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The thing about witches that people often forget—especially the young ones who look upon them with adoration and idolatry—is that witches can’t solve all their problems with magic. Asahi has tried. Many…many times.
In fact, he has tried to fix his compass at least twelve times, six of which included lightly smacking it on his hand. And the other six were various spells he vaguely remembered from his nomadic friend. All to no avail.
So, as the storm clouds move in and block what little bit of light filters through the treetops, the anxiety that often simmers in his heart explodes into outright panic. Of course, this would happen while he is in unfamiliar woods searching for an unfamiliar herb to use in an unfamiliar potion. The fact that he had hoped otherwise is almost laughable.
He groans and smacks his compass again, all but begging the thing to fix itself. If he could just figure out which way is east, then he could find his way back to the trails he remembers…probably. He hopes.
“East, west, but home is best…” He mutters, pausing to try and remember the old spell his friend had once told him. “Best…best…”
He groans again when the rest of the spell eludes him. Maybe he should start looking for a tree or something to camp out under. Or live under. At this rate, he doubts he’ll ever find his way out of this forest. Maybe the woodland fairies will take pity on him and make sure he doesn’t starve to death.
A shout finds its way past his lips when a bolt of lightning crashes into a tree not far from him, pulse thudding in his ears as thunder roars across the sky. His compass falls to the ground and he frantically chases after it.
“East, west, but home is best
Out and about, you’re nature’s guest,
Every turn is a test, but do not be stressed
For with this spell, your quest is blessed.”
Asahi’s heart stops in his chest at the voice behind him. His panic explodes to the point that he almost ascends to a plane of pure calm, turning around and gaping at the…person (?) who’d spoken as his soul silently leaves his body.
The stranger is positively tiny as he looms larger than life itself, dangling from the tree branches above Asahi and beaming with a smile that stretches over his entire face.
“That’s how the spell goes, right?”
He doesn’t give Asahi time to answer. Which is fine, because he has no idea what to say in response, and most of his attention is on trying to slow his rabbiting heart.
“Wait that’s a spell to help you find your way. Are you lost? How did you get to this part of the forest? Isn’t the nearest village like wayyyyyy over to the east?”
“Uh…” Asahi replies, as inelegant as the stranger is excitable.
The tiny…person—Asahi is relatively certain that he is not human, his pointed ears and sharp features a dead giveaway, but beyond that, Asahi can’t be sure. He’s still trying to figure out how to breathe normally again. The non-human jumps down to the forest floor, landing without disturbing a single leaf, the air around him seeming to all but cushion his fall.
“Wait if you know that spell, that must mean you’re a witch.” The spark in the stranger’s eyes—a brilliant brown-gold Asahi is certain could never manifest in a human—sharpens as he crosses his arms and puffs his chest. He barely reaches Asahi’s collarbone, his hair doing most of the heavy lifting to get him there, spiked and standing on end as if charged with static. The streak of blond at the front looks like lightning caught in a moment of rest, impossible and yet oddly mesmerizing.
“Helloooo? Is anyone home in there? Are you paralyzed or something?” The non-human’s eyebrow rises, the wariness in his eyes softening into amusement as Asahi jolts out of his open-mouthed staring.
“Oh—uh, yes—I mean, yes, I’m lost, and yes, I’m a witch…” Asahi stumbles over his words and suppresses another shout when thunder crashes around them. “I—uh…I don’t suppose you know how to get out of this forest?”
“Of course! Just ride the winds and…” His smile turns into a thoughtful pout, head tilting to the side. “I guess you can’t do that, huh? Ya know, I’ve never actually been lost before! So do you just…walk around?” The stranger erupts into a fit of laughter at his own…joke? Had it been a joke? Asahi can’t really tell, but he forces a strained puff of laughter past his lips, lest the tiny non-human decide to end him where he stands.
The pause between lightning strikes shortens, thunder rumbling through the sky again. Asahi can’t help but shiver, the thought of spending the night in an unfamiliar forest as rain pours down from the heavens turning his already dour mood to borderline despair.
“Hmmm, looks like my sisters are about to start.” An odd spark lights up the stranger’s eyes as he lifts his gaze to the sky. Asahi swears he can see lightning sparking around his pupil, the odd blond streak in his hair all but glowing. “Humans normally take shelter during storms like this. Shouldn’t you be, like, inside or something?”
“Your…sisters?” The question somehow finds its way past Asahi’s lips, quiet and filled with awe.
