— Emily Wisteria, “Emily’s Personal Journal.”
“You should have seen me!” Emily exclaimed as she reenacted her latest feat of heroism like an excited little kid. With the warm, orange sky as her backdrop, on the slopes of Cresthill, she swung around a wooden training sword. Lux was the only one paying attention, lounging across a crumbling limestone wall with her head resting against her fist. She watched Emily with a lazy, half-lidded smirk. Nearby, Tristan and Cedric sat cross-legged on a flat slab of stone where cards were laid out. The occasional grunt of frustration escaped one of them when the other played a good hand. Alaric and Ophelia had disappeared some time ago, off doing whatever it was they did when no one was watching, though Emily had enough of an idea.
She didn’t get to spend much time with them, but, problematic and annoying as they were sometimes, she was willing to put up with it if it meant she could spend time with her childhood friend. Tonight, they had chosen to hang around one of the elven ruins lower on Cresthill’s mountain slopes. It wasn’t quite as destroyed as some of the higher ones, and it was relatively flat, with only a single rectangular building. The east wall had crumbled to make an opening, but aside from that, it wasn’t a bad place to hang around.
“There were hundreds of ghouls!” Emily said, twirling her wooden sword. Though her body was sore, she learned to stand even when her legs were ready to give out. She’d endured Mina’s rigorous training, and she could really feel the difference. Her body was stronger. She had the agility of a wild animal. “I fended them all off. I cut them down! Shot them! Burned them! It was amazing!”
Lux sat up a bit. “Sounds like all that training actually paid off then.”
Emily huffed, putting her hand on her hip. “Definitely.”
Lux tilted her head, looking Emily up and down, and gave a slow nod. “You look better, too. Way better than when you first got here.”
“I think so too.” She looked down at herself. “I feel great.”
“You look great,” she teased.
Emily shifted uncomfortably under the weight of her gaze. It was hard not to when she looked so flawless. She was an elf, after all, and she truly looked the part nowadays. Back in Pillio’s Watch, Lux had been disgusted at the idea of wearing her family’s elven clothes, but now, she was embracing it. The robes she wore were just enough to be decent but never enough to leave anything to the imagination. Emily knew she wasn’t the only one who noticed. She’d caught Tristan and Cedric staring on more than one occasion. Hell, even Ophelia snuck glances when they thought Lux wasn’t looking. But Lux always noticed. She was starting to think Lux was wearing her more revealing dresses on purpose.
Emily sighed, dragging a hand through her damp hair. “Yeah, but not as good as you,” she said truthfully.
Lux grinned, shifting forward just enough to let the elven silk drape lower along her chest. “Oh? And what exactly do you mean by that?”
Emily went rigid, glancing at her exposed cleavage for a quick second. “Just that you look pretty. I’m complimenting you.”
Lux laughed. “Come on, Emily. You wish you had something I have. Just admit it.”
Emily scowled, turning away to hide the heat creeping up her neck. “Well, of course I do. Your stamina.”
Lux hummed, unconvinced.
“I mean it!” Emily insisted. “You elves have lots of endurance. Your reflexes are better, combat comes easier, and magic too. If I were an elf, all this training would have been way easier. And to have elven blood on top of being a Conduit…”
Lux arched a brow, puffing out her chest slightly. “Sure that’s all you’re jealous of?”
“You’re not going to get me to say it,” Emily finally admitted. It was frustrating. Lux always knew how to push her buttons, how to get under her skin in the most annoying ways possible. It didn’t mean anything, though; she was just trying to get a reaction. Emily squared her shoulders and cleared her throat.
For the first time in a while, Cedric looked up from the card game he and Tristan had been locked in. His expression was utterly deadpan. “You actually expect us to believe that whole ‘fighting hundreds of ghouls’ thing.”
Emily blinked. “Uh. Yeah?”
“Hundreds?” Tristen said. “Really?”
“I’m telling the truth! There were hundreds.”
“Not saying you’re lying,” Tristan said, though the smirk on his face said otherwise. “I’m just saying maybe you’re embellishing a bit.”
“Yeah,” Cedric chimed in. “You’re telling me you single-handedly took down hundreds of ghouls, with no help, and lived to tell the tale?”
“Yes!”
Tristan clicked his tongue. “Mmhmm. Sure.”
Emily scowled. “You don’t believe me?”
“Not even a little.”
She crossed her arms. “You think you could do it?”
Tristan grinned back at her. “I think I can take you.”
Emily froze. The old her, the one before all of Mina’s brutal training, might have hesitated. Might have even believed him. But now? A slow smirk crossed Emily’s face. “Oh?” she said, tilting her head. “You think you can take me?”
“I know I can. You may know how to swing a sword around, but that’s nothing compared to brute strength. I’m helping out on the farms all day, I have the muscle.”
Emily glanced over to a spare wooden sword propped up nearby. “Wanna bet on that?”
Tristen saw the sword and got up to grab it. “If I beat you in a duel, you have to kiss me.”
Lux choked on her words. “W-Wait, what?”
