Work Text
Gardenia : Earth
Bloom fought back tears as she rode away from Mitzi, trying not to let the bully know she'd gotten under Bloom's skin. From the basket of her bike, Kiko made a worried, inquiring noise. “I'm okay Kiko,” dashing away a tear that escaped her eye, Bloom checked the traffic and turned the corner, heading to the beach.Deep in the wooded area of Gardenia's largest park, a magical battle was taking place. Or it had been. As a young blonde woman struggled against the hold of several ghouls, a large yellow ogre picked a glowing staff off the ground, holding it aloft triumphantly. The young woman screamed at him, her voice muffled by a ghouls hand, her attempts weakened as she finally reached her limit.Tears slipped from her eyes as the ogre opened a portal, summoning the ghouls to him as he stepped through, her staff clutched in his hands. Freed at last, the young woman scrambled to her feet, on her back small wings fluttered, her feet left the ground and she flew across the small distance, crashing into a tree as the portal closed just before she reached it.With a weak cough, she fell to the ground, her form glowing as she lost consciousness, her clothes changing, her hair spilling loose from its ties. Alone in the park, the injured fairy sleeps.Stella woke to cold and pain, shivering at the base of a tree. Her eyes darted around the clearing, looking for any sign of... anything. Foot prints from the ogre had left shallow indents in the ground hidden by the grass. Not that she could see much of anything in the post dusk gloom.Using the tree to get to her feet she staggered. Across her skin small scratches from the ghouls claws stung, bruising was beginning to spread from where she'd been hit, and from where she'd hit the tree. Closing her eyes and taking a deep breath, she winced as her ribs protested, then refocused, calling to her magic.“No,” she'd drained herself nearly dry trying to fight off her assailants, she barely had any energy left to burn. “Okay, okay,” she said to herself to try and focus her thoughts, “I just, need to figure out where I am.” Stella slid her hand into her pocket and pulled out her phone.Her very broken phone.In the dark of the woods, the Princess of Solaria swore. She knew next to nothing about electronics, past how to find the 'on' switch. She'd need help to repair her device. Which meant finding people. She tilted her head back and eyed the stars which were beginning to litter the night sky. She shivered again as a cool night breeze rustled through the trees, its cold fingers caressing her bare midriff and arms.The stars above were unfamiliar to her, not a single constellation rang a bell. Stella swore again.'It's fine,' she told herself, 'I can... I... it's fine, I'll be fine, just... find some people.' Calming herself as best she could, Stella opened her mind to the Voice of Nature. She was no plant fairy, but the Fairy of the Sun and Moon was more than capable of hearing the Voice. She just hadn't practised in several months, since the last time she'd had to for class before her... expulsion. She'd certainly never done it with such low magic reserves.The Voice in the woods was sluggish, sleepy, as though it wasn't used to whispering in the ears of fairies. 'People?' it said, 'yes, there are people, this way. And this way, and that way as well.'“Great,” Stella hissed, annoyed at the Voice of Nature's unhelpfulness. 'Well,' she thought, 'at least I know it doesn't matter which way I go, as long as I go, there will be people.' Steeling herself, Stella took a few steps forwards, stumbling and falling as her ankle gave way. With a cry she hit the ground, knees and hands stinging at the impact.Whimpering she rolled to her side, turning to sit on her behind so she could check her hands and knees, barely visible in the dark. Her ankle throbbed, and Stella recalled the too tight grip of a ghoul in the same spot. Stella swore for a third time, then a fourth and fifth, and kept swearing for a long, long minute. She should have been at Alfea by now, enjoying her school bed in her nice, warm, well lit dorm, not injured in some dark, cool, back of nowhere woods.Her next breath was shaking, like the kind that came with tears.'Crying solves nothing!' she berated herself, untying her wedge sandals. She could either stumble around in the wedges, or she could risk going bare foot, and given the state of her ankle, she decided bare feet would be the lesser of two evils. If she'd had more magic, she might have conjured one of her suitcases from its carry space and pulled on some flats, and put on a jacket, but the way she was feeling, even that would dry up her barely there reserves, and she'd be worse off than before.Standing again, Stella began to walk, her limp far less noticeable without the sandals now dangling from her fingers. As she moved through the trees she mentally berated herself. Why hadn't she just accepted the royal escort, why had she'd decided to go alone? But she knew why, she'd chosen to teleport herself with the Staff of Solaria. A near instant transportation which had been hijack mid- transit. Something which should have been impossible.After a long few minutes, Stella spotted lights through the trees, golden glowing lamps which, as she drew closer, she could see lined a walk way. People walked here and there, though only a few. Judging by their manner of dress, Stella thought they might not feel as cold as she did. As she walked further from the tree line, the people turned to stare at her, a few making aborted motions as if they wanted to approach her but decided against it. Self conscious, Stella wrapped her arms around herself and kept walking. A woman made her way over to her, a man trailing a fair way behind.“kbem, nladjb anvu ksadbvlw?” Stella stopped, looking at the woman with confusion and mounting dread. The woman looked standard, but the language she spoke wasn't translating. The possible reasons for that were few, and Stella could only think of two: she didn't have enough magic to operate the Universal Translation Spell (which was the magical equivalent of land-dwellers breathing), or she was on a world that had been cut of from the rest of the Magical Dimension for so long, the UTS didn't have an up-to-date vocabulary for it. Both scenarios were terrifying.“I'm sorry, I don- I don't understand,” Stella's voice cracked slightly as she was struck by just how lost she was. The woman didn't seem to understand Stella's language either, but she smiled kindly and held out a jacket, Stella wasn't sure what the woman was doing, and just stared at the coat. The woman frowned when Stella didn't move, Stella worried she'd committed a serious mis-step, but a look of realisation passed across the woman's face, and she pulled the jacket back, point to Stella and made an exaggerated shivering motion, rubbing her arms, and held the jacket out again.Stella realised she herself was shivering heavily, and that the woman was offering the coat to keep warm. With a grateful “thank you,” Stella took the coat and slipped it around her shoulders like a cape, holding it closed with one hand. The woman pointed to Stella again, speaking as she did, then pointed to herself and a bench nearby. She began repeating the series of motions when Stella got it. 'You and me, let's go sit.' With a hesitant nod, Stella began moving towards the bench.As the two women went, Stella noticed the man who'd been trailing the other woman, standing nearby and talking quietly into a mobile phone.'Well, at least I'm not in a no-tech world,' Stella mused, clutching the jacket a little tighter around herself. The bench they sat down on was just to the side a pair of lamps, the area well lit. Stella took the chance to check her hands, which were smeared with green from the grass, though the skin didn't seem broken. Sweeping the side of her long skirt to the side, she grimaced, the hand print of the ghoul was clear and dark on her skin.The woman spoke again, indicating between them, but Stella had no idea what the woman wanted now. The woman tried again, the words sounded... different. Not just different words but... something about them didn't sound like the words the woman had been using thus far. It happened several times as the woman tried to communicate, and finally Stella got it.“I'm from Solaria, do you speak Solan? How about Dimensional Standard? No chance you know Arcane Royal? Oh, what about Old Fae? No? Urgh, I don't no any other languages well enough to matter!” The duo ran out of languages to try, and Stella felt like crying. How could she be this far from anything familiar?!The call of a male voice made her look up. The man on the phone was waving people in their direction. Stella almost laughed. It seemed at least one thing was familiar, even here on this strange world, she could tell some of the people coming over were medical professionals. The rest she thought might be some kind of guard, though civilian, royal or military she couldn't say. But all of them were women.Sitting in the sterile room in a white gown, Stella was mortified.When the medical and security personnel had arrived at the park, she'd been happy, because she was in pain and cold and lost and had thought they'd be able to help her. And they had, for the most part. With some of the most non-magical tech she had ever seen. Everyone had spoken to her in low gentle tones, several people had been brought in to try new languages, and some of the law enforcement agents had taken photos of her.Stella was sore, and tired and so low on magic that it made her feel gross, and she was sick and tired of being poked and prodded.While she was getting looked over by medical staff, one young woman had tried to politely look at Stella’s private parts with a swab. The princess had almost smacked the woman, who gave up quickly. Whether the attempt was standard procedure or if they thought the attack Stella had endured was of a different kind, she didn’t know. Either way she felt a little humiliated.Her clothes had been taken away, from her wedges to her headdress, and the medical staff had begun giving her strange looks, whispering in harsh tones to each other, almost excited. Stella was beginning to get a bad feeling about everything.She'd finally begun picking up a few words here and there, the UTS took far longer to work on new languages when people were talking at her rather than with her or, more commonly over the last few hours, around her and moving in and out of the room so often she couldn't get a decent conversation to happen in range.When the men in suits showed up though, she didn't need to understand their words. Greed leaked from them with terrifying intensity. They looked at her like a thing rather than a person. One of the nurses, Meg, the kind one who'd brought Stella a second serving of bland food despite the doctor's disproving frown, stepped between the men and Stella, waving a clipboard full of paper work in their faces and speaking over them as loud as she could.One of the law officers stepped forward, demanding I.D., and one of the men in suits pushed back his fancy jacket to reach a wallet. Stella froze, her stomach plummeting. Stella wasn't stupid, she'd seen plasma blasters and laser rifles and slug throwers before.She wasn't stupid, and the design might have been completely alien to her, but she knew a gun when she saw it.While the man handed over his I.D. Stella tugged on the sleeve of the nearby nurse and made a squirming motion, pretending like she had to pee really badly. With a beckoning motion, the nurse directed her to a door just down the hall.One of the men moved to stop her, but the nurse held up her hands and planted herself firmly in his way, say something firmly. Stella could only make out a few words, something about 'peeing in the car'? Letting out a slightly hysterical snort, she slipped into the restroom and away from the men in suits.The restroom had several stalls, which would work in Stella's favour, as long as she didn't over do it. Taking care of business first, because she kind of really did need to go, Stella summoned one of her suitcases from its carry space and opened it open on a closed toilet lid. It wasn't the one she'd thought it was, but it would have to do. Quickly, she dressed in long pants and a long sleeved top, finding her pair of emergency flats at the bottom.Going commando was not ideal, but for now she needed to conserve as much magic as she could and she still had a cosmetic spell to cast. Snagging her pair of light reactive glasses before shoving her case away, she peeked out of her stall to check for witnesses. Seeing no one, she stepped across to the sinks, rinsing her hands a final time and patting them dry before focusing on her hair.Changing hair colour was one of the first transformation spells Wizgiz taught students at Alfea. Stella was a pro at cosmetic magic, but even so, there were ways to lessen the magical requirements of the spell. Rather than change her hair completely, Stella let the natural echo of her father's genes take over, the deep ginger of his hair spilling through her own golden locks. With quick hand motions, Stella twisted her hair into a stylishly messy braid, performing the little hair twist she'd learnt to lock the plait in place without a hair band, and slipped her glasses on.Technically they were sunglasses, but with their light reactive properties, the lenses only darkened in the sun. Stepping back Stella smiled, she looked different enough from herself that she should be able to walk right past every one with out being stopped.Staring her reflection in the eye Stella said “you've got this.” As much as she'd like to stay and receive medical assistance, every fibre of her being was screaming at her to run, that the men in suits were Bad News.Straightening her back, Stella left the restroom, walking calmly down the hall, barely sparing a glance at the men in suits who were still waiting for the blonde in the hospital gown to come back.No one spared Stella a second glance.
