FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

The morning glow of the desert sun of Praaxis filtered in through the moderately sized room in which a laprine and vulpine creature slept. The room was decorated in a plethora of plants and life that gave the white walls a certain vibrancy that was hard to find in the heated landscape that surrounded them. The large bed took up most of the room, a place of comfort and safety. Little spheres of blue glowed and flitted around the room filling it with a cooling touch of magic that the spirits were happy to give for the bits of magic they got to enjoy each day keeping the room a steady temperature no matter the weather's decision.

The window was left open as it often was, the window sill had small plants and pots on it that held different flowers or even miniature cacti. Each of them flourishing, giving the room such a flowery smell that complimented it's main occupant. The laprine. The creature of plant and life that lay cuddled against the white furred fox with large pointed ears.

The laprine; Priscillia. Hair of gold and pleasantly soft fur in gentle shades of cream, her arms neck and legs decorated in the foliage of plants and life she had bonded with. Wooden antlers that were lucky to be wooden and dulled by her working so as not to harm her bed, large bunny ears, a wiggly bunny nose. Her legs capped with cloven hooves. But who's to forget the strangest part of her? The three eyes that lay closed upon her sleeping face...

A morning so simple, so delightful, it's easy to lose one's self in the comfort of it. Alas, such things aren't to be in a morning like this with the occurrences of the night before. Amidst the golden glow of the sun filtering in, a few golden lights delicately danced into the room, each of them alight with mischief.

An eerie giggle awoke Priscillia with a start, her ears perked and head shooting up, stopped by the draped arm of her friend still wrapped around her from the night before. For that brief moment, the giggle was forgotten and her three eyes fell upon his frame.

He looked so content, just a white fox with the stains of inks upon their hands. A strange excess of fluff and, when they're awake, black eyes and always a mischievous looking smile. Wel, a friend Priscillia had so recently made. But one she had found the spirits loved and adored, who admired and cared for him as his job freed them from curses and capture.

She'd just taught him to see the spirits, and his intentions caused an explosion of magic when he touched them. Her eyes were soft upon him, he always seemed a little more on edge than he let on. She couldn't help but want to protect him and bring him every smile she could. He hid it well, but she knew the pain he carries. Priscillia watched her friend's sleeping body, a smile on her face as they laid next to her in the bed before the giggle played at her ears again.

What a bother! She huffed, she didn't want to try and squirm out of her friend's arm, it was comfortable! The laprine grumped, burying her bunny like nose up against his chest instead, trying to ignore the growing sound of laughter that didn't seem to bother Wel at all. She closed her eyes, though her third stayed watching him as she took a slow breath.

The earthy scent on him had relaxed her just a bit, the comfort of someone else being there and holding them, the weight of an arm and the cozy thump of the heart so close she can hear it clearly. Those large rabbit-like ears of hers caught nigh everything, and the thumps almost drowned the giggles away. It left her with a smile.

It's only when one of the golden sprites flits by her ear and the laugh is too close does she finally wriggle out of her friends arms, very careful and with a strangely practiced stealth to her movement so as not to disturb them that she's soon up and out of bed.

"What...?" Her voice is soft, much quieter than normal for consideration for her friend.

The gold spirits flickered around, her eyes still adjusting to the morning light before realizing what they were, spirits of the desert wind? There's an obvious frustration about them.

"I didn't get you your...? Oh!" she jumps, rushing over to the other side of the room and the multitude of flowers that grew on the greenery that curled up and over a lot of her wall. She whispered to the flower, giving it a soft kiss before plucking it. She plucked a few more in the same manner.

Her lithe form bare to the morning sun Priscillia soon worked to get herself situated with new coverings for herself. She put the flowers on her stand while settling on a bunch white cloths to drape over her body to allow herself some modesty over her breasts and hips tied into place with a golden string.

"I'm so sorry, loves." She apologizes to the angrily flitting spirits. Their voices tickled at her ears, obviously frustrated. One of them knocking over a vase. In that instant, her third eye flicked to the vase, suspending it in the air with an innate magic. "Please, just follow me up to the roof, okay? I'll make it up for you now. Right now, okay?"

