To the Mines!

Haley gripped the strap of her camera bag, her fingers nervously fidgeting around the rough nylon as she headed west toward the Cindersap Forest. It was a cloudy day which cast a soft, even light on everything below, even if it was still plenty warm outside. The blonde hoped that Leah would be willing to model for her, but now that the shutterbug was within sight of the red-head's cottage, her nerves began to waver.

The photographer would have asked her sister to pose for her. After all, the theme for this contest was "serenity" and while Emily's behavior practically screamed "weirdo," snapping photos of her during one of her hippie meditations would probably hit the mark. But, of course on the day Haley needed Emily to be her annoyingly sunshiny self, her older sister was a complete bummer today. Something about that slob, Shane. Haley still had trouble figuring out why Emily bothered being friends with him. If he were a happy drunk, that might solve half the problem, but the guy was a totally rude asshole.

Whatever, she was not about to start getting on Emily about her friends. It's not like she had anyone other than Alex anyway. Besides, Haley desperately wanted to enter this contest. It could be the step between photography as a hobby and something more. Even if she did not place in the top three - which would result in prize money - if Haley made it into the top ten or so, the blonde felt all of her time, effort, and money spent on improving her skills and buying new equipment would have been worth it.

Leah did seem interested in Haley's photography hobby, even if it was not her art medium of choice. While Haley thought she could potentially ask Violet, the farmer was more likely to be busy - and covered in dirt - than Leah.

The solid wood door with copper bar accents intimidated her more than it should. Leah's house was so unique. Between the rounded door, the artisan windows and the maroon trim of the siding, Haley realized that by comparison, her parents' house screamed with lack of personality. If it had not been for the little garden in front, it would just be another boring beige house like the suburbs in which she and Emily grew up. Somehow, even if she did not know this was Leah's residence, Haley thought that the cottage perfectly suited the ginger.

Haley was fairly certain that Leah was home. The blonde did not see her at the beach earlier this morning, so Leah must be working on some art at home. Hearing a muttered voice on the other side of the door, the photographer decided to enter the tiny cottage before she bailed on the whole idea.

"Kel…" Haley heard Leah's voice address someone in annoyance. "How many times do I have to tell you? I don't want to come back to the city!" the red-head complained angrily. Looking around, the blonde realized that Leah was talking to someone on the phone.

"Stop calling me…" Leah ordered the person on the other end of the line. "I don't want to hear from you anymore!" the artist slammed the old phone back onto the receiver.

It did not take long for the denizen of the home to realize that she was not alone. "Haley!" Leah's grey eyes widened, mortified that someone overheard her private phone call. She exhaled deeply, glancing away to hide her shame. "So I guess you heard me yelling on the phone?"

"Yeah, it was hard not to hear…" Haley admitted, looking around the room to admire Leah's decor choices. For such a small house, it felt light and roomy. In fact, the air even felt fresh in here. Was it because Leah lived in the forest or was it all her healthy houseplants?

"That was my ex…" Leah explained reluctantly. "We…" she paused, clearly lost for words. Finally, after a moment of silence, she tugged at her long braid, shook her head, and sighed. "I guess I'd better tell you a little bit about it…"

Haley was not sure if she should object or just let Leah spill the tea on all her past relationship drama. The blonde figured it would probably be something more interesting than most of the town gossip right now. All that Pelican Town had going for it right now was that Marnie and Lewis' relationship might be on the rocks and that Sam was recently caught cross-dressing. The first was not surprising in the least, since the old man acted ashamed of the rancher for some unknown reason.

Really, the geezer should be grateful that any woman even looked at him. That disproportional mustache and ugly hat were doing Lewis absolutely zero favors. As for Sam, the skater was shameless and did not care that he wore a dress to a little girl's birthday party, so there was really no point in trying to make anything of it. Haley braced herself for potential boredom, but found herself oddly interested right off the bat.

"We had an apartment together, back in the city," Leah began hesitantly.

"It must have been pretty serious if you two were living together," Haley thought aloud, realizing that perhaps the blonde's attempt to kiss Leah at the Flower Dance was seriously more of a problem than Leah let on.

