Chapter 23: Chariot's birthday.
I'm comfortably nestled in my bed. It's still dark outside and the air is cold because of winter being in full bloom, despite the school's weather ball keeping most snow storms out. It is February, after all. 20th to be exact.
All in all, it's the perfect day to stay in bed and do absolutely nothing, except warm up amongst the sheets and dream of a world in which arduous strength training, tedious homework and impossible exams just don't exist.
Which is why my alarm goes ignored. Which is also why I'm not at the sports field at 6 AM, like always. And probably why I'm startled awake when a figure suddenly appears in my room with a flash of light, unannounced, and yells at me.
"Chariot du Nord, what are you thinking?!" Croix says, staring down at me from her position next to my bed. I, however, just groan and pull the sheets over my head. "Chariot!" She tries to yank the sheets away, but I hold on tightly, much to her frustration. "Come on! You promised you would practice at least every other day! But you just come up with excuse after excuse and then complain when you make no progress!" She keeps yelling, exasperated and utterly mad at me. "That way you're never going to learn strengthening magic!"
"Leave me alone." I whine. It's far too early to have this discussion! … Or maybe not? My roommates would've already shut her up if it was still early in the morning. And if they're not complaining about the yelling, then that means…
"Oh, so now you're going to skip school too?" Croix keeps chastising me. "No wonder your grades haven't improved much lately." At this, I finally open my eyes and push down the sheets to glare at her.
"I'm too tired! I fall asleep in class." I complain.
"And then at our tutoring sessions all you want to do is goof around and practice flashy magic." She retorts, crossing her arms over her chest.
"Hmf." I pout, looking to the side. She's exaggerating, really. Sometimes I do study and do my homework and stuff. Sometimes.
"Chariot, you are the chosen one. You need to take your quest seriously, to be better prepared, to…" I cut off her usual speech about me having to make an effort and yada yada (seriously, I could probably recite it myself at this point, with how often she says it) by yanking her arm with all my strength and pulling her towards my bed, making her fall on top of me.
"Chariot!" She complains, blushing, but I ignore her as I revert our positions and cling to her like ivy. Man, she makes for a comfy pillow! And with my newfound strength, her poor attempts at getting out of my embrace are pretty much futile. "Chariot, stop it! We need to go to class, and-"
"Stay." Is all I say, nuzzling against her neck. Oh, she smells so good! Like lavender. Did she take a shower before coming? She usually smells like ramen.
"Are you mad?! We have classes to attend, homework to do, tutoring lessons… we should research more about the Claiomh Solais too, to be honest, since you haven't made much progress, and right now you should also be training, and…"
"But it's my birthday." I protest. "All I want is to spend all day with my best friend doing nothing. Is that too much to ask?"
"… wait. Is it really your birthday? This isn't another one of your stupid excuses?" She asks skeptically. And I just look up to meet her gaze with an angry glare.
"Seriously? Some best friend you are! You didn't even remember my birthday!" I pout.
"You didn't tell me!" She retorts defensively.
"Of course I did! Shortly after we met." I keep pouting. I seriously hate whenever someone I care about forgets my birthday, since I make a point of always remembering my loved ones' birthdays and celebrating them appropriately.
"Well… it wasn't important information at the time." She answers almost sheepishly. "I thought I would have gotten rid of you by this point." Then, she lets out a long-winded sigh. "No such luck."
I bite her arm in retaliation for her mean comment, and she immediately complains.
"Ow! It was only a joke, geez! I think I just got rabies."
"I didn't bite you that hard." I roll my eyes. "Besides, you deserve it! And now you have to make it up for me. Not only by celebrating my birthday, but also by giving me a good present, you hear me?"
"Ugh. Seriously?" She frowns, looking to the side. "What's so special about a birthday, really? It's just the date you were born. So what? Why should we celebrate it?"
"Huh? What do you mean?" I mean, as far as I know, everyone loves birthdays, and parties, and gifts… I've never met someone who doesn't at least like their own birthday.
"It's stupid. A waste of time, really." She shrugs. "And I mean, if you want to celebrate it that's fine, but just don't bother asking me to participate." She says in rather salty one. I'm sensing there's more here than she's letting me know.
"What do you have against birthdays?" I find myself asking, despite knowing it's probably not a good idea.
"Nothing!" She answers defensively. "I mean, I don't even have one, so…" She trails off, shrugging, but by her uncomfortable shifting and her lost gaze, I can see this is bothering her more than she would like to admit.
"What do you mean? Everyone has a birthday." As soon as I finish talking, I know that it wasn't the right thing to say.
"Yeah? Well, I don't." She answers somewhat angrily, still avoiding my gaze. "I mean, technically I do. I was born on a specific date about seventeen and a half years ago, but… I just don't know when it was." She seems to notice my confused gaze, since she quickly elaborates.
