of never getting home.
Her cousin turned back to the women. “Since we just got here, we’d love to have a tour of the place.”
Oh my god. Daph was a genius. She would’ve never thought of something so brilliant. Though she had to admit, she didn’t give Daphne much credit when it came to anything.
When they were young, Lilah’s mom always belittled her by saying things like, why can’t you be skinnier like your cousin, and why don’t you try to be smarter like Daphne. After a while, young Lilah came to dislike her friend as Lilah’s mom continued to compare the two, Lilah always being the one lacking.
For years, Lilah had dreamed of running away so Daphne could take her place in the family. Maybe then her mom would’ve been happy not stuck with such a disappointment as Lilah.
As they grew older, her mother had stopped her ugly words, but the damage was done. To Lilah’s mind, brushing off Daphne made her cousin a flawed person. If Daphne wasn’t perfect, maybe one day, Lilah’s mother would appreciate Lilah for who she was.
Now, as an adult, Lilah tried not to remember those times as a child, but the hurt and feelings of being a failure to her mother still cut deeply.
The worst part about it all was that Daphne had no idea how much resentment had built up during the younger years. And through no fault of her cousin’s own. The girl was innocent of everything but being herself.
Maybe it was time to let all that go. Daphne really was a smart woman, even if she was willowy and tall and graceful and all the things Lilah wanted to be. She had accepted that her body was what it was and worked to keep herself as healthy as possible.
But she also had the philosophy that if she was going to be alive, she wasn’t going to hate every moment by eating bland, tasteless food. If she was to live, it would be on her terms, and she was enjoying a big juicy, buttery, steak when she wanted. What was the point of living if you wished you didn’t?
“Oh, Elder Val,” a woman on the slope covered in sunshine called out, “I will take them on a tour of our home.”
Turning to Lilah and Daph, the elder rolled her eyes. “Shinni would love to show you the improved garden. And, of course, the rest of our mountain if there is time.”
The woman almost skipped across the floor to them. “Come. Let me show you what we’ve done.”
Lilah looked at Daphne, who shrugged. If they wanted to find the way out, they’d have to take the scenic route. The two followed Shinni up the slope, and to Lilah’s surprise, out into the open air. Quite chilly air. Looking around, she realized why it was cold. The clouds couldn’t have been more than a hundred feet above them. And the ground was at least three hundred feet below.
Instinctually, she jerked backward from the edge and into Daphne. Her friend wrapped an arm around her. “I got you, Lil. I won’t let anything hurt you.”
Those words melted into her heart. She looked over her shoulder to see Daphne’s serious expression. Her friend meant those words. A little bit of the hurt she’d involuntarily harbored against her cousin vanished.
“Over here,” Shinni said, waving them to cross onto a sizeable flattened area of dirt with crops. Damn, they did have a garden—on a mountain top. Who would’ve thought?
Not only were the crops growing, but they also looked like a large dose of Miracle Grow had been used. How did they even carry a melon the size of a beach ball? Shinni gabbed on about the food items, much of which meant little to Lilah since she had never tasted any of them. They looked unlike the gnoleon melons and root food items.
The dirt even looked different. She squatted and grabbed a handful. The texture was strange. The color was a mix of grey and brown.
“And that’s what I discovered,” Shinni said, crouching next to Lilah. “By adding ash from the volcano to the dirt brought up from the forest, everything has almost doubled in size. It’s fantastic.” The woman’s eyes shined along with her smile.
Wait a minute. There was a word in that last bit of what the sunburned fae had said that surprised her.
“Shinni, hold on. Did you say ‘volcano’?”
The fae tilted her head like Ferra had done earlier. “Of course, where do you think the