“What? You’ve never seen a rain nymph before? I thought my sisters in this area were more friendly with humans and their ilk.” He smirks as lightning lights up the sky, thunder rolling through the mountain. Asahi’s heart stops in his chest, his shaking limbs stilling as his world pauses for a moment. The stranger—the rain nymph—is as beautiful as he is terrifying. Asahi wonders if his fight or flight instincts are broken, because instead of fighting or fleeing, he stares. Open-mouthed and wide-eyed.
The nymph closes his eyes and tilts his head, as if listening to whispers far beyond Asahi’s ability to hear.
“The winds tell me that way is east.” His eyes snap open and he points in the opposite direction Asahi had been heading. “There’s a shortcut to the village through there.”
“Oh…uh—t-thank you.” Hope sprouts in his heart as he turns towards the direction the small nymph had pointed, adrenaline helping to keep his steps steady. Anxiety takes its place as he realizes the stranger is smiling at him…while following the path Asahi is walking.
The nymph grows restless in the silence that follows, fidgeting and staring at Asahi like he is the weird one in this situation. Asahi holds out for as long as he can against the voice in his head—sounding oddly like his mother’s—telling him how impolite it is to ignore someone. Even if that someone is an inhuman incarnation of the world’s natural elements.
He wracks his brain for everything he knows about nymphs: they’re mystical beings, ones who bend and shift the world’s natural powers to their own whims; they’re always female—Asahi has never heard of one taking the guise of the man—but the nymph who is still following him is most certainly male…albeit a tiny one. They have names! Asahi remembers with a start, his mother’s soft voice upon his young ears as she told him stories of her travels.
“Ah do you…have a name? I should thank you properly for your help. Is there anything I can give you in return?” He does his best to smile at the nymph, hoping beyond all else that he doesn’t seem intimidating. All the villagers in his hometown still think him terrifying, despite his best efforts.
“Just ‘Noya’ is fine.” The nymph squints up at him. “Bold of you to ask for a nymph’s true name. You’re more cunning than you look, aren’t you?”
He sounds offended. Asahi flails, belatedly remembering that nymphs aren’t proud of their names, they’re bound by them. A nymph would never share their true name with a witch, freedom as important to their kind as breathing.
“Ah! Wait-no! I didn’t mean—” Another bolt of lightning crashes into a tree not far from him and he cuts off his flustered apology with his own shout.
The nymph’s—Noya’s—pointed gaze turns to the charred remains of the tree struck closest to them. His eyes light up for a moment and the world stops turning. Asahi’s breath clogs in his throat at the raw power of the person before him, who halts the air around him with nothing but a glare. The storm that had been about to fall upon the mountain simply…stops. Like the halted winds before rainfall, silence takes the place of the thunder that had previously rumbled through the skies.
“There. What were you saying?” Noya turned back to him, smiling so innocently that Asahi could almost believe he imagined the power radiating off him in waves.
“I’m…I’m sorry. I didn’t mean any offense in asking for your name. I only wanted to thank you for helping me find my way out of this terrible storm.” Asahi does his best to keep his voice from wavering, his hands from shaking.
Noya’s face clouds over, his mouth set in a scowl as he puffs up like a teapot about to boil over. “I’m not terrible! I was being nice! Go find your own way out of this forest then!”
With a crack of lightning, the nymph disappears. Asahi rubs at his eyes, burning from the sudden flash of light that marks the departure of the strongest being he has ever met. Too late, he realizes he said the absolute worst thing he could have to the nymph. He hadn’t meant that the nymph was terrible! Just that the storm was…very poorly timed. And kind of terrifying. And entirely beyond Asahi’s ability to deal with.
He sighs as his excuses skitter through his mind, too late to be of any use. His feet continue along the path Noya had shown him, even as his mind wanders to the nymph. An encounter with someone so powerful is unlikely to ever happen again in his lifetime. Part of him is relieved at that, but the other part—a very small kernel of wonder that hadn’t yet shriveled up after too many predictable and bleak experiences—sparks with questions, curiosity bubbling up in him like champagne. It lightens his steps, his pace quick as he reaches familiar paths. He’ll have to write down everything he can remember once he gets home to his notebooks. Already, his fingers itch to sketch out a drawing of Noya, although he’s almost certain he won’t be able to capture the sheer magnitude of the nymph’s presence.
As he steps onto the paved road that leads to his village, lightning sparks behind him and the clouds release their deluge of rain. He flinches, preparing to brace himself for the icy rain, but it never falls. Or rather, it doesn’t fall on him. Like a line drawn in the sand, the edge of the storm stops exactly at the paved pathway he stands on. He stares at the wall of rain over his shoulder, wonder once again lighting up his heart.
