Shade glances at Saul and sighs. "Stop teasing her."
She walks over to Farah and helps set everything up on the ground. Saul probably wouldn't be used to sleeping in trees, after all.
group
Farah discreetly flicked her wrist, and Saul choked on his next breath and began to cough heavily. The same wind rushed by Farah's ear and made an almost chirping sound that only the fae could understand. Farah laughed. She replied in a runic-sounding tongue, and the wind replied with its chirps. "Migina!" Farah's eyes widened. "I don't like him either, but that's rude!"
Shade, while incapable of understanding any of what was being said, listened anyways.
"Who's Migina?" she inquires curiously, watching the phantom wind's aura as it blew about.
group
The wind rustled through the trees, and leaves showered down on them. "Migina!" Farah scolded. The chirps vaguely resembled laughter before the spirit left. Farah shook her head, brushing leaves from her dirty blonde hair. "Migina is the wind spirit. She's young. Come to think of it, I haven't seen her in a while. It's nice to know she's alright." A fond smile came over Farah's features as she spoke.
Shade shakes her head and laughs. "Of course. Only the Fae would have wind spirits as friends."
She walks into a nearby clearing and calls her peregrine. It comes quickly, and Shade scratches it beneath the beak and feeds it some of the rabbit entrails.
group
"Migina is a darling," Farah murmured. "But I think you'll like Brucie or Eden better."
Shade laughs.
"I have my own spirit of the wind. See?" she gestures to the peregrine perched above her.
"But I'd like to meet your other aurae friends." she adds.
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Farah smiled up at the peregrine. "Sen would love your peregrine friend. But let's see if I can find Brucie…" Farah's eyes glowed again, and she reached out and touched the bark of the closest tree. She grinned and used her magic to grow flowers around Shade and Saul's ankles.
Another spirit appeared, this one nearly somersaulting through the air.
Farah laughed. "There she is!" Suddenly, the spirit released a blinding light so Saul and Shade had to look away, but Farah watched as Brucie took her humanoid form.
"Farah!"
"Really?" Shade wondered, a smile playing at the edges of her mouth.
She merely squinted at the spirit as the spirit manifested herself. She grins once the light fades.
"Well, I'll be damned! I know you!" she exclaims, chuckling.
group
Brucie's jaw dropped. "Shade?!"
"Wait," Farah blinked quickly. "You two know each other?"
Brucie giggled. "Of course! I don't just hang out with fairies!"
Shade laughs and wraps Brucie in a tight hug. "So this is where you ran off to! I was worried, you know."
She turns to Farah, releasing Brucie. "Yeah, me and Brucie Brucie Brucie go way back."
group
"I'm so sorry, pumpkin," Brucie chirped. "I wanted to say goodbye, but the fae needed me. I hear you're still doing the three-in-a-row thing." The spirit winked before also looking at Farah. "Don't worry, she never knew I was a spirit until now." Her auburn curls bounced around her face.
"It's fine fine fine. Seriously, Brucie." Shade grins.
"Oh, yes yes yes! Three three three." she laughs, starting to do cartwheels.
"Oh, there are ways to tell, you know. Plus, your aura wasn't human." Shade responds, still doing cartwheels.
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"Yes, but at least I never confirmed it for you, now did I?" Brucie retaliated, striding over to Farah.
"You spirits and your secrets." Farah rolled her eyes, but she smiled anyway.
Shade laughs a little. "Fair fair fair nough."
She'd slipped back into her old pattern of speech without much thought, almost forgetting about Saul. Then… a rustling in the bushes, off to the right. A dark figure exploded out of the greenery, taking Shade down like she was nothing. She froze as soon as she felt the stinging kiss of electrum.
group
(You're talking about Saul, aren't you?)
(Nope, someone of my own. Just- roll with it. Farah was put in danger, then saved by Shade. I figure I should at least give Farah a chance to do the exact same, yeah?)