Cloud Tower : Magix
“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!” Glass shattered as a white haired witch let loose a blast of energy, rage contorted her face as she glared at the ring before her. Nearby by, two other witches were watching her with a hint of fear, more afraid of her rage, than they were angry at the ring. “NOTHING!????? HOW!? This trinket is useless to us!”“Icy-”“WHAT!”The brunette flinched back slightly, “The Ring of Solaria is still really powerful-”“But it's not the Dragon Fire!”The witch in red leaned forward, “but maybe we can use its power to find the Dragon Fire?”Icy eyed her thoughtfully, a malicious grin forming on her face.
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Gardenia : Earth
Stella was a princess, and she'd be the first to tell you that she was used to the finer things in life, and getting whatever she wanted, whenever she wanted.But being a princess also came with certain types of training, including how to deal with being kidnapped, and while Stella wasn't currently in the clutches of of abductors, she had certainly been kidnapped.She had to prioritise, she needed to get in contact with her people, find a way to get home, or to Alfea, but all of those things would need magic.So she needed to recharge, which would be easier if the sun was up, but for now, moonlight would have to do. She'd need food, hydration, somewhere to get a good nights rest.She could rough it, but that wouldn't be safe, she needed to find somewhere safe.She needed more information, and she needed to speak the language.And she needed a map, because she was fairly certain she'd passed that road sign three times already. But the written language of this world was strange so she could have be wrong.
Roxy eyed the ginger haired girl sitting at the booth, she'd been there for almost an hour, people watching. The girl also hadn't ordered anything more than a water, though Roxy thought that might have been because the girl spoke very little English.Still...“Hey,” the girl's eyes darted to her, alarm written across her face, before being smoothed off for a friendly, somewhat air-headed look. “Look, I'm sorry but, you either need to order something or leave, I-”A guilty look, followed by worry. At least the girl understood English well enough to understand what Roxy was telling her.“I am... sorry.” The girl's accent was better than it had been when she arrived. Way better. “I am... not having money. I am... being lost.”“Well, have you tired going to the police?” Another wave of confusion passed over the girl's face, then clarity and fear.“Already it is tried, they calling of the bad men.” Roxy's brow scrunched, her mind turning over what she'd learned. Looking closer at the girl, Roxy could see a bruise peaking over the collar of her long-sleeved shirt.She sighed deeply, “I'll tell you what, we have to throw out some of the desserts at set intervals, it a freshness-health and safety thing, they're actually good for a half hour after the limit. How about next time I clear the snack trays, I send a few your way. On me.”The briefest flicker of distaste crossed the girl's face, but it was chased away by a look of such gratitude that Roxy couldn't find it in herself to be annoyed.The girl took her hand delicately and smiled, “all gratitude... thank you.”
As Roxy neared the bar, she saw a pair of men in dark suits talking to her father. Grabbing one of the juice mixes behind the bar to get close enough to hear, Roxy dropped a few eaves. The guys dressed like they were in the MIB were looking for a young woman who'd disappeared from the nearby hospital. The girl was mentally unstable and posed a danger to others.Allegedly.
“Stella?” Stella froze, “stay casual, two suits at the bar, just act normal, they should leave soon. In the meantime, here are your eat-em-sooner-than-later desserts. And some more water.”Stella watched the girl with the magenta and blonde ombré as she refilled the cup. The girl (Roxy according to her name badge... maybe?) genuinely seemed to want to help Stella out. But whether purely out of the goodness of her own heart, or some ulterior motive, remained to be seen.Stella wanted to believe, but if the suits were here already...“Thank you,” Roxy smiled at the thanks.“No worries, if I thought you were what they said it might be a different story but... those guys are ringing all the alarms, you know?”“Yes, I know.”“I thought I was imagining it, but your accent gets better every time I come over here.”Stella ducked her head at the praise, “I am learning,” she tapped her ear and gestured around the room, at the multitude of people and their conversations.“Huh,” Roxy seemed shocked and impressed. “Well, you keep it up. I have to go wait a few more tables.”Stella watched the girl walk away for a minute before turning to her food, it looked like fruit sundaes. The fructose would be a big help regenerating her power, but carbs would have been better. Still, beggars couldn't be choosers, and Stella was lucky to have gotten this much.With food seen to for the time being Stella could focus on other things, she still needed a safe place to sleep, but she didn't want to impose on Roxy's good will much further.In her travels thus far, Stella still hadn't been able to figure out what world she was on, but she had come to the disturbing conclusion this world had no magical beings. She'd yet to see anyone do anything that wasn't explainable by strictly technological capabilities, and she'd felt no traces of magic either. Granter her own abilities were currently very lacking, but she still should have been able to feel something.At least she wouldn't have to worry too much about hygiene. The beach had several shower blocks for beach goers, Stella had enough power to pull out her cases and toiletries bag a few times with out getting winded. By the time she'd need them, she estimated she would have regenerated enough to not have to worry about the magical cost.Of course, she'd rather focus on healing, but as long as she focused her healing on the more prominent injuries, she could spare a little of her magic for other things.She'd also need money, but she had an idea about that, she'd just need to ask Roxy if she knew of any pawn stores in the area. As much as it pained Stella to part with her things, she had plenty of gold jewellery in her jewellery box, and gold, being a heavy metal, was valuable on every planet.Heaving a sigh, Stella slipped her fingers under the arms of her clear-lensed sunglasses, and rubbed her temples.She'd spent so long denying this part of herself, drawing the identity of air-headed fashionista around herself like armour so people would like her, and stop teasing her, and it was her intellect and planning capabilities that were going to save her.There was a word for this, Stella was sure.
Roxy had to check the computer in the backroom to find a pawn store that was open all night in Gardenia, and she'd printed off a map while she there for Stella to follow, for which the temporary ginger was very grateful.Walking to the store had taken almost two hours, by which time the pre-dawn chill had begun, causing Stella to shiver, and duck into an alley to pull out a jacket from her stored suitcases. From what she'd learned from the helpful waitress, the city she was now in, Gardenia, was in the early stages of summer. If the day before, and the night which was nearing its end were any indication, summers on this world, or at least this part of it, were much cooler than summers on Solaria.Walking through the dark city had set her paranoia to overdrive. Every shadow was a ghoul looking to pounce, every passing vehicle was the men in suits.When she finally made it to the store, Stella was well and truly missing home.Double checking the name on the storefront and the name on her paper, Stella knocked on the night hours window.A moment later a man appeared on the other side of the glass.“Hi, what can I do for you?” he gave her a friendly smile.“Uhm, do you buy jewellery?”“We do, have you got some for me?”“I have a few pieces.” The man opened a tray slot at the bottom of the window and indicated for Stella to put her items in. She dropped three rings in the tray.“Wow, these look great, do you know anything about them?”“I do,” Stella smiled and gave the man the specifications of the rings, the gold, the stones, all the carats (and karats), internally sighing with relief as the Universal Translation Spell managed all the terms.The man listened as he examined all the rings, finally he pulled out a notepad and a calculator and calculated some values. When he gave her the price he was willing to offer, she raised a brow and stared him dead in the eye.“And is that the best offer you can give me based on the value of the rings.”“Absolutely,” he gave her a nod, and Stella relaxed, he hadn't done the little thing she noticed people did when she gave them that look, so the man was either a better liar than anyone she had ever met, or he was telling the truth.Or the locals were the biological exception and none of them did the thing.“Well alright then, I'll trust you on this, because I know how much those are worth back home, but I'm still learning the local currency value.”“Don't worry, I wouldn't try to rip off my customers, that's bad for business. Now, do you want to come inside and sign the paperwork?”“Paperwork?”“Just to prove the transaction took place,” Stella hadn't thought of that, nodding, she moved to the door and waited to be let in, trying not to let her paranoia tell her it was a trap. “Do you want payment in cash or credit?”“Cash,” Stella said, sitting at the table he showed her to. Filling out the paperwork was a little tricky, the UTS still having a little trouble with the written version of the language, but the man, who introduced himself as Rick, helped to walk her through it.When it asked for a name of the seller, she paused. Roxy had known her name because the suits had known her name, likely because Stella had managed to swap names with one of the nurses at the hospital.The suits would definitely be looking for her under her own name, plus she noticed people here seemed to have more than one name. She thought it might have been a bloodline thing, but she wasn't sure.Picking two random queens of Solaria past, Stella signed the paper -Elaine Thea- and the sale was done.Accepting the cash, Stella put almost all of it straight into a purse in carry space, leaving a hundred dollars in the purse in her physical pocket.She just hoped the money would be enough to survive in this strange world until she could contact home.
