A/N: This one has been sitting in the depths of the collection for AGES. Wendy-centric fics are so much fun.
Being a Soul Healer wasn't a job to be taken lightly, as her brother told her constantly, that severe cast to his eyebrows and his face he had when he was telling Wendy something Very Important™.
He was one to talk, Wendy would mumble to herself, seeing as he didn't even have the gift to heal souls. All he did was moon over a redheaded mortal and contemplate his past sins. For a Fae, Wendy was surprisingly salty and just a bit snippy when compared to the rest of her people. Jellal blamed Ultear's influence. Ultear had primly asked if there was any way Wendy's healing gift extended to healing stupidity.
Sadly, it didn't.
It was such a rare gift to be given to a mortal, even rarer for a Fae. Wendy could see soul ailments and mend them through soothing thoughts and a few herbal remedies.
In her lifetime (twice the span of a normal human's and she was still little more than a child to her people), Wendy had met two other Soul Healers. One was a traveling Fae with blue hair like hers. He had been surrounded by the lost souls he'd saved over the past four centuries and given peace. The Fae didn't linger, preferring to live the life of a vagabond and traveling fool. His advice and instruction, however brief, had helped Wendy grow in her power and in confidence.
The other was a surly, snappish young man who lived three streets over. He wasn't a full-blooded Fae, though his pointed ears betrayed a Fae affair somewhere in his ancestry. He griped and grumbled when Wendy had found him out and begged him to teach her. He was a good teacher, though. He wasn't as patient as her other teacher or her brother, but under his watch, Wendy had progressed from merely being good to mastering her power.
Too Soul was her base of operations (she loved the play on words and her little tea shop so much) in the downtown district. The epitome of hipster chic, Wendy had altered her look to match her surroundings; shredded jeans, big dangling earrings, a sapphire undercut, and shoulderless shirts. Jellal hated it but Wendy felt more in tune with her power this way.
There was no method to her Healing. She merely acted with her instincts, basing everything on observation.
For the girl who longed for love and acceptance but went looking in all the wrong places, a few drops of rain water from the first spring rain slipped into her tea gave her the confidence to love herself before she searched for love in a man.
For the young woman who balanced both her burgeoning career as a writer and a difficult home life, gardenia tea for strength of mind and heart was Wendy's usual choice.
For the boy who struggled with nightmares and crushing guilt which lead him to wander into the shop at late hours, a cup of hot, milky tea with a few words of encouragement whispered over it would ensure he'd wander back home safely and fall asleep.
Even the redhead her brother adored so much had found her way into Wendy's shop, a place only troubled souls could find and remember. Sometimes normal people stumbled in and had a cup of coffee but they never did find their way back. Some Fae frequented her shop, soothed by her presence and her bright smile.
Nothing made her happier than helping others. As she inhaled the smell of brewing Earl Grey, Wendy smiled, flipping her open sign over.
Time to start the day.