7 6. Everyone is looking for you

  Tiana had guessed the reason behind both her best friends behaviour could have been something they had learnt at the city and she had a feeling it might concern her, after all Abigail had told her about her beginning. So this prompted her to ask "May I know what happened at the council?"

  When Tiana asked the question it really did take Richard by surprise. He never thought Tiana would make the connection. He had always seen her as an innocent person who never thought of things beyond the forest where she lived. The next thought in his mind was the fact whether she would be able to handle it.

  Richard had always seen Tiana as somewhat emotionally fragile, and his worst fear was, "What if Tiana believes everything said about her and surrenders herself?" So, Richard made up his mind not to disclose to Tiana the full details of his trip to the city.

   "Tia" he started slowly "you are right. It is what we heard at the city that caused us real concern about you."

   "What did you hear? Is it about me?" Tiana's curiosity overwhelmed her, and being on the emotional side, she was prone to instability.

   Richard saw the child in Tiana, questioning him with concern. Feeling it right to withhold some information, he replied, "To your second question, the answer is yes, it is about you."

   "What did you hear about me. How do people know where I am? How did I become so popular? Who found me here? Did any of you talk about me? Could it be Lizzy who had spoken about me?" Tiana panicked and started firing questions.

   Richard calmly heard her out but did not say anything. Tiana could not take it anymore she caught hold of Richards arms and tried shaking him. "Tell me, how did they know of me?". Tiana's eyes welled with tears as she questioned him. "Tell me," she started crying quietly, her fear spilling out as tears. 

   If seeing Tiana on the verge of tears hurt Richard. Her crying shattered him to pieces. If they were lovers he would have hugged her to calm her down, but they weren't and Richard knew Tiana took him to be one of her best friends and he Richard wanted to preserve their friendship. Knowing not what to do he called out, "Cynthia." He needed someone to pacify the little girl in front of him.

   Cynthia was shocked to see Tia crying. She had packed most of the things in the single room of the cottage when she heard Richard call out to her, she frowned when she heard Richard's voice, "Why was he calling her?". She walked out of the room frowning only to see Tiana crying.

    This was not what Cynthia expected when she left the two of them alone. She ran over to Tiana and took her in her arms. "What happened?" "Why is she crying?" she turned to her brother. She knew Richard would never intentionally make Tiana cry, but seeing her friend in tears left her baffled. 

   "We were talking about what happened in the city" Richard began. On hearing what Richard said Cynthia became furious. Unable to control herself she interrupted him "What did you say to her?" she stressed her anger out. She feared Richard had told her what they had heard the night before they left.

    Now it was Richard's turn to frown. "I did not tell her anything" he clarified and now it was Cynthia's turn to be confused, "I just started to tell her I heard her name in the city" Richard continued.

     Cynthia closed her eyes and let out a sigh and shifted her gaze to Tiana. "Tia, look at me." She lifted her friend's tear-streaked face. "Tia listen, what my brother meant was that everyone is now searching for you. They want to find you."