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Adrien kept a firm grip on the handle of his sword as he stepped around yet another tree, eyes darting around the dark woods. Even with the shade of the majestic trees, the heat was still stifling. A part of him wondered if this was what it felt like to be cooked alive, although the more rational part of him knew that it would take a much higher temperature to actually be dangerous to humans. Still, the dry air certainly felt like it was roasting him alive and he had to fight off the instincts screaming at him to shed every scrap of clothing he was wearing and go jump in the nearest body of water.
Not that it would help, anyway. What little natural water that hadn’t already evaporated had turned warm ages ago. All that was left to do was find shade and hope the drought ended before they ran out of water altogether.
An echoing noise startled him out of his thoughts. He cursed under his breath, sword halfway out of its scabbard before he was consciously aware of the action. So far his trek through the enchanted forest had been uninterrupted, whether by one of the more normal critters or by the magical animals that gave the forest its name. He’d assumed they were all taking shelter from the heat like he wished he was doing now. Still, that didn’t mean there wasn’t anything out there.
He stood in the middle of the barely-there path, listening intently to the almost nonexistent forest sounds. Only after a moment did his mind register that the noise hadn’t really been… forest-like. It had sounded like a door slamming back in his village, or someone dropping a wooden plate or bucket.
Did that mean… Adrien carefully sheathed his sword, creeping back down the dirt path.
Sure enough, as he rounded another corner, a cottage slowly came into view. Adrien breathed a sigh of relief, resisting the urge to drop to the ground against the nearest tree and lay there for an hour.
However, before he could take another step the cottage door burst open. A frazzled bluenette stomped out, dragging a wooden bucket behind her. Adrien could barely make out her grumpy mutters as she stalked across the dead grass in front of her house.
“Stupid drought… can’t even… spells…” she grumbled, bucket bouncing behind her. She stopped in the middle of her front yard, glaring up at the sky (although the effect was slightly ruined by the fact that she had to squint in the bright afternoon sun).
“Is this what you wanted?!” she yelled, shaking her fist at the sky. “ Seriously? Are you trying to prove something? Is there something you want? Huh? Tell me!”
Adrien, for all his previous determination to get there, found himself frozen at the sight of the angry woman. He was fairly certain she was the witch he’d been on his way to find, although all the stories he’d heard about her had never mentioned… whatever this was.
“Just freaking rain already!” she shouted, voice raising with each word. The angry witch picked up the full bucket, water sploshing over the side as she raised it off the ground. “Like this!” With another dirty look, she tipped the bucket over, dumping the contents on the ground. “See?” she shouted. “It’s not that hard!”
Adrien couldn’t help the shocked cackle that escaped his lips. He slapped a hand over his mouth, but the damage was already done. The witch froze, bucket still in her outstretched arms as she slowly turned her head in his direction. Her eyes were so wide it was comical.
“Uh… hi?” he said with an awkward cough, raising his hand in a jerky wave.
The witch’s cheeks flushed bright red, so fast it looked like someone had doused her in red paint. She dropped the bucket with a screech. “How long have you been there?!”
“I saw the whole thing,” he said apologetically.
“... You saw the whole thing,” she echoed faintly. Adrien couldn’t help but laugh again as she buried her face in her hands. “Oh my gosh. What is wrong with me,” she whined. “I can’t believe you just-”
Her words were cut off by the loudest thunderclap Adrien had ever heard. They both jumped, the witch letting out another surprised screech.
And then suddenly Adrien was drenched with rain.
His shriek almost rivaled hers. It took him a moment to realize that the world had gone dark and water was not just falling, but pouring from the clouds that had suddenly appeared in the sky. He let out a surprised laugh as the water soaked into his clothes, rain running down his face and drenching his hair and pooling in his boots. He was almost even cold . He couldn’t remember the last time he was cold.
The witch let out a peal of laughter. “It- it’s raining!” she shrieked, pumping her fists in the air. “It’s raining, it’s raining, it’s raining-”
Adrien let out a whoop, joining her chant. “It’s raining, it’s raining, it’s raining…”
Caught up in the exhilaration of the moment, the two danced around her front yard, shrieking with laughter as the rain poured from the heavens. Adrien hadn’t felt this refreshed in months. “I can’t believe that worked!” he yelled. “Did you seriously just bully the sky into raining?”
The witch just laughed, throwing her hands in the air. “Apparently!”
“Was that the plan?”
“Uhhhh…” she paused, hands still up. “Definitely. That was definitely the plan.” She grinned cheekily.
Adrien grinned back, wiping raindrops off his face. “I’m Adrien, from the village.”
“Oh.” She blinked. “Right. Nice to meet you, Adrien from the village. I’m Marinette, from that cottage right there.”
Adrien laughed yet again. He’d laughed more in this clearing with the witch, Marinette, than in the last few months put together. “Nice to meet you, Marinette from that cottage right there.”
She giggled, clasping her hands behind her back. She was a lot cuter than he’d expected a witch to be. Her cheeks were still flushed, though this time they were pink from exertion, and this close he could see the freckles on her nose. The rain had plastered her loose hair around her face, framing her round cheeks and wide eyes.
“Did you come for a spell?” she asked over the rain, tilting her head to the side.
Adrien suddenly remembered the whole reason he was there. “I actually came about the drought, but it looks like you’ve got that covered.” He gestured up at the sky, which chose that moment to release another bolt of thunder. The two of them jumped, jerking to look up at the rapidly darkening sky.
“... I think you may have bullied the sky a little too hard,” Adrien said after a moment.
Marinette just stared blankly up. “Oops.”
A strike of lightning seemed to shock her out of her daze. “Want to come inside? You should probably wait out the storm.”
Adrien winced as another strike of lightning hit a little too close for comfort. “Yes please.”