Potassium and Copper Chloride

The shop had only been closed an hour when Joonyung had finished cleaning up, he had rushed through it in an effort to get to sleep earlier as his strength was finally starting to leave him. He found himself finally walking over to his futon, near ready to collapse in exhaustion. He reached down and pulled his white tunic over his head and threw it to the left. All he was left wearing were a thin pair of dark green pants, a gift from one of his clients. They were light enough that he didn’t overheat in them yet heavy enough that he didn’t freeze on the nights that were cold.

A light plop sounded around him as his body folded heavily into the mattress. The night was warm enough that he didn’t need his blankets to shield him, so he simply closed his eyes, intent on resting. Everything had been locked down well and he had already tended to his garden, so he figured that there was no need for any more work until morning.

A commotion outside caused his eyes to open again. It sounded from outside the shop, though he didn’t know exactly where from. A healer’s job was never truly done, even though the doors had been closed. If someone was in need of his help, who was he to refuse them? What if they were dying and he was the only one who could help?

He pushed himself up into a sitting position, yet he found himself frozen, eyes widening in terror. He didn’t even have to see what was happening to know what was going on.

The screaming. Oh god, the screaming! It wasn’t the kind of screaming that one would hear from another fairy when terrified or hurt. This one was a whisper of panic from a lifeform that had no mouth to speak. A lifeform that he could only understand because of years of training.

His garden was being destroyed and he was still in bed.

Joonyoung jumped to his feet and quickly left his room, not even taking the time to put his tunic back on. His breath was already leaving him as he hurried, yet he didn’t care. He pushed himself down the stairs and stumbled at the bottom, his knees nearly giving out and forcing him forward into the wall. He winced and gasped in pain, taking only a second to catch his breath and shake off the pain before heading out the back door.

Dark eyes widened in panic as he saw the destruction that had taken place in his garden. Some were burnt, others pulled up and crushed. He hissed in anger, eyes sweeping to find the culprit. A girl was laying on her back, crushing one of his plants.

It wasn’t just any plant, however, it was his entire stock of Nightshade.

Oh, how wrong she was.

When she finally picked up on the fact that some guy was yelling at her, she let out a low whine that quickly escalated into a yelp of pain when he kicked her. What the hell? Were they five?

Opening her eyes, she glared up at the man that dared disturb her beauty sleep, and slurred, “S’cuse me, I’m sleeping here?”

Moving to sit up, she rubbed at her eyes, prepared to make an awkward run backwards that her body probably couldn’t handle at that point, if he would swing again.

“Who the hell even are you, chicken legs?” Sera demanded, tongue feeling fuzzy in her mouth as she wondered if she would throw up on this guy. It kind of seemed like a fit punishment. But speaking of fit… Maybe she should rethink her anger –this guy wasn’t wearing a shirt, and he honestly didn’t look too bad. The only issue was if he was too young for her. That tended to crop up more than it should when she’d go drinking.

Changing her attitude, she reached up to brush her mop of hair out of her face, missing the leaves that had gotten lost in it, as she batted her eyelashes at him. “If you came out here to join me, that’s not the best way to make a good first impression, you know…” Some words came out gargled, so Sera frowned and cleared her throat, trying one last, “I like your chest. You’re legal, right?” Wow she hoped so. Why was she angry at him again?

Going to sit up, she nearly collapsed back down again, and grumbled to herself for only being able to find someone worthy of taking home after she collapsed into a garden. Now she looked pretty homeless, or pretty hopeless, since she very clearly couldn’t handle her alcohol. That wasn’t an impression she wanted to give anyone like him, that would kick him and seduce her in one fell swoop.

She had descended completely into dreamland for being wide away, and tried to stagger to her feet to have a better conversation with him, legs buckling under her like a new fawn’s. Moving forward, she let out a squeak of disquiet, wanting to touch, but knowing that she would probably seem a bit too desperate if she did now, even if she really was off balance.

