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Lumine states at her cauldron and sighs. It’s been days, nearly weeks, since she’s last seen that cute hunter, Amber, from the town, even though she used to drop by almost every day, bringing all sorts of gifts. Lumine groans and drops her head. She’s got orders for potions to fulfill, but none of them pique her interest enough to get started.
Ring!
Lumine jumps as her doorbell rings. Slowly, she moves towards the door, carefully making her way around her haphazardly stacked crates of lizard tails and electro crystals and all sorts of ingredients and jars. By the time she gets there, the ringing’s stopped. Lumine opens the door, but no one’s there, and she looks around outside. She can see the bushes rustling to the north, but they slowly stop, and Lumine can feel her shoulders drop, along with her heart. Somewhere deep down she still wishes Amber would come visit again.
Lumine’s about to close the door when a letter on her doorstep catches her eye, along with a small bag. Picking them up, the bag’s contents clink and rattle, they must be mora. So the letter must be a potion request. How strange, people usually make orders in person.
Closing the door, Lumine moves to sit by the window, examining the letter. It’s a neat cream colored envelope with a red wax seal, a bunny emblazoned on it. How cute . Lumine thinks to herself. Carefully peeling up the wax, she sets it aside, perhaps she’ll put it with her other trinkets. Finally getting to the contents of the letter, she quickly reads it to herself.
Dear witch of the forest,
I’d like to request a love potion to be made, left by the old willow tree in the forest when it’s done.
It’s unsigned, but Lumine isn’t surprised. Most people asking her for love potions are too timid to be upfront with their feelings. Although people still often make the request in person, she has had a letter or two sent for them before. Though they usually come signed.
Lumine sighs. Love potions are by far her least favorite type of potion to make; they don’t last for long and they toy with peoples feelings, leaving a sense of confusion once they wear off. An easy route does seem attractive to someone feeling down on their luck from rejection, she supposed. But with the poor results they often come with, it’s well deserved for taking the easy route, in Lumine’s opinion. Yet they’re still one of the most popular potions she makes, aside from healing tinctures.
Tapping the letter, Lumine thinks to herself. It’s tempting to play a prank on them with a potion of bad breath or one of the other ones shes created while bored, but they’ve already left their payment, and she doesn’t like having a bad business practice. Besides, her joke potions are meant to be sent to her brother, unlabeled for a fun surprise.
Sighing, Lumine decides to get it over with. Returning to the back, she shuffles crates around, looking for the ingredients she needs. Dried butterfly wings, crystal cores, a handful of sakura petals, a cecilia, and two roses. Water purified under the moonlight and energy nectar. And a flame seed from the pyro regisvine she was asked to destroy last week, for a spicy and fiery kick.
Moving to her work table, she sets down her armful of regents, sorting them out by how they needed to be prepared. Plucking the petals from the flowers, Lumine drops them in a small pot, filling it up with water before setting it on the fire to steep. She tosses the crystal cores into her mortar, grinding them down to a fine and pearly powder, then adds the butterfly wings, gently breaking them up. They crumble easily, giving the powder a bluish sheen as it mixes in. Setting her pestle down, Lumine checks back on the pot. It’s gently simmering, and the colors have leached out of the petals, dying the water a rich pink. Perfect. Straining out the petals, Lumine stirs in the powdered crystal and wings, then drips in the energy nectar, reciting a spell as she does. She continues chanting as she stirs the pot of simmering liquid, and a puff of pink steam rises up.
“And we’re done.” Lumine says to no one in particular. Carefully funneling the potion into a glass bottle, she quickly corks it, then neatly writes a label. Tying the label on with twine, she wraps the bottle in cloth and places it in a small velvet bag. Lumine stretches and looks at the clock. It’s late, already past 8 PM.
“I’ll bring it tomorrow, I guess.” She mumbles, going back to her table to work on the rest of her potions.
The following day Lumine dons her white cloak, stepping into her shoes as she leaves her house. The ivy crawling up the brick waves in the air as she closes the door. She blinks in the bright sun. There’s not a cloud in the sky, although the woods around the clearing are still dark and murky, not much light peeking through the dense foliage. Even the overgrown path out into the woods is dark, but it’s well traveled, and Lumine steps out on it confidently, knowing it will bring her to her destination.
Lumine knows exactly where she’s going. There’s a grand old willow by the stream that cuts through the forest, and it’s an area she’s very familiar with, both from collecting herbs and from playing in the stream with Amber as the sun crawls overhead. Lumine shakes her head, ridding herself of the nostalgic thoughts. Theyd visited right before Amber stopped coming by, so now there’s a small prickling at her heart each time she makes the trip there.
The walk is a quiet one, accented by the occasional birdsong or rustling of small animals in the bushes. Despite its gloomy and unsettling appearance, it’s a safe forest, the hunters as well as Lumine keeping the area free of monsters. That’s how she met Amber, chasing after the same monster that had made its way into human territory. Amber made a crash landing trying to go to protect Lumine, not knowing she was a witch. Lumine smiles at the memory, it was cute how flustered Amber was when she found out.
