Conflict Resolution

It’s roughly mid morning when I gather everybody into the living room to talk about what happened yesterday.

It’s been a little tiring, trying to check in on everybody and manage the whole conflict, but I think I’ve done okay.

I made sure that Belle, Skylar, Mia and Paige were all okay to sit and talk about this as a group before I did anything.

Ivy, Lena, and Emma have all been a huge help in this. Lena and Emma have helped Mia and Paige process things respectively, while Ivy helped me with checking in with everybody.

With everyone together, and after some encouragement from Emma, and reassurance from Ivy and I that it’s okay, it’s Paige that speaks first.

“Um…I…I’m really sorry for what happened yesterday…” Paige begins, stumbling over her words and looking back to Emma.

Emma puts a reassuring hand on her shoulder and nods in encouragement to her.

Paige gives her a brief smile, and continues to speak. “I-I didn’t tell him anything, I promise. I know I should have told you all earlier…I’m um, sorry I didn’t.” She says.

Emma gently motions for her to keep going. “Like we practiced. Say how you feel.” She encourages softly.

Paige looks around at the rest of us. “W-when Mathias called me…I froze up…it was a lot to handle and I didn’t know what to do.” She admits.

“Um…that’s why I didn’t tell you all earlier…it doesn’t make it okay, but that’s the reason why. I’m sorry.” Paige says again.

Emma pats her on the shoulder. “I’m proud of you.” She whispers, and Paige smiles at her.

Ivy and I smile at Paige too, before we cast our gaze to the others in the room for a response.

It’s Mia who speaks up first. “It’s okay.” She says. “I’m sorry for lashing out. It was stupid and you deserve better Paige.”

Paige smiles at her. “Thank you.” She replies.

“I…I was pissed because of my family. We gotta be able to trust each other and Mathias kidnapping…kidnapping my family, makes that worse. I need you…” Mia explains, her voice breaking.

She tries to think of something else to say, some other way to explain it, but she can’t find the words. “I need you.” Mia repeats, more firmly.

”I need you too.” Paige says. “I’m so sorry.”

The two of them reach out and grab hold of each other, hugging tightly to communicate what words cannot.

As they pull back from each other, Mia smiles at Paige and gives her a soft kiss on the forehead. “I love you.” She says.

Paige smiles back, tears in her eyes, and kisses Mia on the lips in return. “I love you too.” She says.

Mia returns to her seat. “I’m proud of you.” I tell her as she sits down.

My words seem to motivate something in her, and Mia looks around at the rest of the group. “I said before that I wanna try to get angry less and listen more. I’m still trying. I’m sorry I didn’t do that yesterday.” She says.

I rub her back gently, proud of her for recognising that in herself.

“It’s alright.” Paige says, smiling at her again.

“We’re all trying.” Skylar mumbles quietly.

The rest of us look to the shadow mage, as she looks up and begins to speak.

“Thank you for apologising Paige.” She begins. “I, and I think the rest of us, appreciate that.”

Skylar’s expression shifts subtly. “Look, yesterday I wasn’t seeing you. I was seeing my brother.”

Paige grimaces sympathetically. “Liam.” She whispers.

Skylar nods slowly. “I felt betrayed, just like he was. I kept thinking that was how he must have felt near the end.”

“And like Mia said, it made things worse because he has my parents.” She continued, taking a deep breath.

“Paige, when Liam died, my parents were the only people I could trust and the only people I had. I did my best to open up to everyone here, and to trust again. But this shook me, a lot.” She says.

Paige opens her mouth to speak, but Emma lays a hand on her arm, gently holding her back.

“Paige. I need you to promise me that you didn’t tell him anything. I need to know.” Skylar says, her gaze hard.

Paige flinches at her words, and nods. She takes a deep breath, steels herself, and returns the gaze of her girlfriend in equal measure.

“Skylar, I promise you, I didn’t tell him a thing.” Paige says, taking slow and deliberate care to make sure her voice doesn’t waver.

Tears well up in Skylar’s eyes, and she looks down. “I…thank you.” Skylar says. “And I’m sorry for how I reacted.”

