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missing-aria-blog · 3 years

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“Invisible” Chapter 2: Stand in the Light

A year has passed since that night when your life changed forever. You fled the city of your birth and never looked back. You now lead a quiet life as a healer’s apprentice in a town far from your home. The prince of this region is a bit… odd, but his people were more or less happy and Prince Average had never met you so there was no chance he’d recognize you if you were to see him in the streets.

You lived in the attic above the shop that your teacher, Mistress Grey, ran. She hadn’t asked too many questions when you’d answered her help wanted sign. Your knowledge of herbs and slaves had been more than enough for her to take you on as an apprentice and the work suited you. You’d been getting on well enough that she largely left the general business of making remedies to you these days. Her daughter ran the shop below and was kind to you, even if she had no healing gift herself. She knew the stock and that was all that she really needed.

You step out onto the rooftop terrace where your herb garden thrives. Your assortment of healing herbs and flowers was probably half the reason your teacher had taken you on so easily. You smile as you trail your fingertips over the leaves and petals around you, each plant seeming to twine briefly around your hand as you pass over it. Pulses of joy and contentment at the morning sun’s rays filtered through their touch and into your mind. Good, you could enjoy your day off to its fullest.

Today was the last day of the local festival and your teacher had given you leave to enjoy the celebration. She was to depart the next morning to buy some of the rarer materials needed in the practice’s medicines, so you needed to enjoy the time off while you had it. She’d offered to bring you with her, but this particular trip would go a bit too close to your hometown for comfort.

Even in the short time you’d been with Mistress Grey you’d been able to travel all over the continent. She’d even taken you to the ocean! That had been a fun trip and she’d taught you all sorts of medicinal uses for various seaweeds. You’d miss her while she was gone this time. Her daughter, Marina, was your age though and was excellent company.

You left the terrace, closing the doors behind you before going to examine yourself in the mirror. Your hair was done up in a braided crown, silk flowers woven into it in hues of pink and white. Your green dress was well suited to the spring festivities and beautiful weather.

Taking your light cloak off of the hook by the door you make your way downstairs. Marina is packing jars of salves and pouches of dried herbs into a large basket, probably to bring out to the stall set up in front of the shop for the festival. She looks up and smiles at you as you peer into the basket.

“Are you sure you have enough for today?” you ask as you notice certain cures are looking a bit low, namely the hangover teas. Not surprising given the parties that went on during festivals.

Marina playfully rolls her eyes at you, “Yes of course! Mother is already working on packaging up what you two made yesterday. Go enjoy yourself. I saw the baker putting out some of those croissants you love so much. If you hurry you’ll catch them while they’re still warm.”

“Fine fine. But you will let me know if you need me, yes?” you pull a necklace out from the front of your dress. It’s a simple leather cord with what looks to be a plain white adder stone hanging from it. There was magic in the rock. If Marina or her mother activated their own stones it would let you know to return to the shop post haste. They’d been a pricey bit of magic, but completely necessary when emergency patients came through the door.

“You know I will,” Marina made a shooing gesture with her free hand, “Now leave before I tell mother that you need a whole WEEK off.”

You gasp in mock horror before giving her a quick hug and heading out the front door.

It was still a bit early and most of the stalls were only just finishing their set-ups, but the baker was already quite busy. Even so, he spotted you and waved you past the crowd, “I set one aside special for you my dear. You really helped me out of a bind with those herbs. I really thought we’d ordered enough but that boy must have counted our stock wrong.”

“Don’t be too harsh on him, he is your grandson after all,” you smile as you gratefully accept the offered croissant swirled with pink strawberry jelly, “He’ll get the hang of it.”

The baker sniffs but it’s obvious he isn’t actually mad about the situation. Just putting on a face, “Well, either way, keep me in mind if you ever have a surplus in the future. I don’t know how you grow such flavorful stock but you truly have a gift.” “I will! Thank you for the breakfast!” You wave and duck out of the way of the hungry crowd.

You munch on the pastry as you wander through the stalls, stopping here and there to browse and occasionally purchase items to be delivered to the shop later on. There are dancers, musicians, and other artists displaying their talents for everyone to witness and you stop here and there to watch and listen, your body swaying gently to the music.