She did her best to stay quiet, though her friend's eye peeked at her unbeknownst to her. Watching as the laprine left the room, the golden lights unseen by him. The door is opened soundlessly and closed just as quietly.

He shuffled out of bed shortly after she left to follow after her, his pads easing in the quietness of his step as the door slid open. There's a creak, one that makes him sweat before sliding out to follow.

The hall is long, and Pris is calmly talking to the spirits as she goes, explaining to the golden lights about her night before. The delightful pleasant evening that she had and how she had gotten distracted, more embarrassing is that she didn't censor herself to them either. Just complete honesty.

Wel then heard about Priscillia's moments before with Heka, before their own little date and how she had spent the time beneath her work desk.

The rush she shared through the market before that, and her talking so sweetly of the date and the surprise of his affinity and how the spirits loved him so.

It's going up the stairs then, through different halls. The whole place felt like a maze, it's got to be much bigger than it appeared on the outside when they had arrived the night before. Surely so. He knew it. And so did Pris, she was fully aware of the depth and size of this home was beyond what it should be, it took her years to memorize the paths.

It's just a few more halls before she finally gets to the ladder to the roof, tucked away in one of the smaller libraries full of little books and notes strewn about, the whole room was decorated in a lot of plants too. It seems like Priscillia's own studies and notes took place in this room.

The room is filled top to bottom with different preserved plants in glass spheres. Each of them under small lights, some of them in connected tubes, it looks like a lot are unique, one of a kind. The sides of the room not filled with plants are filled with books or notebooks with papers jutting out of them messily with a certain homely disorder all about. Soft rugs to lessen the sound of her hooves and even a small nest of pillows and blankets that seem recently used next to a stand stacked with more books.

Still, Wel continued to follow. More for curiosity than anything else. Wel's steps had the same practiced silence that even Priscillia had, considering her hooves should be making so much more noise than they do.

Priscillia stops at the top of the ladder, giving a heave to the small door at the top that blends into the white of the ceiling that didn't match the pale green walls. "Right through here, loves, okay?" She speaks to the spirits, easily visible to her but invisible to her friend below, still unaware of his following.

She crawled her way out onto the roof, the door opening to the searing gold of the sun filling the room with light from the hole. The particles of dust in the air visible in the ray of light that she stepped out into.

Wel paused a moment, considering if he should even follow. He already felt like he was somewhere he shouldn't quite be, perhaps he should have stayed back at the room? He looks back, which way was it? He wouldn't be able to find that... With that easily solved, he finds himself turning back to follow along. Making his way up to the ladder in time for something different.

The roof is like one giant gazebo that is open to the air. Some parts of it are broken up to allow the sun to filter through. There are different plants or glass containers holding strange items within. Even the familiar bath he had seen before, near the bath and the twining vines that covered the walls around most of it he spotted the steps from before. Those were along the outside of the house, so there was another way in...? Was it always this big?

Right on one of the benches that lined the roof sat Pris looking out over the rising sun of the desert. Her eyes closed, the warm and dry wind of the desert cutting through their fur. She held the flowers out on her palm, each of them floating up on the golden spirits he couldn't quite see. He could sense something, and Priscillia's voice rang out.

"Sweet lovely darlings, the dears of my heart.

So far away, and so far apart.

Though the distance of our love may strain us quite hard.

It's in the call of a voice, the song of a bard.

A man from far away, sings a song so familiar,

One that rings in a way so peculiar.

It's the call of that voice, that you remember our loves

The song you heard, once deprived of.

The night of memories, so sweet and kind.

Thoughts once lost that now lay defined.

It's through that song, the beauty that night.

That your heart soars with a brand new light.

So call upon me, your hearts will sing.

It's in your love that my voice will ring.

Hear in your heart, your soul, your being.

That my love for you all is freeing.

Hear instead, the brush of my hand.

The whisper of words from a faraway land.

Rest now sweet darlings, my precious old lovers.

Fall into dreams so that you may discover.