“Oh, that’s cute,” Emily said. “But if I win…” She thought for a moment. “You have to kiss Cedric.”
“What the hell?” Cedric shot back.
Tristan howled with laughter. “Deal.”
“No, it’s not a deal!” Cedric snapped. “What kind of bet is this? Why am I being dragged into this?”
Emily shrugged. “Because it’s funnier that way.”
Tristan swung his wooden sword with a cocky grin, walking out into the stone clearing.
Emily took her own practice sword and, with a flourish, spun it once in her hand before cracking it against her shoulder.
Tristen tensed.
Lux laughed. “Ohh, he hesitated!”
“Yeah, I think he just realized he might’ve messed up,” Cedric said.
Tristan scoffed. “Please. I’m just giving her a false sense of security.”
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Emily flourished the sword again, this time with just enough force to whip the air between them. “You ready, Tristan?”
He planted his feet and lifted his sword into a defensive stance. “Let’s do this.” It was a weak stance. He had no idea what he was doing.
Emily grinned and got into her own defensive stance.
Lux slowly climbed to her feet, balancing on the wall. “Alright. Ready. Set. Fight!”
Emily flicked her wrist, and Tristen’s sword was suddenly ripped from his grip by a burst of telekinesis. It spun through the air and landed right in her outstretched palm.
Tristan blinked.
Lux howled with laughter.
Cedric groaned, rubbing his temples.
Emily grinned, twirling both swords. “You sure you still wanna do this?”
“Hey, that’s not fair! I didn’t even get to do anything!”
“You think your opponent is just going to wait for you to attack them?” Emily shot back confidently.
“You never said she couldn’t use magic,” Lux said to Tristen.
“A duel means swords! Not weird witchcraft!”
Emily giggled. “Alright, alright. I’ll give you a second chance.”
Tristan folded his arms. “Damn right, you will.”
“But,” Lux said, giving a devilish grin, “we raise the stakes.”
Tristan frowned. “How?”
Lux leaned forward, eyes gleaming with mischief. “If you lose again, you make out with Cedric.”
“Why?” Cedric screamed.
Tristan hesitated. “Wait, what?”
Emily, laughing softly, tossed the sword back to him. “And what happens if he wins?”
Lux stared back at Emily, taking a deep breath, but she didn’t answer.
“If I win, I get to make out with you,” Tristen said. “It’s only fair.”
Emily’s face turned bright red. “What—? No, why is that the reward?”
Cedric shrugged. “Gotta make it fair, sweetheart.”
“A kiss is one thing, but I’m not making out with you.”
“Too late,” Tristen said, raising his sword.
Emily exhaled slowly. “Fine. Let’s get this over with.” It’s not like she had anything to be worried about, but still. The more she thought about it, the less on board she was. She didn’t even like Tristen, not in that way.
This time, Tristan kept a death grip on his sword. He planted his feet, knees bent, stance stronger than before, but still relatively weak. Emily could easily knock him off balance. “Alright, no tricks this time—”
Emily lunged before he could even finish his sentence. Tristen’s sword went flying with a sharp crack before he could even move. Then, he was on his back.
Lux burst out laughing again.
Cedric let out a dramatic groan.
Tristan ran a hand through his hair, sighing. “Damn it.”
Emily, smirking, tossed the sword aside. “Relax,” she said, brushing her hands off before helping Tristen to his feet. “I’m not that cruel. You two don’t have to go through with it.”
Cedric let out a very obvious sigh of relief. “Thank god.”
Emily chuckled as she returned to the stone wall where Lux was standing.
“That was impressive,” she said. “So, what comes now, oh great monster hunter?”
“More training,” Emily walked up to the crumbling wall beside Lux and leaned against it.
She groaned. “Boring.”
“What?”
“Isn’t your training complete?”
“I don’t think it ever is.”
“Yeah, but you just finished your first monster hunt.”
“Not exactly my first,” Emily muttered under her breath.
“Okay, but you deserve to relax for a bit. The vampire gave you a night off, big deal. You deserve more than that.”
Emily scoffed. “Relaxing is for people who don’t have a vampire breathing down their necks.”
Lux waved her hand dismissively. “What’s the harm in missing one or two little exercises?”
Emily stared for a moment. “Did you not just hear that I have a vampire breathing down my neck?”
“What’s she gonna do, kill you? If she hasn’t already, I doubt she would.”
Emily’s mind flashed back to the night she had snapped at Mina. “There are worse fates than death,” she said halfheartedly.
Lux snorted. “Not if she doesn’t find out.”
Emily paused. “I don’t know if I can keep doing it. She’ll catch me eventually.”
“You’ve been sneaking out after dark for what? Four months now? She hasn’t caught on?”
“My luck is going to run out eventually.”
“Ugh. I don’t get why she even bothers with that whole rule. ‘Be back before sundown. Don’t go out when it's dark.’ What’s going to happen?”
“She’s worried about vampires snatching me in the night.”
“From the looks of it, you can more than defend yourself.”
Emily hesitated, glancing down at her hands. The warmth of magic still hummed beneath her skin. “Vampires aren’t like ghouls. They’re strong, Lux. I still haven’t beaten Mina in a sparring match. What chance do I stand against any other vampire?”
