Farah felt the woman's relief and felt it emanating from herself too. Maybe this woman could actually understand her. It's not like she expected her to. Farah's story was long, complicated, and, well… to say the least, scarring.
Should I tell her? What's the harm? It's not like you're going to bring her with you to the Otherworld or anything. "I'm Farah," the fairy replied in kind. "Farah Dowling. It's lovely to meet you Elizabeth."
“Nice to meet you too.” Elizabeth said raising a brow slightly. “Farah? I've never heard that name before.” she commented. “Does it mean something?” she asked, choosing to focus on the current conversation and not on her own haunting past. Her personal ghosts… the heartbreak…
Farah tilted her head back. "Well, I suppose it is a rather unique name," she quipped with a grin on her lips. She could feel the turbulence inside the other woman's spirit, but there was nothing she could do to soothe it without revealing her magic. Her chest ached as the feelings Elizabeth felt reflected in Farah's demeanor, but she pushed them down. Damn her empathetic abilities. "It means happiness," she said softly. "Or joy."
“Nice.” Elizabeth nodded, chuckling softly. “Yeah. It's definitely unique when compared to a name like Elizabeth. There's a fair number of women with that name.” she smiled a little as she shrugged. “Are you from around here? I don't notice too many people when I go into the town.” she admitted as her usual routine didn't require her to interact with more people than she could handle.
For the first time during the conversation, Farah stood upright and moved away from the tree, closer to Elizabeth. "Nothing wrong with that," she remarked. "Elizabeth is a perfectly fine name." As for the question concerning her whereabouts, Farah now wished she'd stayed back by her tree. That way Elizabeth wouldn't be able to see the quick shot of alarm pass through her eyes before she answered. "You could say I'm from around this area," she replied. "I'm mostly out here, though. Not so much in town." She gestured to the forest surrounding them.
“Thanks.” she smiled softly, nodding a little at the interesting answer. Elizabeth hummed as she tried to size up Farah. Of course, she couldn't just ask if she was a hermit, naturalist, or survivalist without sounding rude. And honestly, it was none of her business either. But Farah was definitely a unique, unusual woman. “Yeah. I grew up around here but it's been a while since I left. So, I spent a lot of time around here when I was a kid. Sure looks different now.”
“I imagine it does,” Farah remarked, drawing her gaze from Elizabeth and looking up into the trees. “It looks different to me nearly every day.”
She lowered her eyes back down, but instead of meeting Elizabeth’s, her gaze locked on something coming up behind her. “Shit,” she muttered, carefully reaching for Elizabeth’s arm. “Don’t panic and move slowly.”
Approaching the women was a great brown bear with black eyes and a wide mouth. Farah never took her eyes off of it as she slowly guided Elizabeth behind her.
Elizabeth was surprised at how easy it was to smile and laugh a little with Farah. It had actually been a longer time than she’d care to admit.
She looked back at Farah, about to reply, when she noticed the change in atmosphere. She could read her body language like a well-versed book; the tenseness of her posture, the way her eyes were locked on something… Elizabeth let Farah take her arm and slowly moved behind her, turning to see what had caused this all-too-familiar feeling to emerge. “Shit.” she echoed softly as she saw the bear.
“Don't panic. Not a problem.” she nodded, managing to stay fairly calm. It wasn't the first time her life had been in danger.
Farah nodded. "It's alright," she said quietly while the bear padded toward them. "It's alright." For every step the bear took toward them, Farah maneuvered one step back carefully. She didn't want to have to resort to her magic, but it wasn't looking like a good situation.
With her back to Elizabeth, the girl couldn't see Farah's eyes change from their natural dark brown to a silver-blue while she expelled just a small touch of her magic to calm the bear down. "That's it," she breathed to Elizabeth. "Keep backing up."
Elizabeth let Farah lead her back, occasionally glancing over her shoulder to make sure that they wouldn't trip or bump into anything. Though she did raise a brow at the way Farah was speaking. “Are you talking to me or the bear?” she asked softly, still keeping her voice steady. “It's not like I'm going to stop anytime soon.” she pointed out.
The idea of running had crossed her mind, but she knew that out-running bear was not a plausible solution. And she didn't put too much confidence in that whole “playing dead” routine. Climbing the nearest tree was also pretty iffy… “Any bright ideas?” she inquired a bit more urgently.
Farah laughed quietly under her breath. "You'd better not," she said, her British accent gracing her words that were meant to be teasing.
Her focus quickly switched back to the bear as it began to speed up a bit. Shit. It wasn't looking like there was any other option. The same ideas that had been in Elizabeth's mind had also crossed Farah's, but it was appearing that magic was the only way out of this.
