A/N: And now for some lifey bits and shenanigans. If it wasn't evident so far from this and my newer fic, I have a habit of mood whiplash to some degree. Whether that is good or bad, that is up to the reader, but I sort of like it so it'll happen from time to time.
Deep within the forest, far from the Academy, Tabitha had comfortably taken residence sitting at the table within her party's woodland retreat. Sunlight flooding over the table, illuminating the small leather-bound book laid open in from of the girl. The book is a gift from Old Osmond via Fouqet, an apology in a sense. Its pages were, however, blank. Included with it was an ink pot and pen, Osmond's intentions being that the young girl lay her pain bare on the pages to ease them.
Tabitha never had really taken to writing. Instead she preferred to immerse herself into the writings of others, but with the recent events she found the idea somewhat appealing. Finding herself unable to cast a security enchantment upon it, she opted to simply keep it on her person at all times. At the moment the other residents of the cottage had all left to conduct various activities. The Mentor and Apprentice duo went off in seclusion to practice Sorcery, and Fouqet had left for the nearest town to gather news and supplies. Alone, Tabitha had decided to make her first entry.
'Day of Void, 14th of Nyð, 624*
Dear diary,
It has been several months since the Springtime Summoning Ritual and only a couple days since the attempt on my life. Fouqet seems to be genuinely regretful over this. I feel that her circumstances may have left her little choice in the matter, since she refuses to answer should any of us ask. Perhaps we may be alike in this manner, having been forced to do things against our will. Maybe she is protecting someone just as I sought to protect Mother. I believe we all have finally accepted her, and perhaps a sort of friendship is forming.
Finding out about the Sorcery that Priscilla is teaching Siesta, I must admit, was quite a shock. It is a fascinating thing. Completely separate from Brimir's gifts or any deity or spirit's influence for that matter. Honestly, the idea that you can manipulate the energies of the soul via things such as mathematics and philosophy is astounding and it is absurd.'
Tabitha took a moment to stretch in her chair. Looking out the window, she turns her eyes to the sky. The summer storms have long since passed, leaving only thin wisps behind on an otherwise clear sky. The heat largely remained, though not the humidity.
She shifts her gaze into the treeline, distant sounds of spells being cast could be heard, muffled by the thick brush. They would be gone for quite some time still, and Fouqet has yet to return. Tabitha returns to the diary.
'The first night here Priscilla had told me some stories of her homeland. Tales of gods made flesh, building grand civilizations only for them to eventually fall. How the hubris of a few had caused the pain of many, but the struggles of an even smaller few had provided hope for the future. Of note was a single man that Priscilla had met only by chance. The man was on a quest, only appearing before her due to a freak accident that ended with him stranded inside her own pocket world. In fact, she stated that most of what she knew of the most current state of her homeland was provided by him. Priscilla had also promised to tell me more about the Ancient Dragons and individual Gods, the latter group she had explained were separated between the Lords and the Natural Gods.'
Tabitha's stomach gave a muted rumble.
'Lunch time I suppose?' She adjusts her glasses before letting out a sigh, places her pen on the page once more.
'Something lately has me worried. Ever since I tried casting Windy Icicle that day my body has felt heavier. Simply moving seems to take more effort. If I try to cast a spell it feels as though something inside me is being torn away, and depending on the strength of the spell I try to cast I actually suffer from physical maladies such as nosebleeds or actual loss of control of a limb. Also, lately I think I may be hearing things. It's as if there is a voice in the back of my head that is just quiet enough that I can't make out what it saying. It doesn't happen all the time, just sometimes. I'm trying to figure out what triggers it. Hopefully it is nothing and I'm just being paranoid, it has been a very trying few months. I worry about Mother in particular. Now that I'm thought to be dead, what reason have they to keep her alive as well? '
Hearing that the sounds of practice had ceased, Tabitha decided that it was a good time to end her entry. She speeds along the drying of the ink, dusting sand on it from a small jar and lightly blowing on it after collecting the excess sand. Satisfied she closes the diary, depositing it in her blouse before leaving to pull water from the well nearby for her undoubtedly tired friends.
