Explaining to Farah why Freyja was running around the grounds would be fun. But, for now, the baby medical gal was focused on saving the boy she’d found’s life. In the greenhouse, she was cleaning and taking samples of everything, not necessarily in that order. By the time Ben was down there, having to be woken up with a phone call after not answering the text at 4:30 in the morning, Devin was wrapped. Layla recognized the Fairy as a third year who had flirted with her last year.
Ben took over much of the testing and treating from there and Freyja let him. She was out of practice so she just sat and watched. “I’m sorry you found him,” he said, looking at the ginger over his glasses every so often.
Freyja’s head bobbed. She stared at the boy. This was worse than missing students. Some kind of animal caught an Alfean trained third-year Fairy.
“Have you told Farah?”
Blue eyes rose to pierce those hiding behind glass. “Haven’t you?”
Now, Ben nodded.
So, Freyja sniffed like she was right all along. It took barely five minutes before Farah was rushing in, looking quite disheveled. The ginger took her in in concern, aware it was her job to unravel the Headmistress. Who had encroached on her territory? “What happened?” she asked.
Farah scoffed a whole laugh, cupping Freyja’s face. “That’s my line.” One hand moved to your shoulder. “Are you alright?”
“Finding a body on a morning run doesn’t even rank as the top 10 worst moments in my life.” She stood and walked over to the comatose boy. “Devin was a capable Mind Fairy. Layla told me about him.”
The Headmistress followed right along the teen, a hand on her back. She wanted the girl to know she was there. And based on the deeper breaths the ginge was taking and the looser muscles under Farah’s hand, it was much needed. As if military, the redhead brought her hands around her sides to hold her hand behind her.
Ben reported on the condition the boy was found in, both teacher befuddled by the strange scratch marks along his exposed skin.
“Do y’all have, like, land eels?” She pointed at the bite marks.
Farah looked up at Ben who was staring at Freyja. “We have pretty much everything,” the brunette admitted.
“That’s so…” Freyja started whispering, “not what I needed to hear.” She stepped off to the side and made for the exit. Both grown ups called after her in concern. She just held up her hand. “I’m not a flower. I’m going to my Suite.”
The grown fairies still had worried looks on their faces. Neither had any idea what animal could’ve attacked the third year Mind Fairy, but both knew they had to go through every wild-life textbook they had in the library.
*
Freyja sat beside Stella, the blonde toying with her hair, as the others unpacked Flora’s belongings.
The teen busied herself more with Terra’s plants. “Really, can I please convince all of you to stop being so helpful? I could’ve gone another 6 months without unpacking these.”
Bloom laughed. “And then we’d find Terra at night, with a headlamp, doing it all herself.”
“And then you’d whip us all into helping at one in the freakin’ morning,” Freyja retorted.
“Like you don’t get up early to sneak into the Suite,” Stella also interjected.
Blue-green eyes flicked back as Freyja turned to look at the blonde. Her eyes were wide at the lack of tact. Stella was better than that.
The blonde shrugged. Her ginger friend wasn’t the most open. Confronting her in front of their friends seemed like the only option.
Freyja sighed then faced frontward again. She looked at her hands then brushed out her hair. She turned to sit properly on the couch. “Ladies, I’ve been seeing someone.”
Stella’s face erupted in victory and delight. She leaned forward and hugged the redhead, kissing her head repeatedly. She really worried she’d never see the day.
Every one else also cheered for the closed off military badass. Lover was a title few expected so young, to be quite frank. “And I know we’re a little squished in over here, and I have been sneaking in and out so… I figure I can start spending time over there officially and Flora can take my bed.”
Stella winced. She’d barely come to terms with sharing a bedroom with the quiet ginger. Earth Fairies weren’t quiet, or subtle.
“Or Beatrix can - I’ve noticed you two get along - and Flora can room with her cousin and Musa. Or, if the cousins want a little space, we move Aisha’s wardrobe and put Flora’s bed there. You’ll hardly notice.”
A few of the girls looked put out. Flora looked enthusiastic, but didn’t want to put anybody out. Musa kept unpacking, trying to wade through everyone else’s emotions and root out her own.
Stella leaned in to the redhead again. “We’ll notice. We’ll hardly see you besides class. And I’ll miss you.”
“I’m hardly a massive presence.”
“You are when you’re a part of it. Everyone stopped talking when you made your announcement.”
Freyja winced. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to bring all the focus to me. Terra, tell us more about your cousin.”
Stella rubbed her palm against Freyja’s shoulder comfortingly. “I understand,” she whispered.
“I still have to talk to her about it. I didn’t even think to ask.”
“Well, my parents research horticulture.”
Ginger eyebrows raised, impressed. “So they travel all over to collect herbs.”
Flora paused and looked up at her, smiling faintly. “Yes.”
“Do you go with them?” she asked, genuinely curious.
The Earth Fairy blushed and nodded. Stella mumbled something to the ginger who halfway turned her head to her. Unknowingly, the Earth Fairy’s enamored eyes stayed glued to her idle form.
Freyja left Andreas with Ben and made her way back to her old suite. Now, how was she supposed to break the less depressing news. She had to tell Beatrix when her dad was flung into the sky and now she was to tell her he'd been fished out of the ocean. She took several deep breaths and opened the door. Everyone was bustling around and the sitting room had been cleared of everything. The floor in the center of the room was clean wood. "I love what you've done with the place?" she guessed a proper response.
Aisha laughed. "We needed more space for Beatrix's Convergence Ceremony."
Bea sat in the center of the room and she smiled a little excitedly. Freyja hated to reminder of what she was clearly trying to ignore, but she had good news.
Terra stood from where she had rolled the carpet to the side of the room. "Actually, before we, em, before we start that..." She side eyed Freyja pointedly. "We haven't all been in the same room together for a while and, now that we are, I have an announcement." Her cheeks and nose were quite flushed and she started gesticulating a lot, then she started babbling. "It's nothing bad or weird. Well, it might be weird. I don't think it's weird. I, also, it's not, um... like a big deal. It is a big deal to me, but I don't need a celebration or a cake. Not that you would get me a cake-" She put her hand on her face, feeling the warmth increase.
Freyja stepped closer to her at the same time as Flora. She lifted Terra's hair and blew gently, fanning her face with her palm. Flora was more subtle, taking her hand supportively. Freyja rubbed her arm. "You're ok."
"Iiii'm gay. There's a part of me that's always known that I was gay and now I'm sharing that part of me with you so kindly adjust your perceptions of me accordingly." She looked around the room, seeking a distraction. Despite the hands on her, the breath stopped and she blushed harder.
"So, blowing on your neck was so not what you needed," the ginger whispered.
Terra laughed.
Freyja moved closer and hugged the shorter girl. The others piled in and Stella and Musa both demanded direct hugs with her.
