Chapter Text
Kingdom of Otonokizaka, Eli’s bedchamber
“In stories of old, there were once witches. Ancient humans that communicated with the land and learned the secrets within it. They became healers and scholars, wishing to share the natural bounty of the earth with the people. However, the people they wished to help began to fear the witches, not understanding the miracles they performed. They were hunted, driven to the deep forests at the edge of the world and forced to live in shadow. Legends say the witches are gone, driven from this world into the next. Myths tell us they still dwell within the forests, lying in wait for the day they can return. All they need is a chance.
“There are two ways to tell if someone is a witch. The first is simple: ask them! Witches know if a heart is kind. So long as you hold pure intentions, they will never harm you. The second is a little easier: look into their eyes. If they are a witch, their eyes will be a brilliant green, the color of summer trees and crisp lettuce leaves.”
Eli scrunched up her nose and stuck out her tongue. “Ew, lettuce! Vegetables are gross!”
Her mother shook her head in mock disapproval and set the leather-bound book aside, hugging the giggling girl to her side to kiss the crown of her hair. “You must eat your vegetables, little one. They will help you grow big and strong like your papa.”
“But they don’t taste like anything, Mama,” Eli argued. She nestled deeper into the silken sheets, folding her arms with a pout that made her mother smile. “I bet witches didn’t have to eat vegetables. They’re magic, so they didn’t need them.”
“Maybe that is why they did not become knights,” Her mother said. She poked the tip of Eli’s nose to rid her of that pout. “Vegetables are essential to a knight’s strength.”
Eli sprung from the bed, her mother sighing at the mess of bedsheets she had just arranged. “I’m gonna be a knight without vegetables. I’m gonna grow big like Papa so I can help Papa and you protect the people. Watch me!”
Story forgotten, the woman slid the book back on its shelf and tucked the rambunctious six-year-old back back into bed once more. Her hand stayed on Eli’s head, stroking golden locks so similar to the king’s. She truly was her father’s daughter.
Eli studied her mother’s features - soft brown hair that pooled on the bed and loving blue eyes that crinkled at the corners when she laughed. The hand on her head was warm, kind.
“Mama, why were witches hunted?”
Brows knitted into a frown, her mother said, “Darling… People - they did not understand. Witches held a power that others - that others could not possess. It festered jealousy, twisted their desire so that they hungered for power. Witches wished to help, to heal, but it was not meant to be.”
“But why would they hurt witches if they just wanted to help? That’s not fair.” Such innocent words from such a young mind, her mother couldn’t help but smile. “Maybe I’ll be a witch instead. If they didn’t need vegetables, then I don’t either. That way, I can prove witches are nice. And I help Papa even sooner!”
Her mother raised an eyebrow. “If you did that, you would have to leave to find a teacher. You would have to leave us . You wouldn’t want to make Alisa cry, do you?”
Eli gasped and fisted the sheets close to hide her horrified face. “No! I would miss her!”
“Then eat your vegetables and grow to be a big, strong knight so you can be the best big sister to Alisa.” The hand on Eli’s hair moved to her cheek, a thumb lightly brushing skin. “Knights need their rest. Sleep. Tomorrow begins your first swords lesson. You do not want to be tired for the first one, do you?”
Eli tried to summon the energy to answer, but settled for a nod as a yawn slipped past her lips. She burrowed into the pillow, losing herself in the darkness behind her eyes and the sensation of her mother’s hand.
“Good girl. Good night, Eli.”
A light peck touched her forehead as the cool hand left her cheek. The candles were doused, the chamber door shut. Eli fell asleep, dreaming of clashing swords, magic, and strange, sparkling green eyes.
Sixteen years later, border of the Verdant Forest
Eli gulped and clung to the hilt of her sword, choked the strap of her pack, watching the unmoving wood in front of her.
For fifty years, not a soul had stepped in the rich and fertile land of Verdant Forest, the ground deemed unholy by the villagers over the hills that traced the edge. Life thrummed inside, birds singing and squirrels chattering innocently, oblivious to the reason for Eli’s fear. As far as any traveler knew, within lie the edge of the known world. Beyond it was uncharted map, unseen by even the bravest of adventurers.
