One Last Light (Ateez)

Origins

 "Come on, sweetheart, it's okay," Yulie urged softly. In front of her was a stray kitten. She'd seen this cat on her way to the market multiple times this last week and after trying her best to refrain, she'd finally caved and started putting in the effort to befriend it. She held out a small portion of fish that she'd pulled from her shopping basket and offered it.

The kitten seemed suspicious of her actions and refused to leave its spot from behind some crates despite her urging. "It's okay, I promise," she repeated as she waved the meat side to side in an attempt to be appetizing. The kitten crept out from its hiding spot and came closer with a tiny meow. Yulie offered the meat once again, and the kitten stepped up to take a bite. As it nibbled on the fish, she ducked her head to check the cat's gender.

"Good girl," Yulie praised and rubbed the kitten's head once she finished eating. The kitten purred at the affection and tilted her head to give Yubin more space to rub, causing her to breathe out a chuckle. "You're so cute," she told her with a smile.

Yulie entertained herself with the kitten for another few odd minutes before she remembered that sunset was approaching and that some groceries she'd gotten needed to be refrigerated soon. And so, with a farewell pat for the kitten, she stood and brushed off her trousers before following along the path to go home. Around her, townies bustled stall to stall as they talked to the vendors and haggled prices. A few vendors shouted out their simultaneous hello and goodbyes as she passed, and she gave similar sentiments.

As a native to her town for all her 19 years, Yulie was very familiar with the valley's inhabitants, and they knew her. It resulted from living in a small community, but it never bothered her. Her town was peaceful, and that was scarce lately. For some time now, there have been people who have raided towns, leaving no life behind as they razed everything to the ground. It was a terrifying time, but right now her town was safe, and that was all she could ask for.

"Yulie, dear, welcome home," came a voice from within the cottage as Yulie made her way inside. She set the basket down on the table and unpacked its contents with a smile as an elderly lady appeared from a nearby room to help put the groceries away.

"Grandma, I saw the old man from the bakery was selling his poppyseed bread today, so I bought some since I know you liked it so much," Yulie said, pulling out the bread in question and setting it onto a kitchen counter. Grandma Rose made a joyful noise and came closer to look at it, already reaching for a plate and knife, when Yulie pushed her hands away. "After dinner," she scolded.

"Ahh Yulie, you are so stingy," Rose commented with a pout but turned to put the last of the groceries away. "See anything fun at the market?"

Yulie hummed absently as she pulled pans from their racks and set them onto the stove to make dinner. "Yeah actually. There were a couple of tomes that caught my eye, and I saw some dried lavender that would be perfect for that sleeping tonic you were making," she replied after a bit of thought.

"And you didn't buy them for your grandma? What a shame," Rose tsked in disappointment and Yulie rolled her eyes at the action. "What tomes did you see? I might have similar ones," the elder woman continued.

The fish Yulie bought earlier was already sizzling in the pan as she squeezed lemon juice over it and then took the lemon to cut into slices to set onto the fish. "Mmm... one was on elemental performance and another was about health potions. But there was also one on the study of mixing magic with electricity and it sounded really interesting."

From beside her, Rose was already mixing a series of side dishes to complement the fish. She tilted her head in thought, her long grey hair falling over a shoulder with the action. "I'm not sure about the elemental performance, but I definitely have health and healing tomes. The closest I would have to elemental performance and the electricity one is probably the tome you have been using for your elements' study..."