The final and last bit of my heart...

It is for you, my last work of art."

Her voice was so soft, so quiet, but the lights around her moved with her voice. A smile on her lips as she sang the song, though not perfect, far from it. It meant something to the spirits, Priscillia laughing as her hand reached out to touch one of them, brushing a claw along them gently as it twirled around her finger in a fine golden light that Wel could see was a swell of magic.

The magic dispersed into a fresh wind, one that was cool and soft against the harsh dry air of the desert. A scent of flowers and a feeling of happiness, the colors seemed sharper, things easier to see. And he watched as Priscillia leaned forward to plant a small kiss to the spirit, the spirit now visible before it flitted away from her rendering itself once again invisible. "Thank you for being understanding, loves."

"That was beautiful." Came Wel's voice, shocking Pris as she turned her head, a sudden blush to her cheeks.

"WEL! You got to stop sneaking up on me! I swear I'm going to accidentally hit you one day!" She huffed, just turning about on the bench to face the approaching fox. Crossing her arms in front of her chest to pout at him.

"Oh come on, I don't think you would." His eyes glittered, taking a seat on the other side of the bench.

"I MIGHT."

"Maybe." There's a pause, and a look of consideration on his face. "Were those the spirits again?"

"Oh? Yes, yes it was. They were the desert wind spirits I had promised something to, and well, uh. I kinda messed that up, so I had to appease them?" Pris tried to explain it shortly.

"By singing?" The fox quirked his head.

"Well, flowers too. I originally promised them flowers, I... Oh, Heka might get mad at me for sharing anything but I feel it's important let's see..." She tapped a green claw against her chin. "Spirits usually don't give their power freely, they're strong, and it makes magi like Heka and I very powerful. But usually, we only request to borrow their powers, and it comes with a price of varied degrees. Depends on their mood." She tapped her paws together, "Oh, yes, right, I shouldn't ramble either, uhm."

Wel tapped her on the shoulder, "Yer fine, besides, I can't learn if you don't share the details, right?"

Priscillia took a second before just nodding to him, "You're right, hah... Okay. Yesterday, when I ran through the markets I used some of the local spirits to skip overhead, it's very small, and they didn't mind. So the price was small, I offered them flowers. Most spells take very little. Communicating or seeing them, is..." She furrowed her brow before continuing, "Very difficult, so our magic is rare. It's harder still, to actually use their power or magic. That you can see them, and that they like you is wonderful. It means they may even give you their power without cost for small things! That's incredible!"

Her giddiness in it and the little kicks in her hooves, looking like she may shoot out of the bench and dance had Wel laugh, "Please, I don't know if it's anything like that. I only saw them with your guidance."

Pris then took his hand, shaking her head. "No, they wanted you to see them. I feel they would have found a way with or without me."

Wel's cheeks burned at the proximity, but she pulled away with a giggle. Leaving him staring for a moment more at the laprine who just looked out over the rest of the town with a grin.

"And so why the song?" He asks again.

"Oh! Right, I got distracted. The song was to make up for being late, spirits are impatient. They're tricky and can be destructive, they would have probably wrecked my room until I gave them what they wanted. It's another reason our magic is dangerous. They were wind spirits. Now think what fire or water spirits might do. To them, their idea of a prank, or something innocent, is very different from us."

Wel listened to her intensely, if he's got spirits around him, it's something he felt is important, and more so the seriousness that grasped at Priscillia's tone kept his attention.

"Sometimes, if they're upset, or angry. If you ask them for something. Their payment may be a lot more than you offered. They're alive too. Everything is. Never use a spirit's magic, unless you're certain you can pay for it."

Wel looked at the pained expression on Priscillia's face, he could see she was mulling something over. "The song was enough then? Where did you learn it...? I'm sorry if it's too many questions." he rubs the back of his head with a large ink stained mitt.

"It's fine, questions are how you learn. The song for them is overpayment, wind spirits love to listen, gossip, sing or dance when in good moods. Our words and song are carried by the wind, so of course they hear everything. And the song was one my mother used to sing."