If there had been any other reason as to why she would willingly step into a cursed - worse, dark - forest with her chances of dying higher than she was comfortable with, Eli would have turned back upon first sight - but Alisa was sick.
No, dying. Fragile since birth, her condition seemed hopeless. Her complexion, while always pale, had death’s touch. Doctor’s - the best that gold could hire from this kingdom and the next - had no answer. Aside from the strange coloration of her fingers, all of them said she was fine, all of them said she was healthy, all of them said she had a perfect bill of health. But her energy was fading quickly. If something wasn’t done soon, she would die. Eli was sure of it.
Since science offered little, she turned to myth. She remembered from her childhood, in the book her mother used to read from every night, of stories about a magic flower deep within the Verdant Forest, a flower that once drank a drop of sunshine that fell to the earth. The Phoenix Flower. Brimming with energy from the sun, upon eating it, it could burn away any sickness. It was her last hope.
After stumbling upon the old book, remembering her beloved stories, Eli promised her sister that she would return as soon as she could, leaving before dawn for Verdant Forest.
From behind, the mid-morning light lit the entrance: a narrow, grass-choked path, beaten into the ground by men’s feet long ago, that plunged into the wood. Ivy knotted itself at the feet of the trees, roots tangled with soil and plants Eli had no name for. The trees grew close together, their interwoven canopy shadowing the path so she could discern no further than a few meters in. When she came close, the air grew cool, a shiver crawling up her spine.
There was no other option but forward.
When the canopy engulfed her in shade, sound seemed to cease. The chittering songs she heard earlier quieted, as if sensing her presence. On the sides of the path, the grass shivered, parting, wanting no part in touching an outsider.
“Such a warm welcome,” Eli whispered to herself, trying to ease her nerves.
Her teacher, a grizzled old veteran by the name of Kousaka, once told her that fear was natural, unavoidable, but there was no shame in having it. He once told her there were many ways to fight it. His first suggestion was to punch it, if it was something that could be punched. His second suggestion was to talk aloud, even if no one else was around. Silence fed fear.
“This isn’t so bad,” Eli said, reaching toward the flowers that were seeded along the vines with a trembling hand. They shrank back, as though offended by her touch.
“Strange...”
As she walked, the forest slowly grew accustomed to her. Birdsong joined her in her anxious humming, as did the light, much to Eli’s relief. The trees began to wander farther and farther from their cousins, thinning the canopy to let light trickle in, illumining the strange flora that revealed itself to her. Blue flowers dyed with pink spots, white bushes laden with purple berries that glistened like jewels, leaves that fell red but turned pink on the ground and green in her palm. Eli had no words to describe the phenomena; she could only watch. Her hand fell away from her sword as she walked, hanged by her hip as she discovered nature’s wonders.
As she stopped to study a brilliant green butterfly crawling along a root, Eli realized she had to squint to see it clearly, like looking through frosted glass. The closer she was, the worse it became. When she stood up, she realized why.
Blotting out the sky, carpeting every vine, over everything was a thick fog.
A buzzing alarm similar to a church bell rang shrilly in her ears.
It was the fog.
Her mother’s words echoed in her memory:
“To protect their homes from outsiders, witches used charms to lure people out of the forest, forgetful of their intentions to find them. However, as the hunts increased and their numbers dwindled, witches resorted to other spells, desperate. A fog was raised in the forests, so heavy and so thick it blinded its victims from even the ground beneath their feet. Those that wander in, do not come out. Lost forever.”
Those that wander in, do not come out.
Panic seeped into her skin, spreading like a virus that ate at the core of her belly. “No. No no no no -”
Eli ran.
She ran and she ran and she ran, ignoring the branches that sprang from the fog and slashed her face, her hair that whipped her eyes. She didn’t care for the rocks that tripped her feet or the buzzing in her ears that grew loud enough for her to cry from the pain. Her cheeks flamed, furious, desperate.
She had to get away.
