Chapter Five: My Lovely Home

Kara finds herself with some uninterrupted free time when she wakes up. After so much happening in the few days she's been here, she's grateful for the peace and the chance to just be alone with herself.

The sun is still rising when she leaves the lake and trudges along the dock into her house. Her legs feel stronger today. All that food had given her some much needed energy.

"Time to get you fixed up," she whispers, looking around the house with a determined expression and a million ideas. And with a little magic, she's ready to get straight to it.

The water she tracks across the floor spreads out and up the walls, dusting everything in a gentle pink glow. Kara settles for bright yellow walls and warm wooden floorboards. When she opens her eyes, it's to an entirely transformed room. Good enough to pass inspection, certainly.

"A kitchen, too," she murmurs, turning to the corner of the wide room. Honestly, the kitchen is the only room that matters to her. If she could, she'd just live in the lake full time and only come out to cook and eat in the kitchen.

The floor should be covered in tiles, in here. That would be better to clean up any spills. Magic is helpful, but sometimes the hardmway is the easier way. So, easy to clean tiles plus a drain for mopping purposes. The walls will be the same green as the lake full of algae and the tiles will be...

Blue. It has to be blue. The same blue that used to stare into her eyes when she was just a little guppy as her mother taught her the Siren Song that's been passed down from generation to generation. The most beautiful blue she's ever seen.

When it's finished, Kara slumps against the wall and just looks at it. It isn't like her home in Raverden. But Kara is starting to accept that it never will be.

Nothing will ever be like it was. Nothing. Because of them.

No, Kara can't think about that right now! It isn't worth remembering.

"Happy thoughts, happy thoughts," she sings to herself while examining the base for the kitchen.

She'd like a counter to separate the kitchen space from the rest of the room, but that's a lot harder to create than a couple of tiles. Most humans might have a dining table, too, but she doesn't intend on having guests, so the counter will suffice for eating at.

Last night may have been... interesting... But Kara can't let herself get close to those humans. No more get-togethers, no more late night walks, and definitely no more being carried around by big, strong men. It's true she probably judged Theo too harshly, but that doesn't erase what he is.

Shaking the thought away, Kara runs her hand along the wall, trying to picture it. A simple bar. A refrigerator, a sink, an oven and stove. A place where she can cook as much as she wants to. Home sweet home. So close she can nearly taste it.

With the magic of the water still coursing through her, she pushes her energy into her very house to mold it into what she needs and wants. Beneath her feet the floors shake and rumble, thrumming in time with her own heartbeat. She can feel the electricity behind the wall. Wires and pipes.

A siren cannot create from nothing, unfortunately, so to make her appliances she'll need something to build off of. Something with a similar purpose would be easiest. Luckily, the insulated bag that Donna had given her- still full of trays of food- will do nicely. Kara brings the bag over and carefully situatiates it in the corner. It grows and reshapes itself, morphing into a nice sizable refrigerator.

Inside, the takeaway dishes are stacked neatly. Kara kneels down and plugs the fridge in, nodding proudly as it turns on. Unfortunately, she still has no oven, no stove. Not even a sink. Kara considers trying to renovate more of the house, at least an oven, but when she takes a step her entire body nearly drops in exhaustion.

Kara barely makes it to the counter to lean on as her strength saps and her magic dims.

She overdid it. She's still new to this body, barely awake from her long rest in the water. As eager as she is to get the house finished, she needs to learn to pace herself.

"Maybe just a short break...? Man, I'm hungry." Kara grabs the cheesy noodle ham dish and slides down to the tiled floor to eat it. As strange as they are, that Hart family make delicious meals. Would this be good with fish instead of pork? She'll have to try to make it once she's...

Well, she'll need to finish the kitchen. In Raverden, there had been a market not far from her house. Somehow she doubts that's the case here. Then, she'll just have to get a phone in order to order groceries.

Technology truly is the closest thing to a blessing humans could give her.

"Humans sure have come a long way." As she chows down, Kara hums to herself and runs over her mental list again. It seems to grow longer every day.

Fix the house.

Find a way up to the attic.

Get this new body under control.

Find... Avery.

Kara has thought a lot about it and she knows she has to find that poor girl. William's story had been upsetting, but not as upsetting as the knowledge that somewhere out there is a little girl, lost. Not to to mention Kara knows what it's like to lose someone and never get closure. Avery is in Kara's lake and has been for long enough.

It's time she came home.

And it isn't because she feels bad for Theo. Just... It's something she can do. She's really the only one who can do it. In Raverden, she saved humans a few times and helped put them to shore inconspicuously. It's no different than that.

"Okay, house," Kara mutters, setting her macaroni aside and standing up with a stretch. She's feeling bummed out now, time to get back to work. "Round two."