Saturday, April 14, 2012

She's Here!


Hi, this is Bree. Sorry it's been about a week since our last blog post. We've been busy with school stuff, and not a lot has really happened in the meantime. Gia did her werewolf transformation thing three times, uneventfully. Each time it happens, she seems to adjust more quickly, and to experience less shock over it. I think that gradually, it'll become part of her normal life. Or at least her "new normal," as most of us in this family have had to redefine our sense of what's normal several times.

We had a really nice Easter. Some of us went to mass in the morning, then we had a yummy family dinner. The food was traditional Newfoundland holiday food: turkey, potatoes, gravy, stuffing, vegetables, and salt beef. Then we had lemon meringue pie for dessert. After we ate, we had an egg hunt. It was too rainy and cold to do an outside one, but we had fun hiding and finding our dyed hard boiled eggs indoors. Hunting eggs was followed by lots of Easter candy.

Since the holiday weekend, things have been busy but mundane. School has been hectic, because we're getting toward the end of the semester. We've been doing our usual extracurricular activities. Kaya, Fiona, Marie-Grace, and Cécile are eagerly awaiting the casting for their spring recital and story ballet; they'll find out on Monday what parts they got. All the students are in the recital, but not everyone is cast in the story ballet, so they're excited to find out if they get to do both.

Today, though... we had other big news!

In the afternoon, shortly after we'd gotten home from school, the doorbell rang. Ever since the fair folk told us how we were supposed to repay our debt, we've kind of jumped every time someone comes to the door, wondering who would be there. If it would be... her. Our "exchange student." Would she be nice? Mean? Would we be friends? Would she be indifferent to us? Or would we have an enemy living in the same house with us?

We got apprehensive every time someone knocked or rang the bell. Up till yesterday, it was always just a friend coming over, or a delivery, or someone collecting money for charity. When we opened the door this afternoon, we knew this was something different.

She was about my age. Small, slight, slender. Her hair was blonde and long, and her eyes were hazel, but there was something about the shape of them that suggested she had some East Asian ancestry, in spite of her colouring. She was wearing a sort of robe, green with white designs that looked like flakes of snow, and despite the fact that it's still chilly here in April, her feet were bare.

The girl smiled at us... but there was something hesitant about the smile. She was charming - deliberately so - but I could tell she was pretty nervous, too.

Suddenly, I felt bad for her. We've had a lot of emotions about the fair folk lately  - apprehension, frustration, fear. But we haven't really thought about how our "exchange student" would feel about the exchange. Just about how she would act toward us. In that moment, I realized she was probably a lot more scared than we were. After all, this was our house. We have a big family, and we're quite close knit. This girl was all alone. And that's a lot to walk into.

"Hi," I said. "I'm Bree."

I stuck out my hand, and the girl grasped it lightly and then released it instead of shaking it, like I saw Inna do with the fae woman in the clearing.

"Greetings," she replied. "My name is Senara. Thank you for allowing me into your home."

Senara smiled, but she looked a little grim as she stepped through our door. Since then, she's mostly been in her room - which is also my room. I'm going to be sharing with her. I've been giving her some space, but it's getting to be about bedtime, so I guess we'll kind of have to talk then. I'm looking forward to getting to know her, and finding out why she's really here.

Love,
Bree

6 comments:

  1. Well here you start on a new adventure, hope all turns out good. I bet this is hard for her, just to be thrown into your family for an extended time. We will be thinking of you as we cruise and waiting to get back and read the news.

    Take care friends,

    If you do not hear from us we are leaving today on our trip and will be back in a couple weeks. We should have internet for the next few days before we get on the ship.

    Hugs,
    Taryn

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    1. Bree says:

      Hi, Taryn! We're so excited for you about your cruise, and we can't wait to hear about your adventure.

      We'll catch you up on all our news when you get back. ;-)

      I'm sure this is hard for Senara, but we'll do our best to help her settle in.

      Love,
      Bree

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  2. Hi Bree! Senara sounds really pretty. I hope all works out well for you and her! This is probably difficult for Senara though- you know, living with fairies, and now with al of you. Good luck!

    Love,
    Reese <3

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    1. Bree says:

      Hi, Reese!

      Senara is really pretty. I admit that my first reaction was to be a little envious... but she seemed so nervous, and she's not stuck up at all, so the envy didn't last long.

      So far living together is going fine, although she hasn't really told us a lot about herself or her past. I hope she'll open up a little bit soon.

      I'm sure it's very, very difficult for her. We're trying to ease the transition, but all we can really do is be nice to her and try to make her feel welcome.

      We'll do our best! :-)

      Love,
      Bree

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  3. Bree,
    Senara doesn't sound as menacing as I thought she would be. I'm anxious about the next few day and what she'll do. Is going to school part of the fair folk plan? Hopefully, she'll open up to your family. Good luck and keep an eye on her!

    Love,
    Samantha

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    1. Bree says:

      Hi, Samantha. Yeah, I agree - Senara isn't menacing at all. She's actually really polite, and she seems to be making an effort to be friendly. If anything, she's trying a little too hard... but I can't blame her under the circumstances. I'd probably be trying too hard, too, if I was plunked down in a strange family in a different culture and told to just adapt.

      The fair folk didn't say specifically if she was supposed to go to school or not, but they wanted her to experience being human, and human kids around here are required by law to have some form of education.

      We figure if we're teaching her about humanity - which we promised to, so we will, and she seems genuinely interested - Senara should do that too. She'll probably go to school with me, so she can meet more people than she would if she was homeschooled.

      I hoped she opens up, too, but I know it may take some time.

      We're keeping an eye on her... and we assume she's keeping an eye on us right back. I couldn't blame her for it if so.

      Love,
      Bree

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