Chapter 2

Akari wakes up bright and early the next morning so she could look around for some berries to eat. Luckily for her, Mr. M had lent her a foraging field guide, so she could identify edible and poisonous plants. Plus, as an added bonus, it told her about their magical properties, too.

“Hey.”

The voice startles her, causing her to jump. She turns around and sees that it was just  Mister Mumble. She smiles slightly.

“Oh, hello!” She greets, minutely more comfortably than the day before.

Mister Mumble tilts his head slightly. “I’ve come to inform you that I will be leaving shortly to go get supplies from the wizards shop over at Westwend. I’ll be gone for a couple of days.” 

He then nods his head towards a section of mountains not even a quarter of the way around the large lake. “By the way, I should have told you yesterday, the emergency campsite is over there.” 

Akari nods. “Okay, thank you for informing me.”

Mr. M nods and smiles slightly, “I bid you farewell.”

And with that, he turns, perching his hat atop his head as he calmly strolls away.

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When Akari gets back to her camp, she notices something is different. There were people on the other side of the lake that seemed to be setting up a camp as well. This piqued Akari’s interest, so she went around to investigate. 

When Akari gets close enough, she hides behind a bush.

“Rowen, you can’t help, you’re very hurt.” Said a girl sternly. She had dirty blonde hair, which was in braids, and she was wearing a mid-length dress. She appeared to be around 8 or 9.. maybe 11.

“Willow, don’t be rude!” Scolds an older woman with red hair, which was pulled up in a bun, a long dress adorning her frame. She appeared to be somewhere around 43.

“Sorry...” Apologized the girl, who must be ‘Willow.’

“Rowen, she’s right, you need to rest.” Said the other woman.

Gaining the courage, Akari finally walks up to them, albeit rather cautiously. “Um.. Hiiii.. do you need help..? I--I’m Akari, by the way.”

She sees a guy that appears to be around her age---seemingly the guy referred to as ‘Rowen’---trying to stand up, but the older woman puts her arm in front of him, forcing him back down. “Yeah we can use some help.”

The boy looks at the woman. “Mom I'm ok sto-”

She cuts him off with a steely glare. “Stop... just stop it Rowen. You’re hurt and I won't let you hurt yourself more by being stupid... you’re 19. Act like it.”

Rowen sits back begrudgingly, casting a sidelong glance at Akari.

Akari’s attention was drawn to Willow as she jumps off their cart and smiles up at her. 

“You’re really pretty.” She said as she bounds over. Akari would have been taken aback by the sudden compliment if the girl wasn’t so adorable. “My name is Willow. That's my mom, Josie, and the hurt guy over there is my stupid brother, Rowen.”

Rowen speaks up. “Willow, you’re crazy.”

Willow laughs. “And you just realized this?” Rowen just laughs in response.

Akari smiles slightly, as seeing the happy family---in spite of the bombs---gives her a sense of peace. It reminds her of the happy families that would wander around Whitebridge, being loud with laughter and the making of good, long-lasting (had the bombs not gone off) memories.

Pulling herself out of the memories which quickly returned to the gruesome scene she’d left behind, she shakes the thoughts out of her head and gestures behind her.

“I have a camp set up.. The wizard that lives here just left, so you’re welcome to stay with me for the time being?” She offers.

The mother---Josie---smiled at her. “If it's not too much trouble, we would love to.” Willow looked confused. “Wizard?” The girl looks back at Akari. “I’ve never met a wizard in real life..”

Akari gives a small smile at that response. Akari had---the city she lived in, Whitebridge, often brought merchants from the worlds’ magic hotspot, Westwend, where the mines were rich with crystals and the land was equally rich with ingredients.

“That’s okay. He was really nice,” Akari glances briefly up at Josie, “and he looked to be around 23, so not like all those old men.” Akari says as her eyes return to Willow, still smiling.

She straightens up and gestures behind her again. “In any case, my camp is this way. There’s another nearby, but we can move over there after I get some food.” She says, before turning to lead the small family over to where she had her tent set up.

Josie helped the boy in the cart---Rowen, Akari reminds herself---out of the old cart that they traveled in. Rowen gasped, seemingly in pain, and sat back. Josie held his arm, supporting him. “Hey… let's just go slow, ok?” Rowen silently nods. 

As they were taking their time, seemingly so that Rowen wouldn’t get hurt, Willow looks up at Akari and asks, “Do you know magic?”

Akari was quiet for a few moments, then tilts her head thoughtfully. “I mean, I took several classes in alchemy, and I know a few basic spells. So I guess I do?” She pauses and glances back at the boy that was being helped along by the older woman. “I can’t do it instantly, but I could make a potion to help the healing process speed up..” She says.

She watches as Willow’s eyes light up, and she bounces excitedly on her feet. “Can you really?” The little girl squeaks eagerly. “...You should show me how to make a healing potion.” She adds quietly as she continues to stand beside Akari.

Akari hums in thought. “I suppose I could, but, understand that you’d have to be patient. It’s a very delicate process, and even the tiniest thing could send it all awry.” She says carefully. 