As the sun rose over Gardenia, Stella sat at a cafe table, shovelling a forkful of eggs into her mouth with an appreciative hum. They were soft and buttery and warm.As a princess, she'd never wanted for anything (material) in her life, and she knew that she'd only spent one night 'doing it rough,' but she had a new found appreciation for everything in her life. For several long hours, she'd had nothing, not even hope. She couldn't imagine (didn't want to imagine) what would have happened if not for the kindness of Roxy, or Meg, the nurse who'd blocked the men in suits, or Rick in the pawn shop.She had food and drink and sunshine, her magic was replenishing itself, though it would take longer than normal, as most of the magic was being siphoned off to heal her injuries. All she needed now was somewhere to sleep safely, and work on getting in contact with her people.How did non-royals go about securing housing? Her accommodations had always been acquired for her.At a different table, plates clacked together as the waitress who'd brought Stella her breakfast plate, began clearing another diner's meal away.'Well,' Stella thought, sipping her juice, 'can't hurt to ask.'
The Mall was still mostly deserted when Stella arrived, helpfully drawn map-on-a-napkin in hand. As Stella wandered through the mall, trying to find the Realtor the waitress, Sandra, had said was there, she began to feel nervous.So far, barring the incident with the ogre, her luck had been good. But Stella was the Fairy of the Shining Sun and Radiant Moon, not the Fairy of Good Luck, her luck wasn't guaranteed to hold. She couldn't trust everyone on this world to be as compassionate as those that had helped her, the Men in Suits were proof of that.Spotting the sign for Gardenia Realty, Stella shook off her gloom, telling herself she'd be fine, she headed in.There was a single person inside, seated behind a neat desk.“Good morning, how can I help you?” The woman grinned, white-white teeth behind shocking red lipstick. Stella plastered on a return smile before answering.“Hi, um, bit embarrassing actually, I was supposed to move here for work, only I got here yesterday and: surprise! The apartment my work had, allegedly, rented for me was in use by someone else, so now I'm here and I have nowhere to stay, and not a lot of allowance for an apartment. Think you can help?”The woman looked aghast, “I hope your company didn't rent the apartment through us?”“NO, no, you were actually suggested by a local,” Stella said, waving her hand to dismiss the possibility.“Oh good, I would hate for one of my team to be responsible for putting you out like that. Now, we have several apartments at the moment, we can start with the cheapest, unfortunately they are all per month contracts, so starting price is around eight hundred dollars per.”“That... would work, but, uh, I was told to make a cash payment for my first rent when I got here, so my boss said to use the cash from that?”“Cash payments are no problem, were you looking for any particular area of the city?”“At the moment I'm ready to take what I can get, where ever I can get, as long as it's clean and secure.”
By early afternoon, Stella had a short list of three apartments of the seven she'd visited with the Realtor, Yvonne. As the two young women sat in Yvonne's car, Stella looked over the paperwork for the three on the short list.“I think...” Stella put down one set of paper, eyes darting back and forth between the last two, “this one.” The one she'd chosen was not the cheapest on the list, nor the fanciest, or the best either, but it did have large windows that let in plenty of sunlight, and the price was on the lower end of the scale.It also came partially furnished with a bed, a couch and a television. Also some electronic goods like an oven and a washing machine, which Stella doubted she'd use.Plus it was nice and close to a shopping centre, which was always a bonus in Stella's book.
The sun was setting when Stella finally walked into her new apartment – or rather, Elaine Thea's new apartment – grocery bag in arms, loaded with 'instant' meals and a few toiletries.She'd had to use an annoyingly large chunk of her annoyingly limited reservoir of recovered magic in order to cast a glamour over her old student ID. It had been a fake-ID spell she'd used a few times for the clubs in Magix, changing what was there into what needed to be there.Tricky and tiring, but worth it.Shoving most of her meals into the fridge, Stella began poking at the microwave, heating up the few meals she'd left out. It was kind of amazing to her in a way, how a world so cut off from the rest of the galaxy, had such similar (if archaic) technology.While her heat-and-eats began heating, she wrestled with the remote control, turning the television on after only a minute of button pressing.She flicked through channel after channel, but none of them seemed to be airing the news. With a frustrated huff, she threw the remote lightly onto the couch and stalked back to the kitchen to retrieve her food, the TV's audio filling the silent room.'Honestly,' Stella opened her meal packet with more aggression than necessary, 'how am I supposed to gather information about my current environment if there's no news channel?!'She speared a pathetic looking bean with her plastic fork, and then without reason, kept stabbing at the tray, a frustrated, strangled growl tearing itself from her throat. She slammed the fork down and rubbed at her eyes as hot tears began spilling down her cheeks.Alone in the safety of her apartment, Stella finally allowed herself to feel the reality of her situation, and she wept.
Alfea : Magix
“Faragonda?”“Griselda, come in,” The headmistress resettled her glasses as her friend entered her office, “I know that look, who's already asking for expulsion?” the white haired fairy's lips twitched into a smile, a feeling of dread overshadowing her mirth when Griselda didn't immediately start ranting.“Princess Stella of Solaria and Princess Varanda of Callisto didn't sign in, I can't find any sign of them and I made it very clear to princess Stella that she was to arrive on time. She's still in trouble from her escapades last year.”“I see,” Faragonda frowned, reaching for her crystal ball, “I'll contact Solaria and find out whether there was any delay on their end.”
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Stella stepped out of the shower as the sun was rising. She'd slept fitfully through the night, exhausted physically from the long night and day of worried wandering, but her mind continued to throw problems at her.Could the men in suits track her? What did they want with her? Was her physiology that different from the locals? Was that noise someone breaking in? What was the local political climate like? How hard would it be for Stella to find the things she'd need to contact home? How much danger was she actually in?Wiping the condensation from the mirror, Stella eyed her reflection critically. Her hair remained the same orange-brown of her father, the bruises on her skin still looked fresh, which was expected. Breathing deeply and applying a slight amount of pressure, Stella checked her bones for breaks, but while her body ached, she felt no sharp stab that came with bone injuries.She sighed with relief, knowing the worst of the healing was out of the way. Stella had been worried about her magical reserves, trying to decide if it would have been better to force all of her reserves directly into healing, which would have left her physically whole, but depleted of magic, or wait and allow the natural siphon of her returning magic, which would have delayed her physical healing but ensured she had some power to work with.With her bones healed, allowing the natural siphoning process to take place was her safest option.Turning from the mirror, Stella pulled one of her suitcases from its carry space, grimacing when it opened to reveal a selection of short skirts.'I really need to keep my carry space in better order,' she shoved the suitcase back and pulled out another, this one containing clothes she could wear out without showing off her bruising. If she was staying in, the skirts wouldn't have been a problem, and perhaps she should have taken the day to rest and recuperate, but she'd woken so many times in the night, convinced her dreams of men in suits breaking in were actually happening.She needed to get off this planet.
Stepping into the local library took more determination than it should have, old taunts echoed in Stella's head as she slipped into the cold, air-conditioned building.'Seriously,' she snarled mentally, 'who the heck thinks taunting the future queen is a good idea, stupid brats.' Stella banished the old hurts from her mind, mourning her ability to give a decent hair flick alongside the dismissal, her hair bound up in cute, woven buns.“Can, can I help you?” A quite voice from off to the side of the entrance called out to her, Stella turned, the lenses of her glasses rapidly shifting back to clear inside the artificial light.“I'm here for knowledge,” Stella said with mock seriousness, stepping closer to the young woman at the counter. “You wouldn't happen to know where I can find the books on space stuff and communications?” Stella let a chagrined smile onto her face, trying to put the woman at ease.“Sure,” the woman stood, “I can show you if you'd like?”“That would be great-” Stella caught sight of a name tag “-thanks Pattie.”As the woman led Stella through the shelving she asked, “how's your morning been so far?”“Not bad,” Stella replied vaguely.“You just looked kind of... scowly when you came in.”“Oh!” The princess let herself feel a second of shame for her slip, before shoving it to the side and covering it up with a lie, “I'm sorry, I didn't mean to bring my bad attitude with me. My boarding school does summer homework, and I wanted to get it out of the way so I could enjoy my break, you know? Unlike certain other people.”“Let me guess: team assignment everyone else is happy to leave until the night before going back?”“Got it in one,” Stella let out a sigh, “on the bright side, the teacher this is for, is more than happy to do individual grades so: I'm throwing those slackers under the bus.”She tried not to let her confusion show as her figure of speech came out strangely, why would she throw people under a moving vehicle? That was a horrible thing to do.“Urgh, I wish my teachers would do that, seriously, last group assignment was the worst. In other news, uh...” Pattie made a face and a small pointing gesture at Stella, like she was trying to remember something.“Oh, sorry, I'm Elaine,” the false name slid from her mouth with ease. She'd taken several minutes to practice in the mirror before she'd left the apartment.“Elaine, right, here is our 'space stuff' section. All our information for communications, well I assume you mean like radio, telephone, email? Anyway all that stuff is-” Pattie gave directions with her hands and arms as well as her words, telling Stella how to find the categories she was after, and where to find the tables and chairs she could work at. “And if you want to take any of the books home, come find me at the front desk, I'll set you up with a card.”“Thank you so much, you are the best,” Pattie snorted and ducked her head away, a grin and a blush covering her face at Stella's praise.“No problem,” Pattie started walking backwards in the direction of her desk, “good luck with your assignment.”“Thank you,” Stella mouthed at the retreating girl, before turning to the books. “Okay,” she whispered, “star charts, star charts.” She ran her fingers across the book spines, pulling out anything that sounded like it could help.