Paige gets up off her seat, and kneels down in front of Skylar, taking the silver-haired woman’s hands in her own. “It’s okay.” She says, giving her a reassuring smile.

“Promise?” Skylar asks, the emotion in her words ringing clear.

“I promise.” Paige says. “Are we okay?”

Skylar smiles at her. “We’re okay.” She says, bringing Paige’s hands up to her lips, and giving them a soft kiss.

The two of them embrace, as a tear silently slips down Skylar’s cheek.

Paige returns to her seat, and out of the corner of my eye, I notice Belle fidgeting, looking uncomfortable.

Olivia nudges the redhead subtly with her elbow, causing Belle to shoot her an annoyed look.

In response, Olivia motions with her head towards Paige specifically, and the group at large.

Belle sighs. “Okay fine, I’m sorry too, I guess.” She says briskly.

Olivia nudges her again.

The annoyance is clear on Belle’s face, and she avoids eye contact with Paige while she speaks again.

“I’m sorry for not letting you speak, Paige. You were trying to tell us what happened, and I kept cutting you off and assuming things. I’m sorry.” Belle says, clearly irritated by having to say this, but also clearly meaning it.

Paige exhales a small amount of air from her nose in a soft chuckle. “It’s okay Belle.” She replies.

Belle makes eye contact with the earth mage and gives her a curt nod.

“Good job.” Olivia says to the redhead, a phrase which prompts another glare from Belle.

“Are we all good now?” Lena asks the circle of people.

I look around, waiting to see if anybody has anything to say, but nobody speaks up.

“I think so.” Mia says, and Paige and Skylar nod in agreement.

There’s a collective exhale of relief as the tension through the room dissipates.

“Since we’re all here…” I begin, and everyone looks at me. “I wanna say a few things.”

“Thinking about your families and friends,” I continue, indicating Paige, Mia, Skylar and Lena. “I don’t think anything about our fight changes.”

“How can you say that?” Lena interupts me.

“Because keeping his hostages safe was always going to be the biggest priority, along with stopping him.” I explain. “The fact that those hostages happen to be people we care about just makes it all the more important that we succeed.”

Lena mulls my words over, as do the rest of my guild. Ultimately, she nods. “Okay. But I’m not gonna stay here anymore. I’m coming with you.” She says, with more seriousness in her voice than is normal to hear from her.

Emma gives her girlfriend an affectionate smile. “You should listen to her Gem. Once this girl decides she’s gonna do something, there ain’t no talking her out of it.” She says.

“Fair enough then. That’s why it’s important that we stick together.” I say. I look at the whole group to reinforce my point. “No more secrets. We have to be able to trust each other, 100%.”

Mia raises her hand. “I have a crush on Elsa.” She admits, her cheeks reddening slightly.

Elsa snaps her head over to the athletic girl, left speechless by the sudden admission.

The room laughs, as the rest of the tension breaks, and Lena speaks for the rest of us. “That was kinda obvious babe.” She giggles.

“Oh like you can talk. You have such a big crush on Mia.” Emma teases her girlfriend.

Lena shrugs flippantly. “I never tried to hide that.” She says, leading to Mia staring at her with new eyes.

“Belle and I have been dating and sleeping together.” Olivia says, the elegant way she pronounces the words contrasted by the content of the words themselves.

Lena and Mia burst out laughing while Belle punches Olivia in the shoulder.

“Sorry dear. I figured they deserved to know.” Our mentor says, rubbing her shoulder with a smile.

Belle turns away, crossing her arms and huffing. “You didn’t have to say it like that.”

Paige shyly raises her hand, and as our eyes turn towards her, she shrinks in her seat and pushes her index fingers together shyly. “I kinda think Emma is pretty great…” She says.

“Oh really? Good to know.” Emma says coquettishly.

“I think we all do.” I say, shrugging nonchalantly.

Emma switches her gaze to me, giving me a look that damn near makes me shudder. “You’re pretty great yourself.” She replies, her voice a mixture of earnest appreciation and coy flirtatiousness.

“Alright cool, everything’s sorted, I’m leaving now.” Belle says, getting up and walking out of the room, much to our laughter.

It’s good to be all on the same page again.