bluefall

Currently: our crew is hiding out in Miyeong’s apartment while trying to track some wraiths and prepare for battle—after Rumi just straight up killed some dudes (it’s fine, Mira knows a guy who’s covering it up), she, Minji, and Miyeong have been left at home, while Mira, Zoey, and Celine went to track down a healing spirit

Zoey, for her part, is too busy peppering Celine with every possible question under the sun about healing spirits, summoning rituals, and how to determine an appropriate gift when you don't have a magpie spirit to do it for you, to really notice Mira's distraction. Not that she would likely have read that much into it regardless, considering she fully grabbed Mira's jaw once she was healed, palpating and checking mobility and generally inspecting the river's work, and apparently attributed the near heart attack it gave the taller woman to crashing adrenaline and the after-effects of magical healing rather than the natural consequence of Zoey's hands on her face.

About the fifth or sixth time Mira pulls her eyes away from Zoey, Zoey herself stops to take a breath, and Mira interjects herself into the pause, slightly anxious.

"So, he was in our heads."

"Oh you felt that too? It wasn't like when we were practicing with Rumi, not like he put anything there, more like, hmm. I was thinking about a dozen different things as usual, and the ones that were stressing me out just kind of… floated away, and I sort of heard him say I should take it easier, which is not historically a very successful piece of advice to offer me personally but it's sweet that he cares!"

"And that's… okay?"

Celine can see them both look for her eyes in the mirror, at that; the trust warms her, a little, deep in her chest where she's still unsettled from the river's claim.

Healer.

"It's not impossible for a healing spirit to do harm, but it isn't in their nature to do so intentionally. And the Han is too old and skilled for accidents. He wouldn't have intruded past your need, nor beyond your level of comfort."

You are troubled by very old wounds, Granddaughter, he had said, brushing up against the memory of—

— a single firm push, and he had flowed back out of her past like a receding tide, perfectly respectful.

Celine should feel good, right now. She does feel good, superficially. Her shoulder is loose and her hand moves on the steering wheel without pain, the twinge in her back from the too-soft mattress on the roll-out is gone, the faint arthritic ache in her left hand has faded away. But—

Healer. It can't be a mockery, it must be a message, but it doesn't make sense.

She wants… she wants to put it in front of Minji-ssi so they can pick it apart together, wants to lean into Miyeong-ssi's side on the balcony and look out over the road and hear her make fun of Celine for being too in her head until it feels small and silly and easy to put away.

She won't, of course; they have more pressing matters to put their time toward, and Celine has been handling her own problems nearly as long as the other two women in the car with her have been alive.

This is what I drew after this situation 👇