Mercy and Magic

CH2 Emotional Fuel

Listening to the rest of the nymph spirit's struggles, Tanya grabs a small glass jar. She used it to collect and scoop up the ashes of the spirit. She promises to use the ashes to grow flowers so that one day, he can be reborn into a garden nymph. As the nymph spirit finally rests at peace, thanking Tanya for saving what was left of him, Laverdaine took hold of Tanya's shoulder once more, "We should get going, enough drama has happened for one day, especially here." Laverdaine casted a spell of travel, teleporting all of them in Tanya's parlor. Maya greets them with worrisome eyes, "Why is she so appalled? Tanya's usually more calm after an excursion." Astral swooped down onto the ottoman, shifting forms, which now resembles a young male harpy. Astral gestured towards Maya to come closer, "She's angry due to the fact that some necromancer murdered a sea nymph and has seen reports in the market that dark magic has been used in the area." Maya expands her canine form to comfort Tanya by wrapping around her. Tanya, resisting the urge cry, hugs Maya and then turns to Laverdaine, whose eyes were shallow in disgust and regret for letting Tanya see such things. They all need some rest so Tanya goes to her room and drops on her bed like a brick. Laverdaine taking refuge on the parlor couch.

As Tanya wakes up, she notices that both Maya and Astral are laying with her. She shimmies out of bed, not waking the familiars. She strolls to the bathroom where she takes a lavender infused bath to calm her nerves of yesterday's event. Tanya goes downstairs and begins preparing breakfast for Laverdaine and the familiars, Laverdaine had spent the night in the parlor to be there for emotional support and just in case Tanya does anything she'll regret. As she continues to cook, Laverdaine awakens to the smell of baked goods. He sneaks to the kitchen and peers inside, wondering what he would be eating since he usually comes over for breakfast and or dinner. Laverdaine walks towards Tanya, giving her a pat on the shoulder, "Morning mother Scarlet, how are you feeling today? You seem neutral." Tanya glares past her shoulder at him with a peculiar but annoyed expression, "Don't start that mother goose spiel, everyone has their own style of cooking. I'm no mother but I do baby my familiars sometimes." Laverdaine laughs, "You still cook better than my mother, she never cooked anything without burning it twice. Now onto important matters, what are you doing today and are those blueberry muffins?" Tanya smacked his hand away since they were still cooling, "I was going to prepare more potions for ailments and yes, they are actually blueberry and acai muffins. I'll smack your hand again if you don't let them cool." The mood within the dining room lightened as she called Astral and Maya down for breakfast.

As they enjoy breakfast, a knock, loud but weak, echoes throughout the house. Tanya heads towards the door. When she opens it, she was met with a somewhat gruesome appearance. "My word, what has happened to you? You're badly injured!" Sbe spoke, shocked by what she is seeing. The aged man, one of the towns elders who tends to come for herbal remedies, left arm was bleeding red and black fluid, his hand had crystallized, showing obvious signs that he was attacked. Tanya had placed him gently on the sofa, she ran to the kitchen to get water, "Laverdaine, go to the parlour room, Elder Mondor has been attacked," she spoke in a commanding tone. While Laverdaine cleans and caters to Mondor's health, Tanya searches and collects books and potions to reverse the dark magic and crystallization since this isn'tthe first time she'scome across black fluid. She carries back the needed material to Mondor, "Who in Fae's name attacked you? This is obvious work of a necromancer," Tanya spoke while gritting her teeth. Mondor clears his voice with a painful cough, calmly, he speaks, "You are right my child. It was one of many attacks reported in our town, all the elders had gathered for a meeting in the grand hall where we were attacked by multiple assailants. I had put a spell barrier around the others so they could escape. While the enemy tried to flee, one struck me in the arm with a high concentration of dark magic, darker than I've ever seen. I had to teleport here with what little strength I had in these old bones." 

A rage rises within Tanya, not visible on her face. Tanya extracts the dark magic from his arm which stopped the crystallization which had grown up to Mondor's face. She places the black tar like magic in a jar for later testing. She dowses Mondor in a regenerative potion to close the wound. With the help of Laverdaine, Tanya says an incantation to remove the formed crystals from Mondor's body, who was cast asleep since the process will burn due to how extensive it is. After the removal, she collects the fallen crystal shards and places them in a basket. She lets Mondor rest as he has been through a lot. Laverdaine, knowingly knows how this is affecting Tanya, follows her to the potions room where she had brought the dark tar substance and crystals, " Scarlet, I know this is hitting a very soft spot, I'm here if you need me" Laverdaine spoke softly, letting in Maya and Astral to try and comfort her. Tanya turned around, eyes seemingly emotionless, centimeters away from bursting in a flood of tears. "If I can find the right spell, I can trace the dark magic residue to its original caster. It might take a while since it's mixed with Mondor's essence aswell but i can try and work past thar." Laverdaine instantly knew that something was terribly wrong, "Are you okay?" He asked inching slowly towards her, you can hear the faint sound of something cracking in the room. "I'm okay with putting in the work, it's for the greater good anyhow. Let me get back to work." Tanya blatantly ignoring the real question, turning her back to Laverdaine, who then persisted and placed his hand  on her shoulder once more "No, are YOU okay mentally? I know you have something hiding inside." The cracking noise gets louder and shatters, Tanya turns towards him, displaying a waterfall of tears not stopping. She's at a loss for words, only able to make out small sounds. Laverdaine sighs in relief that she's finally opened up. He embraces Tanya, which makes her sob even more, "It's okay, you don't have to hold it in anymore, I know you're hurting." Laverdaine held her there initially till they both fell asleep against Maya's side on th floor, both tired from emotional strain.