"Heka?" He asked, bringing a blush to Priscillia's cheeks.

"N-no, uh... Biological one." She stammered out, putting her hands in her lap. "It's a good memory at least! I don't have too many good ones of her--sorry, sorry, haha. I should just get back down to--"

"Well, at least you remember the basics and I don't have to grill those into your head today." A strong voice called out from the stairs to the bath, a large unicorn with an elegant curved horn that stood proud over them, covered in different sand colored furs stared at the both of them, covered by her red robes.

"H-Heka, hey, I, uh..." Priscillia's suddenly a lot more fidgety, Wel sitting next to her trying not to chuckle. Priscillia thumped his chest, angrily whispering at him, "You knew she was there didn't you?" to which there's a small flick of a grin at his lips before his gaze turned away from the both of them, very innocent-like.

"Mom, huh?" Heka's voice brought Priscillia's attention back to her, flustered and aggravated at Wel still she pinched his leg, to which he gave a short yelp. "Priscillia! Stop that. It's unbecoming of you and I still have the lessons in which to grill you for today. The bath can wait, if you're so insistent on disobeying my teachings and actually sharing the knowledge I have given you to somebody I did not permit than I will have you start from scratch." Heka's words were harsh and firm, just the tone making Priscillia's ears burn and wilt.

"Ah, I, I didn't get her in trouble did I? I was just curious." Wel asked, Heka didn't even spare him a glance.

"I'll deal with you too. Most of the fault lay in the laprine girl who's heart always lay in the right place, but doesn't think things through. Stand up, Priscillia. We're going to the practice room."

Priscillia stood at the command, rubbing at her arm and giving a huff. She didn't question it, and began to follow Heka back towards the stairs instead of the ladder she had used, which was closed by an invisible force with a thud. "You too, Wel. I'll not have a stranger wander my home without my supervision, you're not to leave my sight today."

"I... Uh, okay." He seemed confused by the command of it, but it did make sense. He was still mostly a stranger to this home, and it was hers.

Once Pris was close enough she was given a small pat atop the head, earning a confused look from her before being guided along the steps with her white vulpine friend in tow.

The steps down the side of the steps, ones he had taken before took a twist he didn't expect. Instead of leading to the bottom, or even to the ground he had thought it would as it did before. Wel found himself taking sharp turns and steps along with the two girls he now followed, there's a genuine bit of confusion on his face, one which was answered by Heka's "My home, my rules. Including which ways the stairs go."

Priscillia looked back at him with a shrug, showing she didn't quite know how this worked either. They walked for a few minutes, once the stairs led into a dark tunnel lit occasionally by blue candles. Wel watched, about to ask how much longer this was to go before they arrived.

Priscillia seemed uninterested, just putting her paws on her hips. She'd been here so many times before, grumbling. Wel however, looked about with great interest and curiosity at the wide open room. Large braziers of fire, lines of water along the edges, the lush foliage that covered the ceiling. Some of the room brightly lit, other parts lost in darkness. Even large boulders jutting out here and there.

"Priscillia, recite the purpose of the room."

"Ugh. The Room of Elements is a base room for practice with understanding how the spirits of different elements interact with one another. If a spirit is out of harmony with another elemental spirit it causes fights between them. It is the purpose of the Room of Elements to utilize and practice spirit binding with the idea of not ruining that balance in any way." she repeated it in such a drone-like manner, but to Wel, it's fascinating.

"Do you always have to keep the balance?" He asked with interest, Heka shot him a harsh glare.

"None of this is for you. This is to remind her," she says, pointing a finger at Priscillia who promptly poked her tongue out in response, which was grabbed just as fast and tugged, making her squeak. "That spirits aren't to be taught, trifled with, or shared with others for the dangers they cause to people, and the world itself if fools mess with them."

Heka let Priscillia's tongue go, leaving Pris to just stare angrily back as she rubbed at her cheek.

"To the center, Priscillia." Heka commanded, the laprine stepping through the room. "Mind the elements as you walk, do not disturb that which you do not have to. Lest you risk upsetting them on a bad day."