Willow reminded her so much of her younger self; so intrigued with the magical world and wanting to learn ALL about it. Akari liked that about the girl, and decided then and there that she would help her out on that path as much as she possibly could. Well---with the girls’ mothers consent, of course.

Willow nods eagerly at that. “I can be patient! I’m a very good listener!” She says with a cocky tone that makes Akari smile slightly.

“I bet you can.” Akari responds lightly.

Now more eager than before---if that was even possible---Willow started to ramble about wanting to know magic. “I know I'm only 11, but I could be the best wizard….” She paused for a moment “They're called wizards right?” she hesitantly asks for confirmation. Akari chuckles softly. Amused, but not mocking.

“Well, the men are. The women are called witches.” She responds calmly.

Finally, after they make it back to where Akari had set up camp, she sets up her coallinet wood into a campfire and lights it. As she sits down, she notices that Rowen was just sort of zoned out, staring off into space. 

“Hey.. like I said earlier, I can probably give you something to help with the healing process.” She repeats carefully. Rowen shifts to meet her gaze, blinking as he seemingly returns to reality.

“Yeah.. you and Willow were talking about that... I mean, give it a shot, I guess.” Rowen answers tentatively. Akari notices that he seems to have accepted rather uncomfortably.

She nods slightly and stands. She pauses, however, when she realizes that.. well, since she had no idea where these two had come from---though clearly not Whitebridge, given nobody there survived---she had no idea how long it had been since they had last eaten, whereas she had spent the day with Mister Mumble and he had been kind enough to feed her.

So.. she excuses herself from the group and treks back to the wizard’s tower. She had seen some weeping willow trees, and figured that.. surely, she could use one of the vines to make a makeshift fishing rod with that tall stick she’d found the day prior.

And so, she grabs a vine and carefully extracts it from its branch before briefly returning to her campsite to grab the stick. She’ll collect the ingredients for the elixir after she’s caught the newcomers some fish to eat.

She didn’t have any bait, so she could only hope as she seats herself on the bank of the lake and ties the vine to the end of the stick, casting the withy into the water. She wasn’t sure if the bombs had touched this area, but given that the trees were all still standing and intact, she was willing to wager a guess that they hadn’t.

Even if they HAD, though, she probably wouldn’t have thought that it would have killed the fish. After all, the decimation had been done by a Spoliation bomb---as Mister Mumble had informed her when she’d described the devastation it had wrought---and it couldn’t go over water.

Her thoughts are interrupted by the sudden tug at the willow vine. She quickly stands and grips the attachment, pulling against the opposing tug to bring it out of the water. Sure enough, out comes a fish, stubbornly holding onto the vine with its mouth, sunlight glinting off of grey scales, sparkly with dripping water.

Smiling, she sets the fish aside and tosses the end of the makeshift line back into the lake, hoping to be able to get another three. Four? Six.. no, she’ll need to catch eight!

Two for everyone, including herself. She almost forgot she still needed to eat as well. Thank the gods she thought about it before considering herself to be done, now she’ll know how long to go for.

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About---unfortunately---an hour later, she finally had eight fish. She hadn’t even started foraging for the potion ingredients she’d promised, she just had fish. Only eight. But, regardless, she carries the load back to the campfire.

She sets aside the fish again, digging through her pack for something she might be able to cook the fish with, like a pan or.. or a roasting stick, maybe a rack, anything. She had been so not mentally present when she was collecting stuff, she had no idea what was in there. If she didn’t find anything, she could always collect sticks from the forest to use instead.

After several minutes of looking, she sighs upon begrudgingly accepting that there were no cooking tools in the bag other than a small knife. So, grabbing the knife just in case, she stands up, leaving the fish and starting towards the treeline, but then she pauses.

Why get more sticks to cook when she could just repurpose the one she’d used as a fishing rod? So, she turns and collects the fish and the makeshift pole, removing the willow vine and heading back to the lake to prepare the fish.

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After just over a half hour, the fish were prepared, skewered, and held over the fire, propped up by a pile of rocks on either side, and Akari had gone back into the forest to finally find the ingredients for the elixir, field guide in-hand, leaving Josie in charge of the fish

She brought the eliksir kit with her to search, the bag held on her wrist as she rummages through thorn-laden berry bushes, flowers, and so on. Grumbling with frustration at the pokey endeavor, she busies herself with looking for some harvesting tools in the bag that might make the job easier. Her attention is grabbed, however, by the rustle in the grass behind her.

“Akari!” A high voice calls from the area.

Slightly startled, Akari turns, only to find Willow standing there, and she breathes a sigh of relief. “Willow? Why are you all the way out here?” The young girl shrugs dismissively. “I don’t feel like being around Rowan right now. He’s being stupid!” Willow explains, throwing her arms up and huffing with exasperation, causing Akari to chuckle slightly. What a personality.

“Well,” Akari says lightly, glancing back at the previously offending bush, “if you’d like, you can help me get the ingredients for the healing potion. I only need.. two more things, I believe?” She glances into the bag, mentally noting the ingredients she’s already collected and the ones she still needs to find. Akari slowly nods. “Yeah. Two more. An eketta blossom and a couple sorrel pods.”

Author's Note

Hoping this comes out well