Bellatrix wandered the Bogs of Unfathomable Terror, her trusted lute clutched tightly to her heart. The stench of her surroundings were so immeasurably awful that the very concept of having the ability to smell disgusted her, and the thick sludge she walked through would stick to her clothes for an entire year. But if what she sought was still here, then it would all be worth it.
"The darkest holes hide the brightest treasures," she reminded herself. "Surely, she must still be here, she-"
A chill ran down her spine as a piercing wail stretched the entire Bogs length. An animalistic cry, one like a tormented goat and crab singing in harmony.
But faintly, underneath, another cry. A more familiar, friendly one, in familiar screams of violence.
"Blasted Gortle," she muttered. "What trouble have you gotten in today I wonder?"
With the swiftness of a thousand lightning bolts, Bellatrix ran through betwixt the trees and, darting left and right with the grace and precision of a trained dancer. Her heart thumped as she imagined what horrific beast Gortle would now be having the displeasuring of almost being eaten by today.
When she finally spotted the beast, she froze; it was a large, very large, indescribably large beast, with a tail equipped with an oversized stinger and a gaping maw of a thousand and one sharpened teeth (her keen eyes could count them all in fractions of seconds and her brain calculated the approximate number shortly after). It bore no eyes, but instead two empty, soulless holes, and the rest of its sickly green scaled body looked like a combination of a long-forgotten tree and a firebee's thorax. It was a monstrous creature, no doubt.
But what truly drew her in was the Witch, clinging onto a sword wedged deeply into the beast's gums.
She was a large woman, muscular and strong, with shaved hair and a fierce hunger for action in her bright gold eyes surrounded by well-earned battle scars. She wore true knights armour, bulky and silver, save for the helm. Primarily because, to quote her, 'It makes headbutts less personal.'
Beatrix groaned. "Gortle, yet again you find yourself in the midst of a harrowing and dangerous brawl with something bigger than yourself, and once again I must save you before it devours you, silver and all."
Gortle smirked. "Ah, Bellatrix. Not quite! Once again, in fact, you have come to watch me tear open a monstrous beast from the inside out, spilling its bright, wet, gooey innards across the bog floor!"
"Vividly grotesque imagery aside, I fail to see how you can achieve such a goal out in here."
"Like THIS!" And with that, Gortle threw herself into the beast's maw, laughing like the mad woman she was born to be.
Bellatrix sighed. "As always, Gortles thinks only of the stomach." As she spoke, she spun a bright red circle in the air, and from it fell her Grand Pick of Destiny(!). As was custom, she placed it to her lips before strumming it against her lute, sending out vibrations towards the beast. At the sensation, the monster started to shake, violently convulsing and screeching like an angry cat. Bellatrix rushed behind a nearby tree, barely missing the engulfing explosion of green and yellow guts.
Then, when all the parts and juices landed, the most bewitching Bard on the Isles slowly turned to spot Gortle, in the middle of the remains, groaning as she picked herself up, covered in both general filthy bog water and the creature's innards.
"My oh my, you really had them on the ropes." Bellatrix smirked as she walked out, leaning down to raise a hand to the fallen soldier.
"Shows what you know," Gortle huffed. "Another minute and I would have wretched it apart."
"Another minute and I don't think we'd be having this conversation," Bellatrix countered.
"That's what you said about the Slitherbeast back in Latissa."
"And I was right!"
"As much of a worry wart as ever I see."
"And I take note that your head continues to only be used for bashing in monsters' skulls and NOT, in fact, for coherent thought."
Gortle stood, and stared Bellatrix down. They glared at each other for a good while, angry looks bearing into the others eyes.
And as always, Gortle was the first to break down into laughter as she took Bellatrix into her arms.
"It's great to see you old friend!"
Bellatrix chuckled as she hugged back. "And I you, buddy."
A smile couldn't help but form on Skara's face as she read the words. That particular passage was one of dozens that, no matter how much older she got, or how much her perspective changed, it always made her smile.
She read over the words again, finding her grin grow wider, a small sense of contentment filling her as she let herself enjoy her little bit of escapism. Especially after the… Interesting few days.
The following week at Hexside had been a, frankly, odd one.
Nothing really changed - In fact, nothing had changed in her social life. At home, her parents had all but smothered her with affection, telling her how glad they were that she was okay, and how sorry they were that they hadn't been able to find her sooner. She couldn't even go an hour without one of them asking if she was alright, or if she needed anything. Skara was about eighty percent sure she could have asked for an entire mansion of her own and they would have tried to find a way to buy her the entire Isles. It had taken her nearly the full week of asking every hour on the hour for them to at least act as if they believed she was okay.
In contrast, at Hexside, her friends who hadn't been involved in the rescue had rushed up to her, asked if she was okay, what had happened, and told her they were glad that she wasn't hurt. Short, sweet, simple. Things that she had expected, really.
After that though, things had turned to normal almost immediately. She returned to her classes, returned to Grudgby training, returned to talking about things that had nothing to do with her incident on the Knee. For most everyone else, Skara's snowed-in knee trip was a simple oddity, and they simply forgot it in favour of some other strange news like her fellow students always did.
Outside of Cat, Bo, and obviously, Willow.
Still, it was weird jumping between those two extremes on a regular basis. But maybe it was more down to a shift in her own perspective. She'd read dozens of stories about people who had gone through harrowing experiences, only to come out of it on the other side with different outlooks on lots of things. Perhaps the same thing had happened to her, and she was still in the midst of adjusting to that. It certainly felt like that, sometimes.
Of course, another explanation was that it had happened to Skara, so of course she was more affected by the dissidence between what happened on the Knee, and daily life at Hexside.
In addition to that, she had remained true to what she promised Willow - That she would think about everything that she had said in the cabin. About friendships, and what they were supposed to be. Honestly, she had thought about little else. Thinking about both the incident at the Knee and most of the events at Hexside constantly… Honestly, it made her feel overwhelmed sometimes.
So, she started to bring a book to Hexside with her during the day. Her favourite series of books in fact - Bellatrix Begrave, the Bewitching Bard , was something that she'd read since she was young; A series about a young Bard, traveling a mythical version of the Isles on a quest to prove herself amongst the best Bards in history, all while saving her occasional friend, occasional rival Gortle from whatever antics she'd gotten herself into. The last few weeks had been, to put it bluntly, difficult, and turning towards a form of escapism like reading to take her mind off things just hadn't crossed her mind until recently.
Just constantly thinking about the variety of things that had happened to her over the last few weeks, the various contradictory bits of information and impressions and behaviours and feelings and worlds she was in the middle of… She'd hoped thinking about it for a while would just have it leave her eventually.. But that wasn't how it worked, and Skara had learned that the hard way. But when that was literally all she could think about, all she had really done was shift what was causing her this level of distress. And that wasn't even taking into account that so much else still weighed on her mind. Especially when she didn't have all the answers yet.
Frankly, she needed to be able to just relax, calm down, and think about something else for a while in short bursts, so she didn't go mad, or stress herself out to the point of counter-productivity.
Bellatrix helped.