"I. KNOW. I've done this hundreds of times!" Priscillia called back, grumbling.

"Then you'd know to keep your voice down and not disturb the wind spirits. And still you seem to mistake my most basic teaching, to keep it. To. Yourself. It is not to be taught outside of my sight. You know this."

Wel's ears still perked, Priscillia left looking confused and looking to him. He thinks he knows what's happening, and Priscillia is still just grumbling thinking that it is nothing more than punishment.

"Base first. To understand the spirits you must know the flow. Water. To understand water you must know their path. Earth. To understand earth you must know their beginning. Fire. To understand fire you must know their flame. Air. To understand air you must know their love. Nature. To understand nature you must know the truth. Light and Darkness. Though these are the base of your elements, there are infinite more variations, and more to be discovered. We will start here, Priscillia. At the very basic core. Begin with water."

"I know how to do this..." Priscillia grumbled again to herself, her eyes slipped to the water, watching the flits of gel-like spirits that swam through it.

"Remember. See them first before trying to communicate. They won't listen if you can't see them." Heka's words remained firm.

"I can. Always. See spirits." Priscillia huffed, raising a large claw towards the water. Wel however, started to focus. Remembering what Priscillia had told him before, to reach out. His eyes took a moment to adjust, focusing on the flits of energy he felt was there. For one who the spirits loved, they showed themselves to him readily.

"And you still can't hear my instruction. Begin, Priscillia."

Priscillia just took a deep breath, calming herself, ignoring Heka's commands and instruction at the side as she reached out to the water spirits. Her voice silent to all but them, carried by her desires and the connection her magic began to form with them. "Would you dance with me?" She asks, giving a small curtsy. To her, and only to her, did the voice come. "We are all always happy to dance with you, Priscillia." leaving the laprine with a smile.

"One step at a time, learn to control by moving with the spirits. Each one moves differently, and to know how they want to move, and who they are, can you better, more safely control them." Heka's instruction was ceaseless.

Priscillia offered her hand out in the direction of the water, the water itself shifting and pooling into a fine line that followed and touched to one of her fingers. She swirled her arm wide, guiding them along, "Let me lead." She spoke to the spirits.

"While others may learn through observation, it is best learned through doing. Your every movement is important, the more practiced, the more control. Other magi believe only words and gestures of the hand, there is always room for more. Always more to show who you are. Your body guides them. Your heart, your thoughts, your intentions. They hear and see and feel it all. To find balance, you must be balanced. Priscillia, mind your footing."

Instructed on the sidelines during her own dance, what an annoyance. She took another breath, the water shifting, forming a trail in which way she twirled it, a trace in the air showing the path she moved. Flowing, and elegant. "Would you care to join me?" Priscillia directed to the spirits of the earth, gliding her cloven hooves along the ground.

"Keep your breath. You've done this thousands of times, you'll do it thousands more. Fret not if you lose the first element, you will, time and time again. Even with practice, even after millions, you will still fail time to time. Keep in mind what the spirits want, they'll listen."

So her hooves traced the paths, hard, jagged. Her fingers move the water. There's a stomp on the hoof, and a glare to the braziers, "Join me." she commands, holding a fist out to them that breaks open to the fire in her palm, drawn from the brazier in a moment. The movements begin to include more of her body, it looks like a dance. Wel's eyes never leave Priscillia as more elements begin to join her. His ears listening to Heka's every word.

Priscillia twirls, the trail of water, fire, the trace of earth on the ground moving with her as the wind began to follow the flame. To follow Priscillia, without a word. Her movements begin to hop, only to stop for a moment. All the elements held in suspense where she left them, kneeling down to gently touch one of the flowers. "Bloom, I want to see you flourish, will you flourish with me?" Her voice came out loud, only with Nature did Heka not speak. Watching Priscillia, it is her element.

The flower ripped, the leaves expanding and the tiny tufts of grass began to explore outwards, slowly. Following her as she stood and danced, she stayed within the neutral lights so well, the speckles of bright light suddenly stepped into, only to be skipped into areas of darkness lit by the flame and the specks of light that followed. Sweat dripped down her brow.

