Celeste Academy - The City with Fauna

Thank you so much for your assistance, Carida. May I attempt to call you?

 It was a strange night. Carida's phone buzzed with texts from Fauna that read 'a'; '<<<'; and 'I'm very sorry, but I would like some help if that's alright.'

 Carida desperately needed a distraction from her mind-numbing research papers, about the interaction of spices with the human senses and how they differed to people of varying attunements. It was going okay, but she felt a little overwhelmed. So she jumped at the opportunity to teach Fauna, and sent her directions on how to place a call.

 There was silence, and Carida worried that her instructions hadn't been clear enough, until...

 A cute song started playing and Carida jumped a little, phone rattling against the table loudly. Oops, maybe she should turn her vibration setting down.

 "...Hello?"

 "Oh, wonderful, it worked!" Fauna's voice was as lilting and soft as ever, but her voice seemed a bit far away. "Good evening, Carida."

 "Good evening." She found herself smiling naturally. "I'm glad I could help!"

 Fauna laughed. "I am too. I'm also a little concerned about the little numbers in the corner... they're saying 12 now? Oh, now it's 11!"

 "Have you not charged your... huh?" How did Fauna go so long without charging her phone? And was she looking at her screen right now? "How have you used it for this long?"

 "Hm? I don't have the phone on when I'm not using it. Now that I wanted to contact you, I turned it on again!"

 "Oh, you wanted to talk to me?" Carida felt her cheeks warm. She thought Fauna had called her for phone help specifically.

 "Yes, very much so! I had a very pleasant time on our last date and..."

 Fauna trailed off, hesitant. Then she took a deep breath and started to speak again.

 "I would like to meet you again. Perhaps... somewhere you are familiar with, this time."

 "The call lasted only a few minutes longer, just enough for them to make plans, before Fauna's phone beeped and died. Carida could only hope that Fauna had heard all the important details They were to meet at the entrance to the forest again, just like on their last date. Only this time, Carida would be showing Fauna around the city.

 Carida arrived at the meeting spot and swiveled her head, searching for Fauna and her deep green hair. This was the place, right?

 "Fauna?" She paced around the clearing. "Is she not here yet - ah!"

 Carida stumbled as she caught sight of a Fauna-colored blob… on the ground. She was lying on the grass, basking in the rays of sunlight as clouds lazily passed overhead.

 Carida squatted down next to her. "Hey, Fauna."

 Fauna opened her eyes slowly, as if time didn't matter to her. It didn't seem like she'd notice Carida calling for her, or nearly tripping over her. It almost felt wrong to disturb her. Fauna blinked, and slowly focused on Carida.

 "Oh?" She sat up, eye level matching Carida's. "Why hello, Carida. My apologies, I hadn't realized it was so late in the morning already."

 "How long have you been laying here?" Carida asked. Last time, Fauna had mentioned that it was a long walk to get here..

 "I'm not quite sure myself! Falling asleep makes perception of time difficult. It must have been a few hours? I arrived a little before sunrise."

 "Did you walk here again?" Carida sat down next to her. Fauna started smiling and Carida knew it was the one she used to avoid answering questions. "Don't try to play it off with a smile again! We could've met somewhere closer!"

 Fauna smiled. "Ah, you've caught me. I cannot say it isn't strenuous, but it is well within my capabilities. It's quite fun, actually, to have a reason to venture so far from home."

 With anyone else Carida would've thought they were joking, but it was clear that Fauna meant every word. So she couldn't exactly chastise her. "Well, I'm glad for that. Are you ready to head into town?"

 "Gladly."

 A short time later, Fauna was intently staring at a shop door.

Not at the shop itself, to be clear - just the door. Specifically, she seemed enchanted by the way it slid open when someone came near.

 "What manner of magic is this?!" She leaned in closer, and the doors hummed and slid open. "This is wonderful! I'd love to have something like this at home for our elderly."

 "Oh, those aren't attunements. At least not purely. That's just today's technology. You could probably hook something like those up where you live. Well, if it had the right kind of planning… And the power supply… And… hm." Maybe it would be harder than she thought.

 Fauna looked completely lost. "I will discuss this with our elders."

 "That sounds like a good idea." Carida gave her an apologetic smile. "Would you like to go inside?"

 Fauna blinked. "Oh, is that alright to do? What sort of establishment is this?"

 Carida looked up at the sign overhead, then glanced through the waiting doors.. "It's a pharmacy, with both potions and more modern medicines."

 Not her forte, for sure, but with the way Fauna brightened up at her words, she could tell that she was interested.

 "I would love to, then!" She paused, and looked warily at the mysterious gateway. "Lead the way?"

 Suddenly feeling a little bold, Carida took Fauna's hand and walked inside.

 Fauna immediately led them from shelf to shelf, expression bright and keen. She checked bottles, carefully reading the names and looking at all the plants illustrated on the boxes.

