Planet Tierre

Chapter 21

CHAPTER 21

Luna woke up with a startle. Her dreams had been full of a certain woman coming and taking something precious away from her. Still groggy, she wiped her eyes of any gunk and yawned. She patted the space beside her and her blood ran cold when she felt no small lump beside her.

"Lania?" she bolted out from bed and ran down the stairs. "Lania? Where are you?"

Suddenly she heard a giggle coming from the kitchen. She shuffled towards the place and found a giggling Lania interacting with a flour-covered Shannon. She heaved a sigh and smiled at the sight before her.

"What is this mess?" She said, making her appearance.

Lania whipped around quickly and her eyes widened in glee in seeing her mommy awake. "Mommy!"

Luna grinned and gave Lania a smooch on her cheek, making the little one giggle again. "Good morning princess. And good morning to you too, Shannon."

Shannon smiled, getting another plate and putting two pancakes on it. "That one went down an hour ago and found me on your couch. She demanded breakfast." then Shannon laughed, remembering her confusion when she woke up to find the small girl staring at her curiously.

"Who are you?" Little Lania asked.

Shannon, a little out of it, wondered why Luna shrunk overnight and wore colored contacts. But then she remembered Luna having a daughter staying over.

She smiled at the girl,"I'm Shannon. Hi," she held out her hand, "I'm your mother's friend."

The little girl looked at her hand for a while, confusion on her face. And then she realized what she had done.

"You put your hand out too and you shake it like this," Shannon carefully held the little girl's hand and shook it.

"What is the purpose of this activity, Ms. Shannon?" Lania asked. Shannon is a little surprised at how the little girl can be such an eloquent child..

"Humans do this when they introduce themselves to a person ," she explained.

Lania nodded, finally understanding the weirdness of human greetings. "Can you please make me something to eat?" the girl asked and Shannon chuckled, seeing that the girl has Luna's irresistible pout.

"Of course bud," she got up and stretched, "Want to join me?"

The little girl's eye shone brightly. She was never invited to do adult stuff back home. She nodded excitedly and held the nice lady's hand.

Luna looked at her daughter currently eating her bacon and pancakes. Lania's dark hair that was very much similar to her own is a wild mess. Luna reached out to smoothen it out.

"Lania, I have to go to work real quick. Do you mind being with Shannon for a bit?"

"Mommy, why can't I come with you to work? No offense, Shannon," Lania said, throwing a glance at Shannon before looking curiously at Luna.

"Because, baby, I won't take long. Just a few short hours. Then I'll take you out to buy your clothes. You don't have any, don't you?"

Lania looked at her traditional garb for a while before asking, "They sell Tierran clothes here?"

"No," Luna said, "but we have a lot of choices. I'll let you buy whatever you want."

Little Lania's eyes widened. "Whatever I want? That would be nice. The handmaidens always chose my garments."

"Sure darling. Finish your food, and then wait for me here okay?" Luna asked and her daughter promptly nodded before going back to eating.

"Shannon, is it really okay for you to watch her for a while?"

Shannon nodded, assuring the other woman. "I have time. And while you're gone, I can probably make Lania have a bath while I wash her clothes real quick."

"You are a life saver, Shannon," Luna exclaimed, gobbling up the last of her breakfast.

Approximately four hours later:

"Baby, are you sure about this?"

Lania nodded and happily skipped over to the next aisle of graphic tees while Luna stared in awe. Sure she said that Lania is free to pick whatever clothes she wanted, but all they got so far are black and/or white graphic tees and band shirts, and ripped skinny jeans.

She must have really hated those dresses.

"Mommy! I want these too!" And then the little girl proceeded to dump a bunch of other stuff in Luna's arms. Luna was getting a bit light headed, trying desperately to sort everything out. An employee of the store took notice of her dilemma.

"Do you need some assistance, ma'am?" The young woman asked Luna.

"Yes, uh," Luna found the nearest chair and dumped all of Lania's clothes on it. "I need some help sorting these out into shirts and pants. My d-daughter is kind of excited and I still need her to try most of these on."

They went over some of the clothes when the employee suddenly commented, "Oh. Some of these clothes are for boys."

"That's fine if that is what she likes. I just want her to try it out and see if it's her size."

"You're really going to buy boys' clothing for your daughter?"

Luna paused and looked pointedly at the employee. "Yes. Yes I am. Do you have a problem with that?" She finished, her tone strong. The younger woman suddenly recoiled back, murmuring a quiet 'No ma'am'.