At the front desk of the library, the young assistant librarian covered her red face with her hands, trying not to squeal. She wiggled happily as a feeling of warmth bubbled inside her. Mid-wriggle Pattie froze.'Holy crap,' she knew this feeling, 'am I Bi?'Elaine's words, 'you are the best,' floated through Pattie's head and she had to stop herself from squealing all over again. Her sexuality crisis could wait, a super pretty girl had just told her she was 'the best.'
“Pattie?” the young woman startled so hard she almost dropped her sandwich.“Elaine!? Hey,” Pattie shoved her lunch back into its wrapper and checked her mouth for food smears. “What's up?”“Sorry, I didn't realise I'd be here so long, and I didn't think I could eat in the library anyway,” the duo glanced at the half hidden sandwich.Pattie threw a hand over it and whispered “you saw nothing. Librarian privileges.”Stella let out a little huff of laughter, “saw nothing, got it. Uhm, so I'm just going to head over to the café and grab some lunch, I shouldn't be more than an hour, is it alright if I leave my books at the table I was working at?”It took Pattie a second to catch up with the conversation, her embarrassment causing her brain to lag behind. “Sure, uh, yeah that's fine. I mean, I'd take my personal equipment with me if I was you, but the books are fine where they are, I'll let the other librarian on duty know to leave them.”Stella lifted her satchel bag and patted it gently, “got my stuff, I'll see you after lunch.”As Stella walked to the door Pattie sighed, “Oh my god I'm bi.” The doors closed with a quiet 'thg', and she blanched, “please don't let her have heard me, please don't let her have heard meeee.”Walking down the steps Stella giggled, “still got it.”
Stella was in trouble. A lot of trouble.
Every star chart she'd looked over had led her to one conclusion: she wasn't as lost as she'd assumed.Which sounded amazing, but in reality, was far worse.She was on Albion, a colony world where fairies had been hunted to extinction, a world that had been quarantined from the rest of the Dimension as a result. She was as far from the Magical Dimension as it was possible to get, without actually leaving.No one knew what had really happened in the last days of Tir Nan Og, but there were theories, each crazier than the last. Queen Morgana had sent out a message across the Dimension, telling everyone to stay away while her people cast a Great Spell. When the energy emissions had died down, and people had gone to investigate, all traces of the fairy cities, of magic and the fairies themselves, were gone.The Planet's energy fields were warped, inexplicably draining its own magic, and nothing anyone had done, could undo it.The problem didn't begin and end there though, not for Stella. The quarantine wasn't just because of the assumed genocide. If she didn't take steps to protect her magical core, the warped planetary fields would begin to drain her magic as well.
Stella groaned as she dumped her stack of books onto her kitchen bench. Pattie had been kind enough to warn her about the Summer Activities the library participated in, including the book readings for small children which would begin the following day. So Stella had done the smart thing, and taken Pattie up on her offer of a library card; toting the heavy pile of books all the way back to her apartment was a small price to pay for the peace to actually study.
Throwing a meal into her microwave, Stella turned on her tv, looking for the news station. She managed to catch the last fifteen minutes of a news broadcast, and learned nothing of interest. She left the television on while she took a shower, and came back to a strange movie about a reporter who wore his bright red underwear over a blue unitard while saving his partner who didn't recognise him without his glasses.Stella wasn't sure if that was normal, or if the woman was some level of face-blind; because while glasses helped change the appearance of the face, (the reason Stella was wearing them) they didn't alter it so much that a co-worker would be that confused.Turning the tv off with a muttered 'this planet is so weird,' Stella began sorting through her books, preparing to read up on the planet's communication technology.
Royal Palace : Solaria
“Every guard, every soldier, hire volunteers if we must!” Queen Luna shouted to the assembled military leaders. Beside her, her husband radiated with fury.“Find our daughter!” The assembly hesitated. “GO!”The attendees scrambled for the exits, all preparing for the search. In the throne room Luna sank to her knees while Radius glared holes in the carpet. Rage was so much easier than grief.
Gardenia : Earth
Stella needed a break. Her brain was melting out her ears.Probably.She'd spent a full day studying at the library, plus she'd spent an entire day staying in the apartment with the books she'd brought back, she deserved a break.She'd spent so long pretending, she'd actually forgotten how obnoxious studying was.So, as the sun rose over the city of Gardenia once more, Stella prepared for a day off at the beach. Her bruising was finally faded enough to disappear under a light foundation, so Stella was going to take full advantage to catch some sun rays and bolster her magical energy. At the door she paused, groaning to herself as she back-tracked and grabbed her notebooks, stuffing them in her beach bag to go over. If she felt like it.Stella decided to take a bus to the beach, rather than walk, it was only a few dollars, and the convenience seemed more than worth it. As the bus drove through the streets of Gardenia, Stella's eyes caught on a pair of girls on a bicycle.The one on the parcel tray looked like she'd feel right at home at Cloud Tower, from her sandy-green hair, to her chunky boots. The girl pedalling the bike had flame-orange hair, and as the bus passed them, Stella turned, getting a view of the girl's face.There was a strange familiarity about the girl, but Stella couldn't put her finger on why. Then the bus turned a corner and the pair fell out of sight, Stella shoved the thought away. She'd probably just seen the girl around town.Even in her head, it felt like a lie.
Roxy wasn't sure what to think when she recognised Stella; the young woman was wearing a sarong over a bikini that showed off an impressive amount of skin. Despite Roxy's frown, Stella smiled when she saw the younger teen.
“Hey Roxy,” Stella slid onto a stool across the bar from the waitress, her smile faltering when Roxy's frown didn't lessen, the girl running an eye over Stella's flawless skin.“Oh, yeah, I heal really fast.” When Roxy didn't look impressed, the ginger girl looked around, before leaning close, “I'm also wearing a ridiculous amount of cover up right now. Like, I probably could have started a store, with the amount I'm wearing, no joke.”Stella pulled a bottle from her bag to show the waitress, but Roxy didn't recognise the brand.“Speaking of expenses,” she shove the bottle back into her beach back, and pulled out a purse, “I can't pay you for the help you gave me, but I can pay for the food and drinks now.” Before she could start pulling out money, Roxy waved her off, finally relaxing.“Don't worry about it, you needed the help, and it didn't affect the bar's bottom line. But if you want to pay for your drinks form now on...”“Happily,” Stella grinned, “I didn't even go outside yesterday, so today, I'm treating myself.”“You found a place to stay?” Roxy stepped back from the bar, putting together a mocktail with practised ease.“Yeah, just a little place, but it's all mine,” Stella swapped her cash for the drink and took a sip, “oh this is amazing, what is it?”“It's a sunrise, don't worry, it's virgin, despite being a 'bar,' we don't actually have an alcohol license.”Something about the name made Stella giggle, “it's perfect,” she assured Roxy.“Well, good. You know what else is perfect?” Stella looked up from her second sip, an eyebrow raised curiously. “Your accent, seriously Stella, how did you get that down so fast?”The young woman flinched, “I'm kinda... good with languages? Also, could,” Stella looked around again, worry evident in the lines of her body, “could you call me Elaine?”“Elaine?” Stella nodded, “okay, I can do that... Ste- Elaine, are, are you an illegal immigrant? Is that why those guys...”“No! No, I'm, I'm not... those men aren't after me for being an illegal immigrant.”The girl was curling in on herself, and Roxy felt horrible about it but she pushed a little further, “does it have to do with whoever hurt you?”Stella tensed, when she replied her voice was barely more than a whisper, “I don't know what happened exactly, but they showed up while I was in the hospital. I can't tell you what they want with me, but it is not good.”Roxy leaned across the bar, resting one of her hands gently on Stella's arm, giving her enough time to pull away if she wanted. “I'm sorry for pushing, I shouldn't have done that.”“No; strange foreign woman shows up in your bar needing help and on the run, you have every right to wonder. Although...”“Although?”“When I say it like that it sounds like the start of a trashy detective novel.” The two girls shared a look, before breaking out into giggles, the heavy atmosphere lifted like a light fog in the hot sun.“Roxy!” The younger woman turned towards the interrupting call, eyes settling on her father.“Yeah dad?”“Stop flirting, there's other customers waiting,” the man gave the girls a teasing look, turning back to his own customers. The girls started laughing all over again, even as Roxy drew away.“Ah, I'd better get back to it.”“I'll leave you alone then,” Stella began to move from her seat then stopped, “Oh, uh, I was going to catch some sun, can I-” she lifted the mostly full drink.“Oh yeah, just don't leave the glass in the sand, and stay in the bar's designated area, I'll pick it up on my rounds.”“Cool, I'll see you later,” Stella gave her a little wave and flounced away. Roxy shook her head and got back to work.
