Haven Parts

Spending time with Cran made Sage realize she had to face her demons and venture out from the safe haven she had created.

Seeing Cran bloom with Bella was empowering and made sage wanna live more fully and push herself.

"What are you doing? You’re going to hurt yourself” Bella inquired, seeing Sage shaking herself vigorously, roaming in a circle around the fire pit.

“Shaking out the bad stuff stuck in my bones. Gotta get it out.” Sage replied.

Sure enough, for the next three days Sage was stuck in bed. But afterwords, she did seem better.

Sage : I once spent two years, delirious out of my own painful body

but i decided to try and fix it

but the pain is so much

Sage is too bedridden to even be pushed around in a wagon so

Bella brings home leaves and things for her.

Pretty soon Bella had begun taking part in Sage’s rituals. At first it was small, grinding herbs in the mortar and pestle and placing things in jars. collecting rainwater, things that required strength sage didn’t always have an abundance of. It was sweet.

Sage is now helping the ghosts attached to the bones to reincarnate.

There aren’t always souls attached, but when there are Bella helps with the process.

“Maybe I'm done escaping. maybe this is life” I said, and crumbled to the floor.

“Maybe I'm done escaping . This is my life” I said, with tears of joy and arms wide open

It’s usually not too hard

Our dimension is pretty primitive. Or just. Earthy. His realm is more. Spiritual and mental. Flowy.

Night’s greatest achievement was manifesting a rock to form in Zaphir’s dimension, a blue stone necklace for him to wear.

‘Isn’t it good enough? You can walk now. “

“I used to be able to fly. And I’m on borrowed time. Until I rearrange my entire bone structure into a new one, every day I rely on these spells, I’m using up stores of energy from the future me. It will run out, eventually. So no, it’s not good enough. That’s not who I am. To say, ‘good enough”. That isn’t the mindset that got me in this mess in the first place. I’m proving to myself and that person, everyone, that I’m more than enough. That I will triumph after all of this and deliver the results I want.”

A hooded figure was bobbing up and down as they were obviously picking herbs in the forest and depositing them in a wicker basket at their side. The person stumbled on their descent to squatting, and fell over. They stayed still a moment, then unfurled one of their legs using their arms and slowly stood up. After a few moments they left, and before they could get out of sight Bella decided to follow them out of sheer boredom.

Bella followed the person - girl, she saw now that the hood had fallen off during their tumble. They seemed a bit shorter than her, perhaps younger, though not by much. Maybe eighteen. The blond didn’t seem to notice their hair whipping about their face, looking quite a mess as they were collecting what they needed as quickly as possible with nimble fingers and a discerning eye despite the hair impeding vision. So they were absorbed in their work. Maybe frantic. She’s probably a witch - yeah, definitely a witch concocting a brew as soon as they got home. Bella wondered if they were attending to someone sick in their family, the way they were working so hard. Family - something Bella hadn’t had in a while. She had left home at eighteen and said good riddance to her loud and obnoxious brothers and father. She had been glad of the silence since then - she didn’t need to socialize with anyone more than necessary to survive. Her previous home life had toughened her up to defend against any male attention on her private journey, a prime target seeing as she was alone and young. No one was ever alone in this land - especially a woman. So Bella was quite surprised when she peeked around the last tree at the edge of the forest to see the blond running with a strange gait toward a VERY tiny hovel. Too small for anyone but the blond, surely. Excitement bubbled in Bella’s chest. When had Bella ever felt something like this? A peak of interest… Other than in perhaps a maple pancake on her birthday when her mum was alive. But that was a long time ago.

————-

I know you’re following me so you can just come here - the words burbled right in Bella’s ears, floated to her with magic. The blond must not be fond of raising their voice - they could have easily done so. Bella startled a bit, internally grinning as she lopped over to meet the blond.

“I’m Bella. Belladonna. Hi. So. When did you find out I was following?”

“Belladonna - Nightshade. Hm. I’d say we could switch names. Personality wise. Though your black hair is fitting. I’m Sage.”

“Sage. Alright. Wait a minute aren’t you in a hurry. It seemed that way…”

Sage blinked. “Oh. I guess. I make the most of my time. I guess it’s a habit to work fast.”

“Well, that’s not a bad thing! Just be careful so you don’t fall over!” Bella visibly grinned, winking.

But Sage’s face darkened, not in an embarrassed way. They looked … pained. But the look quickly disappeared into the stoic face again.

A few beats passed.

“Uh. Sorry to bother you. I just. I don’t know. “

“You’re fine. I’m a patron of women so I don’t mind to spend time with you. You can come in if you like. It’s sure to rain."