"I was abandoned at the orphanage the thirteenth day of October, probably just a few days after being born. But no one knows for sure when I came to this world so…" She trails off, shrugging, but her eyes are sad. Sadder than usual. Sadder even than the few times she has opened up about her past before. So, I squeeze her harder between my arms as comfort.
"I'm sorry." I say. Now I feel bad about wanting her to celebrate my birthday. I never considered what a delicate subject it could be for her.
"Hey, it's alright." She answers reassuringly, even though her eyes remain somewhat sad. "But yes, I'm not particularly fond of birthdays." She makes a face, but then takes a deep breath in order to calm down. "That said, it would be unfair of me to rob you of such a special occasion because of my own issues, so… what do you want to do?"
"Wait… really?!" I exclaim happily, which of course makes her glare at me for being loud. But I'm honestly too excited to reign myself in! I thought for sure Croix would make me go to class and have a boring normal day of school, but…
"Yes, really." She rolls her eyes. "I mean, I still don't approve of you lazing around and skipping school due to today being your birthday, but… I know these kind of things are kinda important to some people so…" She shrugs, and I squeeze her even tighter, much to her annoyance.
"Thank you, Croix! You're the best!"
"Right." She sighs, trying to push me off to no avail. I'm even stronger now, so there's no way she's getting out of my embrace anytime soon. "Anyways, what do you want to do? It better not be anything reckless or life threatening."
"Hey!" I pout. "No. At first I just wanted to stay in bed all day. But, if you're here, maybe we could go get me a birthday present!"
"You mean like… shopping?" She raises an eyebrow, probably not having expected that answer. Heh. Well, now she's gonna be even more surprised.
"Not exactly." I smirk mischievously before finally letting go of her to reach out for a book that's under my bed. It's a thick book with a leather cover, obviously very old (perhaps dating back to the era of the Nine Olde Witches, honestly) in which various mythical creatures and plants are described. I open it on the page a marked by folding the corner of the page (much to Croix's disapproval), in which there's a beautiful hand-drawn illustration of a bright green fern, in which center a big, blue, ethereal flower is growing.
"What the fuck is that?" Croix asks, narrowing her eyes.
Oh, so even Croix doesn't know about it, huh? This should be fun!
"A fern flower." I answer with a proud smile.
"A what?" She stares at me in disbelief.
"It's magical. It blooms at night, and only appears to special people, and it's said to be so powerful it could grant them any wish they want!" Like reviving magic without having to find seven stupid words. Or learning strengthening magic without having to exercise to the verge of death every single morning.
"Ah… okay, Chariot, let me explain you something because apparently you don't know a thing about science."
Science? What does science have to do with anything?
"There are two types of plants: the ones that reproduce through seeds, and the ones that reproduce through spores." She starts. "Flowering plants belong to the first group, as the flowers, once fertilized, turn into fruits and produce seeds. Ferns, however, reproduce through spores, which originate on small structures on the back of their leaves." She looks at me to see if I understood what she's saying, but when I just blink in confusion, not sure of what point she's trying to make, she decides to elaborate.
"So, you see, it's literally impossible for a fern flower to exist. It's just a myth that originated in the Middle Ages due to ferns not having obvious reproductive structures."
"But the fern flower is magical. It doesn't need to follow science logic." I argue.
"Even magic follows logic." She rolls her eyes. "Otherwise, it would be impossible to study it."
"I didn't say it doesn't follow any logic. I just said it doesn't follow science logic."
"Literally everything in the world can be explained with science. That's the whole point of science existing." She argues back.
"So what would your precious science say if we go right now to the Mimosa Forest and find a fern flower?"
"That whatever plant we found isn't actually a fern; just a flowering plant that looks like a fern." She deadpans. "There's quite a few, actually."
"But what if it has magical properties?" I keep arguing.
"Then it's a magical plant." She rolls her eyes. "But it probably wouldn't be as special and powerful as legend says. Certainly not able to grant any wishes, or even chose when it blooms, for that matter."
Her words, as discouraging as they are, fill me with determination. I need to prove her wrong! I will show her that fern flowers do exist and that they are just as powerful as legend says, no matter if science may disagree with me. Plus, if we do find it, then I could get any wish that I want, so just that is enough reason to go search for it.
"Okay then, it's decided!" I say, getting up from my bed with one swift jump. "We're going to Mimosa Forest!"
A/N: Fun fact: the Fern Flower actually from Slavic mythology, and obviously isn't real because, as Croix said, it's literally impossible for a fern flower to exist, but in a world of magic, you never know, right?
Well, I hope you liked that chapter even if it was mostly set up for the next. And please consider leaving a review/favorite/follow if you like reading about these two useless idiots XD. Thanks for reading, and see you soon!
Thanks to my beta reader moonwatcher 13.