Leah nodded and continued her story. "I did odd jobs during the day and spent all night working on art projects…" Her grey gaze fixed upon a knot in the wood on the wall paneling, "We barely made enough to scrape by." From Haley's perspective, this "Kel" already sounded like a bum if Leah was working day and night and they still had trouble affording to live in the city. Then again, even ZuZu could get expensive for an artist when sales were few and far between.

"She was always nagging me to go back to school and study business or medicine…" the sculptor added, the resentment in her voice practically dripping off her peach-hued lips, "something with a lot of money in it." Haley could tell that Leah had totally not dealt with all the baggage from this part of her dating history.

The artist fiddled with her braid between her fingers, as they were curling wands. "I guess the idea was to save up for a normal life. You know… a house in the suburbs, kids, PTA meetings… that sort of thing."

"Ugh," Haley reacted in disgust. While she was open to the idea of having kids in the future, the other two sounded completely gag-worthy.

Leah's lips tugged back in a small smile at the utterance of agreement. "I wasn't ready for that kind of life, Haley… I had to leave." The older of the two gestured at the entirety of her living space. "So I came here to pursue my dream of being an artist."

The woman's body language shifted from anger to self-doubt as Leah's posture shriveled in onto itself and she held herself protectively. "Was that selfish of me, Haley?" It was bizarre to witness such a reversal of Leah's usual behavior. She always held her ground before, but now the ginger looked so… vulnerable. Haley wanted the confident Leah back.

"No, it was the right call," Haley answered bluntly. "You don't seem like the type to do the whole scripted 'married with kids and a white picket fence' type…"

"You're right…" Leah conceded, quietly. Though Haley doubted the sculptor fully believed that in the moment. There was still some lingering guilt or something else ridiculous. "I just wouldn't have been happy back there."

Haley drove the point home. "And if you're not ready to settle down, it's only going to hurt the people around you when you freak out that you never spoke your truth or whatever." The photographer scoffed, "Can you imagine having a kid and not wanting to be a parent? That would be a nightmare for everyone."

Something changed in Leah's eyes as she considered Haley's words. This time, the artist spoke more firmly."It was better for both of us…" she agreed, "to end an unsustainable relationship while we were still young and flexible."

"Well, thanks for listening to me. It's good to have a friend." Leah beamed at her, and Haley tugged at the skirt of her blue dress uncomfortably. This was the first time in at least ten years that another girl called her a "friend." Since puberty Haley had been surrounded by insincere "BFFs" who disappeared when she really needed someone. She got the attention of most of the popular guys and that made her enemy number one with most of the other girls around her. Sometimes Haley wished she were not such a blonde bombshell. Sometimes.

But in this case, Leah was not in competition with her. In fact, Haley could not believe she did not think of hanging out with super chill lesbians sooner. Then again, she had not met any that were out of the closet, if she knew any at all. Or had she just been totally oblivious? Whatever. The fact was Leah called her a friend and it was both exciting and weird for her. "You think of us as friends?" Haley repeated hesitantly.

Leah frowned. "Do you… not want to be friends?"

Haley wobbled her head vigorously. "No! That's not what I meant, it's just… I haven't had one of those in a long time." She rolled her blue eyes. "Except for Alex, but he doesn't count like that. He's a guy."

For some reason unknown to Haley, Leah laughed at that. "I see." She leaned on the small table that housed her phone. "So, what brought you to my humble art studio today?"

The photographer lifted her camera bag. "I was hoping… you could model for me. Cloudy days are best for portraiture." She bit her bottom lip nervously. "Sunny days cast harsh shadows on people's faces and Emily's…" Ugh, how would she describe what her sister was up to today? Moping? Getting bummed about someone else's depression? The blonde released her breath in annoyance, settling with "Busy today."

"Sure, I could use a break from my work today," Leah answered, much to Haley's surprise.

Haley looked at her neighbor doubtfully. "You mean it?"

Leah shrugged. "I doubt I'm going to get much work done after that conversation with Kel, so why not?"

