Blessing Moon

Four: Chairocs Ùrvus

(New Friends)

"Are you sure about this, Fìorea?" Nèopri whispered, looking up at her best friend with wide eyes. "The chief, your father, told all Sìthicris to stay out of the West Forest tonight."

"If you don't wish to come, Nèopri, you don't have to," Fìorea replied with a glint in her eye. Her arms moved in a graceful circle as she draped her hooded cloak around her shoulders. "I am happy to go alone," she added as she pulled her hood over her hair, dimming its violet glow.

"Oh no you don't!" Nèopri hissed, then grabbed her own cloak. "Your father would kill me if I let you go alone!" She proceeded to hide her own glowing hair under a hood. "I'm coming! What if something happened to you?"

"What if something does? What could you do?" Fìorea teased, pushing her hand against her petite friend's shoulder. This made Nèopri stumble, she only just kept herself from falling onto her backside by grabbing onto Fìorea's wrist.

"I'm about to get short with you in a minute!" Nèopri squared up to her best friend, who stood head and shoulders above her.

"You're already pretty short!" Fìorea laughed and patted her friend on top of her hooded head. Nèopri's yellow irises sent a glare up at her, but Fìorea's cheerful countenance softened her gaze. She could never stay mad at her for long.

"Ready now?" Fìorea asked as she turned towards her living quarter's doorway. Nèopri rolled her eyes, gave a nod and followed her better through the large tent. Their dark disguises worked well to conceal them as they navigated through the streets of Chridocus.

As quiet as mice, they tip-toed between the other town-dwellers' tents, making their way swiftly to the Sìthicris hometown's surrounding white wall. They sent their magic to their outstretched hands, making them glow violet and yellow, and placed them on the cool, brick surface. A large gateway then magically opened, revealing the West Forest.

They stepped onto the spongy, moss-covered earth on the other side and the light of their magic faded. The dim glow from the sleepy town, on the other side of the wall, also disappeared as the brick structure snapped shut behind them.

"Come on!" Fìorea grabbed her small, yellow friend's arm. She heard Nèopri's loud sigh as she proceeded to lead her between the towering trees. She then stopped in a clearing that was adorned with a thick carpet of Strelle fo Bhlàth, Fìorea's very own invention. Her violet eyes lit up at the sight of the purple, star-shaped beauties that greeted her with open petals. They matched the size of her stretched-out hand.

"Look at them, Nèopri!" she said with the pride of a plant mother. "Look how they have grown!"

"You are so very clever, Fìorea!" the little yellow Sìthicris gushed, as her wide sparkling eyes took in the beauty of the magical flowers growing all around her feet.

"That's not all!" Fìorea said with a wide excited grin. "Watch this!" she added, as she bent down towards the closest purple bloom.

"What was that?" Nèopri gasped, "Did you hear -" she began to ask before Fìorea interrupted her with a sharp "Shush!"

"All I hear is your paranoia!" she dismissed then turned her focus back onto the flower. "Quiet, just watch."

She tapped the flower's centre, then drew a small circle with her index finger directly above it. Its glittering pollen danced around her wrist. She sent the sparkling dust into the air before her friend's face. Nèopri watched it as it floated in a graceful ring on the gentle breeze. But, seeming out of nowhere, she violently shook her cute head and the pollen fell to the ground.

"Hey! Nèopri! What is the matter with you? I haven't finished showing you..."

"Tell me you heard that, Fìorea!"