The pebble he’d kicked skidded across the road before it disappeared into the dark, where Jiseok’s eyes could not follow. He didn’t feel any need to retrieve it, the pebble not even having been noticed until he accidentally hit it with the front of shoe. Besides, he was nearly there anyway. He couldn’t wait to take off the top layers of his clothes and to collapse in bed, curling up under the sheets. The air type hoped sleep would overwhelm him as soon as his head hit the pillow.

It wasn’t that his dreams were greatly pleasant or different from his actual life —most of the time he couldn’t remember them— but this night he felt nostalgic and that often didn’t bode well for when he attempted to get some shuteye. Nostalgia might’ve been the wrong word; Jiseok almost lonely, perhaps. Not the kind of lonely that could be fixed by going to the pub and finding someone to spend his night with, but the kind of lonely that made him ache for someone who knew him. Someone who he didn’t have to introduce himself to, someone who he didn’t have to explain his accent to or what it was like to live in the north.

Perhaps lonely wasn’t the right word. Perhaps homesick was. On nights that followed days like these —when jobs had been hard to find and money had been sparse— there was this feeling in his chest that felt an awful lot like regret. Truthfully, Jiseok still didn’t really regret coming to Luciole. He had gained experience in the city that he’d never would have had back home. But at times like these he longed to be back in his room, whispering stories to his little brother instead of sleeping like they were supposed to, or to sit at the hearth with his parents. He was aware that he might’ve been more than a bit too old to long for these things but he couldn’t help it.

But he refused to admit defeat. He wanted to make them all proud, and he told himself he wouldn’t go back until he had made it. What ‘it’ was Jiseok didn’t quite know yet, other than the fact that he wanted to be able to sustain himself without having to look for the next errand to do. He just wanted to stand for something; to mean something. Jiseok wanted to make a difference.

These were the kind of thoughts that plagued him as he made his way to what substituted for home in the neutral city. He supposed that the day hadn’t been totally wasted; some money had been made, enough that he could buy some breakfast in the morning. The thought made the corners of his lips tug up in a vague approximation of a smile. Perhaps it wasn’t so bad. He just had to stay positive.

In fact, in her excitement, she didn’t even notice the rest of the group go quiet, a few of them shifting to eye up a man approaching them from the only clear opening of this alley. They had picked such a spot because the alley was wider than most, and filled with more garbage, thus encouraging people to stay away, since so many hiding places existed for pick pockets. And seeing this guy now, he either had to be an idiot or there on purpose.

Everyone had tensed, preparing to confront and possibly harm this man, but in the shadowy lighting of the early evening’s moon, something in the line of his nose looked unmistakably familiar to Sera.

Striding past those that eyed him up warily, she greeted him with a fond, “It’s so good to see you! I was wondering if these were all the people that were coming.” Sera wrapped an arm around the part of his torso she could comfortably reach, going to lead him over to the others, dragging a bit, if she felt him resisting, thinking the cold glares of the others were just freaking him out. God, guys could be so fucking stupid sometimes.

“Hey fancy pants,” she snapped at the one holding the map, “You’re the one complaining more people weren’t willing to help out when we actually needed them! So why are you giving my boy that look?”

He flinched at her loudness, gestured for her to be quiet, then squinted at the man, “I don’t recognize them…”

“Like you can tell one face from another once you have a few pints in you.” She rolled her eyes, “I’ve seen him at the Lion’s Mouth before, and I’m sure he doesn’t appreciate that.” Sera looked up at him, “Right? Right.” Then moved on before he could answer, going to gesture at the map, as they tried to catch him up.

They had a storm fairy in their group who would be forming some clouds at that moment, making it look like it formed naturally, and the wind had blown it there. Since they didn’t have a light fairy with them, they could only move in a small window of time, while it would be near pitch dark on the road, since the clouds would move on quickly, allowing them to use the moonlight to see a little once inside. At the moment, the clouds were just visible on the horizon, and the guards would be passing by in about ten minutes. Then they would move.

“Once you’re inside, just follow our lead. I don’t suppose you can tell expensive materials from cheap ones?” He watched the other haughtily, “Otherwise, just take what we give you, and move fast. Got it?”