Though Siesta acknowledged her fate intellectually, the news of her own funeral in Tarbes threatened to send her to the brink of despair as the weight of it crushed her. It was to be a closed casket burial since the remains provided by the Academy when requested by Siesta's family were pulverized beyond recognition. The fact that the remains were in truth a crushed calf from a small village not far from the Academy was secret shared by Fouqet and Osmond, a secret kept even from Siesta. The intricacies and logistics behind making it believable revealed a side of Osmond that Fouqet hopes never to get to know.
The 'bodies' of Tabitha and Priscilla were a similar affair, though it had taken much more to convince Sheffield. Fouqet was both impressed and horrified that Old Osmond was able to doctor the 'remains' in such a way. Tabitha and Priscilla were given a somber cremation by a still bereaved Kirche and a stone faced Professor Colbert just outside the school grounds. The reactions on the news from Tabitha and Priscilla were, quite frankly, underwhelming at most. The small girl seems much too distracted while the half-breed remained unfazed, having lived in isolation for so long that she felt being 'dead' was rather novel if anything.
"I swear, that old man must be hiding one hell of a past to know how to do...those things!" Fouqet shudders as she takes a deep drink from a bottle of liquor she procured on her way back to the cottage. Siesta reaches across the table she shares with the Thief and grabs the bottle from Fouqet.
"H-hey! What gives?" Fouqet attempts to retake possession were futile as Siesta follows the green-head's example.
"Shut -hic- up -hic-, you didn't have to hear about your own funeral...-hic-..."
"Wow...already?" Fouqet finally manages to pull the bottle away from the former maid. "Or is this just that powerful?"
Priscilla watched the entire exchange in mild amusement at Siesta's lack of alcohol tolerance. Her amusement didn't last long as she returned to observing Tabitha, who once again had taken to writing in her diary. The fact that the girl had found an outlet was, in Priscilla's opinion, great. However, the intensity and near single-mindedness Tabitha displayed alarmed Priscilla.
"So, are you alright?" Priscilla asked. 'Well that was a bit more blunt that I intended.'
Tabitha's pen stopped a moment, thinking of what to say.
"Just fine," she answered flatly.
'I suppose I should have expected that,' Priscilla had to massage her brow.
"I mean, you have been through a lot so if need to talk I can listen," the half-breed recalled what little she knew about her arrival. "After all, I must have been summoned by you for a reason right?"
'She...has a point, I'm not alone. Even if I couldn't make a contract with her, I still summoned her. I...can trust her...I'm sure,' Tabitha look up to Priscilla, taking a deep breath.
"I'm worried."
"Oh?" Priscilla was surprised by the sudden candidness.
"I'm worried about my mother...and about my magic...and dreams...a-and I think I'm hearing t-things..." Priscilla's eyes began to widen as Tabitha's voice began to shake. The length at which she spoke was cause enough to take an interest in the young girl who rarely spoke more than a few syllables at a time.
"I'm sorry, I do not know what to say...wait...dreams? Hearing things?" She knew about Tabitha's trouble with magic and that the girl had issues with family, but this was the first Priscilla heard about Tabitha's other conditions. "When did this start?"
"A-after we ran from the school..."
"Can you tell me about?"
The silence between the two caused Priscilla to shift uncomfortably. As she wiggle on the floor next to Tabitha, by chance she looked upon the page Tabitha was on. She had been in the process of drawing a bird...
'A crow? Could...'
That evening, after Fouqet and Priscilla deemed her sober enough, Siesta left wandered the forest. Her intent was simply to forage for edibles to add variety to their rather bland diets granted by Fouqet's limited aid from the Academy, but in reality she just needed some alone time to think.
News of her funeral at Tarbes hit her as though a smithy used her as newly smelted iron. It was painful, but she could see the need for it. It was actually a great utility, near absolute freedom even, to in essence no longer exist. She could with relative ease live peacefully and perhaps even create for herself a new identity elsewhere, marry, have children, and die a ripe old age...despite being already 'dead'.
Siesta used her now treasured hat as a makeshift basket, loading mushroom, berries, and nuts into it to take back to the cottage. She deftly navigated the undergrowth with a sense of purpose that clued in to being practiced in gathering from the wilds. In truth she had often done the same for her family in Tarbes, supplementing the harvest during her occasional visits during that time.