Another smirk made its way onto her face as she read another passage. As she finished the passage though, she took a quick glance around the classroom, just to make sure that she was still aware of what was happening around her. There was still no teacher, and only about a third of the students for their next General Studies class were actually here. She still had a bit of time, she thought. She then nodded to herself, and turned back to reading her page.
For a short while longer, she continued reading about Bellatrix and Gortle on their quests. Of course, she knew how it would end - She'd read it dozens of times before - but it kept her distracted and content for the time being.
After that while though, she could notice around her, without even looking around, that more and more people were starting to file into the classroom. Most went directly to their seats, walking past her without so much of an acknowledgment.
Except one. Skara didn't even need to look up to know who exactly it was.
"Hey." Willow greeted her. Skara looked up to meet her and… Was surprised to find that in her hair, on the top of her head, was what could only be described as a dancing vine, perched atop Willow's head, and waving its leaves around crazily.
"...Hey." Skara said, slowly. Her hand rose up slightly, and pointed towards the plant. "You er… You are aware of the dancing plant in your hair, right?"
Willow blinked, raised an eyebrow, and swatted above her head until she felt the lively plant. She tugged on it, and the odd flora that was far longer than it really should have been was removed from her head, and held up in front of her. It dangled between her fingers, all the way down to her feet, wriggling all the while.
"Oh, there you are, Wriggly." Willow said with a fond smile. Apparently, Willow was not even the least bit phased by the bizarre vine. She quickly cast a portal spell in front of her that she dropped the plant into. "Alrighty, back into the darkness with you. Shoo." Once dropped in, the portal closed up, and Willow turned back to Skara. "I was wondering where that scamp had gotten off to. I thought I'd lost him in my last class."
"And… No one thought to tell you he was on your head?" Skara blinked, raising her own eyebrow.
"Wriggly's a Chamele-Wort plant."
Again, Skara just blinked.
"He can camouflage." Willow elaborated.
"Ah." Skara then nodded. "So you just had a camouflaged plant in your hair that only now dropped the camouflage to… I don't even know what that was, dance?"
"Apparently." Willow deadpanned. She chuckled, shrugging. "He's a trickster, what else can I say?"
Skara let herself laugh a little too. It was hard not to.
After going through what they had been through on the Knee together, it was difficult for either of them to maintain the same level of dislike or distrust or distance or, well, anything that had characterized their relationship up until this point. For lack of a better term, and cliché as it was for a Bard to say, they had something of a bond that was forged through fire.
Or, well, ice, she supposed would be more accurate, but the point remained.
They weren't exactly friends per se, but they were on far better terms than they had been before the trip. More than once, Skara wondered if those spirits of Mrs. Haruspex's had somehow engineered the whole mess for that exact reason. And if that was the case, she was going to learn how to strangle ghosts, but that aside .
Whatever the case was, their relationship wasn't thinly veiled animosity, open hostility, or full of suspicion and distrust anymore. They were certainly better towards one another, could even joke and chat, but Skara wouldn't call them friends. To be quite honest, Skara wasn't entirely sure what to classify their relationship as. Mere acquaintances? Battle-forged comrades? On-decent-terms classmates?
Regardless of whatever it was, Skara had to be honest - She preferred this to… Well, everything in the past.
"How're you doing?" Willow asked, like she always did when they talked.
For a second, Skara really considered her answer. "I'm okay, I think." She said, honestly. "Just tired, mostly. And I have more Grudgby practice after this, so… That'll be fun." Practice had gotten more and more intense as the day of the match got ever closer, and Boscha's methods were getting more…
…'Extreme' would be too mild a word.
Still, she was being honest - All those things aside, she was relatively okay. Certainly not good , but okay. Everything that had happened, from Ves to Amelia, to what had been said between her and Willow… It still weighed on her mind, but it had gotten easier to carry.
Doing 'okay' was an improvement.
"Aside from that, I'm alright." She sighed.
"Well, I'm glad you're doing alright, at least." Willow offered her a small smile.
"Thanks." It was still a bit of an odd feeling, being willing to accept Willow's concern and acts of legitimate kindness. It was still something that she was getting used to, but Skara managed little by little, and even extended a little outward in the same way. "How're you?"
The smile on Willow's lips grew that little bit they always seemed to when Skara offered to meet her halfway. "Well, aside from Wriggly being difficult, I'm okay. I -" Something caught her eye, and she moved her head to look back at the classroom door. "Uh oh."
Skara's eyes followed. Both girls saw that Boscha had just entered the room, and had spotted the two of them speaking to one another. She gave them a scowl, and continued across the room towards her usual seat, next to Skara, with no further acknowledgment of Willow's existence.
"I'll er…" Willow gestured towards her own seat, and took a few steps towards it. Skara nodded, and gave her a small thumbs up, indicating that she understood. Once she'd gotten that, Willow turned, and took her seat.
When Boscha reached her own seat, she sat down without a word, glanced at Skara, and then very deliberately focused her attention directly in front of her. Skara let out a small, slow, quiet exhale through her nose, and carefully moved her arms over her book, so Boscha wouldn't see it.
Boscha didn't like Willow - Skara had known that for years . And she didn't like the fact that Skara and Willow were, at the very least, on speaking terms with one another now. That much she hadn't actually said, but Skara didn't need to hear it to know that it was what the matter was. This wasn't the first time she'd had this reaction, after all; Whenever Boscha saw the two of them speaking, she got into a far fouler mood than she otherwise was. Yet she never said anything about it.
Then again, what was she supposed to say? That she didn't approve of the fact that two people who had survived an ordeal in the frozen tundra of the Knee - Who she didn't try to help - were on speaking terms with one another? There wasn't really a scenario where that was even remotely acceptable, no matter who the two in question were.
'Status, after all, is everything', Skara thought as she reminded herself of Boscha's philosophy.
A philosophy she was… Struggling with herself.
Her relationship with Boscha had taken something of an opposite direction to what it had with Willow - There was a sort of tension now. Not an especially tense one, and not one that hadn't existed before, but it was there. In part because of Boscha herself, and her unspoken disapproval of her new… Acquaintanceship, if that was even the right word, with Willow, and in part because of Skara, due to her dislike of the Grudgby she was being made to play, and, well… A lot of other things.
It would pass, though. Skara's friendship with Boscha always had periods like this. Friendships in general did, at least, they did in Skara's experience. Boscha would get over it, and once the Grudgby match was over, everything would probably go back to normal. This was just a temporary thing. Over ten years of experience told Skara that. Boscha got bitter, she did something cool, everything went back to normal. Wash, rinse, repeat.
More people filed into the classroom, including Luz, Amity and Gus. They waved towards Willow, and no sooner had they sat down had the teacher finally arrived themselves.
"Okay, everyone, sit down, shut up, cease any and all forms of communication, and pay attention." They said before they'd even gotten halfway across the room to the teachers desk. "That includes Scrolls." He added, eyeing a student in the front row who hadn't managed to unsummon their Scroll in time.
Dr. Hedgesmith, Skara noted. One of, if not the strictest teachers at Hexside. She internally groaned.
She was not looking forward to this.
To the surprise of absolutely no-one, General Studies was about as fun as one would have expected when one had arguably the single most strict teacher in the entire school, who would snap at you if you so much as glanced out a window for more than five seconds - About as fun as a griffon attack. Skara tried her best to at the very least look like she was paying attention, but every time she tried to focus, her eyes would cross, her vision would blur, and her brain would jump to just about anything unreleated to her stupid class.
