“Onto the roof,“ emphasised Edith.“I’ve seen Cariad crack a man’s ribs without a moment’s hesitation.Elfed could have broken every one of your bones!But he didn’t!Did he, Simon?”
Edith grabbed Simon’s arm.He passed the teapot to his other hand.
“On the whole, I agree with you,” he said reasonably.“Violet, I think thereisa chance you can train him.But it will be hard.”
“I don’t mind hard things,” said Violet.
“There’s no leaving in the middle,” warned Edith.“It might take some time.”
Una stared at her lap.She felt suddenly as if she were the only sane person in the room.It was not a feeling she liked.
Then Violet said something very surprising.“I need to ask Una something.”There was a little pause while everyone waited for her to say it.“I think it’s not the sort of question I can ask in front of other people.”
Simon picked up Margaret.“We’ll be just outside.”
“And very much not listening,” Edith assured them on the way out.
Una swallowed her tea with difficulty.She dreaded what Violet might say, and what she might have to say back.
“I’ve been thinking, Loon—since I’ve come back.”Violet stirred her tea, making a regrettable clanking with her spoon.“I know I’ve been very slow getting my head around why you were so angry with me.”
Una froze.
“I always knew we were different—completely different,” Violet went on.“Chalk and cheese, and all that.But it’s more than just that, isn’t it?Loon?Is it more than that?”
Una coughed.“I thought you were going to ask me about whether I minded you training Elfed.”
“Do you?”
Una shut her eyes.“I don’t want to watch you fall again.”
Violet shifted in her seat.“Yes.It sort of sums up what I mean.I did a jolly lot of falling while I was away from home.But you didn’t have to see it.Up on the roof just now, I saw your face.”Violet’s voice went quiet.“At first I thought you were just angry at me for the way I left, and then the way I came back.But it’s more than that, isn’t it?It waseasierfor you when I was gone, wasn’t it?Even when we’re getting along, like last night, I make everything just a bit harder for you.Perhaps more than a bit.“ There was a silence, and Violet looked at Una, her face unusually soft.“You didn’t want me back at all, did you?”
There was only one answer Una could give—and it felt like falling off a sky-borne dragon.
“No,” Una whispered, her hands knotting in her lap.
“Well,” she said, and gave a long, low whistle.
For a moment, the two sisters sat together in agonising silence.It was as if the tea tray had just been smashed on the carpet and they were both wondering how to clean it up.
Una fought the urge to strike out thatno, to explain it or make it smaller.Instead, she took a deep breath.
“But the reason I didn’t want you back,” said Una, “was because I forgot all the good things about you.About us.Imademyself forget them, and only remember the things that pricked at me.It was easier not to miss you that way.It didn’t hurt as much.”
Violet rubbed her face.“I suppose there aren’t so very many good things to remember.I’m sorry for all the times I’ve…pricked at you.It wasn’t meant.No, that’s not right—mostof it wasn’t meant.“ She made a sound of frustration.“Ugh!I suppose I’m just a nettle in human form.What are nettles good for, anyway?Isthere anything?”
“All sorts of things, as it happens,” Una said stoutly.“Tea—and soup.And Thomas likes to put them in the rubbish heap for the garden; he says it encourages everything to fall apart.”
“Thatdoessound like me,“ admitted Violet.
“You’re right about us being different, terribly so,” Una continued.“We found a way to live together before because we had to.We were children, and there wasn’t anyone else.But now we’re grown up.”Una put her teacup down carefully.“What if we can choose to find a way to live together?What if we don’t have to be chalk and cheese forever?Maybe we could try being something else.Maybe even something that goes together, like…”
“Cheese and pickled onions?”Violet suggested doubtfully.
Una nodded.She took a sip of her tea.“But on one condition.”
“Name it.”
