Rare | Magi

II

"I thought you were bae, turns out you're just fam."

Karmi's POV

"Grams! You didn't wake me up!" I yelled out to nothing as I saw light seeping through the curtains of the tent. Growing angry at the silence that followed I rushed out of the tent, fully prepared to give that hag an good ol' scolding. I can't believe she didn't wake me, they wouldn't have even caught that lamb if not for me.

Not even caring that my hair was most likely a tangled mess, I stomped out of the tent squinting as I looked up at the sky. It was clearly a bit past mid-day by now. Mumbling under my breath I headed towards Toya's tent after seeing that Grams wasn't in her own. Just like I thought, Grams was in there, sipping on tea without a single care in the world. Seeing this only gave fuel to my fire.

"Grams! You forgot to wake me last night, I bet you all didn't even save me some lamb." My sentence started off strong but once she turned towards me my yelling seemed to quieten down a normal inside voice.

The wrinkled woman just let out a silent laugh, "Sorry dear, but you know how old people forget somethings. Blame it on my age." I opened my mouth to call out her lies but stopped as she pat the seat next to her.

With a huff, I sat down beside her, snatching away the bread and tea she was just enjoying. She didn't seem to mind, instead she looked over at me as I ate.

It wasn't until most of the food was eaten did she began to speak, "Karmi," Her voice was calm, yet there was a slight wave in it. It was different from her usual tone, a tone she usually only used when talking about something dangerous or serious, the tone she knew would grasp my full attention.

Swallowing the bread that I had been chewing, I turned to look her in the eyes. They no longer were squinted shut, nor was she wearing her usual smile, no, it was the opposite in fact. Her eyes were wide open, gaze stuck on my own while her face was hardened, completely stiff with the serious look she had on.

I resisted squirming under her gaze, it was strong enough to make me uncomfortable. She continued to stare for awhile before beginning to talk once again, "May I ask for a favor from you?"

I felt myself relax a bit, a nervous smile crawling onto my face, "A favor?" She nodded, stiffly at that. Her tight expression caused me to let out a breathless laugh, I saw her raise her cane, probably to hit me for being unserious. Grabbing her hand, I squeezed the smaller, bonier one with my own, "Grams, you can ask me anything. I owe you a lot, you took me in and raised me as if I were your own grandchild. There is no request in the world I could deny."

Her muscles did not loosen at my words of reassurance, instead it seemed my words caused my tension to fill them, "Then my favor to you is-" She didn't get the chance to finish due to Toya walking in and telling her that there was a visitor from the Kou Empire.

Hearing the name caused a shiver to run down my spine, slapping my hands together I began to pray that it was anyone but that creep. Kouen is someone I had met years ago while wondering on my own, he must have sense something in me because he had asked me to come with him to the Kou Empire. Of course I disliked, not trusting the older man, or teen at the time. He caused my fight or flight scenses to go haywire, and the long looks he would give me didn't help either.

Growing despite, I grabbed the cross Grams had nearby and began to chant out and mix of prayers, curses, and gibberish. At the moment I hoped someone would hear my wishes, be it a God or a Devil.

The feeling of a cane hitting against the back of my head caused me to stop, Looking up from my crouched position, I saw grams looking down at me with a look of anger on her face, "You fool, stop that before you curse us all! Now come with me and stop your foolishness, you better not embarrass us in front of the princess." I felt weight lift off my shoulders when I heard the word princess.

I nearly started to cry, from joy or pain I didn't know.

Jumping up, I nodded my head and was about to leave the tent when Grams stopped me with her cane, "Karmi, I strongly would advise you to change your clothing or at least comb your hair before meeting the princess." Looking down at my clothing I realized she was right. There was dirt on it from being thrown to the ground yesterday, plus it was full of wrinkles.

Nodding I told the two that I would join them after changing my clothes, they seemed to agree and urged me to hurry before pushing me out of the room and in the direction of my own tent.

Entering the tent, I rushed towards the dresser that held all of my clothing and grabbed a random top and bottom before stripping off my old clothing and pulling on the new pair. I didn't have time to bath which caused me to cringe, I never did like going more than 24 hours without bathing, it made me feel gross.

Tring to push down the disgust, I grabbed a brush and began to brush out the ranges, glad that I was born with such tameable hair. AFtering fishing with my hair and clothes, I walked over to the mirror to look at my appearance, the outfit looked great so did my hair yet something was off.

humming, I studied myself for a while before it hit me. "Of coarse," I muttered, smacking my head beforing walking over to my dresser. On top of the dresser was a silver box that held my jewelry, opening the box I grabbed out a few bracelets and a ring, choosing not to over do it today.

I still had in my ear piercing from yesterday plus both of my metal vessels were securely in their place, so there was no need for a necklace or earrings. Placing of my braces and slipping my ring onto my thumb I scanned myself in the mirror once more, pleased with how I looked.

Walking out of the tent, I headed towards the area Grams and Toya told me to be at. Turning the corner I was shocked at the sight that greeted me.

Laying on the ground was Toya while some old guy with a weird bread stood above her, looking down on her as he called her awful names loud enough that even I could hear from this distance. The more he talked the angrier I got, I felt my neck begin to burn. The choker that held Bast growing hotter and hotter the angrier I got.