She just had to thank her lucky stars that the lesson didn't require any writing or note-taking. It was more a lecture than it was a class. In the spaces where she did manage to focus, she knew it was something about the history of the Isles and the Emperor's ascension to the throne. Stuff she'd already learned a long time ago, both as a Witchling in Baby Class, and as a Bard through the… Numerous ballads on the subject.
Occasionally, she would look next to her, towards Boscha. She could see the impatience in her eyes, the way that she would bounce her knee up and down, how she tapped her pencil against the desk, and the doodles in her notebook. She wanted to be on the field, training for the Glandus match.
Then, her eyes would shift over towards Willow and her group of friends. They had their books up so that it covered their faces and mouths, just enough so that it looked like they were still paying attention, but could get away with speaking to one another in hushed whispers. The only one not engaging in that sort of behaviour was Amity, though she still glanced towards them, occasionally smirking or rolling her eyes at whatever it was that they said.
Skara's eyes lingered on that perhaps a bit more than they should have. But she couldn't get the association between them, and Gortle and Bellatrix from her books out of her mind.
She'd thought of it in passing weeks ago, when she'd seen them outside the entrance to Hexside, but dismissed it almost immediately after thinking about it.
Now, because she knew that it was genuine, and because she knew that Willow really did care for them, Skara couldn't shake the feeling that the way Willow and her friends interacted was far more akin to the interactions in her books. Books that had influenced her since she was a child. Books that influenced how she thought school would be. How friendships would be.
Books that she escaped to when the reality came crashing back down around her.
After an hour of solid boredom, and forcing herself to not look at the group, she was pulled out of her trance by the shriek of the end-of-school bell. Almost immediately, everyone got onto their feet, and began to pack their things to get ready to go, even at the protest of Dr. Hedgesmith.
"Finally!" Boscha all but leapt out of her seat, her things already tossed haphazardly back into her school bag. "I thought that would never end!" She turned to Skara. "Let's go - We've got drills to run!"
Blinking, Skara just sort of looked at Boscha in a daze, and then at her still cluttered desk. She picked up her book, some pencils, a water bottle and reference books to put into her bag, all the while trying to keep her book hidden from Boscha, and while trying to be quick about it.
C'mon, c'mon, gotta hurry…
Unfortunately, she had to take too much into her hands, and she dropped everything onto the ground. Her books fell onto the other side of the desk, though thankfully, the cover for Bellatrix was upside down, so Boscha couldn't see what it was.
The one silver lining in the fact that everything she had on her was scattered all over the floor.
After a couple seconds of just looking at the mess, exasperated, Skara just sighed. "I'll… Meet you there in five minuites, okay?"
Boscha blinked, and then shrugged. "Five minutes. After that, you're doing a lap for every minute you're late."
"Yes, ma'am." Skara muttered under her breath, quiet enough Boscha couldn't hear it.
Almost immediately after her warning, Boscha bolted out the door, shoving past a couple of other students in her race to the fields. Skara shook her head as she knelt down to pick up her pencils and water bottle, putting them into her bag, silently cursing herself for having tried to do it all at once.
Titan, so stupid...
Quickly, she got up onto her feet, ready to hop over the desk to grab her books, but as soon as she was on her feet, she saw Willow in front of her, arms outreached, books in hand.
"Here."
Another, lighter sigh escaped Skara as she accepted them. "Thanks."
"No problem." A smile.
Skara offered a small one in return. "I've gotta get to the field. I'll er, see you tomorrow."
"Okay. See you then."
Turning away from Willow as she quickly moved out the door and tried to stuff her books back into her bag at the same time, Skara headed towards the Grudgby field, hoping to get there before more laps were required of her.
Willow watched as Skara left, and couldn't help but frown. It bothered her, seeing the Bard run around after Boscha like that.
At the very least, Willow knew where she stood with Boscha. Their relationship was as clear as crystal got: Boscha hated her guts, and Willow wasn't too fond of Boscha either. That was fine with her. But Skara… She had a feeling that the Bard may not know where she stood with Boscha. Willow knew for a fact Skara didn't like Grudgby, but was going along with it for Boscha's sake. And Boscha was driving her far harder than most Witches could withstand.
It all seemed so… Needlessly harsh.
"Hey, Willow?"
Feeling a hand on her shoulder, Willow turned around. Gus was the one who had gotten her attention, and when she turned, he had a slightly quizzical expression on his face.
"You alright?"
"Uh huh." Willow nodded. "I'm totally fine."
"...Was Skara giving you a hard time again?"
"Huh?" For a moment, Willow was confused at the question. She shook her head. "No, not at all. She just dropped something and I picked it up for her."
"...Oh." Gus deflated slightly, and looked away.
"Are… You okay, Gus?"
He didn't move for a second, and then he sighed, and looked back at her. "Can I be... Blunt with you?"
"Um… Go for it?"
"Are you sure she's… Legit, I guess?"
"...I don't follow."
"I mean that Skara's been friends with Boscha for years! She's been part of her crew for as long as I've known you, and she's helped torment you for just as long! How do you know this isn't some… Elaborate… Trick or something?"
As ridiculous as it might have sounded to an outsider, to Willow, his concern did make perfect sense. Extending a hand of friendship, only to snatch it away and to make fun of her for even attempting to accept it; It wasn't exactly like that would be the worst thing either Skara or Boscha had done to her.
Still, it didn't exactly make a whole lot of sense , given the last few weeks.
Looking over Gus's shoulder for a quick second, she saw that Luz and Amity were both still clearing up their desks, and idly talking to one another. Unless either she or Gus went to interrupt them, like they had needed to the last sixteen times this had happened, Willow had a feeling that they weren't going to shift their focus. Good. That'll keep them distracted for… However long this conversation lasts , she thought to herself. She didn't want this conversation being overheard.
"Gus, we got stuck on the Knee together." Willow said. "We got paired up at random by spirits. I don't know how she could have planned that."
"Well maybe that was just a coincidence, but that doesn't mean that she hasn't been doing all of this as a way to get at you!"
"She's had to deal with a break up - Going through that seems like it's a bit much just to pull a prank on me."
"It's still possible!"
"It's possible that one of my plants is going to escape greenhouse and eat half of Hexside - That doesn't mean it's all that likely to happen." A worry started to assert itself inside Willow. This… Wasn't like Gus. He wasn't usually prone to this sort of conspiracy or paranoia. "Gus, are you… Sure you're okay?"
There was a second where neither of them moved in the slightest. Gus's head dropped, letting out a noise that sounded somewhere between a sigh of frustration and a strangled cry. He tried to make… Some sort of gesture with his hands, though they conveyed next to nothing, other than his own frustration. A part of Willow started to think that even he was recognising that what he was doing was abnormal for him, but still felt that this sort of paranoia was warranted, but he didn't know how to properly explain himself.
He stood for a moment, saying nothing, while Willow watched on, not sure entirely what he would do next.