"Light and Darkness are the hardest, most disagreeable of the base spirits. No matter how many times you dance, they won't touch one another. Always they live away, the only way to bring them harmony is to keep them balanced. To show love and appreciation to both in equal. As Priscillia would put it."

Wel and Heka watched Priscillia dance for minutes more, "Keep going, Priscillia. I know the dance is tiring, no matter how many times you do it, it will always be. The spirits are draining, handling so many is a feat that takes years. You've done this for over a decade, and you will many more. In the spirits touch, you will find your harmony. It is not yours to break, nor is it theirs, it is both of yours to respect."

Wel asked quietly, doing his best not to interrupt. "Do you have to handle the spirits this way?"

To which Heka's response came, not directed at him, but at Priscillia. "If you weren't such an active, easily distracted girl as you are, I would be able to just have you study them normally. Instead, I had to use old techniques just to teach you to handle them. It's exhausting, I know. But I almost never see you sitting in one place for longer than thirty minutes. Remember each step, and how they feel. Where you learn by doing, and by touch, others learn differently. This is your path, Priscillia. And yours alone."

Wel quirked his head, but that answered his question. So within another minute, Priscillia stopped once again in the center, when her muscles ached, her body wet with exertion and her body tapped for energy. Then, did she curtsy. The elements vanished from where they had been guided, going once again to their respective places.

"Very good, Priscillia. Can you still move?" Heka's voice drowned out the small little claps that Wel made, kept quiet for most of it.

"You already know the answer is no." Her legs are locked in place and her body still shaking from the exercise.

"I will always ask, the dance for the spirits is ancient, and I know no matter how short or long the dance is, it is likely to leave the practitioner exhausted. The spirits ask for you to give it your all when you ask them to dance, you can't hold back. And how long did you dance when you first began, Priscillia?"

"Not even a second. Why do you keep overexplaining everything? I already know all this. You're just! Wasting my time!" She growled at Heka, her fangs bared. "You never made me do something like this when I messed up before, you just made me write. Why all this? Is it really that bad that I taught Wel to see spirits?"

Heka stood up straight, her face serious. She stepped out to the center and grabbed Priscillia's face, making their eyes lock. "It is gravely serious. Priscillia. If you were any other student, I would have thrown you out for it. You endanger his life by introducing him to them. Loved by spirits or not. It is you, who will do this dance again, every morning, for the next month. I forbid any casting through spirits for you, unless it is my instruction during that time."

Priscillia's ears sank, her eyes hurt. Her heart hurt hearing that. Her eyes turned to Wel, who looked apologetic, uncertain, he looked like he felt guilty. "You may have some strange connection with spirits, Priscillia. But while they listen to you, you claim to hear them too. Others are not so lucky. You should never expect others to have the same loving experience with them that you do, you know what happens. And I'm sorry to remind you of it. But it is that serious. When you can move, I want you to take a bath. Wel, stay here with me for a while more. I will talk to you."

Priscillia felt the tears welling up in her eyes, sniffling. She had to wait a few moments more before her body would respond to her wishes, Heka leaving Priscillia with a small hug, despite the sweat still clinging to her. When Heka parted, Priscillia could move again, trying not to let her tears fall with her friend still in the room. She stepped by them both.

"Pris--" Wel reached his hand out to her, Heka holding it away. Grabbing it. "Let her go bathe." Heka watched as Priscillia went back to the stairs, stepping up without a word. Heka watches the empty door, Heka's concern plain upon her features, but for a moment until they harden again. She knows Priscillia needs the time to herself, she just hoped she didn't push too hard.

"Look, I didn't mean to cause so much trouble, I can just go, I don't really want to be here if I'm just going to hur--" His jaw is suddenly clamped shut by Heka's hand.

"You're staying. One, so I can make sure you don't do anything stupid. Two, because... Priscillia needs a friend." Her voice finally took on a soft tone, a kind one that took Wel slightly off guard.