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(Oh, okay good. Cause you mentioned her forgetting about Saul, so I thought that's who you meant. Makes sense, I was just making sure so I can have Saul react)
Saul reeled back and drew his blade.
Brucie was quick to duck behind Farah and shift into her spirit form. She chittered into Farah's ear in the same runic language Farah had used to converse with Migina. Farah nodded, her eyes glowing, and she used a combination of wind magic to blow the assailant off Shade and earth magic to use vines and tie them to a tree. Once that was done, Brucie rematerialized, leaning against a tree heavily from the effort of her shifts, and Farah rushed to Shade's side. "Oh gods, are you hurt?" she asked, searching Shade's face worriedly.
(Yeah, sorry for the confusion!)
Shade, stunned, laid on the ground, gasping for breath as she came to terms with her almost all too literal close shave she'd just had.
She looks up into Farah's face, pupils dilated and looking nearly… feline. "Of course I'm not bloody okay! I just had an electrum blade pressed to my throat!"
She looks paler than usual as well, even the barest touch of the electrum nearly killing her. She takes deep breaths, trying to calm herself.
"Yes, I'm hurt…" she murmurs.
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Farah licked her lips and smoothed Shade's hair soothingly. "It's alright, you're going to be alright…" She collected Shade in her arms and carried her closer to Brucie. "Help her, please," she begged the spirit.
"Farah… you know the rules," Brucie said painfully.
"Yes, I know!" Farah cried. "I don't care, you have to help her!"
Shade's face was edging towards a pale, sickly green.
"There isn't much that can be done… it's the electrum. I think-" she pauses to swallow. "I think it's something to do with my possible Fae ancestry. Or maybe something else entirely."
A series of coughs make her body spasm and curl in on itself. She gets an idea. It would be risky, very risky, but it might just pay off.
"I- I have an idea. But you all need to agree and be willing. No doubts can be had." she says, her voice coming in wheezes.
group
Farah and Brucie were quick to agree. "Yes, whatever it takes," Farah murmured, holding Shade close to comfort her. "What is your idea?"
Shade nods. "Life exchange, of a sort. I take part of your aura, and in return you gain some of mine. We take on parts of each others burdens. As I said, it can only be done willingly."
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"I'll do it," Farah said quickly. "Just tell me how."
"It needs two." Shade says, lookig at Saul and Brucie. "But, first, Farah: you need to take my left hand."
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Farah was quick to grip Shade's left hand. Her eyes were wide looking up at Saul and Brucie. "One of you," she begged. "Please!"
Saul looked at Brucie. "No offense, but I–"
Brucie held up her hand and winked. "I got it." She knelt down beside Shade and took her right hand. "You're sure about this, pumpkin?" Brucie asked with a serious tone.
Shade steels herself. "I'm sure. Any of the burdens you bear… well… I've carried mine for quite awhile. It might do me some good to let a bit out."
Inhaling, she starts the spell. Slowly, the auras of Farah, Brucie and Shade become visible even to those without the Sight. Then, faster, the pulses of auraic energy traveled from Farah to Shade, From Brucie to Shade, from Shade to Farah and Brucie. The light rises to a blinding corona of greens, violets, whites and blacks, and a rushing noise can be heard as energy is drawn from the leylines as well to help stabilize the magic. Shade cries out, once, and the light dies. It was over.
group
Farah gasped and winced, dropping Shade's hand to hold her head.
Brucie rushed to her side. "Farah?!"
Panting, the fairy answered shakily. "I'm alright… what about you?"
"I'm a spirit," Brucie remarked simply. "It's impossible for my aura to be drained."
Shade shakily stands, the color already returning to her as the electrum's poison leaves her. She drops to her knees again and wraps Farah in a tight hug.
"Are… are you okay?" are the first words out of her mouth.
group
Farah gasped for breath and leaned heavily against Shade. "Yes, I'll… I'll be fine," she mumbled. "Just wasn't expecting that." Her eyes closed briefly. "How are you?"