 "Carida, Carida! It's that plant from last time!" She pointed to a small illustration on the restorative potion box. Wide and squarish berries, bunched into fours. That's right - they had enjoyed these together last time. "Cureberry… What a fitting name!"

 They continued to look around, with Fauna excitedly identifying the majority of the plants on the packaging. Each one was accompanied by a quick explanation of where they grew and what they were used for. Carida was reminded of her research on spices and their effects, but it was much more interesting when coming from Fauna.

 Slowly, they drifted over to the classic potions section of the store. While many people used more modern medicine that was mass produced, custom potions after a diagnosis were still fairly common. Fauna looked much more familiar with this section.

Instead of premade potions in this section, there was a wide range of vials and bottles behind the counter and storage cabinets of herbs and plants. A customer walked down from a staircase and handed a slip with doctor's scrawl to the potion maker at the counter.

 "This is similar to what we do! I'd take the healer's notes and make potions based on their prescriptions. It's interesting to see something so familiar and so unfamiliar next to each other."

 A question sprang to Carida's mind. "Are you the potion maker for your village?" she asked. It would make a lot of sense, thinking back on it.

 "I never thought about it that way, but… in a sense. I'm not the only one who knows how - all of us are trained in the art of potion-making. But I do handle some of the more difficult requests. Ah, I'm not the village healer, though. That's quite beyond me."

 "Oh, interesting. You seem really knowledgeable about this."

 Fauna turned pink. It was the first time Carida had seen her appear self-conscious at all. "Thank you. It's quite a joy for me. I… wasn't born with any magic, but my mother was the village healer and I wanted to help in whatever ways I could. So I studied as much as I could. Most of my knowledge is still theoretical, though."

 She sighed. "Learning magic and furthering my understanding of potions sounds like a dream. Being here with you is exciting, but it also shows me how little I know… I'm envious of your time at Celeste Academy and the things you've learned there."."

 Carida scrunched her face in thought. "Little?" Fauna clearly wasn't giving herself enough credit. She could probably rival some of the most advanced students when it came to potions..

 "You know, you could probably attend Celeste if you wanted to. There are lots of classes for the stuff you're interested in, and there are even special tracks for people without attunements..."

 Fauna looked at her with wide eyes. "Do you really think so? But I lack knowledge of other disciplines, and I'm older than most students, and..."

 Carida smiled reassuringly. "All of that's fine. I could go with you to talk to Admissions, if you'd like."

 Fauna looked down, and stayed quiet for some time. "I would appreciate that," she said in a small voice.

 After a final, quieter lap around the pharmacy, they left the store. The pair wandered around town a bit more, until finally coming to rest under a shady tree. Fauna finally let go of Carida's hand, then took a few steps away..

 "Carida, I really enjoy spending time with you."

 Simple words like always, but they were filled with sincerity and something more. Carida's heart fluttered as Fauna turned to face her,, with her always perfect calm replaced with hesitance.

 She looked away, towards the forest beyond the town, and then back at Carida.

 "The phone I found... I never expected it to lead me to this wonderful encounter. I'm glad that it was you who answered, and that you took an interest in our lifestyle." Fauna smiled. "That made me want to learn more about you, and how people outside the forest lived too."

 Carida flushed. "I like being with you too. I feel like I appreciate the world around me a bit more whenever I do."

 Fauna's laugh was like the rustling of leaves in a gentle breeze. "That's wonderful to hear!"

 But then she hesitated and looked towards the forest again..

 "Did you forget something?" asked Carida. "We can take a walk back, if you want."

 "No, no, I must find the courage to do this without the forest." Fauna shook her head and locked eyes with Carida. It was only then that Carida noticed her date's hands were shaking. "I've been having... fun. Yes. I've been having fun, encountering all these things outside of the forest. Technologies, attunements, societies. They make my village seem so small in comparison. Even without a forest to call home, the trees and flowers on these streets - they form some entity of their own too, though I don't know how to speak to them yet."

 Carida thought of the trees that had whispered to her on their last date...

 She seems like a good girl.

 Suddenly, a thought that wasn't her own popped into her head. Another voice. Carida blinked and looked around, but saw no one.

 Don't worry, Carida. We'll approach her in time.

 She blinked again. Did they just -

 "Oh, did they talk to you?" Fauna was strangely astute at times.

 "Ah, um… Yeah, they did." She didn't know that they could just… pop into her head like that!

 "Do not look so alarmed. You've been here before, right? It's natural that they'd speak to someone they know first."

 Fauna reached up and touched the leaves of the tree, caressing them as gently as she had caressed Carida's hand. "I can't hear my forest right now, so I apologize if I seem a little unfocused without their guidance."

 Was that where her endless calm came from?

 "Hey, that's alright! I haven't really noticed, honestly," Carida said.

