(Yeah, haha. She's actually my comfort character 😊 And thank you so much, you're so sweet! Your writing is so amazing too!)
(Yeah, that's literally Farah's entire personality condensed to one sentence 😂)
(Strikethrough is ~~ on either end of the text you want to use it on, without spaces. So: ~~ strikethrough ~~ without the spaces turns into strikethrough)
(Sounds good! Take your time! I can't wait to read it… 😏)
(Oh really? That's cool! And, thanks! blushes violently)
(Oh, like this? Thanks for showing me how! 😁)
(Alright, I'll have it ready in a few. 😅)
Lavendar uttered the spell, trying her best to not stumble on the Latin words. "Somnum meum pulchra puer. Et terra erit vester lectum et gravestone erit tibi cervical."
Suddenly, Lavendar started to feel light-headed as she spoke, Did the tutor say something about side-effects if I say this? she wondered. Nevertheless, she continued, "Et luna resurget, sed cadere. Et ventum cantabo eam canticum, sicut tu dormies sub muris sordis lutum."
A gust of wind slammed the side of the cottage, Lavendar quickly finished the spell, "Dormientibus meis puer. Dormire, dormientibus." She was about to leave the kitchen, when the magic surged through her body. She partly felt like a rag doll under the control of the spell's effect, but she also felt like a powerful queen under the illusion it gave her. A bloody red aura outlined her body along with her lucid scarlet eyes.
A bit terrified, she realized that she had messed with an intense spell, way too advanced for her small knowledge of magic. She remembered where she had learned it, not from her tutor, but from an advanced book she had secretly memorized it from. She hadn't paid attention to the side-effects or potency, only its cause and the spell itself.
Lavendar tried to walk out of the kitchen, again, only to be met by the guest storming in to meet her. The woman was enraged, accusing Lavendar and demanding answers of something only Lavendar and now the other girl knew. It took a second for the young apothecary to process everything happening in front of her, she instinctively stepped back and whispered mainly to herself, "You're alive. You're not normal."
Twice as scared, she opened her mouth to deny her act, then closed it, knowing that she was not good at denying things with charm, and that the woman in front of her could rip her in two if she said one wrong word.
She backed herself into a wall and grabbed an ivory paring knife from the countertop next to her. Lavendar grasped onto it tightly, holding it in front of her. "One of us is not getting out of here alive, and one of us is gonna die out there," she let the magic speak through her, "I have to kill you… for the Elite." The Elite. They had trapped her in this illusion for a year and a half, they would give her supplies, money, opportunities beyond measure. But at what cost? Lies? Murder? Her deteriorating mental and emotional health? Her life?
Her hand shook as she brought the knife up, not to stab the girl in the stomach, but to the middle of her neck and shuddered as she let the blade sink into her flesh with a rebellious and pitiful look in her eyes.
The faint memories played through her mind like a vintage movie, "Aw, where's my happy Lavi?" Her mother would ask.
Then a sad child would sigh and answer, "I don't know."
"Really?" Her mom would ask teasingly, "Huh, I thought I saw her somewhere around here…" She would then pick Lavendar up and tickle her until she started giggling uncontrollably, "Aha, there she is!" Her mother's tactic never failed to make Lavendar smile.
A tear fell down Lavendar's cheek as the knife sliced into her neck, I don't know- I don't know where happy Lavi is…
(Also, I recommend not to translate the Latin, it makes zero sense when you do, lol. Although I can give you the original text I made, if you'd like.)
(To be clear, Lavendar stabbed herself in the neck, right? Not Farah)
Farah laughed harshly and shook her head, her anger building as Lavendar avoided answering her question. "Yes, I'm alive. No thanks to whatever the hell it was that you set against me. And calling down powerful magic, powerful enough to kill? You're not exactly normal yourself now, are you?"
Her narrowed gaze locked on the paring knife the second Lavendar's fingers brushed it. She was instantly wary of the woman and her weapon, even as she listened to her try to explain herself. "You have to kill me? That's ridiculous. What is the Elite?" she demanded to know, her eyes flickering back and forth between Lavendar's eyes and her knife.
