And there'll be love in the bodies of the elephants, too

“I’m surprised that you wanted to see the lions first,” Nick said, making small talk as the two of them followed Nola’s lead through the zoo. Maybe their time might have been better spent looking at the enclosures around them, but Nick had learned his lesson from his many dates at the aquarium to varying levels of success. He wanted to give Ella his full attention, and that’s what he was going to do.

The date was about the two of them, after all. Not just checking out the animals. (And whatever other mythical creatures Dakota had slipped in…)

And on that front, so far it had been a smashing success. There had only been a few moments so far where Cinder seemed liable to manifest, and they had quickly passed. Ella was having a great time, and from Nick’s perspective, he was learning more about her than he’d expected.

“I love lions!” Ella exclaimed, her eyes bright behind her bangs. “They’re soooo cool and noble! I used to have this big book full of animals, and the page with the lions was my favorite!” As bad as Ella’s life had been, she wasn’t completely deprived. In her long, bleak period of **** and torment, there had been times where she’d found genuine joy. The odd picture book she’d retrieved from the trash when her stepsisters outgrew them, the hand-me-down clothes she’d repaired and kept for herself, taking care of so they still looked nice, the movies she’d spied on while cleaning, all of those small moments may have seemed insignificant, but when you had nothing, they meant everything to her.

The animal books were her favorites, because they were brand new. One of her stepsisters had gotten it for a birthday present, but she’d thrown it out immediately because some of the pictures were gross, like the one of the lionesses feasting on a felled gazelle. It wasn’t a children’s book. And Ella hardly understood half the words inside with her limited literacy. But it was new, and it was hers, and it was something to pass what little free time she had in peace.

Nick didn’t know any of these things about her. And while her descriptions about the animals in her book was far more sensual than substantive given her lack of reading ability, it was clear she felt passionate about them.

“…And then they go ‘grrr!’ and bring down the gazelle!” Ella made a snarling face with her mouth and curled her fingers into claws. They circle around and strike! Bam!” She slapped the back of her hand down into her palm, nearly making Nola jump.

“You… wow, you know a lot,” Nick said, amazed. I thought she was just a shy, timid girl who was scared of her own shadow. But she has things she’s passionate about too. She was right when she said that she isn’t a fragile flower; I’m glad I get to see this side of her.

Nick wasn’t sure what the future would bring; if Ella had a good time on their date today, would she be more open and outgoing when they got back to the island?

As if she could sense his question and wanted to answer it for him, Ella turned red and shrank back, scratching her cheek sheepishly.

“Well… I… I don’t really know that much…” she admitted, hanging her head. “Just what I got from the pictures. There were a lot of words I didn’t know. So I’m just kinda… guessing.”

Ella did a lot of that. She wasn’t a bookworm like Mary, or Nick himself. He had no idea what her reading level was, but he’d bet that gradeschoolers could do better. The many picture books Ella had collected and poured over well into her teens with no formal schooling had **** her to make up many stories herself.

She had imagination, though. And that wasn’t nothing.

“Well, I don’t know better myself, animals aren’t really my thing,” Nick said, trying to help Ella feel better. “Maybe you could talk to Dawn about it, she knows way more about animals than I do.” He wanted Ella to open up about this side of her to others. She and Dawn were already so close, this would be perfect for them to bond over.

He was surprised when Ella giggled. She so rarely did.

“What?” Nick asked, not wanting to let the moment pass unnoticed. “Did I say something funny?”

“A little,” Ella said, hoping he wouldn’t get the wrong idea from her laughing at him. “Animals aren’t really your thing… but aren’t fish animals?” She pointed out.

Nick turned red. “Well… shut up,” he mumbled, fuming a little with embarrassment. He felt pretty silly getting teased by Ella about something so obvious.

Unfortunately, that was the wrong move.

“O-oh…” Ella’s eyes widened and she paled. “I… I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to laugh at you,” she stammered out an apology. “I just… I thought it was funny that you… I-I’m sorry!” She fumbled for her rubber-band before Nick could correct her misunderstanding.

