Stolen

Rio is walking in the forest near her house. It's not as big as the one she met Agatha in, but it's closer and just as beautiful.

As the night begins to set, Rio thinks about going home, but that thought quickly fades when she sees the moon shine through the trees. It's so beautiful.

The view takes her mind off everything for a second, and there is happiness; everything else doesn't matter. Her responsibilities don't, her duties don't, her meeting with Lance doesn't, Agatha doesn't, ... It's nice. She can just exist without feeling suffocated, a feeling she's had for a long time. She wishes she could stay here forever, but she's quickly taken out of her thoughts when she sees that everything around her has gone dark, the only things that provide light are the moon and the stars.

How did she get here again?

Now that the darkness has set, there is no telling how she got there. After some consideration, she decides to just continue straight ahead. The forest isn't that big, so she'll find her way out any minute, right?

As she continues walking, the odd feeling returns. The calmness she felt earlier has disappeared.

Suddenly, her foot gets caught in something and it trips her. She falls to the ground, but the leaves break her fall. She stands up and wipes, or tries to wipe, the mud off her clothes and crouches down to check what tripped her.

A scarf? Seriously?

Rio crouches down to get a better look. Tripped by a scarf. If that isn’t the universe’s way of mocking her, she doesn’t know what is. She picks up the scarf to examine it more closely, and thanks to the moonlight, she begins to notice different details about it. For starters, it's red, made of a really soft material, and has a name tag. She tries to read what it says, but it's too dark to read it . Plus, it's in awful handwriting. She wraps the scarf around her, since she is fairly cold, and keeps walking. It smells like lavender.

After a while, she can see a torch lit up by a tavern. Relief washes over her, and she decides to follow the light. When she arrives at the tavern, she recognizes immediately where she is. She wonders how late it is and if Alice is worried about her. She should head home soon. Fortunately, she knows the way from here, and it's not too far.

When she enters her house, she can see that Alice has already gone to sleep, so she decides to do the same. Maybe tomorrow will be better? Or at least just different?

That night, she dreams of Agatha. In her dream, they meet again in the forest. But when she wakes up, the comfort of the dream quickly fades, leaving her confused. Is it just her mind replaying memories? She sits on the edge of her bed and wonders what it all means. Why is she so fascinated by this woman?

She gets up and goes downstairs, where Alice is already cooking breakfast."Hey, stranger!" Alice greets her. Rio smiles at her and sits on one of the chairs at the table.

"Where were you last night? Are you okay? You've been acting so strange lately." Alice says, her voice full of concern, while she puts the eggs she made on the table. Rio grabs one as she starts to talk. "I just went to the woods and got a little lost. I've got a lot on my mind." Alice looks at her with concern. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"I just had the weirdest dream. Someone appeared in it that I didn't expect. What do you think it means?" Rio says, trying to shift the topic. Alice smiles, "When I dream about someone, I usually have feelings for them. Platonically or romantically. Was it just you and that 'person' in the dream? You can't just drop a bomb like that and then not tell me who it is!"

Rio raises a brow, "Well, yeah, it was just me and that person, but the strange thing is, it's not possible that I have feelings for them. Like not at all ."  Alice laughs, "Dreams are just a way of your mind trying to tell you something, so you probably don't know yet. So, tell me, who's the lucky man ?" Rio can feel her stomach turning, "well uh," she starts before deciding on an easier person to have this conversation about, "it's Lance."

Alice lets out a happy squeal that makes Rio flinch. "I knew it! You like him!" Rio tries to force a smile and go along in her excitement. She really really really really loathes Lance. "Oh! Did you get a new scarf? I haven't seen that one before." Alice says, pointing to the scarf Rio left on the chair last night. Rio's eyes widen, she had forgotten all about that. "That," she says as she grabs the scarf, "is what tripped me last night in the woods." Alice lets out a laugh, "You tripped?" Rio nods and looks at the label on the scarf.

Harkness.

Of course. Of-fucking-course.