"Oh! This is really nice, actually."
When Stella retracted, she declared, "I suppose, you know, this means we're your official wing-women now."
They all shared in their agreement. "Yea, we're gonna snag you a lady!" Musa cheered.
"Ooh, snagging a lady's a heteronormative paradigm I'm not certain I ascribe to," Terra cringed.
Flora frowned. "Oh really? Because I'm pretty sure you already have your eye on-"
"What? Who?" Bloom demanded.
"We need some popcorn," Musa quipped.
"You do realize she will need my approval," Stella declared.
"Seconded," Freyja added.
"I think we're forgetting why we're here today. This isn't a coming out party. It's a Beatrix and her magic party. So, let's, um, maybe start on that."
Beatrix picked up the package and tipped the crystal out, staring. She, of course, knew what it was and how to use it.
Terra watched the girls return to their normal life with glee. She was so happy her news didn't weird anyone out.
"Wanna be here for Bea, but how dangerous are we expecting this to be?" Musa asked, the realist.
Beatrix sat by the window and everyone else made a semi-circle before her. "There is some real risk. We're mainlining raw magic, but I have faith in you all." She smiled again. Could she sense something different in the world? But there was something else behind her tight smile.
Terra took her seat, holding graphite in her hands. "Ooh, fair warning. I am trying some new. Bit of mineral magic so no judgement. So, let's do this."
Each of the girls summoned their element. Bloom summed a flame in her palm. Aisha swirled water into a ball before it dissolved upward upwards into a cloud. Terra channeled her power into the rock, bringing it down to its base form. Flora allowed her vines and flowers to climb her right hand. Stella had a star's pinprick of light hovering just over her head in front of her. Musa had an energy wave between her hands, telekinesis, but with shifting colors of all the emotions she streamlines. Space shards shot from Freyja's hands, but they froze midair before her and shattered. The pieces were swept up into a tornado, becoming the twister. All of their eyes glowed with their respective elemental colors.
Beatrix looked around the room, giddy because they were making history for her and there was so much magic in one room. The ladies took that as their cue to turn it up.
The cloud released sprinkles of rain, the natural light from Stella creating a rainbow in her mist. Both of Bloom's hands were full of fire, flames dancing like nobody was watching. Terra's mineral had become translucent and yet silvery and glowing. Stella's light collapsed and the light bent as it became an absolute vacuum for light: a black hole. Musa's emotional lights left her hands and filled the air around them. Flora's vines grew up both her hands, bonding with her fully. Freyja's tornado had clouds from whence it came and bolts of lightning came from the clouds and all inside the twister itself.
"Okay, everybody. Now, pull it in." Aisha dissolved her water and clouds, bringing it to its base form.
Terra's mineral was entirely reduced, pure Earth Magic. They all did the same, holding their basic elements in their hands. Freyja forced hers to keep striking lightning, Beatrix's specialty. Her magic mattered especially, due to its similarity to the victim's element.
"Ok, Bea. Open yourself up to magic, like normal. The rest of us, open ourselves up to Beatrix."
They all breathed in deep, focusing on the magic in the air. Everywhere was leaden with it, you'd since discovered, when you opened yourself up to it. Freyja had expected to be able to feel the only nonmagical person in the room. Or that Beatrix would be like a vacuum, ready to take in all the power the group offered. But it wasn't. They all had their raw energies, every magical element possible, and Beatrix had the Convergence Crystal, which should have taken those energies and turned it into whatever the girl needed.
"Should I be feeling something?" Beatrix asked.
"Yeah," Aisha bluntly replied. She looked around at the girls in the room with closed eyes. "Is everyone focusing." The girls all hummed their assent. "Try again."
After a few moments, Bea added, "Still nothing." She held her hand holding the crystal fall.
Aisha let her element dissolve into nothing. The others did the same, but Freyja held onto hers. She was the direct key-in to Beatrix's element. "I think maybe we don't have quite enough power."
The subject of power drew everyone to the legend in flesh. "The Dragon Flame?" Bloom asked back. "Are you sure?"
"Only if you can control it," Aisha responded easily.
Bloom smirked confidently. "I can control it." With a deep breath, the ginger got to her feet. The rest of the fairies followed suit. Bloom held her hands out again and the fire manifested in the air. She sent an extra burst of power from her palms the flame grew into a glowing red ball. "Ready, Bea?"
The air fairy nodded.
"Then, let's try this again."
All the rest of the girls summoned their powers again. Bloom pushed her power into the crystal, but it drew the magic from their essences. Freyja pushed some of hers alone too.
"It's working, right?" Aisha asked, no longer entirely sure.
"Something's working. I can feel my magic; it's powerful."
Bea looked out at the room. Something was stirring shit behind those hazel eyes. She wasn't ecstatic anymore. "Maybe we should-"
"Same. I've never felt like this," Flora added, feeling a bit ill but pushing forward.
"Ready? I'm gonna give it one more little push," Bloom admitted.
Doubt overtook the ginger. What if the massive amounts of power filling their suite got them hurt? "Hang on." Next, she was insanely guilty.
"No, we're so close. We can do this."
"Wait," Beatrix tried to command them.
"We can do this," Freyja insisted.
Aisha shook her head. "Just concentrate, Beatrix. I promise."
It was too much. It was too dangerous. Beatrix dropped the Convergence Crystal from the Royal Solarian Archives. The sudden cut-off with their magic caused a strong reaction in each of the girls. Bloom recovered first, the strongest. "What happened?" she demanded while the rest of the girls were gathering themselves.
Beatrix went to storm out. "It wasn't working."
"It was working," Aisha argued.
"Andreas is in the Greenhouse!" Freyja shouted after the girl who showed no signs of slowing. But for Andy, she stopped. She turned and looked over her shoulder. The oldest ginger nodded encouragingly. Beatrix broke out into a run.
"Wait, why are you still holding onto magic?" Terra asked, seeing the usually blue eyes still white.
Freyja frowned in not understanding. "Not." She looked over at her fellow ginge. "Bloom?" The girl shook her head.
Each of the girls were still tense and their magic was still running on a low level, causing their eyes to remain alight. Eventually, they powered down and took a single deep breath together.
"Good," Terra praised, looking around at their natural states. "Bit worried there."
The non-resident left the suite and made for Andreas. The greenhouse was barren besides three of his class and three of hers.
Ben and Farah hovered over the man practically tied to the bed, but he didn't seem to mind as he had both her biological and adopted children fawning over him like some wounded dog. The adults looked up when she entered and the brunette broke away from the group to approach Freyja. "You did something amazing," she informed her young lover. "I'm certain there's more to the story than Andreas is sharing. Or perhaps even knows." Farah was smiling, her hand cupping her love's neck.
Blue eyed stared into the only eyes she wanted to look into for the rest of time. "Something about bonding and constant magic."
