Having dragged a bucket downhill and exploiting all fragility known to girlkind, Aurora Harper banged her forehead over the kitchen countertop as the ultimate sign of having given up.
The kitchen was a geometrical labyrinth of instruments, ingredients and recipes that she did not recognise. The place was barren of personality and overstuffed with woodwork. It housed seven countertops, a fireplace, a washing area and walls laden with innumerable shelves.
The book perched against a glass bowl, sitting in front of her now defeated head, read incoherent symbols conveying a secret language that no one but Ronne bothered to tell was the actual tongue of the place. A language Aurora had been communicating all this while after waking up as Iris.
Illiteracy was another cherry on top of the salty excuse of a cake that is Aurora's current life now.
"This." BANG! "Wretched." BANG! "Sorcery." BANG! "Needs." BANG! "To." BANG! "Stop!"
A hand cushions her forehead's sixth impact with the countertop. The ravenette looks up with watery eyes to find the dull gold of Vasil's orbs staring right back.
"You were hurting the table," Arcel chirps, peaking over Vasil's shoulder with a jar full of strange, dark strands hugging against his chest. "Almost destroyed all the Fey hair. It's a rare herb," the brunette pushes the jar back on the edge of the counter and smiles.
Aurora makes him the proud recipient of a passionate scowl.
"What happened?" Vasil questions the frown etched over Iris' forehead.
"I have realised that I am illiterate!" She all but sobs a reply, perched on a small wooden stool to reach the counter, staring at strange looking symbols and pictures of the books. "I don't understand a thing!" She points at the book and then at the mess of ingredients around the tabletop. "And they made me pull water from a well and take it all the way down!" She further complains, pointing at a rugged looking half filled bucket resting in an abandoned corner of dust laden shelves. "Even though they already had water enough!" She whines, now pointing at the opposite end with tubs full of water resting to be used. "This is bullying!" Aurora crumbles onto the stool and hugs her legs to her chest.
Vasil blinks, wondering who was really at fault, whilst Arcel breathes over his neck, muttering, "Are they not just standard chores?" Before shrugging off and walking to pick up the book.
"If you cannot read, you could just ask one of us," Arcel proclaims, ruffling Iris' hair.
"Fairy Godfather!" Aurora gasps, looking up at Arcel and Vasil with shining halos surrounding their heads.
Arcel adjusts the collar of his ruby robes whilst Vasil stands still in the dull of his funeral robes. The brunette picks up the book and reads the opened page, a recipe for some garlic and mermaid egg soup.
"Beat two eggs," Vasil reads out loud.
"In a hand to hand combat. Mermaids are sturdy." Arcel paraphrases.
"We can help with that," Vasil nods maturely, wriggling his wrists.
Aurora looks up at them with cold horror washing over her.
"There is no help for either of us," she sighs out in realisation. The halos disappearing from her friends' heads. "I need to make better friends," she mumbles to herself. "I cannot stay in this world without proper education and knowledge of the ins and outs."
She stands up, pulls an empty bowl in front of her and picks up two ambient eggs with beautiful scales. "You can eat that?" She mutters in awe, using a spoon to crack open the egg. Ambient fluid oozes out of the egg and settles itself in the bowl, glistening new colours as sunlight visited it through the oriel windows of the kitchen. Aurora felt scandalous beating this beauty.
Arcel and Vasil further read the recipe.
"Smash the garlic head!" Arcel suddenly reads and Vasil's eyes widen with curiosity.
"I had no idea cooking was such an aggressive job," the young cobalt haired boy muses. "Do you reckon we should bring out the hammers?" Vasil asks Aurora, who was desperately trying to ignore tweedledee and tweedledum now.
"The only thing I reckon to bring out is both of you, from here!" The ravenette snaps, shooing Arcel's curious hands away from a stroll towards some wannabe tomato look-alike fruit.
"You're so ungrateful, Iris, we are only trying to help," Arcel pouts, looking at some white powder with newfound curiosity. He reaches out a hand to touch it when Aurora smacks it midway over the table. The wooden counter jerks and results in the bowl tipping over and a fluff of white cloud enveloping their hands.
"It's fun!"
Aurora hears those two horror inducing words from Arcel's mouth but before she could wrap an arm around his waist and tackle him to the ground, away from causing anymore 'Fun,' it was too late.
Arcel had already grabbed a fistful of the powder and threw it in the air. Wannabe snow settles over their heads and noses like new found window perches.
"What did I do to deserve this?" Vasil sighs.
"This is miserable," Aurora sighs.
Arcel, in the name of fun, reaches out for more.