Lux rolled her eyes. “Oh, please, you’ll be fine. You’re the best witch I know.”
“...I’m the only witch you know.”
“Exactly.”
Emily crossed her arms, smirking. It was true, she had snuck out several times using the same stealth tactics Mina had been teaching her. She understood why the rule was in place, but it was no less frustrating. She was eighteen now, and she could handle herself. She knew how to use weapons, be sneaky. As long as she was armed when she left the house, she’d have more confidence in her ability to defend herself. She had always chosen nights when Mina was busy, or off doing something important outside of Crestill. She would never risk it while Mina was there, but if it meant she got to spend more time with her friends, it was worth it. But… “It’s risky…”
“What? You don’t think she ever snuck out when she was younger?”
“I don’t think she could,” Emily pushed off the wall, swinging her sword aimlessly as she paced.
“She had to. She’s a vampire; it’s the only time she could go out.”
Emily frowned. “That’s a misconception, and you know it—”
Lux cut her off. “Look, she’s not always home, right? Lord Dainford makes her run his little errands all the time.”
Emily had noticed that. Mina’s responsibilities meant she was often gone for stretches at a time, leaving Emily to train alone or study. “I know,” she admitted, rubbing the back of her neck. “But I still get worried she’s gonna catch me one of these times.”
“What’s she gonna do?”
“Actually kill me.”
“Ugh, fine. Go waste your time being a good little girl for her.” Lux ran her hand through her long, golden hair. “Tch. You humans are so weird about this kind of thing. You do all this work just to be miserable.”
Emily chuckled, raising an eyebrow. “‘You humans’? If I remember correctly, you once wished you were human like me.”
“I’ve come to accept my elven heritage. Took me a while, but it’s got some nice perks once you really understand it.”
“Oh, yeah?” Cedric said. “Are one of those perks being insufferable?”
Lux’s head snapped toward him.
“You love talking about how great elves are. ‘Oh, we live forever! Oh, we have superior reflexes! Oh, look at my fancy elven silk barely covering my—’”
Lux sat up so fast it startled Emily. “Excuse me?”
Cedric smirked. “Don’t deny it, we all know why you dress like that.”
Tristan, who had been half-listening while fanning out his cards, snorted. “Yeah, you’re not exactly subtle.”
Lux folded her arms. “There is no shame in showing skin. We elves take pride in exhibiting our natural beauty. It was how Arja made us.”
“You just like attention,” Cedric muttered.
Lux snickered. “Like you aren’t enjoying the view.”
“I have self-control, unlike some people.”
Lux raised a brow. “Is that what you call it?”
“I dunno,” Tristen said to Cedric. “You do stare an awful lot.”
“Fuck off.”
Lux smirked. “No, no, Tristan’s got a point. Every time I walk by, you pretend you’re not looking, but I see you.”
“What am I supposed to do? Not notice?”
Emily cleared her throat. “To be fair, Lux, you do kinda make it very hard to ignore.”
Lux turned to her, grinning. “Oh? And do you stare, Em?”
She immediately tensed. “W-What?”
Lux leaned in slightly, clearly relishing the moment. “It’s okay, you can admit it.”
Emily sputtered, her face burning. “I—No! I mean—not like—I notice because you’re right there, but I don’t—! Ugh, never mind!”
Lux laughed. “Gods, you’re adorable.”
Emily crossed her arms, laughing softly despite herself. Lux always had a way of making things sound simple, even when they weren’t. In a way, she wished everything were simpler. Sure, she had this new responsibility on her shoulders, but she didn’t want to dedicate all of her time to it. She wanted to spend time with her friends. Both Lux and Violet. She wanted to do stuff outside of training and meditating, and studying. She wanted to have a semblance of a normal life. In the last year, she rarely had time for one. Mina was persistent in her training, which has paid off, sure, but it has come at the cost of her free time. Now and then, Mina would grant her a day or an evening to do as she pleased. It was a reward of sorts if she had been performing well. The major downside of those days, though, was that it was hard to spend time with both of her friends on account of them hating each other.
Lux was an elf, who, much to Emily’s annoyance, had been gradually embracing more of her heritage over the last year. She seemed more snobby than when they were younger. To make matters worse, she was looking down on Violet because of it. Violet deserved to have more friends. She was fun to spend time with. Communicating was sometimes a bit slow, but it never bothered Emily. Violet was quiet and weird, but she was also curious and well-mannered. Oftentimes, Emily would spend time sewing with Violet or helping her craft wooden dolls, which seemed to be her biggest hobby. That, and drinking tea. She drank a lot of tea. She drank tea like a dwarf drank beer.
Emily would have to split her day between Lux and Violet, and after a year in, it was starting to get on her nerves slightly. She wished the two of them could get along. That way, they could all have fun together. The problem was trying to convince Lux to look past Violet’s heritage, which was easier said than done. It would take some time, but Emily was sure that if she tried, she could find a common ground between them.
Maybe in the coming days, she would. But how? She’d have to figure something out.
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