ONEIRAL: The Witch, The Book and The Mirror

Chapter 11: Visits

Sel woke up when a slight breeze took the blanket away from her, and the cold air of the morning hit her.

"I thought I made the tent thermic," she groaned, and moved to grab her blanket again, only to find it wasn't her blanket, and clearly, she wasn't in the tent. She bolted up and looked around her, nervously watching for any signs of a threat, finding none. Korem laid in the grass next to her, and by the position she was in, it meant she'd been using his chest as a pillow. Her eyes widened, and she immediately stood up, accidentally yanking the blanket up with her and away from him.

And that woke Korem up. He looked startled for a moment, but smiled lazily when he spotted her.

"Hey," he murmured, and she had to turn away to stop from melting on the inside.

"Hey umm, sorry for taking your blanket," she said nervously.

"Nah, it's fine." he replied, stretching and standing up. "What's the plan for today?"

"Well, we need food, for one, and find someone who sells forget-me-not" she replied, heading for the tent.

"Forget-me-not? As in the flower? Should be easy enough,"

"Except Ilio banned it for no apparent reason," she replied.

"Oh. Well, give me some minutes and I'll be ready to go,"

"Yeah sure," she said, extending his blanket to him "Sorry you had to sleep outside yesterday," she said lamely, and he took the blanket from her.

"It was the best sleep I've had in a long time," he said, and turned just in time to miss the way her cheeks and the tip of her ears reddened. He grabbed some clothes and headed to the bathroom, while Sel stomped into the tent.

"Did you see that?" she asked, and the girl in the mirror looked back unimpressed.

"The part where you make a fool of yourself?" she replied dryly, and Sel glared at her.

"Do you have a name?" Sel asked, eyebrow raised.

"Mmmmm...I think...Meyra," the mirror replied, "Why do you ask now?"

"So I can insult you properly, Meyra," Sel replied glaring.

"Oh, piss off." Meyra replied, and Sel stuck out her tongue at her.

"Have any ideas to find any of this?" Sel asked, grabbing her book and holding a list of ingredients in front of the mirror.

"Most of them you have already," Meyra said, tapping her chin "But the forget-me-not is going to be a challenge,"

"Can't it be replaced?" Sel asked.

"It's a main ingredient, and I bet an active principle too,"

"So that's a no. Any ideas on how to get it?" Sel groaned.

"I'm afraid not. You'll have to figure out as you go," Meyra replied apologetically.

"Don't I always?"

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"So...how are we gonna do this? Do you have any underground contacts to smuggle things?" he asked excitedly as they walked into town. It was very different from the one she visited in her home; the buildings were made out of stone, the streets were straighter and paved, and lots of people walked about minding their own business.

"I don't have 'contacts'," she hissed, making air quotes with her hands "Why would you think that?"

"Well, that's how it usually works," he defended

"In fiction, not here," she said, slightly annoyed.

"Then what do you expect we do? Just wait here until someone kindly offers us exactly what we need?" he whisper-yelled, and she glared back at him.