Season 3

Deftly, Lashanie balances a wooden tray in her hand. Placed on that tray, are two bowls filled with steaming hot soup. She's almost there, already reaching for the door, when she notices a voice that must belong to a girl. No, two girls! There are two girls in Varian's lab, giggling and whispering to each other.

The voices are too muffled, coming through the heavy door, to understand anything, but none of them sounds like Rapunzel. The way they're whispering, eagerly trying to be quiet, makes them sound like they're up to no good. And the first thought that crosses Lashanie's mind is - the Separatists of Saporia!

Where's Varian? Is he inside there, do they keep him a prisoner!? Lashanie looks around, but there's no one close by she could call for help. Yet, she can't wait any longer - they either got Varian inside there with them, or they rummage through his stuff. And who knows, what they might find there...

Carefully, she puts down the tray. If she has to do this on her own, she might as well have the element of surprise on her side. A deep breath and - bam!, she kicks the door open.

Before she can actually get a look at the intruders, a bucket falls down from above the door. Swiftly she takes a step back and with a wave of her arm, the bucket flies to the people who set up this little prank - Kiera and Catalina.

Kiera can catch the bucket, right before it hits her, but from the water that filled it, she can't save herself. And so Lashanie looks at a dripping wet Kiera and a giggling Catalina, who's trying to hold back an even louder laughter.

The alchemist returns to find his lab hasn't only been taken over by the girls, but also turned into a mess. Well, to be fair, it has been quite messy before he left, but now the floor is wet, just like Kiera, as it seems. And someone moved his instruments and books on the table...

His eyes widen, as he hurries to the plate.

"Don't worry, nothing got wet. I just moved them, to make space for the tray..."

Saying this, she finally remembers what she had forgotten, thanks to the little incident with the waterbucket. Varian's face immediately turns softer.

With a smile, that still shows a lot of confusion, he asks "What happened?"

"We came here", Kiera starts to explain, " to ask you for help."

Lashanie points at the floor, "I think he meant the water..."

"Oh, that! I thought, we could set up a little surprise for V. while we were waiting."

While saying this, Kiera examines a streak of her wet hair, wearing a cheeky grin.

Varian's girl crosses her arms and a satisfied smirk adorns her face.

"And I gave that little surprise back to her.", she ends the explanation.

The boy can't help, to let out a soft chuckle.

"Yeah, if I knew Lashie was going full raptor on me, I would have thought twice about coming here!"

Kiera spreads her arms, to show off her wet clothes, while shaking her head with acted disappointment.

"I said I was sorry. I thought you were..."

Lashanie stops herself from saying more. Thinking about it now, she feels stupid for being so paranoid. While Varian's rearranging the stuff in his workspace, he asks,

"That's all very well, but what do you need my help for anyway?"

.

Lashanie got them some tea and while she hands a cup to each of them, Kiera tells that there's a hunter roaming their woods. He seems to be after a pack of wolves and as stated by Kiera, badly determined to get them. So much so, that he does risk to get not only other animals, but also people in danger with his traps.

Varian takes the cup from Lashanie, paying her a greatful smile.

With a look to Kiera and Catalina, he considers "Perhaps these wolves are causing too much trouble for the villages and farms close to the woods?"

Kiera opens her mouth, but before she can answer, Catalina has already jumped up from her seat.

"No, they're not! They're just trying to protect their home!", she loudly exclaims, almost shouting at Varian.

A moment passes, where all of them just blink at her in surprise, but quickly Varian's mien turns soft, a look of sincere understanding showing in his eyes. Placatory he raises his hands, almost spilling his tea.

"Alright. I didn't mean to upset you."

Only now, Catalina realizes how exaggerated her reaction must have seemed to her friends. With a slight blush, she sits back down again, folding her hands in her lap. Kiera looks at her and Varian, as well as Lashanie, thinks to see some concern in her eyes.

"That guy, this hunter, he paves the woods with traps. If he goes on like this, there will be no safe place for the creatures of this wood. They won't be able to live there anymore.", Kiera explains.

The two young lovers exchange a look.

"Rhonda?", Varian asks, reading from his girls eyes.

A slight nod is Lashanie's answer.

Catalina softly tilts her head, one of her long plaits falls over her shoulders.

"Who's Rhonda?"

"My pet raccoon. I found her in a trap." Lashanie obviously draws a connection between that huntsman and Rhonda. "Of course, this could be a coincidence..."

"If you believed in such coincidences." Kiera ends the sentence for her.

"Right."

Varian places his cup on the desk. "Well, I guess it's not just your problem but everyone's, when the animals get scared away from their natural habitat."

A hand gently touches Catalina by the shoulder. Smiling kindly at her, Lashanie asks, "So, you've got a plan already?"

.

With ink that's glowing in the dark, just like Varian's tubes, they paint the faces of the two younger girls. The plan they have thought of, may not be the most brilliant ever, but it'll be good enough...

While Lashanie paints Catalina's face, Varian does the same for Kiera. And when the two girls just chat a little, during that artistic part of the plan, the other two are loudly chuckling.

Suddenly, Varian taps his girlfriend's shoulder, to get her attention. Him and Kiera both got a mustache drawn to their faces and do a bow in front of Catalina and Lashanie.

"The ladies!", they say with a silly grin, before they start chuckling again, holding their tummies.

Lashanie raises an eyebrow. She can't hold back an amused smile, neither can Catalina, but they shouldn't be goofing around like this, when they have a plan to set in action.

"Oh Vary, again with the fake beards?" Lashanie comments, knowing this will bring some quiet to that chaotic duo.