“Thwap!”

The sound of rubber striking skin made Nick wince. His goal today was to minimize the amount of times Ella had to do that. Sure it worked to keep Cinder at bay, but he’d rather Ella didn’t have to concern herself with doing that in the first place.

“No, I’m the one who should apologize,” Nick said gently. He had to handle her carefully here; was she made of glass? No. But she was still a girl whose concerns he needed to take into consideration, and with limited control over her emotions, as she’d made abundantly clear in the past.

Ella regarded his concerned apology not with appreciation and relief, but with suspicion. “I upset you,” she said quietly. “Why do you need to be the one saying sorry?”

It felt like a loaded question, and maybe it was. But with Ella’s fingers locked around her rubber-band, ready to snap it at any moment, Nick couldn’t be cautious and play things safe.

“I wasn’t really mad,” he revealed. “I was just a little embarrassed. I’m sorry for giving you the wrong impression- you were right to laugh, it’s dumb to say that I don’t care that much about animals when I’m so passionate about fish.”

Ella blinked, and then turned red. She felt like a colossal fool. “Oh gosh… that… I see…”

She removed her fingers from her rubber-band, to Nick’s relief, and looked sheepishly at him. “I guess I just got a little worked up,” she admitted.

“No, it’s fine. Please, by all means, feel free to laugh at me,” Nick urged her, wanting her to feel as comfortable around him as possible. “You don’t need to hold yourself back out of consideration for my feelings.”

Ella scrunched up her face, looking at him like she wasn’t sure she could believe him or not. “Really?” she asked hesitantly.

Nick nodded in reassurance.

“…And you won’t get mad?” Ella pressed. “Even if it’s really mean?”

Nick doubted that Ella could be as cutting as Cinder even if she tried. And if he could withstand the **** that Cinder threw at him, he could handle a couple jokes at his expense from Ella. So again, he let her know that he was fine with it.

Ella let out a little relieved sigh, but he could still tell she was doubtful. She decided to put his statement to the test though.

“Then… you’re stupid. Like, you’re really, really stupid,” she said, smiling in spite of herself. “Saying you won’t get mad no matter what?” She gleefully pointed at Nick, and actually poked him in the arm. “That’s so dumb! What if I just wanted to be a total bitch, huh? Dummy.”

Was that the worst she had? This would be easier than Nick thought. Still, he wanted to clarify what he meant, since it seemed Ella’s grasp on positive interactions with others was on shaky ground. “I mean, I have feelings too,” he reminded her. “I’d prefer you not to just cut me down without hesitation. But if I make a mistake, don’t feel like you have to walk on eggshells because you’re afraid that I’ll get upset at you.”

He remembered the disastrous date with Vivian when she’d gone too far with one of her “pranks” and how everything had spiraled out of control. He doubted Ella would go that far but he also wanted her to be comfortable with him. “I’m a decent guy, and I know I’m far from perfect,” he assured the surprised latina.

If she was afraid of being herself because she didn’t think Nick would like her if she laughed at him, that wouldn’t work for either of them. “I’m not a delicate flower. You don’t have to treat me like I’m made out of glass.”

Ella’s eyes widened as her own words were flung back in her face. Nick watched her cautiously, taking in her expressive face; the emotions flashing across it were reminiscent of someone teetering on the edge of a cliff, and he was afraid she might tumble over.

Then she smiled, reassuring him she’d landed on the right side.

“Okay,” she said, nodding in agreement. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

She knew better than anyone how bad it felt to be surrounded by people who were always watching what they said, looking at you after every word out of concern that something would set you off. It was so incredibly distressful and demoralizing, and she didn’t realize she’d been doing the same thing to Nick until now.

One thing she knew for sure, she needed to treat people with the same respect she wanted them to give her. That was something Cinder just couldn’t seem to understand.

“If you two lovebirds are done flirting…” Nola loudly cleared her throat, getting the attention of the both of them, “…We’re here!”

