Chapter 27

**Merianna**


I had just pulled away from Hezerial and dried my tears when I heard my door creak open again. I looked up over Hezerial’s shoulder and didn’t notice anyone in the door’s entrance at first. A frown crossed my face as I then looked around Hezerial at the whole doorway.

A diminutive brownie was standing frozen in the doorway with cleaning tools in hand, staring at me in utter disbelief. For a moment I was confused as to what a Brownie was doing in my room, but then I recognized the fiery red hair and sharp eyes.

“Dorris?” I asked with a smile.

She suddenly dropped all her tools and let out a screech worthy of a banshee’s praise. At that moment I was too surprised to move, let alone cover my own ears, luckily Hezerial was there to save my eardrums for me.

“Are you alright, My Lady?” He asked as he slowly took his hands off my ears.

“I’m good.” I replied with wide eyes. Dorris’s reaction had taken me completely by surprise. I’d never seen her react like that since the day Nelia and I met her. Dorris had also seemed to forget how to stand as she had plopped on the floor the moment she screamed.

“Are you alright Dorris?” I asked worriedly.

“A-are you r-really-?!” She stuttered then covered her mouth.

I knew what she meant, everyone here at The Order so far had similar reactions. Smiling down at her, I poked my own cheek so she could see I had living flesh. “Long time no see Dorris.”

“Oh my…” She mumbled. Then faster than I could keep track of, she shot up from the ground and came flying at me with outstretched arms. She hooked them around my neck and nearly ended up choking me with her vice-like hug.

She was bawling and mumbling in her language so much that I couldn’t get a word in, let alone try to calm her down. All I could do right then was hug her back and struggle to force air in through my windpipe.

“Dorris, I understand that you are happy to see her again, but My Lady is going to suffocate at this rate.” Hezerial tried to placate over her blubbering. It seemed to work though. She suddenly stopped her muttering and pulled away so she could see my red face.

“I’m happy to see you again too Dorris.” I wheezed with a grin.

“Oh you smug little ingrate!” She huffed with tears brimming in her green eyes. She didn’t look any different from when I last saw her. Same light-brown skin, same long fiery red hair, same wrinkles. All the times that she took care of me and Nelia in The Order came back to mind. The memories came easily and smoothly now without any pain or discomfort.

I leaned forward and wrapped my arms around her again even though she stiffened this time. “I missed you Dorris.”

Which was the truth. I might not have known it consciously, but all those times that I felt like I had missed something in the past, or that something was missing, all made sense. She was definitely one of the things I had missed and yearned for all this time.

“Oh, you little…” Dorris couldn’t seem to finish her thoughts as she just accepted the hug and stroked my hair.

“How on earth are you here?” She asked softly, almost like she was scared that she’d jinx herself and I’d disappear if she asked a question.

I pulled back from the hug and shrugged sheepishly. “It’s a pretty long story, actually, I don’t have all the details myself yet about what exactly happened. Right now, everyone else is in Noch’s office though. They all know more than I do at this stage.”

Dorris frowned angrily at this. “Blasted Noch with his sneaking around and not bothering to inform me of something so important! I’ll have to teach him manners all over again!” She declared. I didn’t envy Noch’s imminent lessons by Dorris. The sting from her wooden spoon was still a sharp memory even if mine were all muddled.

“Well, it was all mostly done in a rush. I doubt Noch was able to inform anyone who wasn’t immediately present about the circumstances.” Hezerial tried to explain.

“No excuses!” Dorris snapped. “He knows full well to inform me of any and all new or old arrivals in this castle!”

I chuckled as I looked at the two of them bickering. This was definitely something that I had been missing without knowing it. All the times that Hezerial had trespassed into Dorris’ kitchen and her trying to chase him out to no avail, flashed through my memory. I was so glad that I could now remember all these small trivial things without them causing pain. This was how it was supposed to be after all.

“It wasn’t like I could just find you whenever I felt like it. You move around the Order even more stealthily than I do.” Noch’s voice drifted up from the doorway.

“You ungrateful little waste of space!” Dorris exploded at Noch’s arrival.

“You know very well that Fire messages reach me perfectly fine! That’s why they were invented in the first place!” She yelled and hopped off the bed to stare defiantly up at him.

“There simply wasn’t time!” Noch said, holding his hands up in surrender.

“Weak excuses!” Dorris pipped and pulled out a massive wooden spoon from her back. Only heaven knew how that was supposed to fit back there.

“Woa now Dorris, no need to pull out the spoon!” Noch panicked.

“You deserve it!” She yelled and advanced on him with the threatening cooking utensil.

“I do not!” He chuckled indignantly and fled the room before she could touch him.

“That good for nothing piece of goblin skin asshole.” Dorris muttered as she tucked the spoon back in between her hair and back.

I chuckled at the familiarity of the whole situation. “I’m glad to see that you’re still full of energy Dorris.”

She crossed her arms and huffed. “Of course I am! This place would be a ghost castle if that weren’t the case!”

Thyrion’s head suddenly caught my attention as he peeked around the doorframe. “Looks like everything is going well here.” He said with a grin.

“Very!” I grinned back, then suddenly yawned so hard that my jaw popped. Thyrion chuckled and came into the room with a nod as a greeting to Dorris. Dorris merely snorted at this.

“Now that the lovebirds are back it’s time for this old lady to see what the rest of the hooligans are up to.” Dorris announced and left the room without even waiting for a reply.

“I can’t believe that she hasn’t changed at all after all this time.” I marveled.

“Fae, aging is obviously something that doesn’t exist to them.” Thyrion chuckled as he tucked some of my hair behind my ear. “You should get some more sleep. Noch asked all of us to go on a few errands, but I’ll be back as soon as possible.”

I cupped his face and ran my thumbs over his short stubble. “Don’t worry. I’m not going anywhere anytime soon until you guys give me the ‘all clear’. Sleep sounds like a brilliant passtime right now.” I grinned and stifled another yawn. Thyrion chuckled and lowered me back into the pillows.

“I shall be here in the ether if My Lady needs anything.” Hezarial announced from the foot of my bed with a slight bow. Then suddenly vanished without a trace.

“It’s going to take me a while to get used to that again.” I muttered as I relaxed back under the covers.

Thyrion grinned and pressed a kiss to my lips. “Now you have the opportunity to take all the time you want. I will see you again soon, mi na sa shadrak namina ku.”

I grinned happily, feeling my heart flutter at the words. “Be safe, mi a shardak namina ku.”