The morning after the tournament, Daphne slept in until noon. All of the recent events, on top of her recent illness, had drained much more of her energy than she'd realized. When she sat up, every part of her groaned in protest. "Oh, right. I forgot to stretch after the tournament," was her first thought. Then she noted all the bruises along her body as well. She was tempted to lay there until someone needed her to do something, but then realized she had something she already had to do. She immediately got out of bed, despite her body's protests.
She wasn't exactly looking forward to the tasks she had in line that day. But she was looking forward to the outcome if she could complete it. "Please, please, please don't have holes," she thought as she dug through a chest of her mother's things which she'd brought to the headquarters.
Fortunately, the dress for which she was searching was in good condition, having been locked away in a bag in the chest. Once she had checked it thoroughly for damage of any kind, she went through the process of washing it and setting it to dry carefully. Then she went about packing up again as it dried.
Once the dress was dry, she went to find Ana. It wasn't long before she was dragging her friend by the hand, inside to try on the dress. She was almost giddy with excitement. She knew Ana would wear it beautifully. When she came out in the dress, Daphne almost clapped her hands together. It was almost a perfect fit! Daph would only have to make a few adjustments quickly, then it would be perfect. "Thank you, Lily, for not wanting Mama's dresses." She couldn't remember ever being this excited. This was what she imagined it felt like to have an older sister getting married.
"Amaken is going to cry when he sees you," she said to Ana with a grin. "Thank you so much for letting me use this! I never much liked dresses, but I like how I feel in this one. And it feels..like we're family almost. So thank you." Ana had tears in her eyes as she hugged Daphne.
Daph swallowed to keep back her own tears. So she wasn't the only one who saw it this way. "I'm just glad Mama's dress is seeing use in someone else's life. And really if anything, thank you for being...well...the closest thing I have to family. I mean, I have my sister and my cousins...but it's...aside from Belinda, you..." She shook her head and stepped back with a grin. "Agh, don't make me cry too!" They both chuckled as Ana wiped her eyes.
After they'd folded the dress and put together something to eat, Daphne led Ana to the spot she would sit to draw, so they could eat in peace. The waterfall made a pleasant breeze and was beautiful to look at. After a few moments and questions about the wedding, Ana turned to Daphne with a small smile. "How would you like to be my best-girl?" Daph had nearly dropped her food on the ground. "Really?" Ana went on, "I won't make you dress up or anything. I'd be honoured to have you standing beside me at my wedding."
At those words, Daphne set her plate down and flung her arms around Ana's shoulders in one swift movement. "I would absolutely love to!" There were now tears running down her cheeks as her heart swelled with joy.
Somehow, even with all that was weighing her down; Deorla, Furley, the upcoming journey and even her past, she couldn't help but realize she couldn't remember ever feeling that happy or excited for anything.