Finally, he did what Willow had decided to call "The Luz": He just threw his arms wide open and rushed Willow, wrapping her in a giant bear hug. Willow was slightly caught off guard, but didn't say anything against it as she hugged her best friend back, if somewhat awkwardly, on account of still being confused.
"You're one of the kindest people on the isles, you know that?" Gus's voice was small, almost too small to hear, but Willow could make out every word, crystal clear. "You're kind and caring and forgiving and that's one of the best things about you, but just… When it was Amity, I didn't mind too much 'cause you had history, and after we sorted everything out, she turned out to be cool. But Skara…"
Skara, she had no good history with. Skara, there was no logical reason to trust. Skara, Gus had even less reason to trust, because he hadn't heard what Willow had heard, seen what she had seen. For Skara, there wasn't really even a smidge of justification like Amity had.
Amity at least could point to her parents as a reason for doing what she had done. It wasn't exactly a good reason, but it was one. The best excuse that Skara had was that she was going along with Boscha.
And not even Willow knew if that was true, or if Skara had gone along with it willingly from day one.
"I'm not…" Willow sighed. "Gus, I'm not trying to be Skara's friend or anything."
That much was true - It wasn't like that had been the goal of her interactions with Skara. That had never a been part of any of this. Frankly, given everything that she had learned, she wasn't sure that Skara fully understood what a friend was .
"I just… She needed a shoulder to cry on, and… And I remember what it was like being in a situation like hers."
"Yeah… But I know you." The Illusionist said. " If she's lying, and this is something to get to you…" Gus pulled away from Willow, shaking at the idea. Whether it was anger or fear, it was hard to tell. "I just… I don't want you getting hurt. I don't want them getting close and doing something to screw with you or-."
"Hey, hey," Willow said, smiling. "Gus, don't worry. I'm gonna be okay. I know the kinds of tricks they play and I know what to look out for. I won't give Skara the chance to do anything."
"You promise?"
"O'course." Though in her head, Willow had the distinct feeling that a promise she didn't need to keep. Skara wasn't going to try anything, of that, she was certain.
"…Alright." Gus said, shaking his head. "Alright, just… If she does do anything, let me know, okay?"
Willow chuckled. "If Skara does anything to try and get to me, I'll make her plant food."
Gus smirked, then hugged her again. "Alright. But I want a piece of her too, okay? Don't think my illusions are just all razzle dazzle." As he finished, he opened up his hands, small strings of illusionary confetti flying out, and scattering all over the ground.
"Uh… Woops."
"…So, um, I suggest we get out of here before Dr. Hedgesmith realizes that that just happened?"
"Agreed."
Just as Willow had thought, when she looked back to them, neither Luz nor Amity seemed to have noticed… Essentially anything of the conversation between her and Gus, or pretty much anything around them. She was half certain that they would stand there and talk like that until the next day if the universe allowed them to.
"Hey er, we should probably go?" Willow said to them, loud enough to get their attention. "As in, right now?"
Left! Right! Duck! Now JUMP!
For the fifteenth time in a row, Skara hopped across the Grudgby field, dodging the swinging death blade, ducking before the screeching griffon took hold of her, and barely escaping the grasp of an oversized Abomination.
All with her legs tied together .
Not bad for someone who doesn't even really like this game.
Now, all she had to do was throw the ball through the triangular goal, and she could finally be done with at least this portion of nonsense. She moved to score. A hop, a skip, and a -
"Aaahk!"
OHTITANNO!
Her perfect goal was stopped before it began, as a stray stone tripped her jump, causing her to slam straight into the ground just as she had taken aim and began to throw the ball.
"...Ow."
. The ball flew right above the goal post, and into out of bounds, where the griffon that had earlier almost caught her swooped in and, with a mighty caw , clasped its claws around the now screaming Grudgby ball, crushing it with an unsettling wet and crunchy CRACK.
Skara watched as it all happened, sighed as it passed, and then let her head flop to the ground.
Welp. That's… Just... Great.
"Y'know, I'll say this." Boscha stepped out from the side-lines, followed closely by Cat, who was writing furiously onto a clipboard as they both walked towards Skara. "If you hadn't completely screwed it up at the end, it wouldn't have been a bad goal."
"Well, maybe if you let me use both of my legs." Skara grumbled as the ropes glowed a bright yellow, falling off from her legs and returning to Boscha's hands. Skara sat up, and rubbed her legs where the rope had dug into her skin. "Ow. Hey, don't you think this all is a bit… Excessive?"
"What do you mean? All of this is just completely standard big game practice stuff."
"Standard - When the heck am I gonna end up in a situation where my legs get tied together in a Grudgby match?"
"That's not the point , Skara - The point is to be prepared for anything, no matter how unlikely it is. You never know what to expect in a match, let alone against Glandus." Boscha summoned a storage hole, threw the rope inside, and pulled out what appeared to be a griffon's still beating heart. "Now, here, put this on over your head and do the whole thing while walking backwards."
Skara had every intention of not doing that.
But before she could tell her captain that she wasn't going to follow such a blatantly ridiculous instruction, Cat spoke up. "Uh, Boscha? I think Skara and I could use a bit of a breather. We've been working on these drills and tactics for like, an hour and a half with barely a break, and we're not really getting anywhere…"
All three of Boscha's eyes glared at Cat, but a sigh escaped her lips. She pinched the bridge of her nose, and took the clipboard from Cat. "Fine, fine. Five minutes. But then you two better give me fifty laps after."
"Alright, cool, totally." Skara let out an exacerbated groan. It wasn't something she wanted to do, and it seemed completely counter-productive to what Cat just said, but with Boscha, at this point, at least it wasn't one hundred laps.
Taking a seat on the bench with Cat, Skara and her both let out a long sigh, and stretched. Skara's sore muscles were grateful to finally get any sort of respite at all from the overly exhausting work Boscha put her through. She rubbed at the marks left in her skin, relief filling her entire body.r
Every single training method that Boscha had made her team do over the last week had been some flavour of what she called 'Situational Conditioning' - Preparing her players for some insane, improbable possibility, just in case something happened during the match that would need some sort of special preparation. Playing a match while wearing a blindfold, without being able to use a limb, only being able to use certain types of Magic, that sort of thing. And when that was done, she started to double them up, like she was today, and Skara… Could not begin to convey how sick of it she was getting.
It wasn't just that Skara didn't really care about Grudgby, either. It was also that Boscha cared a lot .
A lot a lot.
Too much of a lot , Skara thought. She knew Boscha cared about Grudgby a lot, and that was fine - That was what she wanted to do with her life after all. But why she was this worked up about Glandus specifically, was truly beyond her. She'd put her team through more exercises than Skara even knew existed in the name of victory against them.
Still, at least now, Skara had some down time. A few minutes to let her muscles just relax and recover.
Of course, her being her, just sitting there wasn't exactly what Skara could call relaxing. She'd never been that great at just sitting somewhere without anything to do, or as was the case in the last couple of weeks, anything to contemplate. And she'd had enough of contemplation for one day.
I can probably cram in a few more pages of Bellatrix... No, the less Boscha knows about that, the better. I don't have any homework or anything… There's always music, but I dunno what I'm in the mood for. Nothing energetic, that's for sure. That'd be like playing dance music in the middle of a rainstorm.