There had to be a way.
I can’t die here. I can’t. Not before I find that flower. Not before I bring it back.
Not before I save her.
For Alisa.
Alisa!
A tree loomed up from the fog, giving Eli a fraction of a second to react. Rather than use her face, she turned just enough to ram it with her shoulder. She heard a sickening crunch, fell, and bounced her head on the earth, as she finally, mercifully, stopped.
She moaned, clenching her stinging eyes shut as she attempted to slog off her pack so she didn’t completely crush it. It proved a difficult task. When she lifted her arm, the muscles froze. Short static bursts of pain from her shoulder prevented the limb from moving.
“Great.” Eli tried not to sob. “Dammit…”
For a while, on the forest floor, she lay.
Her throat burned with each ragged breath. She guessed that her face was a scratched up wreck due to the stinging from the tears, her shoulder possibly dislocated. And the ringing . It only got worse.
Kousaka had warned her of this, of rushing forward with no destination in mind. He told her she would run into something more stubborn than herself, but Eli doubted he had meant a tree.
She tried to relax her body, as Kousaka taught her. Her mind wandered, meditated, easing the tension of her muscles. It worked a little, her shoulder gradually reducing to a dull pulse, but the ringing stayed, a constant low buzz in her ears. The cool air chilled her lungs and nerves. Below, the soil permeated through her jacket and tunic to chill her skin, slowing her heart.
When she cracked open her eyes, dried crust making it difficult, the thin branches showed jigsaw pieces of a deep blue sky, the color of her family’s eyes. Mama, Papa, Alisa, they all had blue eyes just like the sky.
“Wait… the sky?”
Eli bolted up, a mistake, she realized, as she hissed in pain from the renewed throbbing in her arm. Slowly, gently, she jostled her arm as little as possible as she stood.
What she saw was like waking from a bad dream.
The fog was gone. The road was gone. Before her was a different path, crafted with rich soil and gardened by planted blue, purple, and green flowers that hugged its sides. They beckoned warmly, waving in a wind Eli didn’t feel, down the path that curved into the trees.
“What other choice do I have?”
She followed the flowers, good hand dragging her pack and her feet dragging themselves. While the absence of fog relieved her, it still begged the question: why?. The forest was weird enough with its strange fruits and bizarrely hued fauna, but verifying truth from myths spiked fear in Eli’s heart. The only truth she wanted was the Phoenix Flower. She wanted to turn back, to leave this cursed forest and all of its creepy roads and fogs, but until one of the flowers turned into a convincing red, she wasn’t leaving. At least for another ten minutes.
But it didn’t take that long, for at the side of the path, rather than a red flower, were two red eyes belonging to a dark black cat. It watched her, precocious, waiting.
She called out to it, not knowing what else to do “Hi. You wouldn’t happen to have seen a Phoenix Flower, by any chance, would you? Red, burns with an inner sun, probably.”
It flicked its tail at her, bared its fangs in what Eli guessed was a bored yawn, then trotted down the path.
“Hey, wait -!”
The cat did no such thing. Occasionally, it checked she was still following with a glance over the shoulder. Not the oddest occurrence since she entered the forest - Eli ranked the fog at the top - but still, she couldn’t shake the feeling she was being led. Something waited for her at the end.
Soon enough, the path rounded out to a secluded glen. At the edge sat a log cabin, just small enough to be cozy, just new enough to be rustic. The cat climbed the two steps onto the squeaky porch like it owned the place, passing through a thick cloth that concealed a hole in the front door that was big enough for it to slip inside.
Eli didn’t know what to do. Should she… go in? She had no idea who lived here, and that seemed like a terribly rude action considering. If the cat was the owner, she supposed she had already been invited, but why, then, did the door have a knob for humans? Did cats get human visitors in the middle of nowhere? Were cats usually so aloof, so intelligent? She never had a cat, so it was hard to tell.
It all seemed so ludicrous. Or maybe it was just her. The grass was beginning to look a little blurry, now that she thought about it. The tree must have gotten to her.
As she considered sitting down to wait for the cat to come back, the door opened.