'I hope everyone is eating right, Papa does eat too much meat and Mama spoils the kids too much,' Siesta giggled before a mask of melancholic thoughtfulness fixed itself on her face. 'Will I really never see them again?'
She let out a shuddering sigh before turning on her heels to head back to cottage, when the beats of many wings startled her. Brief flashes of black above her caught her attention.
'Oh? They don't seem spooked...carrion? No, if it was this close I'd most likely smell it at this point...well, curiosity isn't always deadly to the cat is it?'
Feeling almost compelled to follow, Siesta tracked the birds to a nearby clearing. It was small and overgrown, the canopy overhead allowing only splotches of dieing sunlight through, giving it a slight orange tinge. The most striking and admittedly most creepy feature to Siesta was that a great multitude of crows made the area their home, yet no signs of nesting, feeding, defecating, or living could be seen.
'A murder of crows. Whoever came up with that was too morbid for their own good!' Siesta thought.
Stepping into the clearing, Seista noticed that it was eerily silent, giving her pause when she looked around only to see the eyes of all the crows staring intently at her. She gulped nervously.
'This is too much! Did I pass out in the forest? This seems too real, even if it could be a lucid dream.'
Her thoughts were broken by the barely noticeable but easily recognizable sound of laughter. This normally would have sent the girl into hysterics, believing herself to be going mad. Yet, she found herself intrigued. The laughter was feminine, somewhat mature and sultry, similar to the giggles the red-haired noble girl Kirche sometimes let go when she teased the Valliere and to a lesser extent Tabitha.
Her curiosity overwhelmed her. Ignoring the gaze of the crows, Siesta followed the faint laughter to a massive lump of vines, ferns, and moss. The ass towered over her, similar in height and width as Priscilla. Placing her food laden hat down nearby, she followed the compulsion to pull away the plant life.
With some effort, a slightly winded Siesta beheld a weathered statue. A tall woman, clad in robes, carrying a child in her left arm, with hair stained pitch black flowing long from the hood. The workmanship was astounding, as though it would come alive despite the degradation due to the elements.
Hello child...
Siesta fell back on her behind in shock. She stared in disbelief at the statue.
'Oh, that's it...I truly am-' Going mad? Perhaps...perhaps not, child.
The voice of a woman echoed in her mind, the laughter that followed was mischievous but not malicious. Siesta only sat there, mouth making a fine impression of a fish gasping for breath out of water.
Well child? Will you speak? Or are you mute?
Unable to take it anymore, Siesta promptly faints. A loud thump sounded in the clearing as the overgrowth cushioned her short fall.
Oh my, perhaps this was a bit too much for this dear child...much fun to be had I suppose. Shame on Little Priss to be holding out on me with so many deliciously cute children...
Once more laughter echoed in the clearing, with an unconscious Siesta surrounded by a murder of crows and an eery statue. The dreams from her impromptu sleep would shake the former maid's world view to its core.
Priscilla just couldn't suppress the sigh of relief as she eased herself into the steaming water. The day had been an exhausting one for the crossbreed, not physically but emotionally and intellectually. She worried about Siesta. The apprentice had been painful for her and she had taken it well enough, but that wasn't what truly worried Priscilla. Her concern peaked when Siesta returned that evening dirty and disheveled, muttering about voices. Coupled with her conversation with Tabitha about her condition, Priscilla felt she could see some connections.
Whispers and crows were a common theme. A statue of a woman bearing a child seemed some familiar to her somehow as well. Priscilla felt as though she had the answers, but they danced just out of reach to mock her. She started massaging her forehead.
"Ugh, what is it? I know this!" She whined in frustration.
"What's wrong?" A soft and mellow voice interrupted.
"Uwah!" Priscilla yelped as a towel clad Tabitha pushed a piece of firewood into the fire keeping the water warm. "T-tabitha! You startled me!" She pouted as her tail started to twitch in the water against her will.