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Gardenia : Earth
Despite the early hour, the beach was already covered with visitors. Luckily, Stella managed to find a decent patch of warm sand to lay her beach rug on. Kicking off her sandals, and draining the last of her 'sunrise,' she stuffed her sarong into her bag and laid down, letting the warmth of the sunlight sink into her body.Breathing deeply, she let the world around her fall away, focusing on the solar radiation, the ultra violet waves, the sheer energy transferred from the sun. Piece by piece she wove it into herself, letting it fill the near-empty void where her magic normally lay.A shadow fell over her.“Hey the-”“No,” Stella cut off the masculine voice without opening her eyes, “please stop blocking my sunlight.” The shadow moved, “better thank you.”“Uhh, soo...”“Yes, go ahead, try your pick up line again, just don't block the light.”The new comer coughed awkwardly, “hey there, are you the sun, because you just lit up my world.” He said it with lest conviction than he'd had the first time, but he sounded far less leery too. The words sunk in, and Stella sat up, finally looking at the new comer. She looked him over, looking for any sign, any trace of magic.“Uhhh,” he lifted a hand to adjust his shirt collar, “would 'light of my life' have been a better punchline?”Stella realised she'd been staring too long. “Sit,” she waved to a spot on her rug, “you're giving me a crick in my neck.” The young man sat. “Now, walk me through your thought process, 'am I the sun?'”“Uh, right...” as the boy began to ramble through his choice of pick up lines, Stella noticed a group of incredibly buff looking boys looking at her and her new companion with shock and disbelief.“Stop,” the boy looked startled, “are you only over here because the boys over there made you?” She tilted her head just enough for her visitor to see which direction she meant. He went stiff. “Because I don't appreciate other people using me, especially as a proxy to bully someone.”“I...” Stella could see the strain around his eyes, in the line of his shoulders, the defeat and the wait for further pain. “Yeah, they're the star basketball team at my school, and I've... I wanted to join the team, to play, since my first year, but... even when I finally made the team, they keep benching me, I've been on the team for a year, and I haven't played a single match. They block me out because I'm 'not cool enough' to hang with them, to be on the team.”“Are you a good player?”“I'm good enough to make the team, I train really hard and my uncle says I've got a shot at a scholarship if I play on court as well as I do in training, so yeah, I'm a good player.”“But you need them to think you're 'cool' to play?”“Yeah,” the boy seemed to wilt a little, and Stella made a decision.“Alright... I'm sorry, what was your name?”“Bryant.”“Alright, Bryant, if it will help your credibility, you can hang out with me today. But just for today, once the day is over, you'll have to let me go.”“Really?” Bryant's face lit up, a shadow of doubt in his eyes.“Really, now lie down, I'm in serious need of some sun.” He lay down beside her, “no, lay on your side so it looks like you're talking to me.” Bryant turned, and Stella rolled over, shifting her legs so she was angled towards him, propping her head on her chin as she asked him “tell me a bit about yourself?”Over the next half hour, Stella learned quite a bit about Bryant. He was a senior at one of the local high schools, he played basketball, her had a motorbike and the licence to drive it. He'd also done volunteer work with his school, helping younger children learn to play basketball.Of course Stella wasn't sure what 'basketball' was other than a sport of some kind...She offered vague information of her own, she was Elaine, she went to a boarding school pretty far away, her family had just moved to Gardenia, she was interested in fashion, and recently got into astronomy.Bryant was halfway through a list of places he thought someone new to Gardenia might like to know about, his 'team mates' sauntered over.“Hey, dude, we're gonna go, you coming?” Stella did not care for the new arrivals, at all.Bryant looked between them and Stella, they both knew the boys wanted Bryant to go with them, so Stella did what she did best. She flaunted it. Turning onto her side and propping herself up on her elbow, Stella pouted.“Aw, don't take him away from me, we were just getting to know one another,” with a put upon huff she sat up and reached for her bag, pulling out one of her smaller notebooks and a pen, before handing them to Bryant, “at least give me your phone number?”Bryant turned to the other boys with a 'what can you do' shrug and jotted down his number. His team mates all but dragged him away after that, and Stella caught the words 'hot chic' thrown around, along with 'she's not gonna call,' and 'pity date.''Crap,' Stella realised as she threw the notepad and pen back in her back, 'now I'm actually going to have to get a phone.'“What was that all about?” Roxy asked as she made her way across the sand, a basket on one hip.Stella held out the empty glass for the waitress to take, “the basketball team is hazing Bryant, so I let him sit with me for a while.”“Urgh, sports jocks,” Roxy grimaced, exchanging the glass for a bottle of water from her apron, “here, I didn't know if you'd want another mocktail, but you should stay hydrated.”“Thanks,” Stella took the bottle with a smile.“Eh, I'm putting the cost on your tab.”“Oh, I have a tab now?”“Yep,” Roxy grinned, “but seriously, you want anything else?”Stella thought it over, “no, thanks, I'm good for now. I'll come find you when I leave and settle up.”“Sure, enjoy the sun.”“I will,” She gave Roxy a little finger wave as the younger girl headed back to the bar. Sipping her water, Stella realised there was a chance she'd be approached again, and she really did need to focus on energy absorption. Coming to a decision, Stella pulled out her notebook again, tore out a clean page, then ripped that page into smaller pieces.With her pen poised over one of the scraps, she paused, looking at the loose dry sand around her mat, and considering the cool breeze blowing in of the water. With a huff she closed her notebook over the scrap pieces and tucked the book back in her bag, making sure it was secure before heading down the sand to the tide line to look for shells.It took longer than she would have liked, but she needed the shells to weigh down the paper runes she planned to make. Sticking them under the sand or her mat was a risk, with the way the sand moved the runes would easily be moved out of alignment. And putting scraps of paper, even magically charged ones, on top of anything while there was a breeze blowing was just asking for them to be swept away.As Stella drew the lines and swirls of the runes, she pulled her energy directly from the sun, shunting it straight into her charms. Once the writing was done, she positioned each rune and shell carefully around her mat, and with one last burst of energy, linked them together.In the magically void world around her, the small, simple 'don't bother me' ward hummed loudly to her senses.Stella wavered as she moved back to the centre of her mat, she took a deep breath, frowning as she recalculated her intake/output of energy for the ward.'Please don't let the core leeching have started already.' She took another drink from her bottle, pulled one of her snack bars from her bag and downed it, then finally and at last, settled back down to re-energise.Roxy, put her hand against the newly empty table, feeling slightly dizzy. She'd been planning to check on Stella Elaine during her rounds, but as she'd looked over to the blonde and thought about going over, she'd been hit with a sudden and intense 'let's not do that' feeling.But she had to, it was her job, and she hadn't checked on the older girls in over two hours, not since she'd brought the girl a bottle of water.But maybe she should leave 'Elaine' alone.Shaking her head lightly, Roxy decided to leave Elaine for later, if the girl needed something, she'd come up to the bar itself.And just like that, any traces of dizziness melted away.'Weird.'As the sun began to set, Stella made her way to the bar, looking for Roxy. The younger girl saw her first.“How are you not sun burnt?” she asked as Stella walked over.“I used the appropriate levels of sun protection,” Stella shrugged, “so, about my tab?”“Follow me to the register,” Roxy swept her hand in the direction they needed to go and began walking. “So...”“So?”“I had the weirdest... I don't even know what, earlier,” Roxy looked uncertain whether she wanted to continue or not, so Stella made an encouraging noise. “It's just, I mean it was probably just the most random dizzy spell ever, but when I tried to come by to check on you earlier, I kind of got dizzy and just, really didn't want to bother you. My teeth kind of buzzed too.”Stella tried not to gape as Roxy slid behind the bar, “That is just- that is super weird,” she'd never heard of someone registering the ward like that. But then, the strange magical fields of this planet could have maybe produced an unusual sensory reaction to spells. Possibly.Roxy shouldn't have even noticed the effects, just constantly decided to check on Stella later.“I know right,” Roxy derailed the conversation for a few seconds to pull up Stella's tab, which the fairy paid quickly.“But like you said,” Stella got them back on topic, “it was probably just a weird, random dizzy spell, how's your blood-sugar?”“Fine, I drank plenty of juice, ate some food.” Roxy wrinkled her nose and scoffed, “Sorry, I'm just being weird, I saw one of the customers reading Harry Potter earlier, and my brain is trying to convince me that it was an anti-muggle ward.” Roxy chuckled quietly until she realised Stella wasn't laughing it off with her.“It wasn't a magic ward right, you're not like, a witch are you?”Stella's reaction was instant and derisive, “a witch? Ew no,” seeing the waitress's expression she added, “I'm a fairy princess from another planet, obviously.” She gave an over the top huff and met Roxy's eyes.The duo burst into giggles.After leaving the beach, Stella had headed over to the shopping centre to pick up a new phone, only to discover it would have taken more of her unfortunately shrinking funds than she was currently prepared to part with when she had another option. With a silent apology to Bryant, she headed to the hospital instead. The plan was to find her old, broken phone which had been taken with the rest of her things at the hospital, and figure out how to repair it. She knew twenty-seven different repair spells, surely one of those would get the job done, even with her limited knowledge of technology.The day in the sun had given her back almost twenty percent of her magic, and she'd managed to craft a shielding around her core to stop any theft of her magic by the planet's fields.With her current power level, she felt confidant she could handle any problems that might crop up, but she was also aware things had a tendency to go wrong in the worst possible ways when you didn't plan for it.Stella had changed out off her sarong before heading to the mall, slipping on a simple sun dress and light weight jacket. As she neared the hospital she touched the weak repelling ward she'd prepared, letting a small amount of power into the lines, and activating the charm.She couldn't remember if she'd seen cameras in the halls, but just in case, she called up a slip-light field. A basic invisibility spell she'd mastered as a child, it caused the light to slip around her as if she wasn't there. Coupled with the don't-touch-me ward in her pocket, she felt sure she could slip into the hospital unnoticed.Finding her things once she got in would be a whole other matter.It took Stella far too long to find the area of the hospital she'd been treated in, even longer to figure out her things weren't there. Because of course they weren't, Stella had apparently used up her store of 'life is easy' good luck.She did, however, managed to track down a copy of her medical file. Running her eyes over the contents, everything looked normal to her, but there were hand written notes, both on the documents and on sticky notes, all of which seemed to say her physiology was extraordinary.Shoving the file into her carry space, she made a mental note to look up the Local biology at the library. She also made a note to ask Pattie about the 'Harry Potter' book Roxy had mentioned several hours prior.