…Then again, playing music doesn't sound like a bad use of time.
After all, that was what she used to spend most of her bench-time doing before she had to substitute for Amelia.
Forming a hole in the air, Skara sifted quickly through her numerous instruments, sticking her tongue out in contemplation as she quickly scrounged through them all.
My trumpet?... Nah. Sax?... No, not feeling it. Theremin? When and where the heck did I even get this thing?
And then she spotted it, near the top of the pile.
Of course!
And with a smile, Skara pulled out her latest, and arguably greatest, instrument: the cabin's guitar. After a brief few seconds of re-tuning the guitar, the Bard began to do what she did best; play music.
She started with a simple rift, one that she normally did when she was just warming up, but also one that always made Skara smile at the sound. Something about the melody sounded like… Well, music to her ears, for lack of a better phrase. And somehow, even with - or perhaps, because of the unreplaced ancient strings on the guitar, the tune sounded even better.
Like the laughter of an old friend you haven't seen in years, yet click like it was yesterday, or the contented sigh after a kiss from the first 'I love you.'
A laugh escaped her - Wow, re-reading those Bewitching Bard books had her feeling pretty poetic. The sound, and Skara's own thoughts on how to describe it, made the Bard grin like an absolute idiot.
"Oooh," Cat gasped, breaking Skara's concentration. "Never seen you play that guitar before! Is it new?"
"Nah. Just an antique I spotted." Skara decided that going into any more detail than that would create a whole thing that she… Didn't really feel like getting into right now.
"Wow… How old is it?"
"I'm… Not exactly sure." Skara admitted. She examined the side of it, like she was looking for some sort of inscription or pattern, or stylization that would tell her. "I think at least a century?"
"It's a century old, and it still sounds that good?"
"Well, thank you." Skara grinned, giving a small, overly performative bow from her seat. "I mean, half the beauty of a song is the musician playing it after all, so -"
"Alright, practice… Whatever that was on your own time." Skara groaned as she turned to face Boscha. "Your break's over. Time to get back to practice, you two."
"Five more minutes?" Cat asked. "Boscha, we aren't exactly going to be much good if we can barely even stand up. We need a real break, and-"
"A break? A real break? You -" Boscha shook her head, frustration and anger evident in her every move. "You two, I swear…" The captain took a deep, strangled sigh. "Okay. Do you two think Glandus needs breaks?"
"Probably." Skara stated, flatly.
"WELL THEY DON'T! They spend twenty-three hours a day training, doing a hundred laps an hour, breaking brick walls with their skulls, and do you know what they do with the only hour they aren't directly training?"
"Uhhhh…." Skara had… Absolutely no idea. "...Sleep?"
"WRONG! They strategize!"
At this point Skara was actually becoming half concerned - Did Boscha legitimately believe these tales of a Grudgby team that didn't need to sleep , or was she just making them up?
Because she sounded like she believed what she was saying.
"Glandus has one of the most dangerous teams in all the High School Grudgby League because they don't just take anyone ." Boscha took Skara's shoulders and squeezed, hissing her words. "They only take monsters . Cruel, heartless monsters, designed for nothing more than scoring as many goals as possible, no matter the cost to themselves or others! They literally drink the blood of-"
As much as it was an… Experience hearing about everything Boscha was accusing Glandus of being, Skara couldn't keep her focus on her friend at - Something caught her eye, for a reason that she couldn't really explain.
A bush along the corner of the stadium. There were plenty of bushes around the place of course, but Skara was about ninety-nine percent sure this particular one hadn't been there a minute ago.
"Are you even listening to me?" Skara shook her head back, and turned to spot a very displeased Boscha, glaring at her with all three eyes.
"Uh, yeah, totally." Skara answered. "Glandus's team drinks blood, gotcha."
"Right." Boscha agreed, nodding her head. "Glandus is ruled by strength and strength alone! They produce the worst players in history! And by worst I mean the best!"
Returning her attention to the strange bush after something about it caught her eye again, Skara couldn't help but notice it... Rustling? A little, at least? But none of the other plants were, and she couldn't feel much wind, if any.
What in the world…
"And, and they're all just… Just terrible!" Boscha now seemed to be lost in her own anger, just ranting for the sake of ranting. "They're awful, and bad, and if we let our guard down for even one second , we'll -"
At that point, a butterfly passed by the bush. Which Skara wouldn't have noticed or cared about if someone didn't pop out of said bush to try and grab it.
The short, stout orange Witch laughed as he ran after the butterfly, seemingly blissfully unaware of Skara, Cat, and Boscha staring at him as if he was the ghost of the Titan himself come to declare a messiah. It wasn't until the butterfly flew too high for the boy to reach for that, in his now saddened state, he spotted the Banshee's.
He stood frozen.
The Banshee's stood frozen.
"...Er…" Skara… Had no idea how to respond to this situation.
"...Hello there?" Cat offered.
The boy remained frozen.
The Banshee's remained frozen.
The boy slowly backed his way back towards the bush.
There were another few, incomprehensibly awkward seconds of silence as the Banshee's just… Watched this happen. Each of them watched the Witch, and he back at them, and they could all just tell that he was hoping that the minute he was back behind the bush, that everyone would just go back to whatever it was they were doing and forgotten that they had ever seen him, as if that was ever going to happen.
"Angmar!" A voice from the bush suddenly groaned out the name. The boy stood stiff, and turned his head around. "Really? You couldn't just stay put for five more minutes?"
At that, Skara noticed all three of Boscha's eyes widened, and her grip on their clipboard grew tighter. "Oh no… That voice… That horrible voice…"
The bushes shook for a moment, before two figures emerged, standing either side of this 'Angmar' person. One was a tall, sturdy boy with a pointed chin and a small mole. But Skara noticed that Boscha had her eyes firmly placed on the second figure; an amber eyed girl with short, purple hair, a splattering of freckles on both her cheeks, and a cheery disposition that Skara didn't quite trust.
She looked vaguely familiar to Skara though; she'd spent a few years as the team's back-up replacement, so even if she spent most of her time reading or playing an instrument from the side, she could recognize her enough to put a name to her face: Bria.
And this certainly wasn't the first time she'd seen Bria. Although, that was literally the extent of her knowledge - The fact that she existed.
Well, that and the fact that Boscha and Bria had some sort of history - Skara had never really cared much for Grudgby or anything surrounding it, so she had never asked. And she only saw Bria during practice for some reason, so it had never come up.
As she emerged from the bush, Bria's eyes met Boscha's, and she gave a smile and wave to the Potions student.
"Hi, Boschy."
Skara just blinked in utter confusion. That… Was not a nickname I expected to hear today. Or, well, ever.
Boscha herself, meanwhile, looked as if she was about to snap the clipboard in half. "You… You GLANDUS SCUM!"
Looking back at the three strange newcomers, Skara did realize they were all from Glandus: unlike Hexside uniforms, with a cowl and track colored sleeves, these uniforms featured a neck-piece that covered their shoulders and ran to their chests in a upside-down triangle.
"Sheesh," the girl muttered, waving a dismissive hand with a light tut tut . "So touchy , Boschy."