What an odd coincidence, he thinks. Relief loosens his tense muscles as he continues down the path. He never did find the herb he needed for the potion one of the villagers asked him to make, but…for once, Asahi can’t find any disappointment in himself. There are other herbs he can use in substitute that won’t affect the efficacy of the potion, and he…well, he got to meet a nymph. One as strong and beautiful and, admittedly, as terrifying as he always imagined.
*
Terrible. Terrible! That witch had called him terrible! Noya fumed as he rode the winds, his sisters giving him a wide berth after noticing his bad mood. He had been nice! When he saw the witch alone and scared in the forest, Noya had dropped from the skies without hesitation. He went against his own nature and held the storm back, instinct telling him that the already pretty witch would be even more beautiful without fear clouding his expression.
And he was more beautiful when he smiled. Even the forced, polite smile the witch had given him had lit up Noya’s heart in ways he hadn’t expected. The witch—Noya stops in his tracks, or rather, the cloud he had been stomping on in his foul mood, as he realizes that he never got the witch’s name. It hadn’t even occurred to him, names being a nymph’s most protected secret, but humans and witches are different. Longing burns through him at the thought of being able to call upon his—the—witch whenever he feels like it. To see just how more radiant the incredibly tall and lithe man could get.
His anger dwindles away, forgotten under the wave of curiosity and…well a good bit of lust too, that crashes through him. He perches atop the cloud he had previously stomped on, chin in hand as he watches the witch step onto the path leading back to his village. With a wave of his hand, lightning crashes down upon the forest, his sisters dancing in the rain. It only takes a bit of power to force the winds and rain to stop at the edge of the path the witch was now walking. His sisters giggle at him as they twirl through the skies and splash into puddles of their own making. Their joy is infectious, but he can’t tear his eyes off the witch, even as he leaves Noya’s field of vision. The urge to chase after him is strong, but Noya resists. Witches are dangerous. One wrong move, a simple slip of the tongue, and Noya could end up a slave to the witch’s whims.
I wouldn’t mind being a slave in the bedroom. Noya shakes off his own dirty thoughts because yes, it would be bad to be a slave! Even a…lustful one. Though maybe just in play…ugh! He growls and releases another vicious wave of lightning. Regardless of how pretty and toned and sexy the witch had been, Noya cannot and will not chase after him! He is a lightning nymph! The rarest of his kind! He is power incarnate, can harness what humans like to call the “wrath of the heavens”! And…and he wants to lick his way down the witch’s toned chest.
He rolls around on another cloud, wishing he could bang his head against it to free his thoughts from fantasies of the pretty witch, but he’d only end up drenched from the shoulders up. Dumb clouds. Why can’t they be solid when he needs them to be? Another pout finds his way to his lips, his sisters all but cackling at him.
Maybe…well, storms can’t be expected to stay in one place! And the winds…well they’re pushing away from the village, but it would only take a bit of power to direct them east… Before Noya’s even really consciously decided, he can feel the winds shifting. Curse his cousins for being so easily swayed. Fickle winds are going to get him in big trouble one day. But it’s not like the witch had been all that devious. Noya’s relatively sure he had only meant to thank him, not bind him by asking for his name. He’ll just…casually drop by the village for a bit. Villages always need rain—it’s good for the harvest humans love so much. And his sisters love frolicking with humans! He’s only directing the storm for them!
He smiles, delighted with his own logic. He gets to see the witch again—and maybe ask for his name (or a night in bed, either is fine)—his sisters get to play, and the humans get the rain they need for crops! Everyone wins! It’s brilliant. Noya almost pats himself on the back but…his sisters are all but doubled over with laughter at his expense already. He sticks his tongue out at them as he leaves his cloud—all disfigured from his stomping and rolling—and rides the winds, lightning crackling at his fingertips as he dances through the sky.
Maybe…just maybe, this witch will be different from the others Noya has met. Hope lights up in his heart, mirrored by the lightning in the sky. Perhaps his cousins, the ones who play with fate, might just smile upon him. They do kind of owe him for the daring rescue he’d lead to save one of them. He would have saved Hinata regardless, but it’s always nice to have the favor of a Moirai. Maybe this witch will be to Noya what Kageyama had become to Hinata…though, honestly Noya would settle for a bedmate. Soulmates are so rare. What’s the likelihood of him meeting his in a forest on the eve of a storm? He rolls his eyes. No way his soulmate is a witch. Fate isn’t as fickle as the winds…right?