Where Eli expected a giant cat this time, there was a woman.
She looked young, maybe Eli’s age, with black hair tied back into a single, long braid that shimmered purple when she stepped into the light. Her dress was a deep green with white accents. It matched perfectly with her eyes.
“Green eyes…”
The woman drew closer, those very eyes filled with concern. Her mouth moved, but Eli heard nothing.
“Just like a witch,” Eli continued dazedly. “Pretty witch.”
She thought she heard the woman say a few things, but she could not hear. It was like her head was being held below water, the other’s words hushed and garbled in waves as the world swam around her; something about a hand.
Faintly aware the woman had taken her arm - was that what she was asking for, my hand? - Eli was ushered inside.
It was like stepping into another jungle, one made of glass and paper. There were jars everywhere. Small ones, fat ones, square ones, colored ones, each filled with something different on every available flat surface. Books, too, lined the shelves of what she assumed was a kitchen. Eli never helped in the kitchen at home, but she was pretty sure cookbooks were not typically made of leather and embossed gold lettering.
The rest of it consisted of a single room that doubled as both kitchen and parlor, two other doors in the back leading off to who knew where. The decorations were hardly different from the outside, either. Tufts of grass stubbornly sprang from the floorboards, ruffled by a light breeze from the open window. Thin strands of ivy dripped from the ceiling, lightly smacking the crown of her head if she did not duck. A few that bloomed with little white flowers reached as far as the cluttered table in the center of the room.
The woman brought her to a stool near the table, beckoning her to sit, which she did gladly. Her vision became a little more focused, letting her better see the woman.
At some point, she had moved away and was coming back, something in her grip. It looked like a cup. The woman handed it to her, making a drinking motion with her hand.
Rather than question a drink she received from a stranger like a rational person, Eli downed it in a single swig. Another mistake, as it tasted like sawdust and sweat, almost choking her as she tried to cough it back up, but it was too late.
“Better?”
Eli coughed, both from the drink and surprise at the sound of a new voice. The buzzing in her ears faded, allowing the sounds of the living world back in. Her head felt considerably better, vision much clearer. The woman looked at her, smiling, patient.
“Yes, much. What was that?”
“A tonic for concussions. It should help reduce the swelling and let it heal faster.” Her smile turned sheepish. “Sorry about the taste; I forgot to stock up on cinnamon again.”
That explained the pounding headache and vision problems. But there was no way this woman could have known that, about her fall.
Eli asked cautiously, “How did you know?”
“Nico told me.” The woman looked down at the floor. When Eli followed her gaze, she nearly jumped out of her skin when she realized the cat was at her feet, staring up at her. Nico’s red eyes squinted like it was cackling.
The woman knelt to the floor, running her knuckles along the cat’s spine as it purred. “She said she saw you in the forest. Ran right into a tree and hit your head on the ground.”
“Wha -? That, that wasn’t exactly…” Eli tried to hide her embarrassment, give a rational excuse as to why she was running like a fool into trees, but thought of something else. “Wait, the cat told you?”
“Of course.” She picked up the cat and petted it as she talked. “Nico’s my familiar.”
Impossible. Fairy tales were not real.
“But, that would mean she’s magic. That would mean you’re magic. So you’re -”
“A witch, yes. Just like you said,” The woman - the witch - laughed, green eyes flashing with mirth. “You might want to close your mouth. That’s a good way to catch flies.”
Eli did as she was told, at a loss for words. The book had been right; her mother had been right. The forest, the witches, green eyes, magic, all of it, real and alive. Proof surrounded her, smiled at her.
There was hope.
“I never caught your name,” The witch said. The cat squirmed in her grasp, so she released it, the feline trotting away through one of the other doors. “You are…?”
“Eli.”
“Eli.” The syllables sounded foreign to Eli’s ears, but it was not unpleasant. “I’m Nozomi.”
“A pleasure.”
Green eyes shifted to the arm Eli hung limply at her side, cool, analyzing. “Would you like me to look at that too?”