Heka released his mouth, "A friend? I'm sure she's got plenty, I don't think she'd need me to stick around. The look in her eyes, I... I think I'm just going to bring up bad memories."

"Tari and Penny. Penny's the only one who visits, and that's rare. And usually if that bird shows up, it's screaming until she's gone. Tari I've only met once. He's a musician, one who helped Pris find love in music. But they aren't around often, she's lonely a lot of the time, and if your only constant friends are spirits. You get... Introspective, and her head isn't good for that. She needs someone to share with."

"What about you? She adores you, Heka. I've barely met you and I can tell why, even if you're hard on her." Wel seemed convinced already he had to go, his steps a bit eager to leave as he moved back.

"My work keeps me busy a lot of the time, I'm not always here. I've taught her so much, and I still have many years more of it, I may never be done teaching her. But I know she needs friends, even if you have to leave town sometimes. Just come back and see her." Her voice then takes on a hardened tone again. "But for now. You're staying here." She says, suddenly grabbing his hand and yanking him off and away.

"H-hey! I can walk, you know!" He called, "I didn't realize you were wanting to hold hands with me."

"Ugh, that's Priscillia's influence on you already." She grumbled.

"Priscillia makes the same groan that you do too." He grinned, "I'll try, Heka."

"See that you do." She said, pulling him to the stairs and starting up again towards the bath.

"I will! Haha, and I'll at least try to get you to open up from your shell a bit more too." Wel tugged at the hand still pulling him along.

"My? What? I'm quite fine in that regard." Heka huffed out.

"Goodness. You both even huff the same way when you're flustered."

Heka's cheeks took on a small reddish tone, "Flustered!? I'm no such thing! And I know not where she picks up her habits from!" She turned her gaze up slightly, almost even missing a step.

Wel chuckled at the unicorn's behaviour, it is like watching a bigger much more serious Priscillia in action. "Like mother like daughter, right?"

Heka stopped at the steps, grabbing his hand tighter and forcing him to stop, he couldn't help but wince in pain at how tight she held it. "Be careful, boy." Her voice didn't sound quite like a threat, there was a pain in it.

"I'm sorry uh, was that too far?" He tugged, freeing his hand from her grasp for Heka to ball her fists at her side.

"No. What I--" she pauses, raising her shoulders just a bit. She took a deep breath, the same way that Priscillia calms herself. It's a safe bet that Heka's the one who taught her to do it. "Be careful mentioning mothers around her, I'm... Glad she sees me as one to her, I've tried very hard."

Wel could read the pain on it plain as day, "I'm sorry. Do you want to just sit down first? We can just stop here and head up in a bit, yeah?"

Heka shook her head, "It wouldn't be a good idea to leave her waiting long."

Wel's pause was one of consideration, his curiosity gnawed at him, "What happened?" He almost instantly caught himself, "Ah, sorry that's rude isn't it? I don't mean to be I--"

"You're fine." He's cut off, "She lost her parents when she was young, and blames herself. Her parents weren't kind to her, they were cruel, but she tries hard to see them in a positive light, and it drains on her. I later found her exhausted and starving on the streets in Priffle... She even remembered me from my first visit... I won't tell you more than that, if you want the details, ask her someday. But not today."

Wel felt a bit off, like he learned more than he should have, as if he invaded some sort of privacy he shouldn't have. "I uh..." He rubbed at the back of his head.

WIP

"If you feel weird about it, tell me about yourself. Why are you here?" She offered the question to him, whether he decided to answer or not she'd find it out.

"Looking for work, mostly." He pauses for a moment, "I guess I'm also looking for myself, if that makes sense. I hoped to find a few resources on magic and maybe actually learn something for once about myself."

At the mention of learning magic there's a slight raise in Heka's stature, a bit more on guard for a second before dropping it. Something Wel took note of, "Was that a bad answer?" He asked.

"No, I will make it clear to you now I am not your teacher, what you learn, you do on your own time. But if you insist on it, you will be grilled on safety regarding even your curse as I come to understand it." She rubbed at her temples for a moment, inwardly cursing herself for her softness in this. She's frustrated, but with a deep breath again she resumes.