Farah frowned. "Yeah," she whispered, making connections with a slow-growing smile. "Yea," she croaked out, clearing her throat. "I've noticed... something." She stepped closer to the ginger, letting her hand fall to her back. "You must be exhausted, let's go." She wasn't really asking, pulling her to the Headmistress' Quarters.
Once the two got outside the view of others, they were free to act honestly. They walked through the halls with not a scrap of space between them. Whispering and giggling like the teenagers only one was, they reached the room just before Farah pressed her lips tightly to Freyja's. She licked her way into the girl's mouth and swallowed the moans she borne. She pulled back smugly and slinked away. The pancakes Freyja had made so long ago and froze so the woman would poison herself with her cooking were easy enough to heat up. They just needed the toaster. The brunette set the fluffy flour cakes on a plate and sat at the table, pulling her lover into her lap. Freyja laughed, but was ate what was fed to her. She sometimes missed and nibbled her fingers or licked her wrist. One time, she missed by a lot. She mistook the delectable breast for her treat. Farah almost dragged her to bed right then and there, pulling her back firmly and with as little pain as possible.
They made their way to the boudoir when Farah was ready. She guided the girl onto her bed, softly touching and kissing and stripping. Soon, they were both naked. Farah rubbed and groped Freyja slowly and precisely. After so many months exploring, she knew how to leave the ginger wet and wanting. And right at the brink of desperation, Farah got off the bed. She moved to the closet, easily commanding, "Do not move."
And Freyja obeyed. She was too wired to risk losing her favor.
"We've dabbled before, but I promise. You're going to like OtherWorld toys," Farah assured the ginger as she stepped from the closet to show off her accessory before slipping into the harness. Her side didn't have a dildo like Freyja's did, but it had a part that entered her just right with a flat, blunt end with grooves. She sighed as it was properly situated and came back over to the bed. She slowly crawled up the mattress, letting the soft material brush the ginger everywhere she could claim was an accident. Soft exhales and gentle kisses trailed the path she examined as she rose along her lover. A scar on her right side, right along her ribs, drew Farah's attention and she leaned over to lick all the way along it.
Freyja rose off the bed with a hiss, stunned.
Farah shoved her back down. With a confident smile, she lifted the girl's leg over her waist, lining up then sliding it. The size of this toy made the girl arch again, letting out whines as she was stretched delightfully. Her faded blue eyes couldn't fixate on anything and the Headmistress doubted she could tell her the Queen's name at the moment. She slid all the way in and huffed again Freyja's neck. One hand had been in her hair from the moment she let it down, but the other squeezed anywhere and everywhere it could, not settling for a moment. But she had to keep her bearings as the older, taller, and stronger woman pulled out enough to slam back into her. With every glob of fluid leaking out of the ginger, making the motion easier, the more the grooved edge of Farah's strap vibrated and nudged her g-spot. Freyja was suckling at her neck until she sped up, but seeing the girl fall apart was too tempting.
Freyja's head fell back on the pillow at the empty then full sensation. She was stretched again, though more prepared now, and again - less prepared - and again- again- again. Spinal fluid could've leaked from her ear for all the brain power the ginger had as her core was pounded, her need satisfied, and the rise so out of control. She was like a balloon floating into the sky, turning and flipping as directed by the wind, but so high no one could touch her, but the one inside her. Her eyes unknowingly glowed their brilliant silver and the windows slammed open, not that either pain any mind, but Farah somehow gained the strength to pound 3x harder. She was moaning and crying freely, fisting some brown locks before she was commanded to cum. Her eyes crossed, though Farah kept staring into them and sounds that probably began as words drooled from between her lips.
As she went limp against the mattress, Farah kept going, and going, and going. She railed into the ginger, earning shrieks and aftershocks like a mountain smacking into all of Freyja's sex organs, but the vibrations were finally enough to make her come, her walls squeezing the small piece inside her. The special dildo spurted out enough fluid to leak once Farah was out.
The cold goo seeping into her center as the Headmistress came, and the strange sensation earned an 'oh!' from Freyja before she came again. Once the descending waves of pleasure ebbed, Freyja relaxed.
Farah came down beside her and rolled onto her back, pulling the younger on top of her. Her toy stayed inside the girl, shifting as they did, and she saw sparks with every one. They stayed close, mumbling softly. Freyja broke into giggles a few times and she asked about the toy. Apparently, Farah's end pressed right where she needed it most and it vibrated with the friction the victim provided the shaft. The Headmistress couldn't help but stare at the redhead on her chest with such love. She did so adore their soft moments. Whether after sex or Freyja was just feeling vulnerable or Farah was feeling vulnerable, watching the young girl lose all of her cares and stay in the moment was the most beautiful thing. She knew the ginger loved her because of how she could fixate on the taller woman. She was able to let everything else go and just be with Farah. And that's all the Head wanted for the sweet girl. And the blissful expression as she came was even better. She hummed, subtly rolling her hips against the redhead.
Freyja gasped, but stayed pressed against the brunette. She groaned and moaned before her own twitching wasn't enough. "Really?" she gasped out, rising to sit on the woman.
"Thought you could use another one," the brunette quipped with a growing smirk. She jerked up into the wet head encompassing her, feeling the girl throb around her. She moaned and did it again and again.
"Oh, you needed another one," Freyja deduced before her head fell back. Farah rutted into her like there was no tomorrow and she slowly met the movements. She wanted the moment to slow, let it build softly. She wanted to stay here with Farah forever. She felt so content and at peace here. This was the way Farah first took her. So gentle and with all the care in the world for how the traumatized ginger would heal and trust her.
Farah's arm snaked around her waist and sharply pulled her down. She was forced to ride the woman riding her and the force of it burned so good. Their hips colliding bent her legs further apart to let her in, the head of the cock reaching the spongy patch Farah was aiming for, and the size of it was still left the younger reeling. She felt the burn spread up her legs and back before exploding at the base of her skull and the core which wept. She bit her tongue so hard it bled to keep from screaming and waking the whole school, but Farah kept her going until she followed, stilling to keep from overstimulating her young lover.
Freyja was back at her lover's side, but with a witness, after being dismissed by the steadily inebriated man's niece. She sympathized with the blonde. To have to live with such wretches as her family.
Bloom talked a little about how Farah found her, but she mostly fixated on her patience and her steadfast nature. Soft, but firm. Capable, but not weak. Willing to use her strength, but willing to bend with those who need it. Farah had a pin over her heart which hid any blushes or abnormalities from her face.
She noticed a few less well-known faces, more recent alumni or just more powerful and therefore hermits. The sight of Farah in that gown could bring even Freyja from the seclusion of the First World. Focus.
The mixer ended and Stella was the only winx girl to follow into the banquet. She was still on her uncle's arm.