"Noooo!" Aurora all but cries when Arcel starts shoving his hand again. Vasil shakes the powder off his hair whilst Aurora aggressively pulls Arcel's hands into the wet eggs—
"STOP!!" Vasil orders in a sudden baritone, but before he could pull away Iris or Arcel's hands, shock had already made Iris dip Arcel's hands in the bowl.
"Raw mermaid eggs burn! If they are not cooked, they sting. It is nature's revenge mechanism — oh Virae—" Vasil announces as Arcel's face instantly goes red and Iris jerks away from the scene of crime in horror.
Arcel howls a pained cry.
Iris almost chokes to death on her spit.
"We need Allium sativum, Centella asiatica or Hippophae rhamnoides— no—"
"Say something that makes sense—"
"—Aloe vera, Callendula, Lavender, Chamomile, or Eucalyptus, something to soothe out the burn —"
"Aloe vera?! I know that!" Aurora jumps down the stool, opening and closing cabinet after cabinet. Arcel shouts in agony, tears dripping down his face. Aurora alternates her attention between her howling friend and her haphazard search, until, she spots a crystal container.
"Now you see what happens when you try to have too much fun Arcel?!" Aurora berates, bringing the container to Arcel's face, "Cry in it. We need those tears for monetary purposes," The ravenette orders before walking back and continuing her search for some immediate remedy.
Vasil, from one end of the kitchen shelves, turns to gawk at the spectacle of Arcel aligning his eyes with the container's opening so that he could cry in it. All the while his wrists flail around in pain and thrash a jar or two.
"No! The Fey hair!!" Comes Ronne's horrified screech as she walks up to the kitchen doors and looks the crying culprit in the eye. "Your Highness!" She falls to the wooden floor, all strictness leaving her system. "Are you okay, Your Highness?! Where is Iris?!" She questions, exasperated in tone as Arcel keeps seething and crying in a container.
"N-no! I-ium- hurts, it hurts—!!" The young Prince breaks out in words between his sobs.
Ronne jerks her brown head up to accuse, "Did Iris attack you?!" Her auburn eyes catch shuffling movement around the cabinets. 'The Prince was in trouble because of that little vampire! If I report this to the Grand Duke, I would surely be rewarded!!' Ronne muses in her head.
Arcel nods affirmative, crying and whining as his hands feel like they were being burnt with chilli. Ronne's eyes glimmer with hope. "What for?" She further inquires and Arcel's burning hands point at the powder, shuffling on his toes in pain. From her view opposite to the counter, Ronne only sees the bowl of garlic, placed a little away from the white powder, and grins. She was correct! The monster has gone berserk! This is her opportunity!!
Iris' loud question catches the duo off guard. "Did you find it, Vasil?" The ravenette looks back only to see the shelves and dishes deserted. She runs up to Arcel and finds Ronne kneeling on the floor in front. "Don't worry, I'm searching for—" Aurora begins, eyeing Ronne weirdly, but is rudely cut off.
"No, the person who should worry is YOU!" Ronne growls out as she stands tall to her full height, towering over the kids. Her brown hair glow orange, auburn eyes channeling a menacing sheen. Aurora stutters but words abandon her as Ronne's palms materialise an electrifying stake in her hands.
Fucking Magic-?!
"Excuse me, what did I do to woe you?!" Aurora shrieks as Ronne throws the stake at them. The ravenette pushes Arcel away and rolls out of Ronne's line of sight. The blast crashes against the countertop, shattering everything in proximity. "No-!! My tears! My money!" Aurora gasps out, watching as the crystal container falls to the floor, in a puddle of Arcel's hard earned tears. "Woman, have you gone crazy?!" Aurora shouts.
"No, you're the crazy creature on the loose here!" Ronne replies, jumping over the countertop and rematerialising the orange stake in her hand. Aurora crawls backwards, too scared to blink when she is facing probable death right in the eye. Will this be The End?!
But before Ronne could stake the ravenette, Arcel runs behind the woman and grabs her by her waist.
The burning sensation from his hands transfers itself to Ronne's waist. The mad brunette convulses in pain as her sides start burning and accidentally stakes herself in the process, instantly falling on the countertop, with her nose burying itself in the broken mermaid egg puddle.
The loud bang of her demise jerks Aurora ten steps away. Instant silence takes over the room.
"Is she dead?" The ravenette whispers, leaning on one foot to see Arcel standing behind the body. He was panting with odd determination.
"No, orange is standard for low class concious spells. She was only trying to put you to sleep." The Prince sighs out, pressing his hot hands against his cold cheeks and sighing in relief. Every day with Iris was an uncalled adventure.
"Well that's one way. Magic is not good. Are you okay?" Aurora asks, feet still plastered on the spot. The young brunette nods from afar.