The fairy prepared to defend herself, but as she noticed the direction the knife was going, her eyes widened. "No!" Farah cried out, lunging forward to stop her. But that meant putting all her weight on her bad ankle. She hissed in pain and collapsed to her knees.
As she looked up and met Lavendar's eyes again, she was astonished as the memories playing through her mind effortlessly translated into Farah's as well. She saw Lavendar's mother, heard the voice of Lavendar as a child, and felt the tearful longing.
But sheer determination coursed through Farah's blood. The fairy forced herself to her feet and reached for the knife, still clutched tightly in the girl's grip. Taking Lavendar into her arms and guiding both of them down to the floor, Farah cautiously placed the blade off to the side so neither of them would accidentally cut themselves on it.
As the wound started to bleed out, Farah's eyes changed colors, glowing a silver-blue as she began to use the healing aspects of fire magic. Moxibustion had been useful to her before with minor cuts or scrapes. It was nothing like the wound she was healing now, but gods be damned if this girl died in Farah's arms.
"Come on," the fairy muttered, gritting her teeth yet being delicate with her fingers near the wound. Slowly but surely, the wound began to close up, and the bleeding stopped. Farah gasped with relief before glaring down at Lavendar. "Nice try," she said, sounding slightly out of breath. "Now tell me what exactly it was that you did to me and who or what the Elite are."
(Yeah, well, she technically slit her own neck, but that works too. :))
(Ohhhh oop. Hold on a second, let me fix it! ;))
(Fixed!)
(Oh, I guess that works too. (^w^))
Lavendar choked on her own blood as the cold metal opened the inside of her throat. This wasn't exactly how she wanted to end her life, who would give the letters she wrote to her family… and trusted colleagues? She slowly sank to the ground, her vision blurred and deaf to everything around her, the woman in front of her would be the last thing she saw…
________
Her eyes blinked open, expecting to see a very bright light or something of sorts. Only to see a woman fixing the wound on her neck. Lavi opened her mouth only to say, "Dammit, you won't even let a girl die in peace?" She weakly lifted her hand to touch her neck only to find that it was sealed shut and restored to the state it was in before.
After hearing the woman's remark and questions, she sighed annoyedly, "Well, let me at least re-adjust my mind first." Lavendar blinked again, then saw who the woman was. Frick.
She rolled her eyes, this behavior far from herself, "Fine, the Elite are-" The memories rushed back, "Damn the Elite. They're the reason I tried to kill both of us. It's the Organization of the Elite Sorcerers and- wait, why do you want to know anyway? Did you heal me, just to interrogate me even more?"
She stood up, a bit unbalanced, and grabbed some dried herbs hanging from the ceiling. "By the way, aren't you hurt? Shouldn't you be on the couch?" She asked, organizing her mind and still moderately pissed at Farah. Lavendar grabbed her mortar and pestle, set it on the countertop, and started to crush the dried herbs.
Farah arched her eyebrows. "Does such a thing exist?" she asked, glancing at Lavendar's fingers brushing over her throat. "Careful, it's still sensitive," the fairy warned. And then she noted the change in emotions once Lavendar recognized her. Lovely. I saved her life, and she hates me all over again.
She was listening intently until Lavendar cut herself off and questioned Farah's motives. Dammit. "Of course not!" she protested, frowning at Lavendar's assumption of her actions. "I healed you because you thought taking your own life was a viable option." Her expression turned firm and serious. "It's not."
As Lavendar stood, Farah did as well. Then she remembered her ankle. A cry of pain escaped her, and she leaned heavily on the countertop to be able to stand. "Yes, I'm still hurt," she remarked, her breathing becoming labored. "But I need answers out of you. What the hell did you do to me? What kind of magic was that? It was designed to kill, yes? You thought I would be dead. How am I not?"
Lavendar kept crushing the herbs, "Look, could you give the questions a rest?" She ignored Farah's cry of pain, something she would never do with anyone in her right mind. "Just sit down, you need to," she motioned to the chairs by the counter, across from her.