"Solaria help me," she mumbled to herself before using more of her power to calm the bear down. Its fierce expression melted, and instead of charging at them, the bear rolled over on its side with its tongue lolling out.
Elizabeth held back a chuckle at the banter, finding it comfortingly familiar, though she made note of the accent for later. She kept her focus on the bear and continued to step back, making sure Farah did too.
“Come on. We gotta move.” she hissed when the bear started picking up the pace. But she forgot Farah’s whisper when the bear dropped like a ton of bricks. “What… the hell just happened?” she asked in sheer confusion.
The bear moved its paws, appearing like a dog that wanted its belly rubbed.
Farah closed her eyes and let out a pent-up breath. “Well… I don’t suppose he’s a threat to us anymore,” she remarked, trying poorly to pass off the events that had just happened.
Under any other circumstances, Elizabeth would have found the action adorable but right now she was too bewildered to make sense of what was going on.
“Not a threat! That animal was about to attack us. Then it suddenly decides to roll over?” she scoffs almost ranting. “And how are you so calm about this? This isn't natural!” she stated pointing at the bear.
Farah uncharacteristically winced under the pressure Elizabeth was putting on the situation. “No,” she finally said. “It’s not natural.”
She’s not an idiot. She’ll put the pieces together sooner or later. Summoning her magic again, Farah’s eyes turned silver-blue from brown as she lifted her palm and sent magic toward the bear. It suddenly stood up, roared loudly, then took off running in the opposite direction.
“It's really not.” Elizabeth sighed as Farah agreed, running her fingers through her dark brown hair. “This day has just been…” she trailed off as she watched Farah raise a hand toward the bear before the animal got up and took off. “What… the… hell…” she questioned as she turned to the strange woman. “What did you do?”
Farah lowered her hand and sighed quietly. “I simply projected the images of what I wanted him to do into his mind so he would do them. Lay down, run away, etcetera.” She closed her eyes, refusing to look at the woman beside her. “I’m not exactly human, darling,” she revealed tiredly. Mental projection was one of the most draining of her powers, especially into animals. She had no idea why.
Elizabeth blinked at the simple way Farah answered, raising a brow skeptically. “Uh-huh… And how did you do that? And if you're not “exactly human” then what are you? Some kind of alien?” she asked almost sarcastically despite wanting real answers. When she noticed how fatigued Farah was, admittedly she was concerned but she wasn't sure how to approach that topic yet.
Farah’s eyes opened suddenly. “Shit,” she hissed, leaning against a tree to collect herself. She hated this part – the downside of her magic – where she became inexplicably tired. “Oh,” she moaned quietly, closing her eyes again. "Mental projection is a mind fairy ability. That’s what I am. A mind fairy. An alien? Please.” Even in her tiredness, she still found an opportunity to throw in sass.
“Whoa. Are… Are you ok?” Elizabeth asked, quickly moving to her side as Farah’s exhaustion seemed to finally hit her. “Right… A fairy. Sure.” she couldn't help but roll her eyes. “So, what am I supposed to do now? Clap my hands and say that I believe in fairies, like I'm in Peter Pan? Cause that's not going to happen any time soon.” she sighed as even her thoughts took a sarcastic turn. Just my luck. I go out for a run to clear my head and I meet someone more messed up than I am…
“Fine,” Farah said quickly. “I’m fine. Projection typically requires the most power of any kind of magic, which leaves me drained for a moment. I’m alright.”
Her eyes opened, and she gave Elizabeth an amused once-over as she scoffed. “You’re comparing me to Tinkerbell? Darling, I’m not that kind of fairy. Besides, Tink was an air fairy. Don’t be silly.”
Elizabeth nodded, taking a step back to give Farah more room to breathe and recover. Though she still wasn't very convinced by what she was hearing.
“What's that supposed to mean? That she could fly and you can't?” she questioned, almost surprised by how easily she was talking about this. “What next? You gonna tell me you actually know Tinkerbell?”
“No,” Farah groaned. “That’s not what that means.” Why did she have to be completely depleted when giving a history of the Otherworld? “We had wings in the past. Over time, transformation magic has been lost. And yes, I know Tinkerbell.” She hissed in momentary pain as she pushed away from the tree and tried to stand on her own. “Stars, do we have to do this now?”
Elizabeth raised a brow at the answers, she was especially surprised by the last one. But before she could press for more… “Well, I'm not letting you go without explaining a few things. But let's see if we can find someplace for you to sit down at least.” she compromised, offering her hand to help Farah walk.
"I would expect nothing less," Farah retorted with a small smile. "Alright, but I should be fine in a minute." She slipped her hand into Elizabeth's and let her head. She could feel a few callouses, but otherwise, the woman's hands were unexpectedly soft.