Half-Bloods R • 2 : Growing Shadows

C • 10 : Shadows on Ice, Frost in Light

Water droplets rained onto the thick green and red taro leaves, outside the greenhouse the sky was grey. Pale clouds blocked out the sunlight as Villin stood alone amongst the greenery. Her pale skin seemed to glow and her black hair appeared much darker than ever. She leaned down and ran her hand across the smooth leaves standing before her, then stood up and turned around to the next row of plants.

She began making her way down the row, watering the massive array of taro, ferns, and chinese hibiscus. She once again knelt down, then pinched soil in her fingers and sniffed in the scent of moistened earth. She rubbed the soil back into the planter and remained still for a moment, her black wire-like tails swept over the soft ferns of the previous planter as a knock sounded at the door.

She made no movement toward the door, nor did she say anything, she simply stood and continued to water her plants.

Anna softly stepped in and shakily said, "Hey, mind if I add to your garden?"

She looked at the girl, her advanced aging had already left her looking like a young woman and her training turned her thin body thick with muscles. Her mechanical arms had been updated to appear more proportionate to her figure. Her blonde hair ended at her shoulders, no longer dropping to her back, and her pale blue eyes glowed in the grey light.

In the girl's metal hands was a small flower pot with three tiny saplings spiraling out of the soil. A memory burned at the back of Villin's head, leaving behind a single thought as she pushed the thought aside. Sallow.

"Sure, I've got a clear area over here," She turned and walked toward the corner of the greenhouse, flicking her tails as a sign for the girl to follow.

She led her to an empty planter where she recently removed a set of roses that died in her absence, Vaelan's hired plant-sitters had failed to take care of the rose bushes. In their report, they had said that no matter what they tried the plants simply kept wilting away. Villin scraped out a hole the size of Anna's small pot with her fingers, then rubbed the earth off of her fingers.

She stepped away and nodded her head toward the planter, "Go ahead, if you want, I can clear a few more planters or ask Vaelan to expand the greenhouse."

She stepped away and walked to one of the planters against the far right wall.

"Hey, Villin," Anna paused, waiting for Villin to look back, "Thanks."

Villin turned back to her plants and poured the last of her water, she shook the watering can and sighed. She made her way to the door and knelt beside a water hose, beside the hose lay a package of green powdery sticks that she picked up and dropped into the can. She poured water into the can and sniffed the powder on her fingers.

Pungent.

She pulled three empty vials from her pockets, let out an annoyed scoff, and tossed the vials down. As Anna's eyes pierced her, she raised a scarred thumb to her lips and pressed it down onto her sharp teeth, the disorienting taste of mana dripper onto her tongue as she tore her thumb open and pressed on the wound. Small drops of blood and mana poured into the can, she studied the mixture for a moment then held her hand over the opening.

"Hemara ul falingra," she growled.

The drops of blood separated from the mixture and crawled their way out of the can, leaving no trail as it rose from the water.

Anna's shaky and raspy voice called from across the greenhouse, "Villin, I've talked to the others about this, but none of them really know what it was I saw. Vaelan said you might know, so I have to ask have you ever heard of something called Throne: Ophanim?"

"Only in books about the deceiver god and well, Earthly religions, why?"

"He appeared to me in a dream, a massive icy-blue eye, surrounded by gargantuan rings covered in eyes and draped in pure-white silk cloths. It told me to free Nephilim, but I didn't know what to do, then he just left," Anna's eyes grew wider with fear as she spoke.

Villin remained to her thoughts, continuing to water her plants in silence. She looked at the girl who was now walking along the planters, admiring the beauty of the flora.

"These are all so beautiful," Anna smiled as she stopped beside a bush of yellow roses.

Villin flicked her tails in thanks as she moved to another large planter, its edges covered in walls of ivy, and its soil overtaken by bromeliads, ferns, and caladium. She sighed.

"What you're dealing with is a celestial, could be a servant of one of the gods or a defender of the high realms, I don't know. However, I do know that whatever it's doing, it's illegal for a celestial to interact with a mortal. Whatever it wants, it can't be good."

"So what do we do?"

"For now, we do research, you talk to Nephilim and find out what you can, I'll check as many libraries and Anth-Markets as I can," Villin said, placing down the watering can while furrowing her brow, "That sound good to you?"

"Yeah, thanks," Anna smiled.

"Good, wanna help?" She raised the watering can.