Arcas : Callisto
Nova slipped through a set of heavy wooden doors and into the private solar of Princess Varanda, the fairy she sought sat on a small chaise, eyes unseeing as they stared through the glass of the windows.“Your highness?” The princess was slow to respond to Nova's call, but as she turned, Nova saw her tear stained cheeks and the redness of her eyes. “I'm sorry to intrude your highness.”“...no, it's alright, you're Stella's friend... Nova, wasn't it?”“Yes your highness,” Nova did her best to dip into the curtsy appropriate for greeting the princess, “I'm honoured you remember me.”Varanda gave a weak smile, “any friend of Stella's...” sorrow swept over her again, any light-heartedness brushed away in an instant, “what brings you here, Nova of Solaria?”With a steadying breath, Nova stepped forwards and dropped lightly to one knee, “your highness, I know you've probably answered this question a thousand times and ten already, but please, would you tell me of the last few times you contacted my princess, any details at all? If you could bring yourself to share them with me, I would be most grateful.”Varanda began to weep, “I don't know anything, I wish I did, I truly do, but every thing seemed fine-” Nova moved to sit beside the princess, throwing propriety to the wind as she pulled the girl into an embrace, just as she would with Stella. But Stella had been missing for days now, and no one had any leads.In the quiet of the solar, Varanda told Nova everything she knew, and the Solarian had to admit, there was nothing to be learned, no hint of a clue to be found.Together the two girls sat and worried for their friend.
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Gardenia : Earth
As Stella headed to the library, the day after her beach adventure, she contemplated the pros and cons of breaking into the local police stations in pursuit of her lost things.Pro, there was a chance of getting her things back.Con, there were several police precincts in the entirety of Gardenia and there was a chance she's have to check every single one to find her things.Pro, she'd save money on a phone, maybe.Con, the police might not even have her things, considering the attitude of the men in suits.Con, it would cost her an uncertain amount of magical energy, depending on how many police stations she'd have to break into.Con, if she got caught, she'd end up in custody of either the police, or the men in suits, depending on how co-operative the two agencies were.Stella sighed as she stepped into the cool air conditioned environment of the library. She'd actually have to buy herself a phone.“Elaine!” Stella smiled at the greeting.“Hey Pattie, I'm here to return my books,” Stella glanced at the stack in her arms, then in a self-depreciating tone added, “obviously.”“Haha, yeah, um, so how's your, um, your school project going?”“It's, well it's going, I think I might need some more books, but I kind of also,” Stella adjusted her glasses self-consciously, “you, wouldn't happen to know a book called 'Harry Potter' would you?”Pattie's jaw dropped, “a book? Elaine, honey, Harry Potter is a series.”“Oh,” from the way Pattie said it, Stella could tell the series was a popular one, and the 'being a series' is something Stella should have known. “I like your earrings by the way, they're very cute.”'Yes, Stella, good save, excellent, well done, way to change the subject.'Pattie snorted, still looking at Stella with disbelief, though now it was amused rather than shocked. “Wow, thank you, I just got them, and please, let me help you, you poor dear woman.” Pattie pushed herself away from the desk and began heading towards the shelves, “young teen fantasy is this way.”As Pattie left Elaine in the aisle with the anatomy books and all five of the Harry Potter books, she finally let herself grin. Elaine had noticed her new earrings, Elaine had thought they were cute.Pattie slapped herself lightly on both cheeks to bring herself back to reality, she really had to get this crush of hers under control.A sharp shriek sounded through the library, and Pattie winced, heading to the children's section to wrangle some ankle-biters.Stella was debating anatomy texts and ignoring the raucous sounds of children when something slammed into her legs. Looking down she saw a small child clinging to her.“Hello?” Stella smiled, worried the child would start crying at any moment, but the little girl grinned.“You're pretty,” Stella's smile became more genuine at the girl's words.“Thank you,” when the child said nothing, Stella added, “so are you.”The child giggled, “are you a princess?”“I am,” Stella confessed, her voice dropping to a stage whisper, “but you can't tell any one, because I'm undercover.”The little girl did her best to look serious as she nodded her understanding, and clung tighter.“Hey sweetie,” Stella looked through the gaps in the books, “where are your caregivers?”“Mummy and Daddy are working now, I'm here for the colouring books.”It took a few seconds for Stella to realise the girl must have been attending the summer activities the library was offerring.“Well then, why don't we go back to the colouring books?”“Okay,” the little girl let go of Stella's legs and grabbed for her free hand, pulling her along.“So what kind of things do you like to colour sweetie?”The girl's face scrunched at Stella's attempts at small talk, “I'm Cassie.”“Hi Cassie, I'm Elaine,” Cassie stopped, frowning up at Stella like she was trying to figure something out. “What's wrong Cassie?”Cassie shrugged, “you lied?”“When?”“Just now, you lied.” Stella felt like ice was sliding down her spine, she knelt down.“What did I lie about?”“Your name.”Stella felt like all the air had been pulled out of her lungs, she shut her eyes and let her rejuvenated magic spill through her optical nerves, opening them she observed the girl before her.Cassie gasped as glowing golden irises skimmed over her.“You are a very special girl Cassie,” Stella let the magic fade back into her core, “and you're right, Elaine isn't my real name, I'm an undercover princess though, remember, I'm hiding from some very bad people right now, so I have to pretend to be Elaine.”“I understand,” Cassie gave Stella such a serious look that the princess believed her.Smiling, Stella moved back to safer topics, “so Cassie, you were telling me about things you liked.”“I like fairies,” came the near instant reply, “and Hermione.”“Hermione?” Stella tilted her head.“From the books,” Cassie pointed at the stack of books under Stella's arm.“Oh, well, I haven't read these yet-” Cassie's gasp cut Stella off, the little girl began pulling the princess again.“Come on, there's a comfy chair and you can read with me.”“Okay,” Stella let herself be pulled into the children's section of the library and into the very squishy arm chair. The children all quieted as she arrived, their attention drawn to her like moths to a flame.Stella wondered, as she settled into the chair, if the these children still carried a spark of magic like Cassie, cores not yet stable enough to be victim to the effects of the world's drain.Nearby, Pattie and another adult stared in awe as 'Elaine' put her four of her five books by her feet, welcoming one of the children onto her lap as she began to read, the children dropping everything to sit by her, varying degrees of awe on their faces.“Mr and Mrs Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much.”Several hours later, Stella was surprisingly tired, and her voice felt raw. The group had had to take a few breaks for bathroom and food related reasons, so they were only half way through the book, but Stella doubted if she could read any longer.Plus parents had begun showing up to pick up their children.As Stella saw the last child off, the assistant who wasn't Pattie sidled up to her, she had a lilting voice, with an accent Stella didn't now the origins of.“I don't know how you did that, but it was bloody impressive,” Stella shrugged, turning to face the young woman properly.“I have no idea either,” her voice gave on the last word, and Stella began coughing, the young woman held out a mug if what looked and smelled like tea.“I'm Kellina, call me Kelli,” Stella took the mug and sipped gratefully.“Elaine,” Stella took another sip, she could taste honey and herbs.“So, Pattie says you have school projects to work on, and I can't pay you, but if you'd like to come back tomorrow...”“Have to finish the book,” Stella said, and a small tension she hadn't noticed seeped out of Kelli's shoulders.“Thank god, I thought I was ready for the kids, but I was so bloody wrong, and I can't find any one else to help.” The duo shared a grin, “I really can't pay you though, just, putting that out up front.”Stella shrugged, “that's okay, I had fun with the kids.”“Fantastic.”With her plans to find her broken phone derailed, and several hours of her day gone, it was early evening when Stella returned to the mall to buy a new phone. Her first action was to send Bryant a text message on the (for Stella) vintage technology flip phone, engaging in a text conversation as she wandered back to her apartment.Apparently, her allowing him to hang out with her had done wonders for the team's attitude towards him. She let him know she was happy to have helped.Days spent in the library with the children were long and taxing on Stella's voice, but the kids were lovely, and after they went home for the day, Stella was able to find books to take home for the night to read in silence, slowly learning everything she could about the world she'd found herself in.It turned out that yes, her anatomy was a little weird, the 'Earth' locals had no knowledge of helion cells, which were common on several worlds such as Solaria and Lynphea. Green corpuscles where totally unheard of as well, which was just plain weird, since they knew about red and white corpuscles.Of course, it wasn't all reading with the kids, the second day of Stella's child minding job, after they finished the Philosopher's stone (which she'd been told was the exact same as the Sorcerer's Stone, but in 'the original British') Stella and Kelli had the kids finish the day off by drawing what they thought a magic school should look like.Stella, naturally, drew Alfea as best she could, but she was better at clothing silhouettes than buildings, so it turned out a little wonky. But at least it had glitter.“Hey,” Roxy smiled as Stella slid into a stool at the bar, “Haven't seen you for a few days, how have you been?”“Busy,” Stella smiled back, “I've been volunteering at the library, helping with the kids.”“Nice, you want another sunrise?” Roxy gestured to the various bottles on her side of the bar.“Sure,” Stella coughed lightly as she replied.“You coming down with something?”“Nah,” the ginger chuckled, “I've been reading the Harry Potter series to the kids, we're almost through Chamber of Secrets.”“Oh cool,” Roxy added the final few touches to the drink and slid it over to Stella. “Have you been settling into Gardenia okay?” Stella frowned around her straw.“Yeah, I've been fine, why?”“Those suit guys came back, asking around about 'Stella' again,” Roxy's face gave a grimace of distaste.“Damn,” Stella rubbed a hand over her face, “I hadn't seen hide nor hair of them for ages, I thought they'd given up, assumed I'd moved on.”“So what are you going to do? Just keep keeping your head down?”“Yeah... or maybe I could make a fuss, somewhere not Gardenia.”“Road trip,” Roxy smirked.“Road trip,” Stella confirmed.