As they entered the dining area, a family, a kaleidoscope, of butterflies flew around. They were charmed to stay in that room and would hopefully stay moving to maintain the aesthetic. As they neared their seats, Sky came from another entrance, wearing a tux. Bloom paused, gaping up at him. She smiled.
"I asked Andreas if Beatrix was planning on coming, then if he would bring Sky as his plus one," Farah admitted to the redheads. She winced guiltily. "I hope it makes up for stealing your evening. That and the food." She smiled and pulled out Bloom's chair. Freyja managed to get hers, taking the other side. She stared at the brunette with dark eyes, watching as she sat down and helping the woman move in the way a spouse should at the dining table. She sat on the woman's right with a smug air.
Sky did the same for Bloom, sparing his father a glance before the man took the seat two down from his girlfriend. The blonde situated himself between them, uncertain.
Arthur, the Solarian prince or Duke or something, sat on her right, seemingly quite soused based on how he clung to Stella so subtly. "So... two fairies who transformed in the same year. One the Headmistress Assistant. How fascinating."
Stella sat on the other side of her uncle. Freyja flushed, having nothing to hide hers. "If you must know, you must keep it to yourself. No one else knows." She knew he wouldn't. "It was during the final battle against Rosalind."
Arthur opened his mouth to keep asking questions.
But Freyja raised her chin haughtily. "That's all I'll say." She smirked as if it was amusing and this was a natural part of her personality, but anxiety rattled her chest.
Farah's hand found her knee beneath the table, tracing small spirals up her thigh.
The ginger sat back in her seat, smiling more genuinely at the man.
*
The Queen made an appearance after the vote decreed Farah was permanently Headmistress, baring any other wartime changes. Freyja cheered to herself.
Luna proclaimed her renewed support in Farah, then presented the room with new information. She knew about the scrapers and she knew more about their history. They were servants to the witches, Freyja figured like familiars, and they had the ability to steal fairy's magic. That thought alone provoked enough thought. A life without magic. That meant a human lifespan. When she could spend centuries with Farah. These monsters had to die. Luna agreed. "Farah has guided this new age through a kinder education, and she continues to be a Headmistress I will send my own daughter to. And I believe... she is the only proper Headmistress to lead through these times of a plague returning one too many times. We will drive them out, as we have before, and I would trust no one more than Farah to teach our children how to defend themselves from all nuisances we must face." That seemed quite honest, quite kind of the noble. "And I rely on her wisdom and advice, continually though this taxing time."
The evening resolved itself quite quickly after that, most of it spent already. Arthur had coaxed Silva from the party early, leaving far before they could hear the Blood Witch news. Oh, well; their respective fairies would inform them.
"Does this mean no more champagne?" Arthur, Stella's drunk uncle, lamented, showing his true colors.
"You've much nicer liquor at your estate," Stella tried to convince him.
The stumbling man had a flop of his hair weighed down over his face, a counter-productive consequence of his excessive amount of gel. He glanced at the stunned and chatting gingers. "But much less stellar company," he gurgled out.
But Farah easily commanded the attention back to her. The Headmistress, officially official, dismissed any current students from the room, likely to inform the alums of her relationship with the second fairy to transform in generations, a student, and of the presence of a legend having disappeared a millennium ago and reappearing in the same year as her lover. As she left the room, Freyja took stock of the room. Most of the alumni were dressed up, dressed rich, but one man Freyja recognized as the antique shop owner the redhead at met that morning sat on the other side of the room, dressed up in an old, ragged suit.
After the Banquet was well and truly over, the redhead was walked to her room by her chivalristic Headmistress. "Did the Queen just put all of her eggs in your basket?"
Farah nodded once, taking in all she had learned and experienced that night. The Blood Witches were back, she was officially Headmistress after 16 years, the Dragon Flame had resurfaced after centuries, her fear of being uprooted was resolved, the Queen supported her once more, and - oh, yeah - she was 100% the Alfean Headmistress, capable of recall until the day she died... again. A grin split her face and she picked Freyja up with an ecstatic squeal. She spun them and pressed her lips to the redhead's again and again, until the both of them were breathless.
Freyja wondered if this day could have been any better if she'd woken the Head by going down on her. Oh, well, why shouldn't tomorrow be as grand as today?
Bloom recovered easily enough, and immediately started insisting she was fine. Not half a second later, Freyja felt like she was going to throw up. Bloom was urged to sit at the table and thought privately until Sky interrupted. Freyja wanted Farah to snoop, but the older fairy would never.
"Magic won't be needed until we've cleared out the controlled Speciallists so just sit tight." Saul was overly cautious, but perhaps they could use a bit of that.
Soon enough, they moved out. The military students moved in unison, in a single file line through the woods to the outer parts of Alfea. They would move in and attack the Specialists under Blood Witch control, then they would send word when all their men were down and shoot to kill was available again.
But Musa called before Saul did. "I think the Blood Witches know about the attack."
"Are you sure?" Bloom asked calmly.
"No, but there are a ton of Specialists headed outside the school."
"If they send all they took, Silva won't be able to break through," Stella connected the dots.
"He has to. We have to clear out the Specialists so I can get in," Bloom argued.
Freyja tapped her shoulder in scolding. "We," she corrected.
Bloom grimaced at her similar, over her shoulder. "I really think I should go in alone."
"You always think that," she countered easily, shaking her head. "So do I. Trust me, we're both wrong."
"Have you seen Flora?" Terra asked.
"No. I know where they've got her, but-"
Terra shook her head, trying to stay positive. "Okay. No news is good news. There's still time. And if the Specialists fail, we'll break her out ourselves. What about Grey? One last appeal?" she asked Aisha.
"You saw the video," the water fae retorted. "You really think he'd interested in helping us?"
That disheartened Terra, who looked like she was about to start crying.
But said video on Grey could honestly be an argument for him. He showed compassion, scolding his ally with the reminder that their enemy was still human and deserving of basic human respect.
Terra's gaze shifted to Stella, awaiting ideas. The blonde reached for her phone immediately. "Look, I can try Beatrix again."
"I... think she left."
Terra smiled, but she was decidedly displeased. "Okay, so, basically, Flora's screwed. That's what everybody's saying. She's gonna.. lose her magic and there's nothing we can do about it."
A few deep breaths came from the other end of the phone. "No, not nothing. I'll text you later." The descending droplet sound meant she'd hung up.
Terra nodded with a shrug and a smile and left the abandoned cottage. Stella stood and followed the emotional Earth Fairy fondly.
Aisha brought everybody's attention back to the room. "Not one to dis art therapy, but... wanna share with the class," she quipped.
"Earlier this morning, I didn't pass out from exhaustion. When I summoned my Dragon Flame, I saw... Sebastian. Then I saw this." She tapped her drawing with the eraser of her pencil.
