Board Thread:Short Stories and Fanfictions/@comment-109.161.162.101-20191116154638/@comment-109.161.168.119-20191127182449

I worked on this all afternoon--that's why it's out so soon. Anyways, here's the story.

One month later—Biana’s point of view

“Come on honey,” an echoing voice rang through Biana’s ears. “Time to get up. It’s a special day.”

Biana peeked open her eyes and saw raw sunshine flowing through the open windows, and Mom sitting there, picture perfect. Her eyes cleared enough to make out the details in her wavy chocolate hair, cascading over her shoulder.

“What is it?” she complained roughly, propping herself forward into a position halfway between lying down and sitting up.

Mom smiled and stood up, neatly folding and placing a layered gold dress onto the foot of her bed. “Sweetie, we’re going to Atlantis.”

“Why?” Biana curled her arm around herself, a swirl of shivers tickling her spine.

“You’ll see.”

Biana made her way out of bed, shuffling to her bathroom where she spent an hour showering and doing her hair. Sophie had taught her that makeup wasn’t needed to be pretty, and there was a minimal amount on her face—Mom did say that it was a “special day”.

She slid the dress over her shoulders before softly padding her way downstairs. Fitz was already downstairs at the table, and when he saw Biana he shoved his blitzenberry muffin into his mouth while turning away.

“Good morning,” Biana tried as she poured herself a glass of lushberry juice.

“Gooh mohing,” he responded between swallows with a hand over his mouth, still facing away.

Dad entered the giant dining hall with a fresh tray of muffins, the sweet smell wafting through the high-ceilinged room and warming her insides. She picked an especially fat one with extra blizenberries and bit into it, sighing with delight when the hot, sweet-and-sour juice fizzed as it spread over her tongue.

“Hello, Biana. Are you ready?” Dad asked after he set the tray down.

Biana grumbled, “Ready for what?”

Dad’s “Oh, nothing,” made her want to feed him to a gorgodon.

“I guess this isn’t my place to be here,” Fitz mumbled, and with straight legs he swiftly stalked away.

“Please tell me he doesn’t know what you’re doing to me,” she pleaded, rolling her eyes when Dad ignored her.

“Biana, if you’d just sit tight and keep your mouth shut, we’ll be there sooner than you think,” Dad told her when she opened her mouth to speak.

“Hmph. I don’t like this surprise.”



“Ooh, Mom, could we go to that one?” Biana begged, pointing at the window of a shop that displayed models with the most gorgeous dresses. “You’ve said no to the past five stores I wanted to go to.”

Mom’s melodic voice sounded strained. “We came here for a reason. Can’t we just stick to our original plan?”

Biana was tempted to tell them “no”, but she clamped her jaw. Maybe, just maybe, Mom’s plan was a good one. Maybe…

The three of them stopped in front of a crystal tower, shimmering in the balefire’s light. A huge silver emblem sat in the middle of a grand arch—an M with two strands of DNA.

The symbol of the Matchmakers.

“Ta-da!” Mom announced, back in her usual sing-song tone, with a lot more enthusiasm than before. “Isn’t this exciting! Oh honey, you’re growing up!” She quite obviously didn’t notice Biana’s groan, because she added, “And I know you do like a very nice boy—and don’t worry, he’s like a son to us.”

With a jolt of horror, Biana realized that her parents, the ones obliviously and expectantly staring at their dismayed daughter, not only didn’t know what Tam meant to her, but thought that she still liked Keefe.

“Ughhhhhh—WHY?” she hissed through clenched teeth.

“Look, sweetie, I know it’s embarrassing, but—”

“It’s not only embarrassing, Mom. You don’t even know how I feel!”

“Listen, Biana, Keefe is a very nice boy.” Dad grabbed her and Mom’s hands, pulling them gently into the tower where they slowly made their way up the staircase.

“Don’t you get it?” Biana asked, yanking away when Dad tried to ease her into a seat. “I don’t like Keefe.”

“What are you talking about? You don’t need to be in denial, sweets, we’re your parents.”

People started to look at her and her drama, and Dad was glancing at them nervously. So what? Forget them, who cares about how she appeared. If the people that actually knew her didn’t, then that’d be all that mattered.

“No, I’m not in denial,” she asserted. “I got over Keefe. He’s got eyes only for Sophie—we all know that, and so do I. Shoot, I ship them. I like someone else, more than I ever did Keefe. You’ve seen a lot of him lately.” She waited for the understanding to settle in; when it did, Dad’s eyebrows were off his forehead and Mom’s perfect features puckered.

“But…”

“There’s no but, Mom.”

She pursed her lips, and after a brief silence, she ended it. “Well, fine. Let’s just finish this quickly. It’s still a very special day. Your first time meeting the Matchmakers! In a couple years, you might have already picked a name off of your match list!

The word soured something in her mouth, but Biana tried to swallow it down. She would finish this for Mom, for Dad; she’d already defied them once, so she may as well make it enjoyable for them to see their daughter get her first match-packet questionnaire.

Mom and Dad left her for the lions. Her feet were shaking, and her hands succumbed to it as well when two women entered the room. They both showed off a short, angled bob cut, and they both had simple tunics with a sharp-shouldered coat overtop, paired with black pants. They had to have choreographed every one of their movements, because it was all in sync.

“Hi,” the Asian girl with black hair greeted. “I’m Josie.”

“And I’m Ceira,” the tan girl added. “We’ll be giving you your match packets!”

Biana squirmed.

Josie tapped her tablet. She read aloud, “You are… Biana Vacker! This’ll be fun. It’s been a while since we matched a Vacker.” Her eyes flashed dangerously.

“Do you know what we stand for? What our purpose is?” Ceira asked.

“To tear apart couples because you don’t care about whether they love each other, and more about whether or not they have an ability?” Biana blurted out before she could stop herself.

Ceira shook her head, as if she hadn’t said anything offensive in the least. “Progress, Prosperity, Permanence, and Proliferation. The Vackers have done a wonderful job of showing that. They, in a matchmaker’s eyes, are perfect.”

“Why does that have anything to do with me?”

“We know that you are hesitant to match, Miss Vacker,” Josie informed her. “We know every little detail of how you feel about Tam Song, and how you used to feel about Keefe Sencen. We have eyes everywhere, ears in places people least expect it. We know things that no one knows. So let us tell you this: you must match. For your family, for the Vackers, for the elvin world, you will match.”

Biana’s gasp cut through the room. In a second, she blinked out of sight and squeezed through the door.

-Lady Sassyfur