And it works! While Kiera keeps asking for the meaning of that remark, Varian gently pushes her back to their working space.

"It's nothing! Come on, we still got some work to do!"

.

It's dark outside, when they head to a spot, where the girls have watched the hunter check on his traps every night, since he's shown up. A light rain has set in, but luckily, Kiera and Cat are wearing capes anyway, so the ink stays in place.

Now they're waiting, hiding in the thicket. Varian and Lashanie took position a little further from the trap, than the other two. At least, they're not the one's who are supposed to actually show themselves to their unwelcome guest. Only if it would be necessary, Kiera would give them a sign, so they'd come to help.

Time goes by, with nothing but some animals to be seen or heared. When they already doubt he'll come there this night, possibly because of the rain, they can hear someone taking careful steps on the wet ground.

It's the same man, the kids have seen before - the hunter.

They nod at each other, before they leave their hideout and slowly walk up to the man, who's kneeling down beside his precious trap. With spread arms they speak in perfect synchrony, the ink on their faces glowing, putting an unearthly shine to their eyes.

"You who defiles our woods, you who destroys the peace, you are not welcome here! Leave this place at once! Our us, the ghosts of this wood, will punish you!"

"Oh, they're good!", Varian whispers to Lashanie.

Scared, the hunter jumps up. Just to slip on the ground and fall over the roots of a big tree. He holds his hands up in defense, covering his face.

"No! No, I've done nothing wrong!"

The girls walk slghtly closer to him, while the rain keeps growing stronger.

"Leave now! And never return here!" They demand, their voices again in perfect harmony.

He catches another look at the ghosts, glimpsing at them through his fingers, only to find, that the rain is washing off the glow from their skin. Leaving nothing but two very young girls, to stand in front of him. He blinks at them, before bursting out in laughter.

"Ghosts!? Ha! You're nothing but kids!"

Catalina feels her cheek, realizing the ink is running down her face.

Still watching from their hideout, Varian and Lashanie start to grow nervous. Just in case anything should go badly wrong, Lashanie brought her spear along, which she clasps tightly now.

"Should we help them?"

But Varian holds her back.

"Not yet. They said, they'll give us a sign, if they needed our help."

He tries to seem calm, in order to help Lashanie calm down, but his tension is obvious, almost tangible.

The huntsman has recovered from the scare they gave him pretty fast and is already back on his feet. Yet he isn't quite sure, if the girls could be dangerous still. He learned, to never let his eyes fool him - even though he kinda bend his own rule a little, by falling for their trick first.

His complacent grin causes a bad rage to rise in Catalina's chest. She knows exactly, what's going to happen, if they don't put an end to this soon. Slowly, the girl takes a few more steps in his direction.

"What does it matter?", she asks. "You'll leave anyway. You will leave and you will never show your face here again."

Her voice sounds calm, only her eyes are showing an imense amount of anger.

"Right! What does it matter!? It's just dumb animals, no one's going to miss anyway!", the hunter mockingly responds.

Now Catalina can't hold against the rage any longer. Her faces once again takes an unearthly shine, now coming from her red glowing eyes. Not the voices of Lashanie and Varian, who immediatley came running, nor the touch of Kiera can stop her from changing into a werewolf.

Sheer panic paints her opponents face, when Catalina has grown to her full size, easily walking further towards him, even though the other three are tyring to hold her back.

"You don't wanna leave!?", she growls.

Her voice got nothing of it's usual sweetness left.

"Then I'll make you disappear!"

It's like a loud bark. So loud, that the birds in the treetops leave their homes.

.

Never in their life, any of them has seen someone run as fast, as that huntsman did. On that sight, that assured her he wouldn't return, Catalina changed back into the sweet human girl.

Lashanie and Varian walked the girls home and now they're waiting for the rain to stop, or to at least calm down. The friends are sitting inside the treehouse, joking about the face of that hunter and how perfectly Kiera and Catalina pretended to be ghosts of the wood. And for a while, Catalina laughs with them, even though she isn't making any jokes herself. But then, she quietly leaves to the balcony.

Lashanie follows her outside, where Cat's sitting with her legs hanging from the deck. Varian and Kiera are still inside, goofing around and so it's only the two girls.

"The rain has stopped." Lashanie notices.

The clouds have been washed away and the sky is now clear, sprinkled with a sea of stars.

Catalina only nods, "Mhm."

Close by her side, Lashanie sits down. "You sound sad."

"Maybe..."

It takes her a moment, to put her worries into words.

"I just... I wish I was stronger and could control myself better."

"You're doing great Catalina. You turned back by your own will, you had the chance to hurt that guy, but you didn't! I couldn't imagine anyone doing it better."

Lashanie's lips form a smile, which Catalina returns. But it only lasts for a few seconds, before her eyes take that sad look again, staring into the night.

"Have you seen the face of that guy? Have you heared him?"

His words still echo inside Catalina's head. The words he called out, while he ran for shelter.

"Not a girl, a monster!", she repeats them to herself.

The gentle touch of Lashanie's hand, erases these words from her mind.

"You're no monster! There was only one monster walking in this woods tonight. And it got chased away by you."

"But I..." Catalina's voice cracks.

"You're perfectly fine. Just the way you are."

When a single tear rolls from Catalina's eye, revealing the blue mark on her cheek, Lashanie takes her into a close embrace.

Inside, Varian and Kiera are quietly watching them. After a short moment, Kiera notices,

"The rain has stopped."

"Mhm..."

-x.ღ.x-