Freyja supposed all psychics try to make what they see physical. Unfortunately, her drawing with a ball of shade with an outline of an aura. It could be any element, any spell, anything at its raw center. "What is this?" she asked, leaning closer so her hands held the page.
Bloom shook her head, obviously overwhelmed and tired. "I dunno. Some kind of, um, vision or premonition. I know it definitely has something to do with my magic, but-"
The older redhead took her hand. "Listen. I know this is overwhelming. I remember the first vision I had." She tilted her head with a faint smile. "It was the distorted air over a bonfire. I knew I had to do something with what I knew, but I had no idea what. And it's gonna be like that for a while. You have to flush the memory out, try to retain everything you sense. What is Sebastian doing?" she asked.
"Standing," was Bloom's response.
She didn't let out the sigh in her chest. "Where's the thing?" she continued on, tapping the paper like Bloom had.
"In front of him."
"What does it feel like?"
Bloom shook her head. "I- it doesn't."
Freyja nodded. "Ok. Where is it?"
"In front of Sebastian. Where Rosalind was kept."
The young woman looked over her shoulder at her taller lover. "Under Farah's office."
"The catacombs," Farah supplied.
Both redheads leaned away in unison. "There's dead people in there?" Freyja asked lowly.
The Headmistress laughed. "Let's just call them tunnels, then," she corrected, still laughing.
Freyja adored the sight, and probably unconsciously showed it on her face, but she wasn't distracted as Farah obviously wanted her to be. Bloom was used to the lies, unfortunately. Freyja.... Well, she'd close her legs. Cut off affection. The Head would crumb in days.
But Bloom was distracted. In all fairness, she had quite a lot going on. "I'm scared," she admitted quietly.
Farah silenced, as did everyone else.
The ginger only had eyes for her fellow ginger. "This is all so effortless to you all; I'm freaking out. We're in a coup, our own beds- friends- taken by-"
The older girl took her face, shushing her quietly. "I know. But we've done worse than this many times." She smiled, taking in the youth in a young woman's face. Both she, Stella, Beatrix, and all of Freyja's students never had that. By Bloom's age, they'd all done unspeakable things. Or had been done to them. "You're a miracle, and a rarity. And not because of the power in your chest. And it is okay to be taken care of. Power doesn't mean always in control and always volunteering. You have to focus on you. I think we've had this conversation before," the elder laughed out.
Aisha touched the ginger's opposing shoulder. "It doesn't make you any less of a badarse to let your friends take care of you. It's the toughest thing I've had to learn, but after all this with Grey, if I didn't have you all..." She alluded to an unstable state of mind, an impossibility to relate with Aisha. "We are in this together."
The hug was sweet and all, but the Specialists were back. The mind controlled Specialists had, as Musa predicted and everyone should've trusted the only free mind fairy on campus, all piled out against their small squad. They had to retreat. Aisha went to help the man brought back. She'd even gestured the redheads to stay together. Like clockwork, Freyja's phone went off. Bloom had it, frequently guilting herself by watching the videos. She answered it and, in good cell etiquette, held it for both to listen. The screen didn't know whether to light up or go to sleep, so of course it did both, back and forth.
It was Sky. Had he gone on their suicide mission? Without anti-witch potion?
"THere you are. How are you?"
"I'm good. Even better when I see you."
Freyja made a disgusted face, knowing she felt the same like now, apart from Farah.
"How are you doing?"
Bloom took a dramatic breath in. "I mean, all things considered, I'm okay. Musa saved Flora from the scrapers."
"That's great."
"Yeah, except now they're stuck in there. So I guess we wait for the Solarians."
"Why do I feel like there's a 'but' coming?"
"No, I'm- I'm happy you're safe. I'm happy Flora's safe. I just... feel like this isn't over."
"At's cuz it isn't. Sebastian's going to get what he wants, and you're going to help him."
That was... ominous. Freyja felt ill in her chest. She faced Bloom to show her concern. Bloom just called her boyfriend's name in confusion.
"Go outside. Now." This was a new voice. Irish. Familiar. Antique. 90s.
Both gingers stood together. "Sebastian." Bloom was still doing all the talking.
"Quietly, and just you two."
"Which two? We're all in here and you're on speaker," Freyja bluffed confidently.
"Mind Magic, Freyja," he mocked, his accent twisting her name. "And if I get anymore lip out of either of you, Sky dies."
The ginger bit her tongue and sneered at the cell, her own cell. Bloom was in motion by the time the threat left the phone. Freyja followed, determined not to let her go alone. She'd had too much of that.
Grey stood watch in a blindspot of the Specialist's perimeter.
Freyja snatched her phone and ended the phone call. She walked up to the revealed secret witch.
"Don't you want to hear the rules?" Grey asked in confusion.
"Anything any Witch has to say to me, can be said to my face. Rules?" she asked.
"If you two tell anyone, Sebastian will know and Sky dies. If I get hurt, Sebastian will know and Sky dies. If you try to fight or deny Sebastian once you're there, he'll kill Sky."
Freyja's throat tightened. "What do you want?"
"The Dragon Flame," Bloom answered, halfway numb at the threats outside her reach.
"Now drop the phone," Grey ordered.
"Oor I can set it down carefully inside." When the boy looked like he was about to protest, Freyja looked like she was about to slap him. "This is a fairly expensive - but fuck it it's a - phone and Sebastian'll know if I signal anyone, right?" She didn't wait for an answer, executing her plan. As she stepped away from the table, she almost wished one of the girls would see her. She wished Musa was around. Or Farah. But she slipped out, unnoticed due to her experience sneaking.
Grey followed the pair, but he told them they were going to the Greenhouse at some point. Freyja faced two Blood Witches and smugly stared them down. Since their little magic didn't work on her, she could take em. Grey pulled her by the sleeve, further down the Greenhouse path indoors. He silently led them through the halls they all knew well.
"It's not too late to do the right thing," Bloom tried to appeal to Grey's better nature.
"What's that mean? 'The right thing'? You could've given him the dragon flame weeks ago. Who's to say that wan't right?"
"He's stealing magic from fairies," Bloom retorted.
Grey suddenly stopped and turned back to them. "Fairies are the ones who killed the Blood Witches at Aster Dell. I had family there, Bloom."
"Yeah, well we were there," Freyja suddenly snapped. "You wanna say poor you and your kind. They hurt us too, and we remember it because we were there. We saw the terrible things that happened. I was so traumatized and burned from the lightning, I can hardly get through a day not covering my back with some medieval corset. What else you got? How else did we wrong you?" she sassed. "Maybe- maybe we targeted the most guarded heart in your inner circle and penetrated it with our lies. No, wait. That was you. What else do you have to validate you?" she sneered in his face.
Grey looked a bit hurt, but he covered it by continuing to walk. "I'm just saying; it's complicated."
