Chapter 30. Reconciliation. Part 1
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VitahAR
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Dominique stared silently at her green tulip, feeling a dull irritation boiling inside her. It was easy for Palladium to talk about harmony and just "feeling" nature. But to Dominique, a modern adult from Earth, trying to negotiate with a bush sounded like utter madness. The plant had neither a brain nor ears. How can you "feel" something that is fundamentally incapable of feeling? Where was the clear, step-by-step instruction manual on how to do this?
She carefully cupped the clay pot in her hands and, feeling like an absolute idiot, began to mentally recite simple commands, starting from a basic "open up" to a sincere "just bloom already, you little shit, before I rip all your leaves off." But alas, neither gentle coaxing nor threats worked. No magical unity with nature or voices in her head, other than her own, appeared. The flower remained a flower. Okay, let's think logically, Dominique ordered herself. What do plants need to bloom? Light? Stella managed it, even that idiot Amaryl got something to work, which means forcing it to open its bud is theoretically possible.
But there was one tiny problem: she didn't wield light; her element was fire. And if she influenced it with her flame, she would simply turn the plant into a damn charcoal briquette. Doing that right in front of the elf... could end badly. Not physically, of course—Palladium was unlikely to harm her—but he was fully capable of suffocating her with bad grades. How was she supposed to complete this damn assignment then? She couldn't burn it... Or could she? Right. Fire doesn't just burn; it can also provide warmth. Flowers supposedly like warmth. At least, all normal flowers on Earth reach for warmth and bloom in the spring when the ground heats up.
Deciding she had found the right answer, the girl focused and reached for her inner flame. Her palms warmed slightly, transferring a pleasant heat to the clay walls of the pot and the soil inside. The air around the flower became hot, like a summer day. And the result didn't take long to manifest. Only it was the exact opposite of what she expected. Instead of unfolding its petals, the Moonflower's bud shrank sharply and drooped dismally, bowing all the way down to the soil, as if trying to hide.
"Oh no, incorrect. Cease using fire magic immediately, Miss Bloom," Palladium's voice sounded right by her ear.
The elf shook his head, looking at the drooping plant.
"Fire and excessive heat are a signal of a sweltering day approaching. And the Moonflower is a child of the cool night. It instinctively hides from your heat, trying to conserve moisture. You are acting aggressively upon it, instead of listening to its needs."
Dominique took her hands off the pot and pursed her lips, suppressing the urge to say exactly what she thought about these botanical riddles.
"I'm sorry, Professor. It seems harmony with nature isn't my strongest suit," she replied.
"All in good time," Palladium smiled gently. "I didn't learn everything in a single day either. So don't be upset if you didn't succeed on the first try," he continued in that same melodic voice. "Interacting with nature requires not only strength but also patience."
The elf turned and walked back to his desk with a light step. Dominique cast a dark look at her tulip. Next to her, Stella giggled quietly, stroking her perfectly bloomed silver flower. Soon after, the bell rang, sparing Dominique the need to keep glaring at the miserable weed.
"A moment of your attention, young ladies!" Palladium's voice echoed through the greenhouse, cutting over the students' chatter. "Those who managed to find common ground with the Moonflower today—excellent work. Those who didn't... do not despair. Nature requires patience."
The professor leaned both hands on his desk, and his face suddenly grew very serious.
"What we did today was merely a light warm-up in comfortable conditions. But real nature is far from always being as friendly as these flowers. It is often hostile, unpredictable, and sometimes... very dangerous."
A tense silence fell over the classroom.
"That is exactly why," the elf continued, sweeping a piercing gaze across the room, "next week, we will be going on a field trip so you can apply your acquired knowledge in real conditions."
Dominique glanced sideways and noticed the face of Stella, sitting next to her, contort with genuine horror. The princess had already figured out where this was going.
"Oh, God... Not again," she groaned, dropping her head onto her crossed arms in despair.
An excited and slightly anxious whisper ran through the rows.
"Excuse me... where will we be going?" someone from the front desks asked hesitantly.
"Oh, it's quite close," the elf smiled encouragingly. "It is simply the perfect place to learn how to... listen to nature. A unique ecosystem, rich with rare plants and astonishing life forms..."
"The Mud..." Stella mumbled into the desk in a miserable, strangled voice.
"...Swamp," Palladium finished for her enthusiastically. "You will have to navigate the terrain, find safe routes... and perhaps convince more than one stubborn plant to cooperate with you."
With a slight smile, the elf surveyed the class full of shocked girls' faces.
"I will provide the details during our next lesson. For now, you are dismissed."