Alfea : Magix
“Urgh,” Musa flung herself onto the dormitory couch with far more force than necessary, prompting looks from her two dorm mates.“Are you unwell?” Tecna asked, raising an eyebrow.“I'm pissed off,” Musa spat, “why the heck does everyone think we know anything about princess sunshine's disappearance?”“We were scheduled to be her dorm mates,” Tecna frowned, “from a... very skewed perspective, there is some logic to the conclusion.”“No there isn't,” Flora said, stress evident in her voice, “none of us have so much as spoken to her, we didn't even know we'd be rooming with her, there's no way we could know anything! And I'm sick of people asking me if I do!”“Even her friends from last year aren't getting this kind of attention, and they actually knew her!” Musa added.Tecna moved slightly.“I'm sorry sweetie,” Flora felt ashamed of raising her voice, “I know the people of Zenith aren't very emotionally expressive, but... this is getting to you as well, isn't it?”“The constant interruptions to my studies have produced an unfavourable delay in learning operations, and a measurable decrease in overall health stability.”“You're sick of this shit too,” Musa translated; Tecna nodded.
Western United State : Earth
In truth, Stella had been meaning to make a short trip out of Gardenia anyway. While her research on possible methods of interstellar contact had progressed, so far all the options she'd found meant a long wait time. A very long wait time, so she'd need more funds to survive until help arrived.Unless the event which wiped Tir Nan Og off the map alongside every other trace of magic had missed a single space faring vehicle.Which Stella very much doubted.So, on her way to take care of her financial means, She stopped by a town called Portland in the next state north.Flying the entire way was tiring, especially since she was keeping a slip-light field active around herself as she went. She knew enough about the local technology now to know about satellite imaging. Plus if people below saw her flying about, it would ruin her sudden appearance in Portland and let the men in suits know they'd been in the right city the entire time.Once she arrived, Stella flew low over the city until she found an area with a large gathering of people before landing. Away from the crowds she released her fairy form, checking her back-up travelling headdress and wing ornaments, smoothing down the orange dress she'd intended to wear for the welcome back party at Alfea, she double checked her hair (the ginger wouldn't hold through the transformation to fairy form and Stella couldn't work out why) and dropped the slip-light field, walking boldly into the crowd.As people began to notice her strange attire, she wished she'd thought to bring a stave with her, she heard the click-whir of some cameras and several children calling out about the fairy. Putting her discomfort aside, shoving that childhood voice of doubt way, way down, she continued on, acting like she was just there to see the sights, like every other tourist.It took just twenty minutes for the dark cars to pull up and men in suits to emerge, moving quickly and aggressively towards her. There were far more than just the two she'd seen at the Gardenia hospital.Stella wove her way through tourists, around a corner and disappeared, pulling a slip-light field around herself and transforming, taking off in the space of three steps.Her new flight path took her east and south, into the desert state of Nevada for a city of gambling.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Las Vegas : Earth
Mary was tired, her feet sore from her new heels, when she saw the young woman. She was dressed in white gold and silvery sequence, a matching purse dangling from one arm, and ash blonde hair in a half up-do. She was young, possibly too young to be on the casino floor, but in her hands was a small pile of chips, and she way eyeing the room, looking for something.She seemed to find it near the roulette tables, and Mary moved to intercept as the young woman began making her way towards them.“Hi there,” Mary smiled, matching speeds with the new comer.“Oh! Hi?” The young woman looked unsure about Mary's presence.“I'm Mary, I'm one of the casino hosts, you looked a little lost just now, so I was coming over to help, but you were moving by the time I got here.”“Oh, yes, I wanted to try the roulette tables,” the young woman indicated with her hands, still holding her chips cupped tight, “I didn't know where they were.”“Ah, glad you found them, is this your first time in Vegas?” Mary couldn't place the woman's accent, not even to a continent, it was very unusual.“Yes, it is,” the woman stepped closer to Mary to avoid crashing into another guest, “I just turned twenty-one, and I thought: why not, I have a little bit saved up and I wanted to do something to celebrate.”“Well this is certainly the right town for it,” Mary gave a friendly laugh. “Though I gotta say, you don't look twenty-one.”“Oh, I know,” the woman gave a good natured eye-roll, “I can't walk past a bar with out getting carded, I just hope I get to keep my baby face until all my peers are wrinkly, then it'll be worth it.”Mary tried to hide a snort, “that would be the best outcome, but I do need to ask if they checked your ID at the money exchange window.”“They did, but if you need to check too...” the younger woman stopped by a roulette table which only a few other people beside it, and stacked her chips carefully on the edge before digging into her purse and bringing out a driver's licence.'Alkina Pangari,' Mary checked the details, 'birthday only a week and a half ago.' The license looked real, but something was pinging Mary's intuition.“Alright Alkina-”“Kiki, please,” the newly identified Kiki cut in.“Kiki,” Mary corrected, “ready to win some money?”“Oh yes, you gonna stick around so I don't have to keep whipping out my ID?”“I've got some time,” Mary handed the card back and settled in to watch some roulette.“Are you sure you don't want to play any longer?” Mary asked as she and Stella, or rather, as she and 'Kiki' made their way to the cashing counter. “You're on a winning streak,” Mary pointed out.“I'm sure,” Stella replied, “I gave myself some rules when I decide to come here: no betting more than half of what I had in any one bet, if I lose three times in a row I stop, if I make $20,000, I walk away. I have the twenty, I'm walking away before my luck turns sour.”And it would, that was the cost of the highly illegal 'good luck spell' Stella had been using during the evening. While illegal in every casino in the Magic Dimension, Stella reasoned that Earth had no knowledge of magic, therefore they would have no laws against using it to cheat at roulette.Unfortunately, the spell only borrowed luck from one's self, ensuring good luck now, meant paying with bad luck later. She'd chosen to minimise her fall out by limiting her winnings and playing roulette, a game she could kind of cheat at, and therefore required far less luck to win.In theory, she could clean out every casino on the strip, but the fall out would not have been worth it, and $20,000 was more than enough money to live on for the time being.It would cover her rent for a several months, ensure she had enough for food, and she could by herself a bicycle to make her commute to the library easier. Unexpected costs would be theoretically covered too if Stella's maths was right.Once Stella had exchanged her chips for cash, she handed Mary a one hundred dollar bill.“I'm not sure if that's enough or not for a tip, but thanks for being my lucky charm tonight,” Stella smiled.“Thank you,” Mary said as she accepted the note, “it was my pleasure. Do you want me to call you a limo back to your hotel?”“No, but thanks, it's not far, and I like to walk.”Mary looked dubious, “alright, but you be extra careful, especially with all that money on you.”“I will,” Stella gave a little wave as she walked away, leaving Mary by the door to the casino watching her.The fairy rounded a corner, and pulled up a slip light field before transforming and taking off.In the casino's security office, one of the security officers jerked back from his desk, standing so fast he almost toppled his chair.“Danny?” His boss called out.“Uh,” Danny pulled up the feed's automatic recording, rewinding it and watching the moment Mary's 'date' for the evening vanished mid step in front of one of their parking lot's more hidden camera's. “I... need to go talk to Mary for a bit.”“Why?” His boss frowned, moving to the station to see what had caught Danny's attention.“I think we just had a ghost in the casino.”Despite thorough searching in various databases, Danny would not find an 'Alkina Pangari' anywhere. Over the next few weeks, the story of a ghost patron would trickle around the casino, before being forgotten as just another 'situation normal, weird as hell' event that was the Las Vegas way of life. Skimming over the lights of the city of Las Vegas, Stella considered her 'Alkina' disguise. Using names she'd taken from her mother's side of the family tree, Stella had put together a quick alter ego for the night, one old enough to gamble. Next time she used it, she'd have to pay more attention to the alterations she made to her facial structure, clearly she hadn't done enough this time to make herself look more 'mature'.Pulling off a fancy twirl as she flew, Stella ascended higher up, leaving the lights of Vegas behind, and making a straight shot for Gardenia.Stella stumbled into the library shortly after lunch the day she got back, hair once again ginger.“Hey,” the children turned, swarming her as she entered the activity area, “wow, easy.”“Did you win all the things?” Cassie asked, clinging to Stella's left leg.“I won what I wanted too,” Stella confirmed, ignoring the fact she hadn't told anyone the purpose of her trip, Seers like Cassie were just like that after all. “Now, what are you all up too?”The children pulled her around the room, showing her the crafts they'd done while she'd been gone. Once that was finished, Stella sat down at one of the short tables to draw with the kids, but the chair broke beneath her, sending her tumbling to the floor.“Ow,” Stella picked herself up with a sigh. It had begun.“Are you okay?” Kelli rushed to her side, helping the ginger up.“I'm fine,” Stella replied as she rubbed at what was sure to be a new bruise, “I'm just having a little bit of bad luck.” Cassie giggled.Frowning briefly at the child, Kelli asked “are you sure?” with raised eyebrows of disbelief.“Absolutely,” Stella waved off the concern, taking a cushion from one of the couches while Kelli got rid of the broken seat. Stella made sure to check the ground and the cushion before she put it down and knelt on it.By the end of the drawing session, Stella had acquired five paper cuts, had spilt three separate containers of super fine glitter, and broken innumerable pencil 'leads', two of which snapped when the wood encasing them cracked in Stella's grip.And since no one could find the band-aids, Stella was sporting tissue bits and sticky tape on her hands.