Bloom rushed after him. "Yeah, maybe. But one thing isn't. Aisha let you in. She let you in and you lied to her so you don't get to be on this moral high ground."
Freyja looked him up and down, and all the blood witch saw was two fairies dead set against him. "I swear, you're so lucky Sebastian thought about leverage."
"Yes, he is," an Irish voice called from the courtyard. "Why don't you wait outside?" the older Blood Witch ordered Grey. The boy left slowly and Bloom focused all her attention on the Witch, just like he wanted.
"i want to see him."
Sebastian 'tsk'd. "Things change, Bloom." When he saw her anger, he immediately went to manage her. "He's alive. He's fine. And he'll stay fine as long as everyone does as they're told. I just needed some stronger leverage." He backed further into the room.
The gingers followed like good pets and Freyja followed his line of sight. Hanging from the banister, wrapped in Earth Magic vines, in a cocoon like a spider's prey, was Farah. With a bleeding head wound, the older Air Fairy almost had a meltdown at the sight. She turned to the witch wicked fast. "I don't have the Dragon Flame!" she shouted in his face. Her eyes flared with her anger.
Bloom was stunned by the change of events and the fact that Freyja was screaming.
"A little over the top, I know, but it gets the point across." When Bloom went to step toward the suspended Head, she was scolded and warned. Sebastian's corrupted magic turned his veins the color of Earth Magic as the vines were coaxed to hold Farah tighter, and constrict her throat.
Freyja felt her chest tighten and she couldn't breathe. "Point-" she squawked out, "-point, point taken!" she screamed out strainedly.
Farah was allowed her breath back and Freyja took a slow one in. She was completely out of it, even with the vine from her throat resting loosely around her neck and shoulders.
Bloom turned to Sebastian, attempting to control her raging feelings but her eyes were bloodshot. She couldn't let Miss Dowling die. The woman who pulled her from the warehouse, who gave her Alfea. She really was the better leverage. "You want the Dragon Flame? It's yours. You can have it," she practically spit out, taking her jacket off. "Do you need a scraper to... feed on my magic?"
Sebastian, of course, knew the question before she finished and started answering. "No, the Dragon Flame would fry it in a second. Luckily, I found this." He pulled the Convergence Crystal out from behind his back. "You know how these work, right? You channel all of your power into this and I channel it into me."
Freyja looked at it. "Both of us?"
"You're both here!" he sang almost sarcastically.
"Because you called when she wasn't alone."
"She's never alone!"
Blue eyes narrowed.
Sebastian dropped his taunting hand as emphasis. "Once I have it, Sky and Dowling go free. And all the other Fairies can have their magic back."
Freyja bobbed her head doubtfully. "You're gonna let a scraper tap you that much?"
The Irishman smirked at the pair, again like he knew more than they did. "You all.... None of you know and you have no way to find out besides me. But your power...." He let out a whistle. "I'll be able to do so much cool shit." He lifted the crystal again, waiting expectantly. When they didn't start transferring power, he glanced up at Farah pointedly.
Freyja's eyes watered then glowed. Bloom got into position. Sebastian prepared himself. Bloom held her arm out, hand opened close to the crystal. Freyja just opened her palm where it rested. They called on the source of their power easily, having drawn on it for the Convergence Ceremony. Bloom had drawn on it before, used to using the full expanse of her power. Both essences were pulled into the Crystal like it was a black hole of gravity. The tear left Freyja's eye, skirting down her face before landing on the floor. Her gaze remained transfixed on the crystal swirling with deep orange and silver.
The entire suite worked together to go through the book Bloom retrieved before getting down with her boyfriend, not that Freyja could blame her. Stella, ever exceptional, projected each page of Freyja's translation text for each copy of Bloom's Silva's ancient animal manual. Flora had long since confirmed a match for one seemingly rodent meets insect's teeth to Devin's bite. Devin still had yet to wake.
They spent the evening trapped between casual and serious moods. Researching meant solemn swings and everyone was concerned for the future of fairykind. Alternatively, learning about Terra's crush on the lifeguard and pretending to drown she he'd make out with her was so funny, it was actually a comedy script. Bloom didn't recognize the freakin Sandlot and Freyja disowned her in that moment.
But she'd spent half the evening crying so was laughing so hard, so she let it pass. Aisha suddenly chirped, "Hang on, I've seen that symbol before. Save. Or hold. Hoard? That's what that symbol means. The one that looks like a J with a table beside it."
Stella lit up the symbol.
"Thank you! I was not finding that," Freyja admitted. She’d even squinted.
"Hold," Aisha brought them back with another translation.
Bloom pointed at the symbol beneath it. "Magic. Hold magic."
Freyja grimaced. "Someone's attacking fairy students... for their magic?"
"Oh, Gods," Flora groaned.
"We have to tell Ms. Dowling." It's amazing how Aisha can change in some ways, and remain exactly the same in others.
But, still, she was right. Freyja turned around and left the suite. It was nigh upon midnight and Farah was unlikely to be in there. Still, the redhead had paperwork to finish (start) and old habits died hard. Or, not at all. Farah's office was dark when Freyja entered her own and the redhead sat at her own desk. She switched on the desklamp and pulled out a sticky-note and grabbed a pen from her pen cup. Another old habit, all her pens in one cup on a desk or dresser. She wrote a quick note and left it on the top of her desk, on the far side, nearest the door. She flipped over the first page of the papers before she paused. She stood and stepped up the stairs to Farah's office. The door was usually shut, if Farah wasn't in. Or if she was and wanted privacy. Freyja turned on the light.
The Headmistress sat at the desk, but it wasn't the one she was expecting.
The ginger didn't flinch, filled with relief to see the brunette. "Why are you up so late?" she asked.
"You're the student; that's my line."
Freyja stepped back into her office, picking up the sticky note stack, then dropped it on Farah's desk. "Any chance we could get over that this year?"
"With all our tutoring hours, I'm sure we could manage something." She read the sticky note. 'Bites are from a creatures called 'Scraper'. They take magic.' "Gods."
This was bad, even to Freyja, but two fairies sayigng it really hammered that in. "Know something I don't?"
"Yes, but I'd like to refrain from sharing until I'm certain, if you don't mind?"
"Certain it's a Scraper or certain about something else."
"Else. Please."
Blue eyes stared down at the brunette Headmistress. "You'd better tell me immediately."
Farah nodded. "Second to know."
Freyja sighed, placated.
The brunette leaned back in her seat, instantly turning it into a throne. For only a queen could have such grace. She smirked slowly, clearly aware of the effect she was having on her young lover. "We need to talk," she told Freyja in a deep, smokey voice.
The ginger cleared her throat, blown pupils in cautious eyes staring her down, but she tried to play it cool. "I'm here. So, talk."