As the day goes on the town square begins getting set up for the evening musical performances and the dance that will likely last until the wee hours of the morning. Multicolor paper lanterns are strung from cords above the square and lit with care. Vendors sell the springbell flowers that are the icon of this particular festival. It’s tradition to buy one to give to those you hold great affection for. A symbol of the hope that your bond will grow in the year to come. The flower is one that can sprout roots from its stem when tended with care, and it’s considered good luck if the flower you’re gifted with thrives under your care.

You stop at one of the carts, “Two please,” you reach into your belt pouch and pull out the required coins, handing them to the seller as she hands you back three of the blooms, “Oh, you gave me an extra one…” The woman shakes her head, “It’s the same price for three as it is for two. We had a good harvest this year. Thanks for that fertilizer by the way. It worked like magic!” “I’m glad! Let me know if you need more.” you carefully tuck the blooms away in a hardshell leather pouch, making sure the stems are properly wrapped before closing them up safely inside.

As you turn back towards the town square you hear shouting coming from one of the alleyways. Out of curiosity you make your way towards the sound. Whomever is making the noise is clearly moving away from the main street but you can still make out some words. ‘Hand it over’ stands out in particular. You hurry after the retreating sounds, reaching out with your inner magic to feel for the roots under the paving stones and the vines crawling up walls.

The alleyway makes a sharp turn behind a shop that’s closed for the festival, which would explain how no one else had noticed this happening in what was a mostly safe town. You press yourself against the wall before peeking around the corner. You see two men, clearly not locals, standing over something, or rather… someone. You can’t see whomever they’re harassing, but it clearly isn’t a friendly encounter.

“I can tell by your clothes that you’ve got money dwarf, so hand it over and we’ll let you go without TOO much damage.” the man’s companion chuckles darkly as he flips a knife in the air.

“Ah yes well, you see there’s the problem,” the responding voice is heavily accented, but speaks with a distinctly calm air. You aren’t sure if it’s confidence or stupidity, but either way you can’t stand idly by.

“Hey!” you shout as you step out from behind the corner. You can feel the magic in the earth below you responding to your anger. How dare these thugs try to ruin someone’s day like this! Your attention is locked on the two who whirl to face you, so you don’t really see who they were threatening before said person seems to blink out of existence. A fellow magic user? Well that would explain why he hadn’t seemed concerned. Of course that left you with two very tall, very buff thieves to deal with on your own.

They both narrow their eyes, then sly gins split their faces as they realize they’re dealing with a single, if a bit angry looking, girl.

“Well well, what do we have here?” the knife flipper takes a step towards you.

“You lost us our payday girlie…” the other growls, “You should have just kept going.” “Maybe so,” You can feel the roots under their feet pushing at the flagstones, “But maybe you two just picked the wrong town.”

You’re about to call the roots up to tangle their legs when a barrel lid comes flying out of nowhere, braining the knife guy upside the head. The other turns, confused, just in time for an invisible something to come crashing into his nose, causing blood to spray as it breaks. He sears as he looks around in a panic. His eyes land on you, “W-witch!”

You probably look just as confused as he does, “That wasn’t me...” You gather yourself and smile at the guy, “Looks like you’ve ticked off the town’s guardian spirit.” The lie rolls smoothly off of your tongue, you father was a master merchant after all. You knew your fair share of fast talking.

“G-guardian spirit? You’re lying!” he tries to help his dazed companion back to his feet with one arm while his other hand covers his bleeding nose.

“Well, I could be. But then, if I’m lying then you’re right and I’m a witch that you just pissed off,” you shrug, “Either way, I’d say you’re screwed.”

The man’s eyes widen, “You’ll regret this!” he drags his friend along with him as he flees into the surrounding woods.

“Doubtful,” you mutter as he disappears from sight. You send energy down the connected lifeforce of the woods, urging the very forest itself to trip up and otherwise hinder the thugs, lending credence to the claim of a ‘guardian spirit’. When you’re sure that they aren’t coming back you scan the alleyway, “Hello…?”

Silence greets you for a long while, then that accented voice answers you, “Merci mademoiselle, for the rescue.” ------------------------------------------------------ Fanfic “Invisible” is available to read on Wattpad https://www.wattpad.com/story/259956086-invisible-jack-x-reader

#red shoes #red shoes and the 7 dwarfs #red shoes and the seven dwarfs #jack #reader #jack x reader #romance #fanfic #fan fiction #story

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