"Look, I-" she quickly shook her head and brushed a tuft of her curly hair away from her face; and resumed crushing the herbs. She wasn't herself, but that was the last thing she thought about. Lavendar added in another herb into the mortar and crushed it, trying to relax her mind as she did so.
(Also, I keep on making furniture appear out nowhere, sorry about that. (-_-"))
(It's all good 😂)
Farah glared at Lavendar as she, yet again, didn't answer any of the fairy's questions. However, she moved around the counter and sat, relieved to have the pressure off of her bad ankle. "No, I can't. I need to know what kind of magic that was. And I still what to know who exactly the Elite are and why you are in service of them."
Her eyes studied Lavendar's expression and the way she ground down the herbs in her mortar. Not that Farah had known her long before, but there seemed to be something off about her. There seemed to be a new layer of her emotional guard. She was very standoffish. "Lavendar," Farah began cautiously. "Are you well?"
Lavendar kept pounding the herbs, not even looking at Farah. Already ticked off, she placed her pestle into the mortar, a bit too hard. She looked at Farah, dead straight into her eyes, "Why?" Her self-control was held on by a thread, "Why do you want to know? As far as the Elite concerns you, you should have been dead by now."
She did not take her glaring eyes of off the girl, "When I put that cloth on your face, I should have taken that opportunity. Hell, I should have let you bleed to death outside." After finishing her sentence, she lowered her gaze and resumed her work.
Still very serious, Lavendar chuckled lightly as she heard Farah ask another question, "That's an interesting question to ask someone who just attempted suicide."
She set the mortar aside, grabbed a knife and an apple, and started to peel it. Not because she wanted to eat it, but she needed something, anything, to calm down. And also, to avoid talking to the woman in front of her.
Farah lifted her chin slightly as the pestle was aggressively brought down. She didn't flinch from meeting Lavendar's gaze. Her own dark brown eyes locked on the woman's hazel ones with striking intensity. "And that is exactly why it concerns me," she retorted, almost incredulous that Lavendar couldn't understand her side. Or even try to. "Why would a group of people I've never heard of and never met want me dead? What reason is there?"
The woman's glare and sharp words didn't deter Farah's expression, but she felt herself wince internally. She had been so wounded that it would've been so easy to kill her then. She was weak and vulnerable… but Lavendar had saved her instead. There was more here.
But at Lavendar's chuckle, Farah did wince visibly. "Sorry… maybe not the best way to put that." She eyed the knife in the woman's hands skeptically. "Could we maybe just talk? Settle ourselves and calm down for a moment. I promise I won't ask any more questions."
Lavendar worked on the apple until it was fully peeled, after that, she sliced it. "It's alright, I'll have to answer your questions… eventually."
She grabbed a plate and placed the neatly sliced apple on it. After she did that, Lavi grabbed a chair from the side where Farah was sitting and moved it to her side of the counter. Taking a deep breath, she sat down and moved the plate towards the lady in front of her. "Want some? I'm not hungry," she offered nonchalantly.
The young apothecary then rested her head on her hands, barely looking at Farah, "How are the stiches? I'm surprised you didn't rip them when you got up."
Farah offered a wry smile. "You will. But for the time being… may I simply just get to know you? Tell me about yourself. What you do. Who you are. And… I will do the same." It had been so long since she'd openly told someone about herself, including the deepest reaches of her past. But if Lavendar would be willing to be vulnerable, Farah would find the strength in herself to do the same.
The fairy eyed the apple slices and took one between her fingers. She brought it to her lips, but she didn't eat it yet. "I think you should eat," she remarked simply. "Even if you aren't hungry." Farah noted how the woman wouldn't look at her, and her demeanor softened.
"The stitches are alright," she replied quietly. "I'm just as surprised as you are. You did a find job. Are you a healer?" Her head tilted slightly as the question passed her lips. She was sorry that they had gotten off on the wrong foot, but now they were on what appeared to be even footing. Lavendar had saved Farah's life, and Farah had saved Lavendar's.