Farah tilted her head, the game afoot. It was her move and she intended to win. "Come here to me." That was interesting phrasing.
Which rendered Freyja incapable of disobedience. She stood directly beside the woman, but, still, she was unsatisfied. One hand took one of Freyja's and pulled her hand across her lap. The ginger flushed as she sat astride the taller woman. Her legs were propper open, Farah knees holding them there in case Freyja couldn't.
Farah propped her forearms on either side of Freyja's waist. She felt her lover's padding and smiled. When in doubt, Freyja wore a stabilizer. She walked one hand's fingers up Freyja's back until her fingers only had a thin layer of cotton between her touch and the air fairy's spine.
"Wh-what did y-you nee-eed to talk abou-howt!"
Farah's other hand ran her knuckles all over Freyja's thigh. She could easily derail the girl from this position. "Yes, yes." She begrudgingly focused, encouraged by the lack of witnesses and the idea that she could play once done. She very much doubted she would have any arguments, certainly none which were legitimate. She liked to focus on her duties, Farah noticed. She enjoyed having the roles reversed, having to remind someone not to overwork themselves. Even more ironically, having someone to take care of helped her take care of herself. She'd started going to bed at a reasonable time, especially when she had a bedmate. But even when she did, Freyja could tell when she went to bed late and she was quite scary when she was mad, without magic. "Your suite has become overpopulated. Alfea policy says no more than two students per room, six per suite. The Winx Suite is currently at seven fairies. Do you have a plan to deal with this... conundrum?"
This felt unfair, like it was a game to the woman, though Freyja was definitely enjoying it. Farah smiled like she held all the cards, which Freyja felt she did. She was planning something, ironically while asking for her assistant's plan. The ginger's breath was coming in in staggered pants, prey to the game. "I- uhm- I thought about... th...at."
Farah's clever fingers tickled all over a helpless form, tracing both along her collarbone and the crease between her hip and belly. "And what... conclusion did you reach?" she asked in a controlled voice. Her fingers wandered until they reached the waistline of the redhead's jeans. Her fingertips brushed under the waistband and curled up under the waist trainer.
Freyja draped her arms over her headmistress' shoulders, encouraged by the unprofessional touches. "I have this girlfriend. And she has this bed. I wasn't planning on stealing it without my Headmistress' permission." She was, in a way, playing the game. She spoke exaggeratedly and, of course, referred to the woman before her in the third person.
Farah didn't speak for a time. She stared at the insecure redhead for a good long while, up until Freyja pulled away.
She went to stand and Farah could see embarrassment crashing down around her head, just by the distant look in her eye. She was running. "O-or, there are always other suites. I actually looked into an enlargement spell, but it was really complex."
"That's what I thought you were going to suggest," Farah cut in, not letting the redhead so much as bend her knees from her hold on the girl via her pants. Freyja was suddenly yanked back into her lap. "But I like your idea better." She grinned widely, face so close to her roommate's that their foreheads were nearly touching. Her fingers spread out, underneath the elastic of the ginger's underwear.
"Oh, but you've got ideas of your own?"
Farah let out an uncharacteristic giggle. Freyja saw the flash of white in her eyes and suddenly felt her waist-trainer pop open. Now, when did she learn how to do that? Farah smugly walked - tickled - every inch of skin she could reach and under Freyja's shirt offered many possibilities. Her lips latched onto Freyja's throat.
The ginger wisely chose to sit in the woman's lap, feeling quite faint.
Farah would always love the young woman's reactions. "Atta girl."
That really made her head swim. She let it fall back and her breaths still came in short. "Farah," she intoned weakly.
One of Farah's hands freed itself from her shirt. She reached up and tilted the girl's head back down. "That position can wreak havoc on your blood pressure. And you have a less stable constitution than some."
Freyja kept good eye contact after that. She held her lover's face and kissed her sweetly.
The headmistress sighed and stared in adoration at the gentle ginge. She held the woman's cheek while her hand swept beneath Freyja's underwear and found wet curls.
Freyja gasped into her love's mouth which Farah swallowed, then moved down, to lav attention at Freyja's collarbone. The girl was constantly out of breath, with that warm heat on her chest. She rolled her head around her shoulders after it fell back again. "Heaven!" she huffed out.
"Ohh... my sweet," Farah responded to the hot wetness dripping onto her palm. She ran her tongue along both collarbones and the skin between. She traced figure 8's through her folds, spreading her slick around. The small gasps and quiet moans which tumbled over her lips were like music to Farah's ears. She smiled minutely at the redhead through her eyelashes. Somehow, it made the girl look more spectacular than she already was, clinging to her partner, back arched, eyes a pit of desire. Long red hair trailed down her back and over Farah's legs. She felt the tickles, but awed in the auburn halo. She slipped one of her fingers inside the girl. She watched and allowed the girl her moment of squirming before they kissed again. Farah worked the prone girl before opening her eyes and scooting the chair back. "Up, now," she ordered softly.
Freyja blinked, stunned, but she stood.
"Take off your pants. And your... well, everything." The fireplace roared to life.
The redhead laughed softly, but did as she finally realized Farah intended.
The fire kept the room nice and toasty, and the door was locked to bar any interrupters. She had the redhead in her lap again and went to work. She was desperate by the time Farah had her hands on her again, but she was going to have to wait because the woman intended to take full advantage of the nude girl. Hers fingers wandered again, smoothing over indents from hours of the oldest torture. She pressed her lips to the soft, plush skin of Freyja's tits. She clamped her teeth around a vulnerable nipple and tugged.
Now, the redhead was incapable of being quiet. Being wound tighter than Eliza and Farah's continued touching had her warmer than Bloom. She whined and twitched with every motion of her older lover. Eventually, her body's pleas convinced the kind Head and she sank two fingers into Freyja's far from virgin hole.
Farah worked through her pitying thoughts, taking the girl higher. She tried not to think of all the ways Rosalind had abused the girl, making her so used to harsher treatment via greater girth. Instead, she watched the dark blue eyes staring down at her. She could see the clouds the girl wielded in those desperate orbs, puffs of white rolling over them as she neared her climax. She picked up the pace and curled her fingers, rolling over Freyja's clit with her thumb.
"Fair-" Freyja squeaked before she moaned quietly- "ahhh...." She melted into her lover's lap, and she was cradled close.
"Oh, darling."
A hand traced over her head again and again. Her not wet fingers sank in and moved through tangled curls. Soft words murmured into her ear, melting her into limper goo than she was from the orgasm.
Freyja's pants were heaven against her neck and the woman never wanted to let her go.
As if on cue, the teen's phone started buzzing like crazy from her pants. She groaned, but stood to check it (after casting a glance at all the surrounding windows to check they were closed). She paled even more than usual at the texts coming through and immediately started getting dressed. "Gotta go!" she announced, running off.