The babbling of the stream catches Lumine’s attention and she looks up. There stands the old willow tree, it’s green leaves creating a circle of darkness under the dappled sun spots on the ground. And standing under the tree, hidden partially by the leaves, is—
“Amber!” Lumine practically shouts, stumbling on a tree root as she hurries over. Amber looks up and a brilliant smile spreads across her face as she spots Lumine. Oh how she’s missed that smile. Lumine feels ready to cry, but then stops. If Amber is here, that means that…
“Are you here to pick up a love potion?” Lumine can feel her chest tighten and grow cold as she speaks. Amber has someone special to her, that she’s willing to go to such lengths to be with, even if only temporarily. Her fist tightens around the drawstring of the bag. Amber nods, looking more serious now. Lumine holds out the bag, and drops it in Amber’s waiting hands.
“I wish you luck in your endeavors.” Lumine turns her head. She wants to cry, scream, anything to lessen the weight in her stomach. But she clenched her jaw. She cares dearly for Amber, and wants her to be happy, even if it hurts so bad.
“I hope I won’t have to use it.” Amber speaks up, her voice wavering a little. “No, I don’t plan to use it at all, actually.” Lumine turns her head back towards Amber, confusion etched on her face.
“Why commission one then?” She questions, and Amber looks sheepish.
“I’m always causing you trouble, and you always take time out of your day to play with me when I come by, so I wanted to help support you.” Amber swallows, she looks like she’s struggling to keep speaking. “And I needed the courage to say something.”
“I can make potions of courage, you know, even if they use expensive ingredients. If that’s what you needed I’d be happy to make you one on a discount, since we’re such good friends.” The words “friends” stings a little to say, knowing that’s all she’ll be. Amber shakes her head.
“I needed to muster up the courage myself, it’s no good if I can’t say it on my own.” Clutching the bag with the potion in one hand, Amber fidgets in her pocket with the other, looking unsure. Grabbing something, she clenches her fist by her side. Amber opens her mouth and closes it again silently, before clearing her throat.
“Lumine, I—“ Amber chokes up a little, her face bright red, “Lumine, I love you!” Squeezing her eyes shut, Amber holds out her hand, a small red pouch in it. But Lumine doesn’t see it, she’s too busy gawking at Amber silently, unable to process her words.
“Me…?” Lumine manages to quietly force out. She can feel the corners of her eyes burning as tears try to well up. Amber nods and opens her eyes, smiling sheepishly. But she gasps as Lumine starts to cry, the relief making her emotions cascade out of her.
“Are you okay? It’s okay to say no!” Amber rushes towards Lumine, gently holding her shoulders. Lumine shakes her head.
“No, no way!” Lumine says between heaving sobs, bringing her hands up to clutch Amber’s shoulder’s. “I also—“ but she can’t get the words out as she hiccups through her tears. “I love you too. I was so scared you found someone else.”
Amber whips her head back and forth.
“No way! Ever since i first met you I’ve—!” Amber suddenly shuts her mouth, cheeks a deep scarlet.
“You’ve?”
“I’ve liked you ever since we met,” Amber whispers, averting her eyes. “You were so strong and so kind and funny, and as we talked more I couldn’t help falling in love…” Amber trails off, the last of her words barely audible. Now Lumine turns a bright red, stammering out half formed words as she tries to create a proper sentence.
“Um!” Amber finally breaks the chain of stumbled words, holding up the small red pouch again. “If you’d like, please take this.”
Wiping her eyes on her sleeve, Lumine takes the pouch, opening it. Inside is a thin silver bracelet with two charms, a rabbit and a star. Lumine looks up at Amber, who sheepishly scratches the back of her head.
“Custom jewelry is expensive, so I needed to work overtime a lot to afford it. That’s why I haven’t visited in a while.”
“It’s beautiful, but I don’t have something to give you in return.” Lumine admires the fine craftsmanship of the linked chain and ornately carved charms.
“Hehe, I got the love potion from you, didn’t I?” Amber holds up the bag containing the vial of pink liquid. Lumine shakes her head.
“That’s not a gift, you paid for it. And besides, you aren’t even going to use it. It was pointless.”
“It wasn’t pointless, it gave me the courage to tell you how I felt. So I’ll treasure this forever.” There's that brilliant and genuine smile again, the smile that turns up the corners of Lumine’s lips when she sees it. The one she can never say no to.
“Alright then. But at least let me give you this.” Leaning forward, Lumine plants a gentle kiss on Amber’s freckled nose. Amber stammers, at a loss for words. This time Lumine smiles, and embraces Amber again. She doesn’t know if she deserves this happiness, but she won’t let go of it.
“I love you.”
“I love you too.”