Nick and Ella turned, and looks of surprise flashed across their faces as they gazed out at the massive animal enclosure in front of them.

When they’d first set foot on this island, Nick thought it was pretty big, considering the place was just for a zoo.

Now he understood why.

The wall in front of them only came up to his waist, but on the other side a precipitous drop formed a giant canyon, a basin to keep them safely out of reach of the animals. The bottom of the pit was terraformed to look like the Serengeti; and it was wide enough that Nick could easily mistake it as the set of a movie about the African wilderness.

Dakota had spared no expense when it came to the animals; it looked like the perfect habitat for them, bigger than anything he’d ever seen at an actual zoo back home. If this was Ella’s first exposure to a zoo, the host was setting her up for disappointment when they returned to earth, because nothing could compare to this.

There was enough room in the pit for a whole pride of lions, and Nick’s eyes landed on them immediately.

“Wow…” Ella breathed, her eyes wide with amazement. “They’re even cooler in person…”

Nick turned to look at her, and relished in the delight on her face.

“Isn’t it pretty cool?” Nola bragged, even though she’d had nothing to do with any of it. “Dakota wanted it to look nice for you guys!”

“It does! It really does!” Ella nodded, not even looking at Nola as she answered the leprechaun’s question.

That would have required taking her eyes off the lions.

Nick was glad that Ella was enjoying herself. And the enclosure looked really impressive, too. But…

…Wasn’t this kind of boring?

They were just lions. Sure, they were cool, but it would be a lot cooler to see them up close. Not that he would be stupid enough to think that was a good idea, but… they weren’t doing anything. The pride was lazily basking in the sun. As bold and proud as the male lion looked at the head of the pride, it just didn’t seem as impactful as Nick had been hoping.

At least fish are always swimming around, so there’s something to see. What’s so cool about some lazy lions?

Nick realized that this must have been how Ella felt back at the aquarium, which he found rather amusing. But he kept his mouth shut.

He didn’t have to hold his tongue for long, though, because the shine was quickly wearing off for Ella, as well. She turned to Nola.

“Are they just going to sit there?” She asked kind of glum. Sure they were cool, but she wanted to see them in action! Or at least get a little closer! (Again, like Nick, she knew enough to know that was a really dumb idea.)

Nola looked blankly at her. “Uh, yeah, duh, they’re called ‘lions’, of course they’re gonna be ‘lyin’ around,” she said, rolling her eyes.

Nick had to fight back the urge to burst out laughing at such a stupid joke while Ella just stared kind of sulkily at the snickering leprechaun.

“Well… I’m glad I got to see ‘em for real,” the latina murmured, turning and taking another look, “but like… could we maybe see them on the hunt or something?”

Nick was surprised to hear her suggest that.

Nola was, too. “I mean, sure, I guess we could do a feeding,” she agreed. They were fake lions anyway; they ate when Dakota wanted them to eat. “You guys really want to see that, though?”

“You mean you’re going to release a wild gazelle in there for them to hunt?!” Ella’s eyes widened like saucers and Nick looked at the leprechaun in alarm.

“What!? No, that’s a little…” Nola made a face and shook her head. “Of course not, we’ll just drop a bunch of raw meat in there, and let them tear at it. Seeing a live killing, that’s not exactly romantic, you know what I mean?”

Nick sighed in relief. Ella nodded slowly in agreement, while Nola whipped out a walkie-talkie to call someone (probably a faerie) to drop a load of meat in the lion enclosure.

Then she made a face. “What’s that now?”

Nola’s eyes widened as she heard the voice on the other end of the line, and she stood at attention. “Oh! Boss! Hey, hi!”

Nick and Ella both responded to that, looking at her with curious concern. What did Dakota want if she intercepted Nola’s call?