Farah sat up, mouth open to protest, but sighed. She had half a mind to stick her own hand down her pants.
Herbology cranked all the way up with the professor having free reign again. Simple plant growing and potion-making turned up to complex equations and dangerous interactions. It was a second-year and up elective and Freyja couldn’t say no. It was a direct connection to healing and her imagination ran with daydreams of all the potential. She knew she had no idea how many potent healing potions she had no idea existed or how to use, or make. It was a thrill to be on her own footing again.
Flora and Terra signed up, of course, but so did Musa and Aisha. “So Bloom and Sky are a thing now, but Stella and Sky were a thing their first year. And that’s fine? Come on. It’s a little weird,” Flora was interrogating. She hardly did any of her schoolwork, taking more interest in the social side of Alfea. She would get along well with Stella.
“Medium weird,” Musa argued, mediator-like. She’d changed her style all the way up, now with the long dresses and sultry makeup.
Flora looked at the empath. “And you’re with Sam?” she clarified. The other teen nodded. “Mm, love Sam. But that’s gotta be weird for you, Terra?”
The forcefully easy-breezy Earth Fairy immediately went into denial, as she was wont to do. “No! What is weird, though, are these interactions, if we could all pay attention-”
“So it's very weird,” the girl concluded. She looked around the limited Winx members she could. The transfer leaned toward their swimmer friend. “And you’re clearly in love with whoever you’ve been texting nonstop. It’s not a brother or an ex?” she asked, despite her hopes of more drama to thrive on.
Terra was very done with this conversation and turned to express as much to her cousin. “I don’t think everyone wants to get into their sexual histories.
Freyja’s eyes bugged, infinitely amused by the discomfort zone the new girl had squeezed them all into. She certainly hoped they wouldn’t interrogate her, not comfortable with simple dark acts such as lying anymore. “Well, Aisha and Grey haven’t gotten sexual yet, and I’m pretty sure neither has Bloom and Sky.”
“How do you know that and I don’t?!” Musa demanded.
The ginger shrugged. “People tell me stuff. I’m not a Mind fairy and I’m not a gossip.”
“So it’s only awkward adjacent.” Musa added helpfully.
Flora eyed Freyja over her shoulder, the meaning behind her look unknown to the younger teen. “Your friend isn’t the one you won’t tell the girls you’re seeing, is it?”
The ginger winced. “God, no. Timmy’s more like a brother to me; he’s my oldest friend. And, anyway, I’m seeing a woman.”
Terra lifted her head to look past Flora and Musa behind her, to Freyja, sitting alone at the back of the class. She didn’t notice the brunette’s insistent stare, and neither did any of the other girls, too focused on Aisha’s fear of failure and consequential abandonment. The Harvey girls were equally enraptured by the ginger at the moment, and she had no idea.
“Have you been sexual with her?” Flora asked, with the perfect timing of a teenager in a high school, because the room got perfectly silent for the perfect amount of time needed to ask. And they didn’t go back to what they were saying when they were done, all attention on them.
Freyja flushed deep red, darker than her hair, more like a sunburn, before disappearing into the air.
When the bell rang, the girls dispersed and Flora caught up with Freyja before Terra did. “I didn’t mean to embarrass you in class. I’m sorry,” was how she started.
It was a good start, so Freyja paused. She’d long since regained visibility, but was headed straight for her office.
The Latina plant fae smiled optimistically at the ginger, holding out a piece of paper. “These are the formulas for Eldwyn Amalgam, since I know you’re helping to treat Devin. It should wake him up long enough to find out what happened.”
Freyja smiled politely, though it was clearly forced. “Um… I don’t know who you’ve been talking to, but I’m not treating Devin. And, if I was, my intention would be to heal the trauma. Waking him up too soon could risk too much right now.” She watched the taller girl’s face shape in a few ways before settling on stern, hiding it all from the ginger. Freyja took the paper, feeling guilty now; she was only trying to help. “But I’ll see if your uncle disagrees.” She smiled politely before heading off.
*
As expected, Ben did not disagree. He knew, just as the young healer did, waking a brain before it was healed could kill the fairy once they return to their coma.
The paternal Earth fairy stared down at the young ginger in an… odd way. His pupils were wide and the girl could see nothing but compassion. “How have you been doing?” he asked hesitantly, stallingly. He didn’t want to ask at all, but he’d been dying to! Everyone wanted to know how the mysterious savior, an easy leader, was recovering from her brutal term-long war.
Freyja smiled politely, as ever, of course. She nodded. “I’m fine.”
Ben crossed his arms, making the girl believe she’d misstepped. “Define fine.”
“What can be lived with, Benjamin.”
The tables turned and the man looked uncomfortable. Smugness pulled the girl’s lips, but she was better at hiding things from him than his niece was. “I could use the second opinion. If you wanted to help.”
Freyja looked over at the table Devin had been placed on. She gripped the strap of her bag anxiously. Storm clouds converged outside and the room began to tremble as thunder without a cause began to shake the greenhouse. Her eyes glowed only the faintest bit before it all rolled away and the room steadiest. As if living proof, the air fairy faced her fellow healer, eyes glowing completely as she seized control. “I still break everything I touch.” And she turned away, huddling in on herself as she walked out. Freyja would have stayed that way until she found a bed, hers or Farah’s - whichever was closer, and balled up in it, but Bloom found her first and she was taken onward.
“I just had the most amazing day.”
“You missed three classes,” Freyja immediately scolded. She suddenly remembered that evening’s paperwork, which she hadn’t even started yet, and scolded herself. She couldn’t find a bed and wallow. She had responsibilities.
“Two,” Bloom corrected.
“You should’ve signed up for the potions class like the rest of us. It’s really quite-”
“I had sex,” Bloom cut the older girl off.
Freyja froze mid step and turned all the way to her fellow First Worlder. “Huh?”
“Sky and I went to his house with Silva. They have a book on OtherWorld animals and the marks they leave behind. I don’t think he went home over the summer.”
“He did not,” the fellow redhead responded.
“We went in his room; total shrine to Andreas.”
The older ginger’s mouth fell open before she gasped out a laugh. “Uh, yeah, that’s what that was.”
Freyja hissed and leaned back. He was raised thinking his dad was a role model. Then he met him, then he was abandoned again. Freyja hadn’t seen Andreas in some time.”
“Had a talk, had sex. I think he got, like, I dunno, closure.”
Bloom dissolved into giggled, obviously tickled pink, as she should be.
“I want to know every detail.”
Bloom opened her mouth, ready to spill every bean.
Freyja clamped her hand over said lips. “But so will the others. One last massive sleep-over?” she offered optimistically. She’d never been the sleepover type, but, then, she’d never had female friends her own age.
The other ginger grabbed the older’s arms. “Our first with Flora!”