"Where's Vasil?"
"He dipped."
"Might be searching for an antidote?" Arcel tries being optimistic. Vasil did not seem like a person who would abandon his friends in trouble.
"Prolly squaring up with Mermaids." Aurora shrugs, knowing the shifty, slimy, guy couldn't be trusted.
They breath out a synchronised sigh.
"Was it fun?" Aurora jokes, slowly gaining life back in her feet. The sleeping form of Ronne laying splat over the countertop likened that of a lobster being prepped for dinner.
"No, I think I am starting to develop boundaries," Arcel replies with an odd seriousness to his tone. "Are you okay?" He questions, eyes finally leaving Ronne to look at Iris. She looked like a shaved toothpick, he concludes.
But before the ravenette could reaffirm the Prince, someone else beats her to speech.
"EXCUSE ME, DEAR VIRAE, WHAT IS ALL THIS?!" Lady Crimson limps into perspective with a trail of maids in tow. Her eyes register the battered sight of their sacred kitchen and a lonesome Iris and Arcel standing somberly on opposite ends.
"YOUNG MASTER, ARE YOU OKAY?!" Lady Crimson drops to her knees, eyes widening with exasperation, as she frantically examines all of the young Prince for any injuries. "WHAT HAPPENED, YOUNG MASTER, WHAT IS ALL THIS?! WHAT ARE YOU DOING OUT OF YOUR TOWER?!" Lady Crimson fires consequent questions, hands busy adjusting Arcel's hair strands to precision.
"Lady Crimson, I'm quite fine. It is Iris you should be worried about! If it wasn't for me, her Fairy Godfather, she would have been the one laying there—" the young Prince points at the body of Ronne, indecently passed out on the countertop, much to Lady Crimson's distaste.
"We don't point, Young Master," Lady Crimson chastises and Arcel instantly opens the rest of his fingers.
Aurora gulps, gritting her teeth as she had been taking hesitant steps back, trying awfully hard to slither out without being noticed, but Arcel calling her out so boldly, chilled her spine.
"You!" Lady Crimson catches Aurora's attention with a glare. "Where is everyone else? What did you do?"
"Ahem-," Aurora coughs through her pounding chest, irritably so, clearing her throat to formulate words. "I-um, yeah, Ronne sent everyone away so that I could make food all by myself. I don't know how to cook," the ravenette replies, voice coming out better than how she was feeling inside.
Arcel gives her a reassuring smile form afar, but Aurora was too scared to break eye contact with Lady Crimson and notice it.
"And so you both took her down as revenge for chores?" Lady Crimson narrows her eyes at the ravenette, standing up. She places a hand on Ronne's forehead and raises a curious eyebrow.
"N-no, ahem- she, uh- I don't know what she was do—"
"She went berserk, Lady Crimson! She was going to attack Iris and I with a Purple class spell! Iris saved me, you know, but I saved her more. I reckon Ronne treaded into the wrong parts of the garden again," Arcel jumps to words after watching Iris struggle and not being able to make sense of the situation.
"Young master! I apologise for the incompetence caused by my maids. She shall be punished accordingly. I had no idea that Ronne was capable of such High Magic-" Lady Crimson exclaims, glaring at everything within sight. "How did you both even take her down?" Her gaze singled at Iris.
"We- uh- I, mermaid eggs?"
"No matter how we took her down, Lady Crimson, I am hungry!" Arcel stomps his foot, crossing his arms against his chest. "I have yet to get my breakfast!"
"Oh my apologies!" Lady Crimson falls to her knees again, tone laced with guilt. "We must rectify all mistakes at once! Just you be at ease, please, go back to your tower. Elaine shall escort you and your breakfast will be there momentarily." The woman snaps crisply and one of the trail maids walks up to the Prince with an elegant hand held out for the Prince to take.
"Iris, you must stay back and be responsible for cleaning. Maids, call back the kitchen staff and relocate them all to the third floor kitchens. And for the monster amongst our groceries, take her to the Occido Prison Cells. Company with like minded folks would do her some good." Lady Crimson orders in a strict voice. She stands up with grace, gestures the party away with an elegant flick of her hand and stays to give Iris a cold stare.
Aurora sucks in a breath, for she was cool. Lady Crimson was cool. Even when her life was threatened by this woman's strange vendetta towards her, Lady Crimson was cool. Maids levitate Ronne's body out of the doors as Lady Crimson mouths to Iris, 'I am watching you.'
The ravenette fists her hands by her side and nods, clearly seeing everyone leave. Behind. Aurora had come to a bitter conclusion while standing where she was. A realisation that her words held no authenticity. That she had no place.
She will always be a culprit everyone's eyes.
All because of Vasil.