The photographer sniffed in amusement. "Well, when you put it that way…" she relented with a wide grin, her eyes sparkling. "Now for your wardrobe…"

Leah's face fell in a panic. "Hold up! I never said anything about -!"

"Oh, just trust me. You'll look great!" Haley assured her, trying to snatch away the lesbian's suspenders.

When she woke the next morning, Violet checked the luck forecast given by Welwick. Sure enough, the mysterious woman stated her claim: "The spirits are very happy today! They will do their best to shower everyone with good fortune!" A purple star hovered above her before the screen went blank. The pastel-haired woman wondered if Sam knew today was going to be a lucky day when he suggested they all go to the abandoned mines today or whether it was purely coincidental. Either way, Violet had some chores around the farm to do before she left to join her friends.

The young woman was surprised to find that she was the last person to arrive in the mines, since she was still a few minutes early. Then again, Violet's usual farming duties came first whereas the others likely did not have anything else to do on a Saturday morning. In preparation, the farmer made sure to make a large batch of field snacks for the whole group to keep up their energy. The seeds were not the most delicious form of nutrition, but they did the trick

It took only a moment to notice the pent-up energy rolling off of Abigail. She wore her hair up all the way today, to keep it out of her face. The woman swung her sword a few times at an invisible enemy, just for practice as they devised a plan.

"So our mission today is to get as deep into the mines as possible," Violet indicated as she rolled out a large piece of paper, depicting all that she knew from her previous experiences at the mines. There were crude drawings of potential enemies - not-Digletts, slimes, crabs, large bugs. Thankfully no spiders, or Abigail would have a problem, Violet discovered when the younger woman made the inquiry. "The more we discover about these caverns, the more potential clues we can find regarding the tapestry and the town's history."

Violet glanced up at the group, who formed a half-circle around her. "I also have some side quests from the Junimos that I personally want to address, but that's not our main objective."

Abigail tilted her head in surprise. "What could the Junimos possibly want that they can't get themselves?" she wondered aloud.

Violet gesticulated, going over the itemized list she wrote down after viewing the golden tablets in the Community Center on her way here. "Well, I'm not sure why, but they want the following: Copper, iron, and gold bars; a frozen tear and a fire quartz, and two of the four following objects: 99 slimes, ten bat wings, a solar essence, and a void essence."

"Is there a reward for these side quests?" Sebastian questioned sarcastically.

Violet chuckled, "Actually, yes. The mine carts will be fixed if we're able to gather all these items."

"You mean those could work again?" Sam asked enthusiastically. "Fam, I've always wanted to ride in one of those!"

"Well, once we've collected everything and the Junimos fix them, everyone is welcome to use them," Violet promised the group. "Honestly, the one most useful for the rest of the town is going to be the most expensive. I don't know what the Junimos are going to do with all that money, though…"

"Most useful for the town?" Sebastian repeated quizzically, leaning against the wall of the cave behind him. "What did they offer?"

"They offered to repair the bus."

Abigail threaded her sword through a leather loop attached to her belt, since she lacked a proper sheath. "That's definitely something I would want to have in town again. How much did they ask for?" the amethyst-haired woman probed curiously.

Violet did some quick math in her head. "In total: 42,500 gold," she detailed with a forlorn sigh.

Sam whistled at the large figure. "That's gonna take some time to make that kind of money." He pondered for a moment. "But not gonna lie, it would be cool to have a cheap ride to Zuzu on a regular schedule. Doing concerts in the city might be doable after that," he added, giving a pointed look to the members of the band.

The farmer agreed. "No kidding…" She rolled her cave guide back up and placed it in her bag. "Which is why I think it would be best to divide and conquer when we enter the mines." Violet pointed to the elevator, "So far, every time I've explored down to a level that's a multiple of five, the elevator on that floor re-activates." She hoped her assumption based on her experience proved to be the continuing trend. "Since I've already made some progress, we can start on the fifteenth level of the mines today. Unless you all want to ease into things by starting at the beginning…"

As a group, they quickly decided that between the four of them, starting a bit further in the mines should not pose a problem. Violet continued. "I have a rusty old sword that I can either wield myself or one of you can borrow," the farmer informed the gang, emptying her bag to display her gear. "The pickaxe is for mining ore and gems," Violet explained. "The ore may not be valuable to you all, but I need it to upgrade my tools and eventually to make things like sprinklers for my crops." She looked up at her friends with a smile, "So I don't mind doing all the tedious work so long as the offensive team can keep the monsters at bay."