Meanwhile, Lania is having a field day, surrounded by clothing that she really liked. Her eyes widened when she saw a sleeveless punk rock hoodie on one of the racks and she immediately reached for it.

"Hi."

Lania turned around and saw a young human girl with luscious, wavy, dark brown locks smiling at her.

"Oh, hello," Lania replied, suddenly becoming shy.

"I just wanted give you this," and then the young girl gave her a long-stemmed rose, "-and tell you that you look very beautiful."

Lania was taken back by the action. She wordlessly received the rose and stared at the girl. The girl was taller than her, and looked really attractive for someone so young.

"My name is Kia. Kia Alyxis Harrison-Williams," the other girl said, running her hand over her hair.

Lania gulped. "My name is Lania."

"That's a very pretty name, Lania. Do you want to get some ice cream with me?"

"Ice cream?" Lania asked, confused as to what the word might mean.

"Ice cream. And don't worry, all I ask is to spend a few moments with you as payment." And then Kia ended her statement with a wide smile.

"Lania? Where are- oh here you are," Luna suddenly appeared and her eyebrows cinched together when she saw the rose her daughter was holding. "Lania, where did you get that from?"

"I gave it to her, ma'am," Kia answered, "I was asking her out for ice cream."

Asking her out for ice cream? Is that toddler talk for a date?

"And what did you say, darling?"

Lania shrugged, but Luna could see her daughter's cheek flushing.

"Kia! Where have you been?" A pretty woman literally ran over to them and to the little curly-haired girl. "I'm sorry. She didn't bother you, did she?" She asked Luna sheepishly.

"Uh, no. But I think she gave my daughter a rose," Luna said, gesturing at the rose Lania was holding.

At that, the little girl's mother gasped. "Kia! You're seven!" Then she turned to Luna. "I'm really sorry about this one. I'm Sandra by the way. And you have a beautiful daughter."

"It's no trouble," Luna smiled at Sandra. "I admire your daughter's guts."

"Yeah, the guts she inherited from her wayward mother. And young lady, you and I will have a long talk when we get home."

"But mom! Mommy Cass made me do it!" Kia reasoned, trying hard not to be so whiny lest she turn her crush off.

"Where is she?" Sandra asked her daughter and the little girl immediately pointed towards the fitting rooms where they all saw a flash of red hair suddenly disappear into a stall.

"Cassidy Alessandra Williams! Come here this instance."

And the door opened to reveal a tall, beautiful woman who had a sheepish, embarrassed look on her face. She slowly walked towards them, giving her daughter a dirty look while mouthing the word 'traitor'. Kia, however, just stuck her tongue out to her mother.

"Cassidy, babe, why would you tell our daughter to flirt? She's just a baby!"

"Okay, first of all, she's a monster. Secondly, Nugget asked me for help and I was just trying to be a good parent by helping her."

"Mommy Cass said she's an expert at getting the girls- mmmph!" Little Kia didn't get to finish her sentence when Cassidy immediately covered her mouth with her hands.

"You know what? I'm suddenly very hungry. It was nice meeting you two," Cassidy smiled at Luna and Lania before dragging Kia away and leaving a flustered Sandra behind.

"Most days I wonder why I even married her," said Sandra, shaking her head. "She is such a child at heart."

"I can see that you really love her. Don't let her go. It's rare to find a love like what you two have..." Luna said, watching as the mother and daughter in the distance playfully started a tickle fight that ended with Cassidy hugging her daughter and kissing her head. "You have a wonderful family."

After a few more chats, Sandra bid Luna goodbye and dragged Cassidy out of the store. Chuckling, Luna proceeded to pay for her daughter's clothes which may leave a huge dent on her account. But it doesn't matter. She will give Lania anything, especially when her daughter uses those green eyes she inherited from her queen mother.

After the majority of their day was spent shopping, the mother and daughter decided it was time to go home.

"Did you enjoy today, Lania?"

"Ahuh. Can we go back and eat ice cream tomorrow, Mommy?"

Luna's heart melted immediately and she couldn't do anything but say yes to her daughter. As Luna was putting the key to the door, she noticed that it wasn't locked.

Luna's heart started to run its course. Out of instinct, she put her daughter behind her.

Slowly, she turned the knob and with trembling hands, slowly opened the door. And what she saw behind the door made her eyes water and her jaw almost drop to the floor.

"Fructuosè !"

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