"What are your intentions with Priscillia, before I commit to asking what I have of you, I want your answer unfiltered."

"At first, I just wanted to say a few things, to make her feel better because I saw some sort of pain that felt familiar." He pauses, unable to stop the warmth to his cheeks. "But now? I want to be her friend and as much as she'll have me." His gaze didn't quite leave Heka's, though some part of them wanted to escape the red eyes that stared back at him with a seemingly cold hardness. "I'm not going to lie to you, I do want more intimate things because I love her touch." His voice rose just barely, just a notch. "But I love her heart more than that and I could listen to it all day."

Heka's colder stare began to soften once more at his answer, an answer she herself would give to that question. "Thank you for your honesty." Her gaze hardened again, and a puff of her chest, once again something Wel noted Priscillia copies, "But if you so much as hurt her, make her cry, I will be there to make sure you pay for it."

Wel didn't shrink, but just gave a nod. Trying to fight back a smile at just how much a mother Heka really is to Priscillia, the more he's around the more he sees why Priscillia sees her as one.

"Last question I have for you today." She waits a few seconds, parsing the words that'd best fit it before speaking, "Why are you so afraid? You don't have to tell me the whole story, just so I know something more to understand you."

Wel's pause is understandable, and where he didn't shrink before, he does now. Not fully, not away, but something Heka easily notes as one of his hands raises to hold his other arm. "I was considered blighted," he began a bit quiet, voice raising back to normal as he continued to talk. "A cursed child and I had a family who desperately tried to keep me bottled up." He gulps, "That bottle cracked, from their provocations, from my own ignorance, time and time again people got hurt because I ignored my own soul... It is frightening to think I might be examined, that something might come up that I did not know about, again. At the same time, I know it is important." He finished, squeezing his arm tightly to keep himself in the now.

Heka's hand finds its way to his shoulder providing a firm hold of her own, lowering herself just a bit to look him directly in the eyes at his level. "Your fear is understandable, Wel. It's okay to be scared." Their eyes held for a second before she parted away from him, standing back up and turning to face up to the stairs.

"I think that's enough chatter between us for now, Priscillia's been alone enough, we should go up there. Come." Heka said after awhile of simply staring ahead, grabbing once again upon Wel's hand to drag him up along with her for the last bit of distance towards the bath.7

Priscillia lounged in the bath, her clothes still on, staring up at the blue sky with the light covering half the pool. Quiet, deep in thought. Minutes passed like this, not a word, stuck in the swirl of her own memories. Her eyes were distant, not focused on what happened now.

"I know why spirits are dangerous... I do... I just... " She reasoned her thoughts out loud, at least partially. "I don't know." Her head thumped to the side of the bath, letting her gaze fall instead to the hanging glass spheres filled with little plants above that hung from the covering.

Her eyes still stung, she'd already rubbed and cleaned her face of the tears that had streaked her face when she had left the two of them. "I guess I really don't know. He probably will be forced to leave, it's my fault too. Heka's just going to send him away and I won't get to see him again. It'll be my fault. I just got too excited, I rarely feel spirits so happy around other folks..." She stirred the water in front of her with a finger.

She sighed, the rest of her time in the bath spent in silence, partially dipping her head beneath the cool water. The only thing that stirred her out of her own thoughts and reflections that had just begun to sap and drain at her mind is the clack of Heka's hooves coming up the stairs.

Priscillia's eyes shifted from the ceiling, already expecting only Heka to come up here, but a delight in her heart seeing Wel being dragged along by the hand.

They stopped in front of the bath, Heka glaring down and Wel just grinning ear to ear.

"Make room, he stinks and I haven't gotten a bath yet." She says, shoving Wel over and tipping him into the bath with a splash and a surprised yelp. "You're stuck with him. And unfortunately, I might be too."

Priscillia couldn't help but burst into a laugh, so much of her worries just melted away with both of them there. Wel throwing water at Heka and Heka just stepped in to shove him back under the water, it left a smile on the laprine's face. Her worries can wait.