Taking a calming breath Ella tilted her head back and closed her eyes, imploring what little patience she had left to make itself known. The conversation had not gone entirely to plan, and she had definitely said more than she ought to have done, but how on earth was she supposed to react when Ursula burst into her room in nothing but her smalls?

She sat on the other side of her own bed, back to Ursula’s similarly turned back, her straight spine as tense as the silence.

“I am not made of stone Ursula,”she muttered, reluctant and barely above a whisper.

Well aware though she was that her heart had never exactly been her strongest feature Elladora still bristled at the slight against its very existence. If nothing else Ursula was hardly in a position to be judgemental about something that might be lacking in others! It was on the tip of her tongue to reply sharply – the situation definitely called for it – but a twist of her head told her that Ursula was more subdued than spiky and Elladora rolled her eyes, unable to find the strength to retort.

“I think you’re enough of an open book for the both of us dear,” she settled against her pillow, stretched out the length of her bed where she could keep a better eye on Ursula.