• she lets her mind linger in those memories. in memories of her father doting after her, telling her stories laying next to her at night or painting her walls her favorite color.
• then she thinks of her mom, the strong queen, of her warm hugs and warmer skin, the brown tones of which she and one of the twins inherited
• she thinks of her mother's ears. then stops thinking at all and runs into class.
• there's reading. then science. then spanish, math, arabic, sign language, and other classes her mommy signed her up for. she's nine and excels in languages and literacy. her math scores would be a little better though.
• carla greenbriar goes to school in a world that only half belongs to her. she caresses her pointed ears, invisible to her classmates, and lets her mind drift away.

three

• when carla was smaller, her dad would play with her feet under the table
• he'd tickle her sides and blow into her stomach to make her laugh
• mom told her stories of even before, when carla was still in her tummy
• jude told her of times she kicked too hard or would only calm down so long as mommy ate honeycomb in chocolate or chicken nuggets drizzled in cheese
• but carla's favorite stories had always been others
• the ones about cardan kissing her belly every night, or jude singing as she rubbed lotion on herself. cardan too, who would serve musical renditions to his girl deep in the night, while jude slept and he could comfortably rest his ear on her stomach
• "thats why you love music, sweet angel," jude explained, hugging her close "you remember from before. to you, there's always been music."
• "and stories?" she whispered back
• "stories too" jude smiled "me and dad, we would spend hours talking to you. planning for you. did you know," jude smoothed some hair out of her face, "that your dad planned your room from scratch? derek's too. he kept it a secret from me a long long time until he suprised me with it. your entire room was done. your toys, your books, your bed."
• jude's eyes were shining. "every star painted on the ceiling and all your beautiful little baby clothes in your closet. he chose and bought every single thing in your room."
• it made carla feel warm inside, a strong sort of ache in her heart that both felt like it hurt but in a good way