Farah Dowling WRITOBER 2O22

We wanted to be the sky

There's no way she could have left like this.

Not telling anyone? Not trying to help her best friend getting out of prison?

You try to deflect the thought that your mind has been screaming for weeks.

Abandoning you.

So what?, you reprimand yourself. She has no duty towards you.

You are only her assistant. Just another student about to graduate.

Your evenings together didn't mean anything. Maybe she never even thought about you as a friend.

You have no doubt Headmistress Hale can be very, very convincing when needs be. You understand it must have been a power play; miss Dowling, as improbable as it sounds, must have chosen the lesser of two evils. She was probably tired of it all after the Burned Ones' attack; she must have chosen to spare the school a nasty political fight, leaving Rosalind Hale to take care of it all.

It sounds so out of character for her; and yet, you could even believe it... if it wasn't for the dreams.

Nights and nights of dreams. When you wake you remember nothing but darkness, the sound of the wind in the leaves and miss Dowling's voice calling out for you. When the sun touches your face you roll out of bed trying to push the dream and Farah Dowling out of your mind – she is taking a sabbatical, she didn't even stop to say goodbye, she does not need you.

For twelve weeks the dream remains the same.

Each day a growing feeling of exhaustion and anguish deepens a bit more, and by the thirteenth week you are so tired and troubled by the dream that you decide to do something about it.

The following Sunday morning you walk alone to the Stone Circle.

You can't help but wonder if miss Dowling might be in some trouble. You have to know, one way or the other.

If magic will tell you that your dream is merely a product of your lovesick mind you will use the Stone Circle circuit to amplify your powers and you will temporarily bind your mind to the school ground, so that as long as you're at Alfea the building itself will protect you, and you won't be haunted by nightmares anymore; but if magic will tell you that Farah Dowling is in danger... well, you have no idea what you will do, but surely you won't stand by and watch.

You close your eyes, connecting your powers to the land, searching for miss Dowling through the emotional, even though one-sided, bond you have with her. You don't know what you were hoping for, but in a matter of seconds you are seeing a clear mental image of the cemetery. You check again, and again, but your vision does not swift.

Trembling, you open your eyes and force yourself to fight back the tears that are threatening to fall. You take a deep breath and then run to the cemetery as if the Wild Hunt was behind you.

Once you're there you kneel and mix your mind powers with the earth ones; you're out of breath, about to break down and cry, but determined to find out if her dead body is there, or why the fuck did the Stone Circle lead you here.

Your magic is instantly attracted by a small fern you'd never have noticed.

It seems to drink up your powers. "What in the Six Realms-?"

You stop the flow of magic and walk to it. As soon as you touch it you recognize the magical signature: you don't know what the hell happened, but you are sure beyond any doubt that the fern is your beloved Headmistress.

It must have been some sort of metamorphosymbiosis. You greet your teeth – if professor Hale has done this to miss Dowling you will find a way to make her pay.