Abigail's lips pulled back toward her ears, a fire in her bright blue eyes shining fiercely. "Leave it to me, Violet!" she assured the newest member of their friend group. "Today my blade will taste the blood in our enemies."

Sam's lips pulled back into a wolfish grin. "Hot…" he teased, snaking his arms around her waist. Abigail wiggled free and pushed him away at arm's length, however.

"No distractions!" she commanded fervently, adjusting the belt around her hips. Abigail had ditched the long sleeveless vest for the day as well, opting instead for the black v-neck tank top she typically wore underneath. Violet figured it was because it might get in the way when fighting, but clearly Sam appreciated the absence of the vest, which usually hid the curves of his Abigail's figure. The blond's dark green eyes were practically drinking in the sight of her.

"Sam, do you want to borrow my sword so you and Abigail can be our battle couple for today?" Violet chuckled, though she was only partially ragging on her friends.

The musician gave a thumbs-up. "Hell yeah, toss it here!" he exclaimed. The farmer opted to simply hand Sam the sword. Violet did not want the first casualty of the day to be one of their own, after all. "I'll have your back, Abi," he said to his girlfriend with a wink.

Sebastian remained quiet, which while not unusual, felt prolonged. "Are you going to try out your magic today?" Violet queried the shorter of the two men.

The dark-haired male nodded. "Yeah, just… behind the physical fighters, I think," he replied, eyeing the couple beside him. "But when there aren't any creatures to fight, I can probably do other things."

Violet appreciated the offer. "I think you could probably go around foraging for loose items. Last time I was here, I found some earth crystals, quartz, and amethyst lying about."

"Amethyst?!" Abigail interrupted, tripping over Sam and practically drooling for some reason. "I call dibs!" she proclaimed adamantly. No one else objected. Violet did not really need the colored quartz, even if she also found them aesthetically pleasing. Besides, it was the least she could do to thank her friend for helping today.

The farmer could not help but laugh. "Okay, Abigail gets first dibs on any amethyst we find," Violet agreed. "Any objections?" The men declined to do so. Both Sam and Sebastian knew how Abigail was with her favorite mineral treats. When no one opposed Abigail's claim to her favorite purple mineral, it was decided.

"Do either of you want dibs on anything?" the farmer asked the two men. "Once we donate the first of anything to the museum, that is," Violet clarified, knowing fully well that it would be easier to fulfill Gunther's requests between the four of them.

Sam thought for a moment, tapping his finger on his chin. "I doubt we'll find any today," he said, "but I like tigerseye."

His best friend nodded expectantly. "Either yeti tears or obsidian, assuming we can find any." The hoodied man shrugged. "I'm not picky, but I think once I get a better hang on thing, I could make a magical weapon out of something like that."

Violet's eyes were wide with interest. "What?!" she cried in awe. "That would be sweet!" The woman forgot completely to ask about the yeti tear, since Violet's first thought was that it was a joke. There were no yeti in the Valley, right?

While the pastel-haired woman bombarded Sebastian with questions about magical items and weapons that he dreamed of creating, Abigail noticed a crumbled piece of paper on the ground next to Violet's red bag. Picking it up, the grocer's daughter realized it was a list.

Junimos - Cute little apple dudes, Spirits of the Forest.

Supposedly the earth goddess' messengers / my minions? Requires more testing.

M. Rasmodius "Wizard" - Real deal or drug-dealing fraud?

Still suspicious, but haven't seen him lately.

Shadow People - Definitely magic.

No sign of them since that first night.

Sebastian - Spell caster? This line was now crossed out and replaced with the following: Confirmed magic-user. Mesmerizing eyes.