Now that she was safe - well, safe as she could get with a stranger - the adrenaline in her system ebbed. Eli felt the bursts of pain firing off in her shoulder, making her wince. “No, I’ll be fine. You’ve helped me plenty already.”
“That was convincing.” Nozomi rolled her eyes. “C’mon. Let me see.”
Eli tried to resist, counter with arguments of ‘I’m fine’ and ‘I’m tougher than I look’, but Nozomi was having none of it, and Eli was too exhausted to keep it up. In the end, she let Nozomi help her shrug off the jacket and the sleeve of her shirt, revealing the purpling skin and angry red swells.
Nozomi scanned the injury, her touches light like butterfly wings. “Yes, you’re obviously fine,” She continued her sarcasm, grabbing one of the many jars off the table. It held a thick, sickly green goo. “Luckily, it’s just bruised. Try not to move.”
Once again, she did as she was told, sitting still as Nozomi gently rubbed cold green globs into her shoulder. She sighed as it seeped in, warmed her aching skin, her muscles. It felt good.
To prevent herself from falling asleep Eli asked, “Is it just you out here?”
“Just Nico and me.” Of course, couldn’t forget the cat, wherever it went. “Been that way for years.”
“How come?”
Nozomi shrugged. “Because we’re one of the last. Everyone else left for new lands, new opportunities. We chose to stay behind.”
“I see,” Eli had the feeling she would not elaborate more, so she pushed no farther. It was not her business anyway.
“What about you? The last time I had a visitor was… never.” Done with the salve, she fetched a roll of bandage from a drawer. “You didn’t come out here just to wrestle trees, did you?”
“Of course. The tree was challenging me to a duel, and I couldn’t back down.”
“So instead you went down.” Nozomi sealed the jar and shelved it. Whether it was in the same spot as before was something Eli could only guess. Every cabinet looked the same.
Pain pierced her shoulder as Nozomi slapped the fresh bandages heartily. “You’ll live. Just take it easy for a few days.”
“Thank you,” Eli grimaced, tried to smile, failed.
Nozomi opened her mouth, to laugh, Eli thought, but she paused. The hand fell from Eli, a back all that was presented to her as though prepared to go. “What brought you out here, Eli?”
Eli shivered from the sudden chill in her words. The warmth of welcome nowhere to be found. Eli felt she had overstayed it.
She stammered, fumbling, failing, “I came because, because of a flower, because…”
“Why?”
“My sister. She’s sick.” Having found her voice, Eli rose from the stool and stood before the witch, pleading. “Please, she needs help.”
Nozomi turned, looked the knight dead in the eye, never wavering. Eli felt the urge to look away, but there was something else about those green eyes, hidden, guarded. On the surface was a latent power, dangerous, deadly, enough to keep her rooted in place, but it softened just as fast.
“Here.” From her pocket, Nozomi produced a patch of sewed linen, miming for Eli to pat beneath her eyes. She’d been crying again.
Nozomi must have believed her, for she heaved a sigh, facing her shelves. “I don’t know if I have the flower you want, or if I’ll be of any help, but I can try. Tell me her symptoms.”
Eli sat back in the stool, relieved, the linen left in her balled up fist as she spoke, “She’s… weak. Doctors from many kingdoms over have examined her, but they tell us nothing’s wrong. Her face, her skin… she’s so pale. She hardly eats, she can’t sleep; her chest is too heavy for her lungs. We fear she is being crushed by the air itself. We don’t know what to do.”
“Anything else?”
“Um…” Her shoulder still throbbed under the salve, made it hard to think. It smelled like sour plums and dampened soil, wet just after the rain. “There is… her fingers. Her fingernails, specifically. They’ve become green.”
“How old is your sister?”
“Nineteen.” She lowered her head humbly, beseeching, not seeing the sharp turn of an ear, the surprised twitch of clenched fingers. “Please, I heard there was a flower here brimming with the sun’s energy. The Phoenix Flower. I heard it can cleanse any illness with a single sip from water infused with it. Could that help her?”
