NOVEL NEXT Chapter 556: Full Circle
When Adeline appeared inside her daughter's room, she could hear the splashing sound of water coming from Ariel's bathhouse along with the sound of her giggles.
Adeline smiled and went to the bathhouse while announcing her presence so as not to scare Ariel or Osanna, "Baby, are you having fun bathing?"
"Momma!" Ariel giggled again when she saw Adeline peeking in through the door. She splashed her hands and feet in the water and squealed happily, "Yeah, I'm having so fun."
Ariel had already forgotten about almost getting smashed with the log and was enjoying the bath. She was happy to have avoided today's boring lesson from Bennett.
"Is your work over, momma?" Ariel asked with an excited look on her face.
If her mother's work was over soon then it meant that she would get to play with her and Arion. And her mother would rarely return back to the quarter unless she finished her work for the day.
Adeline walked inside with a smile on her face, "Yes. What should we do after you finish taking the bath? Shall we do something fun?"
Ariel tight shut one of her eyes as the lather from the soap got in her eyes. Osanna quickly washed the lather off the Princess' face.
Adeline also crouched down beside Ariel's bathtub and tickled Ariel's feet.
"Ahhhh! Mom!" Ariel giggled and grabbed her mother's fingers.
Adeline enjoyed teasing her daughter every once in a while. Ariel's giggles were like medicine to her stress.
Ariel pushed Adeline's hand away from her feet and asked her mother, "Can we take Arion and fly inside the clouds? I want to take some clouds to Damien. He likes soft things."
Adeline cracked up instantly after hearing that. Osanna also pressed her lips together tightly so as not to laugh out loud.
Ariel would never cease to say things that sounded stupid as well as adorable at the same time.
Ariel pouted her lips and asked in a pampered voice, "Why are you laughing, momma? He likes soft things. I am not lying."
Ariel pressed her palms on her chest and then wiggled side to side while saying, "And the cloud is cold when we smell it. My chest feels cool and happy. It is very hot where he lives. He will like it."
Adeline snorted while trying to control her laughter. It took a lot of effort for her to calm her laughter so that she could speak. "Ariel, I would have loved to pack some clouds for Damien but we cannot catch it."
Ariel pouted again and asked, "But we fly inside the clouds. Can we not put it inside my bag when we do?"
Adeline chortled at her daughter's questions. And she tried to make her understand, "Ary, you know when there is a cloud in the sky, we get rainfall, right?"
Ariel nodded her head and then excitedly shared what Bennett had once told her, "The grey and black clouds give us rain."
"Correct!" Adeline pinched Ariel's cheek and said, "So if you try to catch the cloud, all you will catch is water. It won't be fluffy once you catch it."
Ariel was saddened to hear that she wouldn't be able to gift cloud to her friend as she wanted.
Adeline pressed her lips together and wondered if her mother-in-law would be able to teach Ariel some water-related magic. "She should be able to teach Adeline to make clouds… It is just air and water mixed together, isn't it?"
While Adeline was thinking of asking a favor from her mother-in-law, Osanna took Ariel out of the tub and then wrapped her in a towel to make her look like a little cocoon.
Osanna handed Ariel over to Adeline and then said with a mysterious look in her eyes, "Adeline, I can ask the Royal Chef to make some clouds if our little Princess wants it."
"Princess wants it!" Ariel's hands were inside the towel so she poked her mother with her head and gave a broad smile to her.
Adeline playfully bit Ariel's cheek and then asked Osanna while raising her brows, "Chef can make some clouds?"
She had her reservations thinking that Osanna was just saying that to make Ariel happy for a while, hoping that she would forget about it later.
Osanna confidently nodded and asked Adeline, "You used to have them when you were a toddler yourself. You don't remember?"
Adeline raised her brows even higher and shook her head, "Umm… no…"
Osanna wiped her hands in her apron and then said, "You used to love eating them."
"We can eat clouds?" Ariel looked at Osanna with excitement and wriggled like a cute little worm. "I want to eat some. I want to eat soft clouds."
Osanna laughed and then nodded, "I will ask the chef to prepare some clouds for both of you then."
"Sure," Adeline was still skeptical though. But it didn't hurt to try what that 'cloud' would taste and look like.
Osanna hurried out of the bathhouse excitedly. She couldn't wait to see the happy faces of both mother and daughter.
Adeline also went to Ariel's room while cuddling her little cocoon.
Adeline then took her daughter in front of the wardrobe and asked her, "What do you want to wear?"
Ariel darted her eyes around the clothes that were hung inside the wardrobe. And then after a while, she shouted, "I want to wear that white skirt."
"Ooh…" Adeline picked out the white fluffy skirt that her daughter wanted and took her to the bed. She put Ariel down and looked at the skirt and said, "I bet you will look like a tiny cloud in this."
Ariel shook her hips and then dropped the towel that was covering her. She giggled and asked, "I will look like a cloud if I wear this?"
"Uh-huh," Adeline then made Ariel wear that skirt of her choice.
Ariel indeed looked like a fluffy little chunk of cloud.
Adeline gazed at her daughter and smiled ear to ear. And she kissed Ariel all over her face while praising her, "You are such a cutie pie. You really do look like a cloud. Cute and soft and fluffy."
"Really?" Ariel shyly covered her face with her palms, or she pretended to. And then she ordered the Queen, "Take me to the mirror. I want to see how I look."
Adeline furrowed a little because she felt as if she had already heard that somewhere before. And then it clicked in her mind that she had asked that to Hawisa and Osanna when she had first worn her training uniform.
She smiled thinking how her life had come a full circle.