Unable to stop myself, I walked up to the man, my bangs covering my eyes as I called out, "Hey you shitty old man," My voice isn't loud yet it managed to catch his attention as he turned towards me, an angered on his ugly face. "Leave her the fuck alone."

The man seemed to compose himself, his look a anger turning into a mocking one instead, "Oh? And what will you do about it if I dont little girl." I was now standing in front of him, still not looking up.

I felt a smirk spread across my face as I finally looked up at the visibly shaken man, "I'd kill you, of coarse." At my words, Dorji ran up towards us, his sword at ready to strike down the man while I made my own blade of wind ready to at least injure the man.

I saw the blue haired boy go to stop Dorji leaving me to be free to injure the old man. I saw his eyes widen in surprise, most likely shocked over the fact that he could not move out of the way fast enough to dodge my attack, but right before the blade of wind could actually strike him it disappeared leaving me slightly confused until out of the corner of my eye I saw the black haired princess extending out a fan with the djinn symbol glowing, showing that she was the one who stopped my attack.

Standing up straight, I fully turned towards her, ignoring curses of the old man. Smiling at me, the black haired woman extended a hand, Nice to finally meet your, Karmi." I flinched at the sound of my name coming from strangers lips.

Ignoring her hand, I walked over towards Toya and lifted her up before responding to the girl, "And you know me how?" Running my eyes over the brown haired girl, I made sure she was okay and after being certain that she was I turned towards the still smiling princess.

"My brother," Ah, figures. "He told us that if were to ever see a short boy with reddish-orange hair and silver blue eyes we are to bring him back to the Empire. Never explained why, only told us not to kill you and bring you back unharmed, but now that I met you I understand why. Your aura is something special, its so bright and comforting. It really pulls you in." She walked closer as she spoke, her dark blue eyes staring me up and down.

Raising an eyebrow, I move Toya closer towards Grams and pulled both of them behind me slightly, still not trusting that rotten old man, "Oh really? Well as I told him year ago, I decline the offer to join the Kou Empire. I am comfortable right where I am, princess."

She didn't say anything to me after that, instead she turned towards Grams and bowed slightly, "I apologize for my subject, but please, think about my offer. We can formally discuss this at a later date." With that she turned and began to walk away beck towards her hoarse. The old man clicked his tongue, and I saw a hint of a glare in his eyes as he stared at her back.

After he fully left, he turned and glared at me with all his might before spitting out, "You're lucky the princess was her to stop me, I would have killed you otherwise scum."

I let out a uncontrollable snort at his words, "Yeah last I checked you nearly pissed your pants in fear when I attacked, if the princess wasn't here it wouldn't have been I who died, but you." And I kid you not, the old fart growled in anger.

He was about to say something, most likely more empty threats, when the black haired woman called out for him to hurry. Looking around he glared at us all before huffing and stomping away. No one moved until they were completely out of our sight, and once they were I felt the oh so familiar pain of Grams cane whacking me on the back.

"Karmi, you idiot! What did I tell you about that mouth of yours. I swear if you don't control it you may one day be killed for it." The smaller woman scolded me as she continued to whack me with her wooden cane, it wasn't hard enough to bruise or break the skin, but I definitely felt the pain.

Flinching, I tried to protect myself from the wave of hits, "Grams- ouch- Stop it you old hag!"

"Hag?! Karmi do you have no manners?!" Although there was still tension in the air, a few of the clan members let out small chuckles.

"Yeah, Karmi, when will you learn?" Ola said playfully as she walked over and pinched my cheeks, quite painfully may I add.

I let tears well up in my eyes at the combination of Ola's pinching and Grams hitting, it's more painful than getting hit with a arrow, and I've been hit by three!

Having mercy, Toya grabbed my hand and flashed me a smile. "Hey, hey, give him a break." Her voice was soothing enough that the two elder woman stopped their assaults.

Rubbing my cheeks, I playfully glared at the two, "That's child abuse I tell you."

Rolling her eyes, Ola reached in the grasp my cheeks once again but I foresaw that and dodged the attack and ran over towards Aladdin. I saw Ola halt her movements, a smug smirk creeping onto my face.

I knew hiding behind the blue haired boy was a good idea, anyone else would have sold me out or joined in the bullying but if a newcomer then they wouldn't dare come close.

Sticking out my tongue at the brown haired woman, I slipped from behind Aladdin and ran towards my tent. I still had to remove Bast's choker since his heat caused the skin around my neck to grow sore, minor first degree burns if I had to guess.

It was nothing new. Although he wouldn't admit it, Bast was actually super possessive and protective. If someone tries to harm me or someone I consider close, his vessel seems to mage with my anger. The angrier I got, the hotter the metal grew.

Eboni was the same, but she was much more tame. Out of the three of us, she was better at controlling her anger.

Once I was safely inside of my tent, I walked over towards my bed and grabbed the first aid kit from behind it. Pulling out the gaze and ointment, I flopped down in front of the mirror and began to peel of the now cooled metal.

Once it was off, I studied the burn, letting out a small sigh before cleaning it with the alcohol that I kept on the stool by the mirror.

I saw the djinn symbol glow on the choker from the corner of my eye before I heard a low voice speak inside my mind, "Sorry about that Kar," His voice sounded nonchalant to most, but I could tell there was undertones of guilt laced in his words.