All three of Boscha's eyes were practically ablaze in rage, her entire face was crimson red, and her teeth were gritting against each other so roughly Skara was surprised they didn't crack. "Get off my field now , Bria, or I'm gonna make sure you and your whole team lose due to injuries of a fatal nature ."
"Oh, you and your empty threats." Bria ran a hand through her hair, continuing to sound absolutely dismissive of Boscha's anger.
"We're not even here for you, Boschy !" The Abomination boy said, snickering.
Bria elbowed him roughly in the ribs, and, surprisingly, he doubled over, hissing in pain. Dang. She may be tiny, but she seems to pack a punch…
"Gavin is right, though." Bria continued. "We didn't even come for you. We wanted to check out your new player." Stepping forward, she eyed Skara up and down, sizing her up. Skara almost felt like a caged animal at this point, forced to simply stand as everyone else watched her.
"…Eh?"
"Skara, isn't it?" Skara cautiously nodded. "Good to know."
For a few seconds, Bria ran her eyes up and down Skara, seeming to inspect her. It was only about three or four seconds, and from that, Bria apparently decided that she had enough to make a judgement on.
"…Not sure why I was ever worried."
"...Charming." Skara muttered, still not entirely sure what the heck was even going on.
"I'm surprised you're being so generous, Boschy." Bria said, without looking towards Boscha. "Normally Bard's just end up as cheerleaders, but you , letting one live out her dream of getting to actually play? It's almost touching."
"Actually I don't even like-"
"What's the matter?" Bria glanced towards Boscha. "Not taking us seriously anymore, Bosch-"
"Listen here, Bria ." Boscha suddenly hissed, like a Cobrat waiting for the perfect time to strike the cheese. "You've won, what? Two games?"
"Out of the two we've played against you." Her voice was almost sweet enough for Skara to gag, but she could tell Bria took a weirdly sick pleasure in tormenting Boscha like she was nothing. "Oh, and all the other games against all the other schools in the League, but then again, who's counting, am I right?"
"Unimportant." Boscha sneered, stepping forward to get in Bria's face. "So you won a few games. My team's been training non-stop, day in, day out, no breaks, to win and we're all ready to kick your stupid team into next week!"
"Oh?" Bria raised an eyebrow. "Is that why you needed Skara over here?" She gestured to the Bard. "'Cause you're all so motivated that your other player backed out?"
"Well," Cat stepped in, "Amelia's actually with the Healers. She-"
"Amelia!" Gavin interrupted, snapping his fingers, and then placing it on to his chin. "That's who's missing here - Your other useless player!" He grinned, smugly crossing his arms over his chest.
Cat's eyes widened, her face going crimson as she clenched her fists. "What did you just say about Amelia?"
Gavin waved her off. "I mean, she never held a candle to ol' Angmar over here, right buddy?" He clapped Angmar on the back, the shorter Witch grinning as he crossed his own arms cockily. "She could grow a few flowers, this guy here can grow giant vines! Trust me." He laughed to himself. "Going to the 'Healers' was the best decision she ever made."
"You know," Cat hissed through clenched teeth, "if you wanna meet her, I'm sure I can make room for you in the Healers after I'm-"
"ENOUGH!"
The field grew eerily quiet at Boscha's almost animalistic roar. Her teeth were bare, exposing her sharpened and filed fangs. By this point, it was an absolute miracle her clipboard hadn't been snapped in half.
Skara had seen Boscha angry plenty of times before - It wasn't exactly an uncommon occurrence. But this, this was different. This was the full brunt of all of Boscha's anger and fury being brought to bare.
She… Felt the need to take a step away from Boscha.
Lest she get caught in the crossfire.
Hexside's Grudgby captain's eyes met Glandus's captain's, all three filled with the sort of rage only a Titan could emit. "I know you think you're some big shot prodigy just cause you beat me." Boscha's voice was a growl, and she was clearly holding back as much of her anger as she could. " And I know you think just cause you're a little princess up at ol' Glandy that you're gonna get handed another win on a silver platter."
She pointed a finger into Bria's ribs, practically stabbing her. Bria's body had to jolt back slightly.
"But I'm gonna win this time." Boscha vowed. " Me . I'm gonna crush you and your team, and I'm gonna put you in your place. I'm gonna make sure the entire Isles knows that you lost to me. I'm gonna knock your little tower down, princess. I'm gonna tear down this little ego trip of yours, and I'm gonna make sure everyone knows that no one, not a single soul , messes. With. Me. " By the last few words, she was punctuating them by attempting to puncture Bria's ribs. "Are. We . Clear?"
For a moment, Bria just stood there, looking Boscha in the eye, unflinching. Her face looked unmoved by everything, like Boscha had just attempted to ask her the time as opposed to threatening her. She simply stood there, totally unphased.
Then, she smirked.
She raised an index finger, placing it beneath Boscha's chin.
For a split second, Skara genuinely expected Boscha to try and bite it, but, to her surprise, the Potions student simply stood there, breathing heavily through her anger, and her face somehow becoming even more crimson red.
"Well… I guess we'll see." Bria smirked, a playful glint in her eyes. "Won't we, Boschy?"
Skara just stared in warped fascination at the encounter, genuinely shocked at how strangely mesmerizing it was to watch. Seeing someone not just take Boscha in stride, but take the brunt of her anger and seem to see it as some sort of game… it was actually kinda impressive.
Bria let go of Boscha's chin, and her face shifted from cocky to sugary sweet once again. "Well, we should probably get goin'." She yawned, dramatically stretching. "Those twenty-three hour long practices sure do make me tired." She turned to Skara, smiling. "Well, it was nice meeting ya, Skara. Can't wait to see how ya play in a real game." She looked past the Bard. "Oh, and Rat-"
"Cat."
"Always a pleasure to see you!" She waved the three off, smiling as she, Gavin, and Angmar walked to the gates of the field.
Skara, for a moment, simply stared, having little to no idea how exactly she was meant to process what exactly just… Happened.
Boscha's hands were balled up into fists and shaking, her breathing shallow as the three Glandus members walked off. Her face was still fully red, and she seemed to be breathing through gritted teeth, but as soon as they were beyond the gate, she took a single inhale, and then turned.
"Well?" Boscha asked, her voice filled with the sort of barely restrained anger Skara was surprised she could contain.
"Well… Uh, what exactly?"
"Well, how'd they look?"
Skara sideyed Cat, confused. "Uh... I mean, Bria's kinda cute, I guess? Not exactly my type personally, but-"
"YOU - ABOUT THEM SPYING ON US, SKARA! "
"…Oh."
Finally, Boscha snapped the clipboard, the anger Skara had been so impressed that she could restrain had now finally been unleashed upon the poor thing. "You just looked our enemies in the face, got acknowledged by them, and witnessed them trash talking us on OUR turf! You should be furious! Enraged! I mean, TITAN , THEY JUST CAME TO SPY ON YOU!"
That had…. Not been the impression Skara had gotten. Not in the slightest.
Again, Skara couldn't help but side-eye Cat. There was a look Cat was giving her that Skara couldn't quite understand - Either she was trying to warn her not to say anything, or she was equally as confused by the whole event as the Bard was. Skara guessed that it was the latter.
"Uh… You're… Sure about that?"
