Freedom Is A Bright Sun [Done]

[Bee]

Iskra had been curiously vague when she had left, saying that she was embarking on a trip to an indeterminable location for an unknown length of time. Thalia had nodded cheerfully, promised to hold the fort down, and remembered every couple of days, in between hanging out with Tosiek, running her street operations, and running lab operations, that Iskra was still gone.

It was when Iskra had been gone a couple of weeks that Thalia began to wonder where she had run off to. She hoped she was doing something grand, like overthrowing a Court or hunting dangerous game in the Tulgey Wood. Perhaps she would bring back the pelt of something for Thalia to hang on her wall! Especially if it were blood-stained. She could post it on the apartment as a warning to intruders.

She got the water boiling to sterilize her tools. She hoped her friend came back soon.

[Dark]

Iskra had never expected her journey to amount to anything; she had been chasing a myth, a rumor perpetuated to entertain the young and easily persuaded. Knowing that, she had gone anyway, and she was glad for it. Unbelievable, still, that there actually was a magical wishing well, and that it had granted her wish (and more). She glanced at the Tove that now followed her--Jyoti, she had decided to call it--and marveled at the changes that had come with the Tove's arrival.

All this time, believing that there was no cure for the rot. If only the effects could be duplicated for others, but now that she knew the well worked, she also believed the other rumors concerning it--that it was fickle, and as liable to curse you as grant your wish. An entire region couldn't be cured in such a manner.

A topic to consider another time.

Three weeks had passed since she had left, and she was glad to be almost home; she was still surprised she'd had such an easy time slipping in and out of the Highland border. She let herself into the apartment.

"Thalia."

[Bee]

Thalia threw herself at Iskra in a welcoming hug, giving a full-body and tentacle squeeze. She was glad she was back; she was beginning to think that the big game in the Tulgey Woods had perhaps eaten her instead, and that somewhere on a tree there was a dried brown Iskra pelt that a bunch of ravenous beasts used as a conversational piece. She was pleased that her fears had not been realized. Managing the gang would go much more smoothly now that there were two of them again! And she needn’t have idle hours when Tosiek couldn’t be by her side.

“Iskra! You wouldn’t believe what happened when you were gone! Nothing! It was actually pretty terrible. I almost got stuff and made a thing and went places. But—”

Her brain pulled itself abruptly out of its ruminations, aware now that something was rather amiss. She let go of Iskra and examined her. “You came back from the wilds with a new friend. And a new body.” A bipedal form, clearly, and—she looked at Iskra’s arm, usually wrapped in the silk ribbon—no more rot. She titled her head to the side curiously. “Do they have a cleansing holy well in the woods?”

[Dark]

Iskra had been expecting the hug, and endured the crushing embrace until Thalia’s focus shifted; she would never admit it, but she rather enjoyed Thalia’s hugs. She supposed she was a bit touch-starved; in her home-region, there wasn’t a big emphasis on touch. It probably had a lot to do with ill-health and poverty; it tended to create hard people. Ponderings like that turned her thoughts towards things best not remembered, though, and she quickly dropped that train of thought.

“Magic wishing well, actually,” she replied, with a faint smile. It sounded ridiculous out loud, but she supposed that it didn’t matter; nothing was too ridiculous when holding a conversation with Thalia. In fact, it was the norm in concerns to Thalia, and the field surrounding her that Iskra had taken to calling the Thalia Effect. Thalia’s radius of effect was surprisingly long-reaching.

“Seems ta have done the trick, ya?”

[Bee]

“Ah ha!” Thalia exclaimed, happily. She squished Iskra in another hug, pleased to see her friend‘s skin looking so healthy. Weird, how little you notice things that are off about people when you‘re used to them, like the bloodstains that tended to appear wherever Monty went. Her skin had a certain glow. Iskra had never been as bad as some Lowlanders, but that the rot was all gone was like a happy glass of happy filled completely to the top with happy.

“I think it has. A magical well! I think I should go there and wish for…for…I like your dress. Although! You should wear less! And show off your skin. When I get my other forms I think I’m just gonna run around naked.” She was aware that she was babbling. She paused a moment. Then she continued, bubbly: “I’m so glad you’re back!”

[Dark]

Iskra was relieved to see Thalia derail herself; she’d have to make sure the girl never got it in her brain to go and risk the wishing well. It was a thing for desperate times, and Iskra had been feeling desperate. Rot-free, following her friend and realizing their goals would be possible (or at least much easier); it had been a chancy risk, though, and one she didn’t want to see Thalia partake upon.

Nakedness. Somehow she did not see running about in the nude to be of benefit to Thalia’s political career, though it would garner her an amusing sort of infamy. And perhaps distract their weaker-minded opponents with thoughts of dallying. It could be an interesting strategy.

(Iskra definitely agreed that her own bit of clothing needed to experience a reduction; she’d been feeling a bit insecure about the changes she’s undergone at first, but upon reflection it blocked too much delicious sunshine and would have to go).

“I’m glad to be back.”