45: An Older Sister’s Love

Nyssa ended up staying awake. Curled up on the couch nearest to the front door, she scrolled her phone. Every few minutes, she’d glance up and out the window. Each time, though, she only saw an empty driveway.

I wonder when they’ll arrive...

Staring at her phone, her eyes glazed over as her shoulders sat tensed. Her phone replayed the same video over and over as she ran her hands through her hair. The babbling of a cooking video demonstrating a ‘hack’ to maximize dumpling wrapping efficiency droned on in her ears.

Five minutes later, the sound of the doorbell brought her back to reality as her eyes widened. Checking the time, she couldn’t help but feel her stomach toss itself like stir fry.

I don’t know why I’m nervous all of a sudden, it's just Roxanne and Angelica... I know them! Maybe because it's been a while for Roxanne? Maybe because... I haven't seen angelica in this context for a while? Why does it feel like a teacher-student meeting?

She steeled her guts and clenched her fist. A pair of wings appeared out of her back for a brief second, launching her out of the chair before she jogged over to the door. Pulling it open with a creak, warmth enveloped her before she could react.

“I missed you, Nyssa! Your older sister is back,” Roxanne’s warm voice filled her ear, melting away all her worries with a few sweet words. She pulled back after a second, her eyes widening as Nyssa’s eyes teared up. “What’s wrong? Everything alright? Did I hug you too hard? I’m-”

“N-No, it’s fine,” Nyssa wiped a tear while a smile spread across her lips. She pulled Roxanne back in for a hug. “I uhm... I didn’t realize how much I missed you. It’s... it’s been a while Roxanne. Sorry I was just... nervous earlier and then like... like, I don’t know I just didn’t expect a sudden rush of emotions, I’m fine now.”

“Well, I hope you know I’m happy to see you too,” Roxanne smiled as a hint of wistfulness entered her gaze. “I’ve heard a little bit about your time at school from Angelica, but I want to hear more from you, so why don’t we go in and talk more?”

“S-Sure,” Nyssa stammered, scratching the side of her face as she motioned for the two women to enter first. “Sorry for blocking the door, and hello Angelica, nice to see you.”

“So stiff,” Angelica teased as she stepped in through the entrance. As she slid off her shoes, she lifted a bag. “This is for you by the way, a gift from Roxanne and I now that you’ve started school. Also, while I’m here, just forget about me being your teacher, okay? Just think of me as your older sister’s fiancée.”

“I’ll try my best,” Nyssa bobbed her head up and down. She took the bag from Angelica and hugged it against her chest. “And thank you for the gift, I’ll open it later!”

“Of course,” Roxanne sang from further in the house. She had begun sliding around on the floors in her socks—in a way not dissimilar to Slade and Nyssa’s technique. A second later though, she returned. Her head poked back out from around the corner. With a smile on her lips, she couldn’t suppress the glimmer of curiosity in her eyes. “Nyssa, let’s brew some tea! We can chat like the good old days.”

“Sounds good,” Nyssa slid over as Angelica copied her movements and followed behind. The three of them weaved through a couple hallways to the kitchen. Once in the kitchen, Nyssa slid open a drawer with a slight creak as they flipped through their different tea leaves. After a moment of deliberation—where Angelica and Roxanne presented their top picks and played a game of rock, paper, scissors—the three of them decided on a set of tea leaves sitting in the back of the drawer.

“Leaves of Dawn, huh, interesting, never heard of them,” Roxanne murmured, leaning against Angelica who had now struck a victory pose. “Do you know them, Angelica?”

“Mildly, I’ve heard it's a nice luxury brand that’s really hard to get your hands on. Not because of price, but because the leaves have a way of just appearing here and there,” Angelica shrugged, sitting down at the kitchen island with Roxanne. Together, they thanked Nyssa for volunteering to steep the tea.

“It’s my job, you know, as host...” Nyssa trailed off as her legs doubled in length to let her be eye-level with the top-shelf. “I’ll get the nice teapot and cups too this time, since we’ll probably use this throughout the night. And well... these are nice tea leaves apparently.”

“Such foresight! Such kindness! Such virtue!” Roxanne gushed, resting her chin on her hand. Her eyes, for a brief moment, flashed green before returning to their normal hue. “Sorry, the spirits are really excited right now, as usual. They’re all cheering, saying how you’re their true emissary.”

“They’re still doing it?” Angelica raised an eyebrow, leaning forward and crossing her legs. As Nyssa came over with the tea cups, she raised her glass of water out of the way and took a slow sip.

“Yeah, they’re more excited than me to see Nyssa,” Roxanne sighed, shaking her head. “To bad they can’t match my love for Nyssa though.”

“Uh-...” Nyssa’s voice interrupted as she carried over the teapot. “This still needs a couple minutes but uh... yeah... sorry, continue.”

“Hmm, they really want to come play with you,” Roxanne massaged her forehead as intermittent flashes of green flooded out from her eyes. “Would it be alright if we went to the training area sometime? I’ll let them out and you can catch up with them a little.”

“Sure. We can go later after dinner, dad’s using the training room right now, as usual...” Nyssa nodded as she sat down. Shifting side to side to make herself comfortable she fell quiet as no other conversation topics came to mind. “H... h... hey, yeah... hey, nice to see you two again, hope you two are doing well...”

Brain buffering at its finest. System had defaulted to outputting its most basic responses.

Why did you say that, Nyssa? Why? You can surely do better than “h... h... hey”! What are you? A horse? That’s not even in your top ten forms in terms of time spent! You’re no more a horse than you are a cactus!

“Well,” Angelica picked up the conversation after noticing Roxanne just sitting there admiring her younger sister. “I apologize for bringing up school-related stuff, but I’m thinking of bringing you all on a field trip.”

“Oh! When? We won’t miss Roxanne’s event at school, right?” Nyssa perked up, putting the mental scolding on hold as life returned to her eyes. “I’d really prefer to not miss Roxanne’s event.”

“Yeah, don’t worry, I don’t want to miss it too,” Angelica laced her fingers with Roxanne’s. “Roxanne’s actually taking a couple weeks off. To rest, to prep for her event, and to just spend a little more time with us. So we’ll come by more often during the weekends, okay?”

With Nyssa replying with a “sounds great,” Angelica, with her other free hand, tapped the counter as she recalled the plans she had made earlier. “I think I'll just take all the current Class Zero students with us. We’ll go do some investigation. It’ll be like a class bonding retreat, low-stress, high-fun.”

“... high-fun sounds like not a lot of naptime,” Nyssa murmured, her eyebrows stitching themselves up in worry. “But... uhm... yeah, I’ll be going for sure, don’t worry.”

“Yeah, look forward to it!” Roxanne cheered, giving Nyssa a thumbs-up. “I helped Angelica plan some stuff last night. Trust me, it’ll be a great time! We also included a break in the middle of the afternoon for most days. So, don’t worry, you’ll get to take your naps. As for right now though, do you want to tell us a little bit about your time at school and your new friends?”

Nyssa’s eyes brightened even further as a sheepish smile brushed across her lips. “I’d be happy to... So, to start, we have Ryker, the current kind of... class leader...”