Slimes - Lesser Rimuru in every way :(

TOO MANY AT ONCE ARE A PROBLEM!

Tiny Digletts - Are they magic, though? Pokémon IRL?

Tiny little dicks! Worse than stepping on a lego! D:

Leather boots - Too perfect… No side effects thus far, so no fairy curse as far as I can tell.

This last one was written in different ink, so Abigail suspected it was added later than the rest of the list.

Talla – Super pretty and mysterious. Something odd about her eyes sometimes. Talks as if she's been around longer than her appearance would suggest. Magic in some way or just eccentrically religious?

While some of these were hilarious for the commentary, Abigail nudged her boyfriend's side lightly with her elbow and pointed out the line about Sebastian. Sam's eyebrows waggled mischievously. "Mesmerizing, eh?" he cackled. "Are my eyes mesmerizing, Abi?"

"You wish," Abigail shot back playfully. She tucked the note away in her pocket to make sure Sebastian would find it later. "Are we ready to head down, then?" Abigail queried, getting the attention of the other two. Sebastian shouldered his backpack, so that the gang had two bags to fill full of loot and two unencumbered fighters, and noted his readiness to get going.

"Let's roll, Cave Exploration Squad," Sam announced with a grin, holding the rusty sword in his hand low to the side so it would not harm anyone.

Sebastian protested. "That's the dumbest name I've ever heard."

The blond's shoulder rose in a non-committal gesture. "Unless you can think of a better one, it stays, fam."

The four young people crowded into the elevator and Violet pressed the lit "15" button. "Ah! I'm so excited," she practically squealed. "I've always wanted to do a real dungeon crawl..."

Abigail rolled her eyes. "Ugh, nerds..." she complained, but only half-seriously. The grocer's daughter had always wanted a reason to use her sword, after all.

The lower level monsters of the brown earth levels stood no chance against the Abigail-Sam duo. Sebastian hardly even got a chance to try anything in term of ranged attacks before the couple cut down the slimes, duggies, bugs, and rock crabs. Perhaps it was Violet's wishful thinking, but the temperature seemed to be slowly decreasing the deeper in to the mines they descended. All the better, as far as the new farmer was concerned. Humidity did not agree with her, as proven by the frizzing and increasing volume of her wavy hair. Finally, it annoyed her enough that she decided to pull it back in her usual high ponytail.

She noticed Sebastian looking a bit pink in the face when she caught his eye from across the cavern, collecting a few quartz on the ground. The heat must have been getting to him, too.

Things ran relatively smoothly with the division of labor they all agreed upon. The only real trouble they encountered was on the strange spiraled level of the mine, which made it difficult to stay in each other's line of sight. There must have been a nest nearby that they disrupted without realizing because the cave flies swooped in from all sides to attack the human intruders.

Violet swung her pickaxe as a pair of the flies came down upon her, missing the winged bugs with her tool. Sebastian launched a rock well away from them, hoping to direct their aggression away from both himself and the farmer while they re-grouped. The plan was partially successful in that it distracted the original pair of flies, but a new swarm flew in low, heading directly for the pair. Violet dropped her pickaxe, instead pulling the scythe from her bag as her weapon of choice. Even if it did not do much damage, the farmer hoped to at least keep the obnoxious insects at bay until Sam and Abigail could reach them.

The pastel-haired woman swiped at the first wave, driving them off, but clearly the flies saw the attack as more of an annoyance than an actual deterrent. Sebastian spied Abigail and Sam sprinting around the bend from the corner of his eye. As Violet let loose a battle cry, the black-clad man blinked and the next thing he knew, Abigail was the one beside him instead. The woman jumped in surprise, but smirked as the flies came down upon an armed opponent. Their exoskeletons fell on either side, the legs twitching slightly as the meat fell from the shell.

"That disgusting..." Violet groaned as she observed the slain monsters on the floor of the mines next to Sebastian and Abigail. The farmer quickly followed up with an appreciative compliment for the rookie swordswoman. "But you were incredible, Abigail!"

"Dude, that was awesome," Sam chuckled nervously, trying to recover from the surprise when he blinked to see his girlfriend suddenly in harm's way well ahead of him.