"Sorry," Tabitha muttered sheepishly as she shed her towel, placed her glassed on the stone ledge of the bath, and lowered herself across from the half-dragon, submerging to her neck as she sat straight. Priscilla on the other hand had to lounge back, taking up the majority of the space. Her tail wagged in front of Tabitha, causing the water to shift in a manner that the teenager found she enjoyed. Priscilla decided to put her musings on hold for now, instead opting to study the stonework while massaging her still healing arm.
Earlier, Priscilla had marveled at the stone cauldron constructed by Fouqet under the guidance of Siesta. It was apparently modeled after open air bathes from a foreign land that Siesta's late grandfather once lived. It was effectively a giant stone cauldron with what amounted to an oven beneath it and wide steps at opposing sides to allow easy entrance to the pool in the center.
Leaving the memories and worries behind, Priscilla focuses on the present. She noted absently that in order to get her entire body into the warmth of the water she had to recline enough that her feet pressed against the other end of the bath, her knees bent up and barely out of the water. Tabitha was effectively forced to choose between a corner or to sit between Priscilla's legs. The small teen opted for the former, yet still had to contest with a tail that seemed to fight for its independence from its owner.
'Perhaps I should ask Fouqet to make this a tad bit larger...' Priscilla thought.
Tabitha was having a difficult time. Difficult, but not necessarily in a bad way. Priscilla's tail proved itself to be a worthy adversary, swaying and twitching under the water, seemingly dodging Tabitha's attempted to capture it. Why would she try to capture it one might wonder? Well, simply put, because it was there in all its fluffy glory. A mesmerizing furry snake of near incandescent pure white. She found herself enthralled by its smooth and rhythmic motions...at least she was until Priscilla was startled once more by Fouqet.
"Well, Siesta seems to have fallen asleep fine," Fouqet had caught Priscilla off guard, pressing a chilled bottle of wine to her neck.
The shock had caused the once mesmerizing tail to jerk downward, wedging itself between Tabitha's legs and beneath her crotch. It decided that wiggling was a wise course of action, preempting any attempt to dislodge it. Flustered, Tabitha could only grasp at the fur while making panicked glances as Priscilla loudly protesting Fouqet's prank.
'Honestly! How can you not be award of your tail!?'
"Pris-nngh!" Tabitha's own protests faded quickly as Priscilla's tail jerked up, rubbing against sensitive areas Tabitha wasn't aware were sensitive.
'W-w-w-what was that?' Tabitha's eyes widened as her face took an even deeper shade of red.
"If you are out here, might as well join us. Here I will move over to make room," Fouqet nodded in agreement and started stripping down as Priscilla shifted over.
The sudden shift had also caused Tabitha further problems, namely the bulkier middle of the tail pinning her leg down as the agile end continued to torment her nether regions. There was no more escape. Calling out Priscilla was, unfortunately for the bluenette, made nearly impossible as every attempt seemed to be interrupted or preempted by a muted squeak or moan.
'T-t-this isn't good.'
"Really, I think you could have made this bigger. For a communal bath it is rather cramped," Priscilla passed the bottle of wine back to Fouqet after taking a long drink from it.
"Hnngh," Tabitha had begun to grit her teeth.
"Well, without a fire mage to start and periodically maintain it, the fire wouldn't be able to warm the water well enough," Fouqet waved dismissively as she too drank deeply of the wine.
"Ha'nnh," This time Tabitha lower body tensed, toes curling.
"Oh, certainly you are not saying you can not do better though?"
"Bah, let's see you do better you fluffball!" Fouqet slapped at Priscilla's chest with the back of her hand, causing the half-breed to shift her injured arm in such a way to bring pain. "OH! Sorry, didn't mean for that..."
The flinch traveled its way to her tail, causing it to jerk once more. The movement being enough to push Tabitha to the brink.
'…!' Unable to handle it any longer, Tabitha reached a climax. Her thighs clamped around the offending tail as she arched her back, letting out a soft squeak through clenched teeth. She collapsed back against the wall of the bath, finally able to relax as a wave of euphoria swept over her.
'Y-you win this time...tail...' consciousness failed her once again as the other women finally took notice of her, yet still unaware of what she went through. Tabitha would refuse speak of the event when asked the following morning why she passed out in the bath. The furtive glances at her tail made Priscilla nervous though.
