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Cassandra’s arms felt a familiar cramp that came with braiding her hair. It had fallen out in loose waves in her sleep, and needed to be redone. Her arms were sore from fighting a dragon the day before, which only added to her discomfort. She twisted in impossible positions, trying to catch a glimpse of her progress in her small mirror. She struggled for a bit, but after a minute or two of heavy sighs and noises of distaste, she decided that whatever she had done was good enough. Cassandra was just about to wrap the braid around her head when she heard an unmistakable giggle behind her.
She whipped her head around, and there on her bed she saw Sera sitting cross-legged. “You gonna go out like that?” Sera said between musical giggles.
Cassandra quickly looked down at herself, searching for something she couldn’t see. “What do you mean?” she spluttered out. “And when did you enter? I didn’t even hear you.”
“Pff, well, you were so focused on doing whatever you were doing, and I heard you making noises, so I decided to have a look,” said Sera, still grinning. “And I’m talking about that stringy tail-thing you’ve got on the back of you,” Sera snickered. “It’s weird. I like it.”
Cassandra’s eyebrows knit together, and turned to her mirror. “Stringy—” Then she saw what Sera was laughing about. A loose strand of hair lay limp on her neck, separate from the other (messily) braided ones. Cassandra sighed, perhaps a bit more dramatically than was appropriate.
Sera laughed again, but softer this time. “Here, let me,” she said, beckoning to Cassandra. Cassandra just stared. Sera rolled her eyes. “Let me,” Sera repeated, “Unless you wanna have that thing hanging around all day, and I know you won’t fix it on your own. ‘Cause I know your arms hurt too much to do it all over again.”
Finally Cassandra gave in and sat on the bed next to Sera, the bed frame creaking at her additional weight. “Turn,” Sera sang, crossing her arms. Cassandra obeyed, wordless. No one else had braided Cassandra’s hair before—at least, nobody that she could remember. She wasn’t quite used to someone being so close to her that wasn’t swinging a weapon at her.
Sera’s fingers nimbly undid the sad-looking braid, and smoothed out the black section of hair that was much longer than it seemed. After a second or two of detangling, her hands went to work. She weaved the strands of hair together tightly, and quickly—and, occasionally, Cassandra felt the tickle of cold fingers against her neck. The feeling made her shiver, but also brought a warm flush to her cheeks at the same time. It made her feel strange inside, like she wanted to hug someone, or kiss someone, or be held, or run away. And, though reluctantly, she liked it. She let a small smile spread across her lips.
Sera wrapped the now finished braid around Cassandra’s head, and secured it with a pin that she found, Cassandra assumed, when she wasn’t looking.
“Ta-da!” Sera said with a flourish of her hands. “What do you think?”
“It is...” Cassandra gently touched the braided crown. Although she saw herself countless times with her hair like that, it felt different. Special. Cassandra cleared her throat. “It is very adequate. Thank you.”
Sera grinned. “Anytime, yeah?” She exhaled, got up from the bed, and strolled out of the room.
Cassandra realized her hand was still touching her braid. She put her hand in her lap quickly, even though no one was there to see. After a few moments, she smiled to herself. Maybe her braids should fall out more often.