"Oh no." Cat muttered. Skara immediately regretted her decision.
"What?" Boscha blinked. "'Course she did! Why else would she be here?"
"W… Weeeeeeell, not to, I dunno, assume or anything, but uh…" They were already past the point of no return, Skara supposed. At this point, Boscha wasn't going to stop without an answer. "I mean… She came from Glandus to… 'Spy' on me -" Skara decided to omit how ridiculous she thought the idea of spying on Grudgby players was. " - But she didn't seem particularly interested in me? She did seem to enjoy messing with you though. So… maybe that had something to do with it?"
All three of Boscha's eyes blinked in unison. Then, her face scrunched up into a look of pure, crimson frustration.
"Uh… Boscha?"
"One. Hundred. Laps. Now."
Dinner in Skara's household was always a grand affair. Being a rather wealthy household and one run by a couple who met over cooking, all meals, especially dinners, were treated like a grand banquet, even if it was something as simple as cereal and toast - Apparently half the appeal of cooking was in the presentation, if they were both to be believed.
Their meals took place within a grand, shining dining hall, complete with a large window overlooking the Isles woods, and on an ornately designed round table, with ruby gems along the sides and a slick golden top that no amount of grease or peanut butter seemed to stain.
And that wasn't even getting into the food itself. When Skara's parents were too busy to cook, their Abomiton butlers were designed specifically to recognize the exact amount of every ingredient needed to craft some of the best delicacies on the Isles, from the correct temperature to make Roasted Slitherbeast to the exact amount of screamberries required for Screamberry Pie. The food was always divine, almost crafted specifically to make one's taste buds feel new and inviting sensations with every bite. And even better was when her parents did cook, because they were capable of making even the best meals their Abomiton's made to shame. They somehow made their meals even better then they did, and all with an extra added flare that impressed even the most tasteless of Witches.
They had…. Really enjoyed cooking when they were younger, and that passion hadn't left them in the slightest.
Honestly, if her parents decided to quit their current jobs and simply opened a restaurant, Skara was beyond convinced they would make more Snails in a day than they would in a month as a high end lounge singer and an Oracle medium. But, whenever she brought it up, they always reminded her that cooking was simply a hobby, not something they wanted to pursue full time.
Turning a hobby into a career is a good way of making it no longer a hobby, her father would say. But we appreciate the compliment, sweetie.
So, bottom line, dinners were always good with Skara and her family.
"And so," Skara's father stated, wrapping up his epic saga for the day, "With the help of the ethereal plane, I reconnected a daughter with her deceased mother, exercised an evil spirit from a little girl, and helped an old woman find her kitten in her sock drawer."
"…What was a kitten doing in a sock draw?" Skara asked.
"That's where the old woman left it." Her father explained. They both blinked at one another. "Admittedly that one was a bit of an… Odd job. But, I'm not allowed to discuss the private matters of clients, Skara, you know that."
"Yeah, I know." Skara took another bite of the Fungu, made from some poisonous aquatic moss fish, and tried to come up with something, anything, to add to the conversation. Her parents' tales always were far more fascinating than her own, given how little happened on a day-to-day basis.
Mainly, since the Knee trip, it had simply been school, Grudgby, and music practice, so while her parents could talk about all the wonderful and utterly bizarre things they'd done, Skara always ended up with finding some stupid little thing that happened to say something about. I bumped into Eileen today or My Woodwind teacher says I'm improving , just little moments that really didn't mean much to Skara but she could pretend did.
Not that she didn't think what her parents did was awesome - It was just… Easy to feel a bit overshadowed sometimes.
"Oh, my beautiful ghostie boy," Skara's mother chuckled, her silvery hair floating around her head as it always did when she was enjoying herself. "Always so kind and noble and handsome."
"Well," he continued in a playful tone, smiling while taking her face in his hand, "I learn from the single kindest and most beautiful angel on the Isles."
She squealed with delight at the compliment Skara had heard her receive a dozen thousand times over. "Oh, Boras. How do I end up a Bard when you're the one with such a way with words?"
I crave the endless nothingness of the Eternal Void.
It wasn't that Skara hated her parents' relationship by any means. It was more that her parent's overly mushy, incredibly cute romance and sappy doting was the sort of thing one wanted for themselves as opposed to watching someone else have. The way they talked to one another would have been considered cheesy back in the savage ages, never mind the modern day.
There was also the fact they were her parents, too. That made it doubly embarrassing to watch.
"Well, today I auditioned for a fairly big production of Baphamlet . Not to jinx myself, but I think I have the role of Ghoultrude down pat." She took a dramatic swing of her goblet, filled of course with nothing less than the finest apple blood snails could buy, and smirked. "Fingers crossed."
Skara knew she didn't have to cross hers. Her mother, the Lulea, was one of the most prolific stage actresses on the Isles. Any production with her involved was almost guaranteed to be an absolute hit. Plus, Skara had watched her mother play Ghoultrude six times in as many years, and each time, it was nothing short of magnificent, and only got better with each subsequent performance she gave. Skara was fairly sure that lucky number seven was just around the corner.
"Will do, mom." Skara raised her hand up, one finger crossed over the other. "I'm sure you'll get it!"
"Oh, thank you, my little Skar." Her mother grinned. "I bet you had an equally wonderful day though, Come, regale your parents with your wonderful stories." She leaned onto the table, her chin in her hand. Her father took a similar position, placing his chin into both hands as he waited eagerly for Skara's tales.
Way to put me on the spot, mom, thanks.
Her eyes darted between her parents as she gulped. Oh, Titan, I didn't do, what, anything interesting today?
Of course, it wasn't like her parents would look down on her for not having something truly exciting to tell, but that didn't mean she didn't want to be sound lame. Compared to her parent's lives though, practically nothing happened at Hexside.
"Hmmm…" Practically the only thing she could think of was Grudgby and the whole incident with Boscha and Bria, but aside from not even liking Grudgby, that hadn't even really happened to her - More in front of her. Plus Skara had a feeling if she said that Glandus players had been 'spying' on her for whatever insane reason, her parents kick up an absolute storm demanding Glandus explain directly to them what in the Titans name was going on, and the last thing Skara wanted was to be at the centre of some…. Weird mess there. Frankly, she just wanted the game to be over and done with. "Not er, a lot happened to me today, to be honest… Oh!"
Suddenly, a jolt ran through her brain, and she snapped her fingers.
" I did learn a bit about Plant magic today!"
"Oh, fascinating." Her parent's looked at her, intrigued at her statement.
"Yeah, kinda. Ever hear of a Chamele-Wort plant?"
Her father shook his head. "Not really, I'm afraid."
"Well, apparently, they're really cool! They can camouflage themselves, and they're pretty neat."
Her mother smiled. "Oh, that does sound interesting."
"I'm glad Amelia taught you something new." Her father nodded. "Oh, is she feeling better then?"
"Not really." Skara shrugged. "She's, uh… still calling Cat some weird names. Cactus lady, Thousand-Fanged Ratqueen, Cutie. Weird stuff. She's still in the Healers."
"Oh?" Her father raised an eyebrow. "Who taught you then? Another Plant student, I presume?"
"Well, yeah, actually." Skara nodded. "Willow."