 "That's a relief," Fauna replied. "By the way, does this town have any food establishments? I'm not sure when you have your meals, but I usually have one when the sun is highest…"

 "Oh! Lunch! Of course, yeah. There's a cafe that I really like nearby, do you want to go take a look?"

 "That sounds delightful! Let's."

 "Mm, I just love the tea and pancakes set here. The bitterness of the tea suits the sweet cream they put on top, and the syrup..." Carida realized she was babbling and trailed off. Fauna had a natural smile on her face, but her eyes seemed faraway. "Fauna?"

 "Oh? Oh, I'm so sorry to have zoned out like that." Her cheeks dusted with pink and she gave an adorably sheepish smile. "I was just thinking about love..."

 It was Carida's turn to flush pink. "O-oh, love?"

 "Yes. Carida, have you ever experienced love before?"

 Oh my. She felt her heartbeat quicken and her cheeks grow hotter.

 "I've never... well... uh, romance... I've liked girls but I don't know if I ever loved them..."

 "Oh! Oh, well, that too, but - " Fauna's arms were outstretched and waving hurriedly. "I did not mean to pry into your previous romantic affairs. I meant just love for anything, really!"

 There was a little silence as Carida digested Fauna's words, and she caught her eyes and they both burst out a laugh.

 "Well then, of course! I love my family, my friends, I love to cook, this tea and pancake set..." Carida looked around. She was a girl full of love. "This city, too."

 Clouds cleared and a soft ray of sunlight hit their table through the window, illuminating both of them.

 "How about you, Fauna?"

 Fauna looked unusually serious as she considered the question. "I have..  but I've only experienced a deep love from the bottom of my heart once. Once, when I was much younger, I ventured out of our village alone. I became lost in the woods and I... fell in love with the forest, in a way that made me want to live together with the forest forever."

 She breathed out. "It's my first time admitting this to anyone. I think I love my family and friends and home too, but something ties me to the forest - the spirit behind the forest - in a way that words can't explain."

 Carida didn't know what to say, touched by the honesty and trust from Fauna.

 "I'm not sure if it's normal for us forest dwellers," she quickly added on. She had a sheepish smile again, looking a little worried about her words. "Love is confusing and unclear for me. I wanted the opinion of someone from outside."

 "Love..." Carida's voice trailed off. It had been an eventful year for her. Finals were looming, but her dates every month had been spots of sunshine in her otherwise stressful schedule. "Have I ever told you about why I went on our date?"

 "Hmm... Not that I can recall."

 "I'm on a quest for love." It was so, so cheesy that Carida couldn't help but smile when she said it. "A simple, romantic fantasy, spurred on by a love witch. 'Go on some dates and you'll find true love.' I want that to be real so much.

 "And it's still that same, simple wish, these little encounters brought on by this dating app, but each and every one has been undeniably special. I could connect with all sorts of people that I normally wouldn't, and try so many interesting things."

 Carida looked straight at Fauna. "Including you."

 Fauna's eyes widened.

 "I want to find my true love. I don't know who it'll be, or even if the prophecy will come true, but I've been thinking... Maybe it's not that I'll recognize them at first sight, and it's more who I work with to make something real." Carida broke off with a laugh. "I'm sorry for rambling."

 "No, please - continue, if... if you want." Fauna was gazing at her intently, absorbing her every word. Carida felt a little self conscious, but...

 "Love at first sight is something I've always dreamed of... but maybe the love that the Love Witch talked about is something slower, instead."

 Fauna looked thoughtful, letting the quiet linger for a moment before responding.

 "I loved the forest so overwhelmingly, so immediately. It was 'love at first sight'... but even that pales to what I feel for it now. All the love that grew from caring for it and being cared for, from exploring the forest and finding new joys but also finding home within and making old comforts..." She finally sighed and huffed. "Love is quite difficult to understand!"

 Carida laughed. "Yes, it is!"

 "Thank you so much for listening to me and sharing your thoughts. I think..."

 Her face turned serious, yet somehow the most serene it's been today.

 "If there's someone you've met that you want to work with for true love, I will be delighted to see you do so, in your pursuit of 'love'." Then, brilliantly, she looked directly at Carida, smiling. "And if you just so happen to wish that someone is me... I would be willing to work towards 'love' with you too."

 ...

... ...

"And here, you can buy a charger. Do you have power outlets where you live?" Carida's mental image of Fauna's home was fuzzy and weird… It was still a mystery how a phone - with charge! - ended up anywhere that Fauna could find.

 "You mean for electricity right? I believe we have it, though I've not used it."

 That... hm. That wasn't reassuring. Carida picked up the other end of the cable and pointed to a power socket in the wall of this store. "How about holes like those..?"

 "Oh. Oh! I've seen these! So that is what they're used for! Most of us simply cover them with furniture or decorations. That explains quite a bit."

 On second thought… maybe there are some things it's better not to ask.

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