The scarf couldn't have belonged to some random guy named 'Brad' or something like that. No, it had to be hers. Rio's stomach turned, leaving her speechless for a moment. Alice notices and raises an eyebrow, "hey, what's wrong?" Rio looks at her for a second, gathering her thoughts, and then says, "I know the person this scarf belongs to."

"Then go give it back?" Alice says as if it's that easy. To her, it is. But how would Rio even find Agatha? There is no knowing where she is, or if she's still here. "Yes, I might just do that," she said as she rushed out of the house. Rio decides to go to the woods where they first met, hoping she'll be there. As she's walking through them, she begins to lose hope Agatha'll be there.

Right as she's about to turn back, she hears a familiar voice.

"I believe you have something that's mine?" She startles a little at the sudden sound but turns to face the person who said that. Agatha. "Yes, it tripped me," Rio says, handing Agatha the scarf.

Agatha smirks, clearly amused. "You tripped?" Rio rolls her eyes, a hint of a smile pulling at her lips. "How exactly did you lose your scarf?" Agatha shrugs and wraps the scarf around her. This is followed by a long, awkward silence. Rio notices that Agatha's wound seems to have healed, or at least the blood is less visible, "How's your wound?" Agatha instinctively looks down at her leg and says "It's better. Good thing I also stole medicine from that Kale woman." The last part she says with utter disgust, which makes Rio laugh a little.

"Oh, by the way, here's your coin pouch.” Agatha handed Rio back her money, causing Rio to raise an eyebrow. To be honest, she had completely forgotten about it.“Thank you, why are you giving it back?” Rio asked, curious. “Just take it as a thank you for returning my scarf or whatever,” Agatha replied. “You're thanking me by giving me something that was already mine?” Rio couldn't help but smile at that.“Do you not want it?” Agatha asked, still amused. "No, I'll keep it, thanks," Rio says quickly.

This whole interaction feels comforting to Rio. She feels comfortable around her, which is ironic since Agatha has robbed her before.

Agatha steps closer to her, they are now only several inches away from each other. Rio’s breath catches as she gazes into Agatha’s eyes.

What is this feeling?

"What are you thinking?" Agatha’s voice is low, almost a whisper. Rio swallows, her mind racing. “I don’t know, all sorts of things. I'm confused,” she admits. The truth is, she does know; she wants to close the distance between them, but fear and confusion hold her back. Agatha’ never breaks eye contact, the tension hangs in the air. All it would take is a single word, to tip the balance. Agatha’s breath brushes against Rio’s skin, sending a jolt of electricity through her, and for a fleeting moment, every doubt disappears.

“Agatha…” Rio starts, but she takes a while to find the right words.

Should she give in to what she hopes they both feel? Why is she feeling things, wanting to do things, that she normally only should feel with men? It confuses her. Is she broken?

"What is happening?" Rio continues. Agatha grabs Rio's cheek and lets her fingers linger there for a while. Rio's breath hitches in her throat. "You're really pretty," Agatha says, ignoring Rio's question.

Rio feels a warmth spread through her cheeks and manages to get out a quiet, "So are you." She feels like she is going to collapse.

"Don't be scared," Agatha says while her fingers still brush Rio's face. Rio nods and suddenly, Agatha closes the distance between them, and Rio's heart races. The world around them fades away, and it feels as if time has stopped. Agatha's lips meet Rio's softly and gently, while Rio leans into the kiss, forgetting how she was feeling moments before. She doesn't feel confused, this feels right. Agatha deepens the kiss slightly, her hands finding their way to Rio's shoulders. It's only then that Rio pulls away, realizing that first of all, she is kissing a woman , and second of all, they are standing in a forest.

"Why did you just kiss me?" Rio says. Agatha raises an eyebrow, "Did you not like it?" Rio, still feeling confused, manages to say "No, I did, but..." She takes a deep breath and tries to compose herself. "I did, but this is sinful. If anyone finds out you did that, we will be sentenced to death."

Agatha smiles at that, "I don't think it's sinful, after all, didn't God say that we should love each other? Why is it wrong when 2 people of the same gender do something that two people of an opposite gender also do?"

"Thank you for giving my money back, I should go now, it's getting dark." With that, Rio walks away, and Agatha doesn't stop her.