Both her parents glanced at each other, and Skara suddenly felt the atmosphere become… Different.
Her father cleared his throat before finally speaking up. "Uhm, Willow? The same one you got stuck with on the Knee?"
Taking another piece of Fungu onto her fork, Skara nodded. "Well, yeah. I don't… Actually know any other Willows, so-"
"The same one who would lie about you?"
For a short moment, Skara's body stopped.
Oh Titan…
"I feel bad for the poor girl." Her mother said, jabbing another piece of food with her fork. The lightheartedness in her voice was replaced with a heavy, well, lamenting tone. "I really do. She didn't ask to be born into such a poor family, she must not have received a proper moral education."
Skara started to feel her stomach drop.
"But that's still not an excuse to lie about someone for attention." Her father shook his head. "I mean, all the crazy stories she'd make up, calling you a bully, and making your entire friend group out to be against her. Disgusting."
"Well-"
"Remember how she said you and your friends would all call her half-a-witch?"
"Uhm-"
"Or when she said Boscha threw her into a barrel of abomination goo and you laughed ?"
I forgot that one actually. Thank you for that reminder.
"Or how she put your life in danger at the Knee?"
"Dad, I told you, that was my fault, not Willow's." Skara took a deep, shaky breath as she tried to figure out what exactly to tell him. "Look… Willow…"
She looked up at her parents, her mind racing as she tried to figure out what to tell them. I could just tell them the truth. Their little angel is actually a huge liar. That will totally go over well, not utterly devastate them in any way.
And perhaps even more than that, they probably wouldn't even believe her - They always assumed the best of her, even in the most absurd circumstances when she was obviously the one who was in the wrong. She still had to remind them that it was her fault that she and Willow had gotten stuck on the Knee, and a part of her honestly wondered if they even believed her about that .
Like they thought she could do no wrong. And maybe just a few weeks ago, Skara would have just played along. but after the Knee, and after everything that had happened between her and Willow over the last few weeks, she…. Found that she couldn't just listen to them talk about Willow like they were. Willow had saved her life. She'd been one of the few people to continue to check in with her during this whole Ves situation. It just… Willow deserved better than what was being said about her here.
Even if all her parents were doing was repeating what Skara had told them back at her.
. "L… Look." Skara finally said, with a small sigh. "Willow and I are kinda…. I know we don't have the best relationship, but… We're not like that anymore. We're not... Friends, but… Well, she's changed, and I have too, and after the Knee…" She shook her head. "It's… Different now. So just… Please don't…. Think about those things anymore, okay?"
Once again, her parents sideyed each other, before getting up from their seats. Skara wanted to shrink into nothingness as her mother knelt before her while her father stood beside them.
"Skara, babygirl." Her mother raised a hand, cupping her daughter's cheek. "You're so sweet and forgiving. I wish I could have been half as mature as you are now at your age."
Please mom, stop talking.
"But still," her father continued. "This young woman has tried to slander you. That shouldn't be allowed to stand."
"But-"
"My little songbird," her mother interrupted, rolling her thumb across her cheek. "We believe in you, and if you think this… Young lady is capable of change, then we'll understand."
Skara nodded, biting her lip as she tried to hold back the fact that, no, actually, Willow didn't change at all…
It was probably the best that she was going to get out of either of them, though.
"But," her father growled, " If she slanders you again, we assure you that we'll make sure she never steps within a hundred feet of Hexside again."
"That's, uh…" Skara's blood ran cold. "That's a pretty big threat…"
"Maybe." Her father smiled, a caring, soft smile. "But for my little girl, anything to keep her safe."
What was she even supposed to say to that?
"...Thank you, dad. That… Means a lot."
"Don't mention it." He leaned down and kissed Skara on the top of her head, while her mother kissed her forehead. "Now, wait here and we can bring out tonight's dessert!"
"Actually, dad… I'm kinda full and tired. Mind if I just go to bed?"
He paused. "Well, we did make your favourite…"
"Belialgnets…"
Her mother nodded. "With an entire hives worth of fairy dust sugar." She pressed a finger up to her daughter's nose, lightly booping her. "Just for you."
Were she being honest, Skara could go for the sweet, pillowy feeling of one of the single tastiest things she's ever had right now.
But… Somehow she didn't feel like she deserved it.
"Thanks. But I'll… Grab some later, if that's okay?"
"Well… okay, sweetie." Her mother patted her head gently. "If you really aren't feeling up to it, I'll leave some in the storage unit for you for whenever you're ready."
"Okay." The younger Bard nodded. "Thanks, mom."Skara stood up from her seat and walked out from the dining hall, refusing to look back at her parents as she headed back up to her room.
When she finally entered her room, Skara threw herself onto the bed, letting out a deep, exacerbated sigh.
Titan…
Skara knew her parents loved her. That was the worst part about it all. Her parents weren't jerks like she knew Amity's were. Skara's parents did actually care about the Bards emotional well-being, how she was doing in school beyond a grade, and wanted her to be happy. They treated her with love, showered her with praise, and both of them trusted Skara's every word.
Including when she had been lying to their face.
And worse, of course, was the fact that it was Willow who was the victim of her lies.
Willow never… Did anything to deserve that, and never deserved what we put her through.
That had been one of the most concrete conclusions that she had come to over the last week since coming back from the Knee. She tried to make sense of it, make it seem like somehow it hadn't been all that bad. But it was. And Skara wasn't sure what to do with that. She couldn't just look at someone who had risked their life to save hers, in spite of everything, and pretend it was okay.
...And it wasn't even as if it were the fact that Willow had saved her life that had changed her perspective on this. It might have been the catalyst, but when she thought about everything she knew about Willow, it was… Honestly, the last thing she thought about.
Try as she might, Skara couldn't even think of even the smallest thing to warrant how Boscha, Amity, and she had treated Willow.
The only difference between them all was, Amity had made amends.
Maybe… Maybe I can talk to Boscha tomorrow about it.
She grimaced at the idea of asking Boscha about this. She knew the Potions Witch hated Willow, resented her almost losing Grudgby. Still… It would be something, right? Maybe she could get Boscha to just… Back off a little bit?
A sigh escaped her as she closed her eyes. She hadn't changed into pajamas, and she knew the sun had barely gone down, but after Grudgby and her parents, she could feel herself being completely drained.
Again, she yawned and closed her eyes, trying to focus on the idea of that astral void she'd craved: Just the blank nothingness that came with it.
Her last thought before she finally fell asleep was that hopefully, tomorrow would be a better day.
QosmicQuartz - And the new arc begins, Oooooo! - Just gonna be honest, the Boscha and Bria dynamic was just funny to us. We have fun here. I wonder what further developments we should expect out of this delightful arrangement, ooooo!
DesmondKane - And thus, another thrilling chapter in Guitar Strings and Flower Petals ends! Well, maybe less thrilling due to this being a cooldown chapter, but still, I hope you've been enjoying the story to its fullest. And I for one hope you enjoy Boscha and Bria as much as I enjoyed writing them. A fun dynamic, to be sure, and one we're hoping to continue exploring, though not at the expense of Skarlow, we promise.
Song of the Chapter- Muse by Misterwives