“The orange light will return soon,” Celeste advised the assembled group.
“I no longer need to worry about the orange light. It will no longer be able to do anything to me.” Dalia said with a grin on her face, getting wider with every word she uttered.
“That as maybe for the moment, but it will not remain that way,” Celeste told the newly minted soft body.
“What! I am a human being. What can it do to me?” Dalia said angrily
“I will explain,” Celeste said, trying to de-escalate the situation.
“Please do, sister,” Carly said.
“It was agreed before the ceding and the binding were performed that it was to last for only one cycle. Was it not?” Celeste asked the two figures before.
“It was sister,” Carly said.
Dalia merely nodded her reply.
“Therefore, former and current sister, that is all it will last for. If the intent is met, then things must be as they were before the binding by the start of the next cycle.” Celeste informed the two of them.
“If the intent is not met, sister?” Carly asked.
For some reason that at that moment she could not understand, she found herself unable to speak to Celeste without using the honorific. She would need to ask Victoria about that, she thought.
“It has never happened before, ancient texts will have the answers if that were to happen. I will consult them when the cycle ends if needs must, sister.” Celeste answered her new sister.
“Thank you, sister,” Carly replied.
“Former sister, as your privileges as a member of the sisterhood have been withdrawn once the cycle begins, you will no longer be able to communicate with others within the sisterhood. You can do so now because the cycle is yet to begin.” Celeste told Dalia.
“Until the cycle is complete?” Dalia asked. Now worried that her victory was not a victory at all. She had to do something to make this a permanent thing, she thought, but unlike before the binding, she now knew what the word meant.
“Current sister as you now have all the rights and privileges of a member of the sisterhood You now have all the rights and privileges of a member of the sisterhood you also have our limits. You like any other sister can not move until cycle end. You will be able to speak to other sisters in the same way the sisters do.” Celeste told Carly
“I will instruct her sister,” Victoria said.
“Thank you, sister,” Celeste said, acknowledging Victoria’s aid.
Carly stood motionless during the exchange as she was still not sure if her gamble would pay off or not. Was it a good idea to give the former sister a taste of the life of a soft body, the life that she once had before becoming part of the sisterhood and one of the unchaining? She stopped herself mid-thought. She had thought of Dalia as a former sister; Dalia had never been that to her. Yes, she had been part of the sisterhood, but that was before she. She needed to speak to Victoria, her guide during the challenges, maybe she would be able to tell her what was happening.
“The cycle will begin soon, former sister, you should not be found here,” Celeste said to Dalia.
“I won’t be,” Dalia said with the grin that had once been on her face starting to reappear.
Dalia turned towards the storeroom and the exit she had seen there earlier.
Outside
Dalia took the phone that she had been using to contact her friend with and hit the button to make the call. Only to have the call go to voicemail.
“I need to speak to you. Carly asked for the binding, and until the sun goes down, I am a human. I want to make sure I stay this way.”
Dalia went to sit at a nearby bus stop to wait for her friend to call her back.