Cloud Tower : Magix
Knut flinched and tried to make himself smaller as Icy trashed the dorm room, expressing her latest rage. She'd been getting progressively worse as things went on.Even the success of their prank at the fairies' party a week ago, a curse on gifts which had resulted in unspeakable horrors (mostly bodily fluids), had well worn off, leaving the ice witch with nothing but mounting fury.“WHY ISN'T IT WORKING?!!?” Frost spread across the floor, creeping rapidly across nearby surfaces as Icy flung a chair across the room.“Maybe the Dragon Fire is too far away?” Stormy suggested, flinching when Icy spun to face her.“Too far away?!”“Stormy may have a point,” Stormy glared at Darcy, the purple clad witch ignored her and went on, “we should think about trying other planets.”Icy stilled, her temper cooling almost instantaneously.“Other planets,” she murmured, a smirk finding its way across her mouth, “that's not a bad idea.”
Gardenia : Earth
“'They reached their familiar, circular dormitory with its five four-poster beds and Harry, looking around, felt he was home at last.'” Stella reached over to the small table beside her 'reading chair' and plucked a book mark from the mug of them. She wedged it firmly between page 74 and 75 and put the book down. She inhaled deeply and let it out slowly.“Oh my gosh that was scary,” she said at last, “dementors sound terrifying, is everyone okay?”Cassie giggled from her place of honour by Stella's feet, “it's okay, beating dementors is easy.”“It is?” Stella leaned down a bit so she could see Cassie better, “it doesn't sound easy.”“Aye,” Kelli agreed from her place by the craft supplies, “it's as easy as a happy thought, and 'expecto patronum.'”“'Expecto patronum'?” Stella looked around at the children who were nodding sagely. “And what does that do?”“It makes a patronus,” Sasha said with a giggle, when Stella looked straight at him with a questioning 'oh?' he continued, “they're ghost animals made of happy memories that fight dementors.”“Ah, I see,” Stella nodded in understanding, “well, I'm still a little scared of the dementors, so I know what our next craft project will be: we're going to make some patronus...es, so it'll will be safe to keep reading.”“That's a great idea,” Kelli agreed, trying not to laugh at the ginger, “and I have plenty of supplies over here, just try not to waste all the glitter again, my supplier's getting suspicious.”Stella snorted and rolled her eyes, even as she ushered the children to the crafting area. After a run of bad luck the day before, which had resulted in at least three bruises and a ruined pair of heels, Stella's luck seemed to have settled. Now she was just a little tired from the amount of magic she'd expended on her trip, since the warped fields of the planet were playing havoc with her body's normal magic regeneration process.The rest of the days activities were filled with drawing and painting, cutting and gluing, and before the last child had gone home for the day, the kids' area was filled with all sorts of drawings and figurines.As Stella tried to peel of a patch of dried glue on her fingers in the aftermath, Kelli gave the creature Stella had made a gentle poke.“What the heck kind of bird is this supposed to be?”“It's an Alicanto,” Stella replied, chagrined, “it's a kid's story from home.”“Alicanto?” Pattie appeared around the shelves with a small pile of books to re-shelve, “never heard of it.”“Go on,” Kelli settled onto the craft table, “tell us the story.”Stella sighed, and began.“The Alicanto were the best flyers in the Kingdom of the Sun, but they were jealous of the Sun's golden beauty and the Moon's silver grace, so they flew across the Starry Sea, to a land rich in ores, and began a diet of precious metals. On and on they ate, until they had consumed so much gold, and so much silver, that their feathers themselves became metal.
“Happily, they cried out to the Sun and the Moon, 'look at us, are were not as glorious and beautiful as you, do we not now shine as bright?'
“'Oh indeed,' said the Sun, 'you are even shinier than we.'
“'You have become quite glamorous,' the Moon agreed, 'but I so enjoyed your feats of aerial acrobatics, will you not put on a display for us, surely now you will look even more amazing.'
“The Alicanto preened, the Sun and the Moon were in awe of them now. With pride, they groomed their precious feathers and prepared to take flight, to undertake their most daring aerial dance yet. But the Alicanto could not rise, no matter how hard they flapped or how fast they ran, they could not lift themselves from the ground. The weight of their magnificent feathers was too much, they had lost the ability to fly.
“The birds despaired, and watching on, the Sun and the Moon were saddened. The Alicanto were more luminescent now, it was true, but they had given up their flight for it, and the Sun and the Moon knew that this new beauty paled in comparison to an Alicanto in flight. So quietly, they spoke together, and came up with a way to help.
“'Do not cry,' the Sun said, 'we will help, drink of my Golden Light instead, drink of the Moon's Silver Light, you will be as beautiful as us and you will still be able to dance across the skies.' At the Sun's words, the Alicanto wept with joy, and drank deeply of the light. When at last the metals were purged from their bodies, the Alicanto took flight.
“They revelled across the skies of a thousand worlds, sharing their joy and their beauty, both new found and old. In their wake was a trail of light and happiness. It is said that the jubilation of the Alicanto was endless, and that they still fly in celebration to this day. If one is very lucky ,they might see the eternal dance of the birds as they travel.”Pattie and Kelli sat silently in awe, staring at the ginger story teller. For the several minutes as she had spoken, they could picture perfectly in their minds the birds and their journey. Unknown to Stella, her voice had taken on a cadence that the duo found enthralling.Origin Stories of the Magical Dimension were true more often than not, and they carried a spark of magic within the words of the tale, an echo of the events themselves. As Stella had shared the story of the Sacred Birds of Solaria, she had also, unwittingly, shared some of the magic of the Solar Kingdom.
The Hall of the Universe : Solaria
Radius lingered in the doorway, watching his wife as she examined the worlds in the Hall of the Universe. Luna seemed faded, far less luminescent than her normal self, Radius wondered if he too had lost his inner glow.He and Luna had been having trouble as of late, but to see her like this...Radius stepped into the Hall, weaving carefully through the planets and stars of the Hall's display, he made his way to the queen as she held one of the worlds in her hands, meditating on its energies.With a tired, defeated sigh, he slipped his arms around her, letting his head rest on her shoulder; seconds later, Luna released the world, her hand settled on Radius's bowed head.“Is... is there any news?” Her voice was dry, and carried the echo of all the tears she'd spilt over the last... Radius tried not to flinch as he realised it had almost been two full weeks since anyone had last seen their baby girl.He shook his head against Luna's shoulder to answer her question, raising up for a moment to explain. “The scouts made it to the Tree of Life, and they found Stella's leaf,” Luna's body relaxed slightly, she'd known, she'd felt that Stella lived, “but they cannot find Stella, they say something is blocking her location from them. They're... aid has been summoned to pursue that lead further.”Radius released his hold as Luna began to turn, tightening his grip again once she had, pressing her face to his collar bone and slipping her own arms around his waist.“What of you my queen?”Luna sobbed, “I have meditated on sixty-two worlds, I cannot feel our daughter's soul on any of them.” Her voice broke a little, dropping down to a whisper as she shared the intimidating nature of her task, “there are thousands still to check, and if I miss her, it will all be for nought, if I fail to look close enough...”“Rest my love,” he pressed a kiss to her hair, “our daughter carries the strength of both our bloodlines, and we have raised her well. She is capable, she will survive until we find her, or she will make her own way home. Have faith.”The royal couple of Solaria spent the next several minutes leaning on one another, before making their way to their bed chambers where Luna lay down to rest.As she slept, she dreamed of a stone castle on a rolling green hill beside a large lake. An army of dark wraiths circled around it, sucking joy from the air.In the sky, a Golden Alicanto with Silver tipped feathers flew through the air, its song brought light where there was gloom, banishing sorrow; beneath the shade of a laurel, a carpet of blue morning glories bloomed.Luna woke with the certainty that everything would be alright. That night, she made love to her husband for the first time in three years.