The leprechaun slowly nodded. “Right. Right. Yeah, they’re trying to get a romantic mood going. Uh-huh. It’s pretty cute. Yep, I showed them the lions. Ella was really into it. We can feed them, right? …We can? Great! Yeah, I was about to have some raw meat dropped in- …Sorry, what? …Okay. Okay… Okay. ‘The lions don’t want to be fed, the lions want to hunt’. …Right. Yeah.”

Nola hung up the walkie-talkie and let out a long, exasperated sigh, before the smile returned to her face and she spun around to look at the two of them.

“Well!” Nola clapped her hands together. “Change of plans. No lion feeding today, I’m afraid.”

“What? Aw…” Ella’s shoulders slumped.

“Let me guess, Dakota wanted a live gazelle, right?” Nick shivered.

“She, uh… she thought it would go over well,” Nola mumbled, looking at the two of them. “Am I just missing something here? Nick, do you secretly love animals getting torn to shreds or something? Why would Dakota think this would be a thing that would work for everybody?”

“No!” Nick exclaimed.

“It’s okay! We can skip the feeding!” Ella said, trying to settle the mood down. She turned and looked at the lions again. “Um… it’s fine.”

Nick could see the disappointment in her eyes, and wished there was something he could do to help make things up to her. She’d really been looking forward to this date, and if all they’d get was a bunch of animals lying around not doing anything (also known as “a zoo”) then it would be a big bust.

Then he had a bad idea. Or rather, he realized that one of his previous bad ideas may not have been as bad of an idea as he had thought.

“Hey, what if we go down into the lion enclosure by ourselves?” Nick suggested, knowing just how crazy that sounded as he said it.

Nola stared at him in shock and Ella’s eyes bulged in surprise.

“What!? INTO the lion’s den? You know that’s, like, a saying, right? About a really bad thing happening?” Nola sputtered.

“Isn’t… isn’t that dangerous?” Ella timidly reached for her rubber-band, but Nick stopped her by placing his hand over hers.

“Ella… we’re on Harem Hotel, remember?” He reminded her. “Dakota isn’t going to let anything happen to us. She created those lions from scratch. They’re not going to claw us or bite us or anything like that, they’ll probably just stay there no matter how close we get to them.”

“Oh yeah,” Nola said, scratching her chin. “Good point.”

Now that Nick pointed that out, she was starting to get suspicious about how many times this morning the lions had clawed up her clothing.

Ella regarded Nick’s explanation with a stunned look.

“…Oh gosh! You’re right!” She gasped, clapping her hands against her cheeks. “It’s totally safe! We can get up as close to the lions as we want and nothing bad would happen! I-I could even pet one of them, and it would be fine!”

Ella was cautious by nature. But like when she had Nick at her mercy in that storage closet, the second she thought she was safe, a more explorative, even adventurous side of her slowly began to peek out bit by bit.

It was like she was trying to make up for all the time she’d lost during the period of **** she’d endured.

“So what do you think?” Nick asked. It was a lot more daring than he usually was, but if there was anything he knew he could trust Dakota on, it was that she wouldn’t let him get killed. Or Ella, either. “It’s safe. And it would be a date we’d never forget.”

Not necessarily romantic, sneaking into the lion enclosure and trying to pet them. But memorable? Abso-fucking-lutely.

Ella was breathless with excitement, her eyes wide and her face red. She nodded rapidly. “I-I’m super scared… and nervous… and…”

Stumbling over her words, she snapped her rubber-band, “Thwap!”

“…But I want to try it… I think it would be really wild,” she said.

If Ella was going to conquer her fears and keep from running away all the time, then she had to be braver. Otherwise she would always live in Cinder’s shadow.

As for Nick, he was proud of her for agreeing so readily to something that he never would have imagined her being brave enough to do an hour ago. Maybe this would backfire and Cinder might come out as a result, but if Ella really wanted to do this (and it looked like she did) then he wanted it for her.

Nick still had no idea what the future would bring, or if Ella would be more outgoing and adventurous when they returned to the island. But right now, right here, she was exploring a side of herself he never got to see around the others, and he could only hope that it would be the best thing for her mental health moving forward.