Violet's dark blue eyes caught Sebastian's gaze. "Did you use a transposition to switch us, Sebastian?" she asked in breathless disbelief. It seemed the farmer was a little shaken from the transposition, but more intrigued by the event than anything else. The other two also wanted to know what Sebastian had done.

Sebastian frowned pensively. "I... must have," he finally answered. "I don't know how, but I just thought about it and suddenly... it happened." He glanced down at his up-turned palms with a furrowed brow.

Abigail did not appear to be bothered. "Hey, we're all fine and I got to slay more monsters," she declared dismissively with a shrug. The pale woman smirked confidently. "I had it handled."

"Just give warning next time you do that," Sam begged anxiously, holding his girlfriend in his arms as if he were making sure she would not be teleported away again. "You nearly gave me a heart attack, fam."

Violet noticed Sebastian's dark eyes had a distant look in them, as if he were gazing out at something no one else could see. "I don't think you have to worry about that today, Sam," the new sorcerer assured his best friend absently.

Abigail plunged her sword into the softer earth of the mine to clean it, then addressed the rest of the group. "Are we all okay to continue, or...?" her light blue eyes rested on her anxious boyfriend.

It took a little convincing on Sam's part, but the others all agreed it was okay to continue. The only condition being that if they ran into trouble like they just had again, the four of them would make a swift retreat.

As they made it down the next floor, they discovered a large wooden chest. Further than the eye could see, the sound of water lapping against stone could be heard. The chest looked identical, with the exception of its bigger size, to the one in which Violet found her leather boots on the tenth floor. "Loot!" the pastel-haired woman exclaimed, popping open the nearest of the four before any of her friends could stop her.

Sebastian panicked, outstretching his arm in her direction. "Wait, it could be a -"

They gathered around at a safe distance and watched as Violet held up a small sword.

"...trap," the new sorcerer exhaled with relief. Sebastian hung his head as if he were exhausted from potentially cheating death or serious injury.

Sam's moss green eyes lit up and his mouth hang open before he finally uttered his reaction. "Yooooo! That's sick, V!" The blond reached into the container and found a second small sword. "There's one for each of us."

"That's not at all suspicious," Sebastian said under his breath, shaking his head.

Violet overheard the comment. "Well, I got these super comfy boots the same way and so far no curses, stubbed toes, or blisters," she swore to the skeptical sorcerer with a teasing grin.

Abigail eyed the newer of her swords, but opted to keep using her current weapon. "Mine's got better reach," she reasoned, surrendering the new sword to Violet to carry in her pack.

The farmer did not mind having a spare sword in addition to the new one. Violet put both the rusty sword she had lent to Sam and the one Abigail rejected in her red pack. Sebastian decided to keep the sword on his person just in case, even if he hoped he did not have to use it.

Before the gang pressed on, Violet wanted to check out the underground pond. She peered over the ledge, her eyes wide with wonder. "What's the big deal?" Sebastian solicited.

The woman smiled as a pale fish breached and disappeared under the smooth surface of the dark water below. "It's always cool to find things like this. Little pockets of nature where you don't expect to find them." Violet sighed. "I didn't bring my fishing pole today," she lamented, "but I should come back here and see what I can catch next time."

"Well, try not to catch anything that can eat you," Sebastian replied sarcastically. "You never know what you'll find down here."

Her eyes darted in his direction. "I guess I'll need a buddy, then," Violet stated shyly.

Before the black-clad man could respond, Abigail and Sam called them back over toward the ladder down to the next level. With their shiny new weapons, fistfuls of field snacks, and luck on their side that day, the quartet of friend managed to get through the next ten levels without a hitch. Much to their disappointment, however, no chest of loot awaited them on the thirtieth floor. While there was still some time left in the day, it was well past dinner time and they were out of field snacks.