When she raised her head, Nozomi was already at work. Eyes glued to the faded pages of a propped tome, her hands maneuvered the shelves, touching every bottle but knocking none to the ground, occasionally placing one before her.
“Um...”
“What you described is a sunflower.” Eli fell silent, fixed on the witch’s every word. “Fairy tales have exaggerated its purpose. It’s a weed that grows everywhere here; useful for mixes that rejuvenate the mind and body while also adding a tangy flavor. It cannot, however, heal the sick.”
Despair gripped Eli’s heart. But before she could voice it, Nozomi continued, hands always moving, measuring strange ingredients from glass jars into a stone bowl. The witch moved a pestle near, but instead of using it, she grabbed one last item from a jar.
“What she needs isn’t a sunflower, but something far more potent.” She approached with a smile, her hands clasped over something like a child that couldn’t wait to show what they found. “She needs this.”
In Nozomi’s palm, tiny and sharp, was a single scale. It was unlike any scale Eli had ever seen. Colors danced on the surface, smoldered shades of shifting reds, golds, ambers, as though it contained a living flame. It vibrated slightly, thrumming deeply with unknown energy.
“What is it?” Eli asked, voice low in awe.
“A dragon’s scale,” Nozomi answered excitedly, “This is the first time I’ve gotten to use it. Normally, it’s for special occasions, but you’re the first one that I’ve had the pleasure of using it for.”
“What do you mean ‘special occasion’?”
Nozomi went back to her bowl, tossed in the scale and crushed it beneath the pestle into a fine powder that puffed a bright orange as she grinded. “I mean that it’s not everyday someone has green fingernails and needs a dragon’s scale. I have very few, you know.”
Eli watched, silent, afraid to break the witch’s concentration. As she opened her mouth to say something to fill the unnerving quiet, Nozomi huffed with satisfaction. The final product was poured into yet another jar, a clean one filled with water she retrieved from somewhere, maybe nowhere. Once sealed, Nozomi lightly tapped the lid against the table, shook it hard, then handed it to Eli.
“One spoon of this when she wakes and before she sleeps should have her back on her feet in no time.” Taking the concoction as though it were a baby, Eli cradled the jar that swirled with liquid gold.
“However, I cannot guarantee it will work.” Nozomi went back to her work station, reorganizing, glass clinking, papers shuffling. “This was my first attempt, and while the books have yet to steer me wrong, there is always a chance of failure. I can say that this has a better chance of working than any doctor’s diagnosis. That is for certain.”
She looked up at Nozomi with a warm smile. “Even if it doesn’t, I can’t thank you enough.”
Now, the part she had been dreading, “How much will this cost?”
“I don’t charge,” Nozomi said easily. Finished with her fussing, she propped her elbows on the table opposite Eli and curled her fingers into each other to use them as a chin rest. She returned the smile. “Don’t worry about it.”
“Are you sure?” Eli persisted. Since she got here, she felt all she had done was thank this woman over and over. “There must be something - “
“Fine, fine! If you insist.” Nozomi hummed as she thought, finger tapping her chin. “Honestly, I can’t think of anything right now. How about…” She looked to the entrance, then back to Eli, eyes shining. “How about you visit again sometime? I could always use a helper. You could even bring your sister! I would like to meet her.”
“The helping, yes. My sister, no. Another time, perhaps. When she’s better.” Eli said, relieved. An unpaid debt did not sit right with her, no matter the cost. She carefully placed the medicine in her pack to make sure it didn’t jiggle around when hoisted on her good shoulder. “I’ll return though, promise.”
The sky had turned a light orange in the span of her stay. By now, Eli’s family knew she hadn’t gone to morning swords training and left the kingdom altogether. She wasn’t looking forward to that mess, but she had what she wanted, what she needed.
It had all happened so fast, like the blink of an eye, that she could hardly believe it was real. Magic was real, witches were real, and one had just handed her the key to saving Alisa. It was time to leave.
When she was packed with one foot by the door, she looked at Nozomi one more time.
“Thank you.”
“Until next we meet."
Eli waved to the cabin until she reached the path, disappearing into the trees on the path home.