Lavendar only listened to the woman. At her request, she slowly reached for an apple slice and casually stuffed it into her mouth. Lavi grabbed another one, she tried not to eat them all at once, she wanted to… badly almost.
She softly answered Farah's question, "Well, sort of. I'm an apothecary and an herbalist. I own a shop downtown with my two friends Baxter and Mason. Yeah, they're a cute couple. I do know some emergency techniques, though."
She put another apple in her mouth. "So," she lightly felt her neck again where Farah had fixed it. She couldn't feel any stiches on it, it was perfectly sealed shut, "How'd you fix this so quickly? You also did a good job." she admitted humbly.
Farah bit into her apple slice as she listened to Lavendar explain more about herself. "Well that much is clear or I would not be sitting here right now. Thank you for saving my life… even if you did cast whatever spell that was on me. I'm very grateful for your aid."
The fairy felt the woman's hunger and popped the rest of the apple slice she was holding into her mouth. "Please don't starve yourself on my behalf. If you're hungry, you should eat." She then flushed lightly at the compliment. "Fire magic," she answered. "Sealing a wound with moxibustion. I'm… I'm a mind fairy. I possess multiple kinds of fairy magic. It's how I can feel your hunger now and, presumably, how I fended off your magic."
Lavi smiled weakly as Farah thanked her, "No problem, just… doing my job." She grabbed a whole apple and took a bite from it, "Yeah, I just didn't want to look like a ravenous beast in front of a guest." She thought her hunger was only stress, but once she bit into the fruit, she knew she needed to eat more.
She listened closely to the woman talk, "Wow, a mind fairy? That's… that…" she sighed, "that must be nice to be born with magic, that you can control and not have to sign some stupid contract to learn magic and ruin your life in return."
A hard lump formed in her throat has she tried to choke back tears and talk at the same time. "It must be nice to use magic without having to join some cult and murder people for six years-" She buried her face in her arms and wept softly. What's the use of hiding it anymore? She thought as she cried, bitterly.
Farah smiled, and a tiny bit of humor appeared in her expression. "No, please. Don't let me keep you from eating your fill if you're hungry." She selected another small slice to eat for herself.
She was about to respond with a bit more detail about her fairy abilities, but suddenly, Lavendar's words concerned her. "What in the Otherworld are you talking about?" she asked gently. Her eyes widened as the woman continued. A cult? Was she referring to the Elite? What else could she possibly have been referring to? Six years – was that how long she was indebted to these cultists? She had to murder people? So was that why she had attempted to murder Farah? For the Elite? No wonder she'd wanted to take her own life. Farah likely would've been in the same mental headspace if she was forced into murdering innocent people.
"Lavendar," she murmured softly, reaching across the counter and brushing her fingers against Lavendar's arm. Her eyes turned silver-blue, and at once, calming emotions flowed from the fairy into the apothecary woman. "I'm so sorry. Is there any way I can help you?"
Lavendar softly shook her head, "I… honestly don't know." She shuddered as she felt a calming aura enter into her, she looked up into the woman's silver-blue eyes. "You- you don't need to waste your magic on me. I don't deserve it, not after what I did." If Mason and Baxter were there, they would usually smother her in a hug, if they knew.
"Is it okay if-" she paused, Wouldn't that be too much? What if she doesn't like hugging people? What if…
Lavendar looked down, trying to avoid any awkward staring. "I never wanted to kill you, honestly, I never did. I'm- I'm really sorry…"
(I'm about to end this girl's whole career after your post. >:) )
(Oh no… XD)
Farah inhaled slowly. "You're not a waste," she replied simply. "No matter what you've done. I promise. I've made decisions… followed orders… done things I can't take back. So have you. So has everyone. No offense, but you're not that special. And nobody's perfect."
The words she spoke were words that Farah herself had been needing to hear. She would still not rather talk about the circumstances that had led her to end up in Lavendar's garden. Not yet. And while the mind fairy found herself wanting to know the end of Lavendar's request, Farah didn't press.
"I know," she replied simply, her gaze soft. "It's forgiven."
(Heyyy! Glad to see you back! (^w^)/ I'll have my response up in a few.)