Considering their haul of copper ore, geodes, quartz, a few pieces of hardwood, earth crystal, slime, algae, and bug meat; the gang decided to call it a day well-spent. Abigail, of course, took possession of the amethyst she claimed prior to the start of their adventuring. The woman's bright cerulean eyes lit up as she popped on in her mouth, much to Violet's shock. The sword bearer mentioned eating the colored quartz before, but the farmer had assumed she misheard. Neither Sam nor Sebastian questioned the behavior, though, so Violet did her best to play it cool.

The moon had already risen by the time the four emerged from the mines. "I think it's time I escorted my personal bodyguard home now," Sam announced jokingly to the quartet. "Cool use of magic, fam," the blond added, slapping Sebastian's shoulder in a friendly pat and gave him a quick side hug before dismissing himself. Abigail and her boyfriend, still on a high from their physical conquest of the mines thus far, seemed to have other physical activities on their mind from the looks they exchanged. "See you Violet, Sebastian!" Abigail called with a little wave as they walked down the mountainside toward Pelican Town. Once Violet was satisfied the others were out of sight, she turned to Sebastian, who sat on a rock, cradling his head in his hands.

She crouched down to get a better look at him. "Are you okay?" the woman asked him out of concern, gently touching Sebastian's shoulder with her hand.

Sebastian jumped slightly at the contact, then relaxed when he realized it was only Violet. "Uh... yeah," the young man stumbled trying to convince his friend. "I just felt really tired there for a bit." He looked at up at her, looking a bit confused. "I actually feel much better, suddenly," he informed the farmer, rising up to his feet.

Violet pursed her lips, considering for a moment. "Maybe some magic fatigue?" she suggested as she started walking with Sebastian side-by-side toward his house. "If you were feely poorly, we could have stopped earlier," she told him in a scolding tone.

The sorcerer shoved his hands in the pocket of his hoodie. "It was... more than that," he admitted reluctantly. "I was just kinda freaking out that I transposed you and Abigail without really understanding how it worked." Sebastian's shoulders rose up toward his ears awkwardly. "You two could have been hurt..."

"True," Violet confessed. "But we weren't..." She turned her head toward him and grinned, "Besides, while it did startle me at first, it was really cool!"

Maybe Sebastian still feeling a bit ill after all, Violet thought as she noticed the color of his face. "Y-You think so?" he inquired the woman beside him. "You weren't mad about it?"

A laugh escaped her lips. "Well, maybe if you had dropped me into that underground pond or atop a sharp stalagmite, I would have had to take a swing at you with my pickaxe," she teased. "But... seeing as how your handy transposition spell worked in our favor, I guess I'll just have to settle for being impressed by our party sorcerer."

There it was again. Sebastian's face was flushed as if he were overheating from a fever. Violet reached her hand to rest on his forehead, checking his temperature. Perhaps he was a little warm. "Are you sure you're feeling okay?" she demanded to know, the doubt in her voice apparent. "You don't have to put on a brave face for me when you're sick..."

"I-it just got a little... warm in the mines," Sebastian assured her, looking up at the sky. It was then the two noticed that they had already reached the front of Sebastian's house. He tilted his head toward the door. "I should probably head in for the night." The young man shrugged the bag off of his shoulders, searching for his house key. Once he felt the cool of the metal, he paused. "Unless you want me to walk you home?"

Violet shook her head, "No, it's okay." This time she removed a well-charged phone from her pocket. "I will text you when I get back if you're particularly worried," she guaranteed the tired sorcerer.

At least it wasn't dead this time, Sebastian thought with relief. "Fine..." The man watched Violet until the farmer disappeared into the distance along the trail that led her home. Sebastian unlocked the door to his house and once he was in his room, he quickly shed his layers of clothing. The mines had been too warm for a hoodie, but he was too foolishly stubborn to take it off. As the garment fell to the floor, he heard a slight crunch. Picking the ebony outerwear up, he inspected his pocket. Inside was a small piece of paper. A list. His dark eyes were immediately drawn to his own name. "Sebastian - Spell caster? Confirmed magic-user. Mesmerizing eyes."

If Sebastian was correct in recognizing Violet's handwriting - though he could not be sure because he had only seen it a handful of times - he thought this note might be hers. Did she really think his eyes were spelling-binding?