Lunch passed in a highly tense atmosphere. Musa sat apart from their group again, but this time Flora joined her. The fairy of nature was softly but actively arguing with her, repeatedly casting pleading glances toward the table where Bloom, Stella, and Tecna sat. Apparently, Flora was trying her hardest to persuade the fairy of music to at least listen to their version of events. Because of this, the remaining two classes—a tedious history lecture and an unbearably boring etiquette class with Madam Du Four—passed in a blur for Dominique. All her thoughts were exclusively focused on the upcoming evening. She sat at her desk, staring blankly out the window, while a tense process was underway in her mind. She was running through the script of the upcoming conversation: what to say, how to present it, where to pause, and where to raise her voice. She anticipated possible questions and immediately selected the perfect answers for them.
Dominique was preparing for this conversation as if she were walking into another board of directors meeting, rather than a reconciliation chat with teenage girls. However, the stakes here were no lower. Right now, she needed to present herself in the correct light to finally close the issue of trust once and for all. Of course, she had ironclad arguments; her story itself was the perfect excuse. But the whole trick lay in exactly how to present it. Dominique mentally broke her roommates down into psychological profiles. Making soft-hearted Flora feel sorry for her was a piece of cake; she just needed to place the emotional emphasis on the fear for her parents correctly. Meticulous Tecna would have to be fed facts and pressed with logic. But Musa... With her, things were more complicated. Musa could only be pressured with one weapon—sincerity. This meant that in her case, only the truth was needed. But the truth, presented from the right angle. The truth that she, too, was afraid, that they had a common enemy and a shared vulnerability—that was the best glue for prickly loners like her.
Dominique gave a barely noticeable smirk at her own thoughts. It shouldn't be difficult. Her whole story was so good you couldn't make up a better one, and best of all—it was entirely true. All that was left was to tell it correctly. The sharp trill of the final school bell snapped her out of her thoughts, which had already acquired a clear structure. Well, the time had come. She could head to room 207 and wait for everyone to gather. And it would be best to close this issue quickly. She really wanted to manage to grab at least a little rest before her evening detention with Griselda. She was already starting to have nightmares about that damn mop. Dominique slung her bag over her shoulder and, exchanging a glance with Stella, headed toward the desk where Tecna and Flora were packing their things. At the desk next to them, Musa was also packing up.
"Well, shall we?" Stella tried to make her voice sound casual, though it came out frankly strained. Then she shifted her gaze to the fairy of music. "Musa?.."
Musa, zipping up her bag, let out a barely audible hmph and looked up.
"Flora said you're planning an evening of revelations here," she drawled, giving the princess a cold stare. "You know, I'm actually curious: what new fairy tale are we going to hear today?"
Stella instantly flared up with indignation.
"Listen, if you're just going to be snarky and rude out of nowhere again..."
"Stella, please, don't," Flora hastily wedged herself between them, pleadingly folding her arms over her chest. Then she turned to the fairy of music. "Musa, we agreed. You promised to just listen."
The fairy of music rolled her eyes and hitched her shoulder in annoyance, adjusting her bag strap.
"Go to the room. I'll catch up," she tossed out and, without waiting for an answer, walked briskly out of the classroom, disappearing into the corridor.
Dominique merely scoffed mentally. Another petty demonstration of her grievance. Fine, let her play this game if it made her feel better. However, half an hour later, the atmosphere in room 207 began to heat up rapidly again. Stella paced the space between the beds, repeatedly glaring at her watch in irritation.
"Where is she?!" the princess finally exploded, throwing her hands up. "Half an hour has passed! Are we supposed to beg her to come? She's clearly doing this on purpose to piss me off!"
"She'll come. Just show a little patience, Stella," Flora replied, looking at the door with growing anxiety.
"Yeah, well my patience is already..."
A sharp click of the handle cut Stella's angry tirade short. The door swung open, and Musa finally entered the room. She carelessly tossed her bag onto her bed and immediately sat down next to it, crossing her legs.
"Alright," Tecna looked at everyone. "We're all here."
"Finally," Stella snorted, crossing her arms over her chest. "We can begin this historic moment."
Musa gave the princess an icy stare.
"No historic moment," she cut her off. "I only came because Flora asked. And because I'm genuinely curious to find out: what new little fairy tale have you come up with?"
Stella opened her mouth to shoot back a barb, but Flora beat her to it. She took a timid step toward the fairy of music.
"Musa, please," the fairy of nature asked quietly. "Let's just hear them out. For the last time. For all our sakes. Please."
Musa sighed heavily and, leaning back against the headboard of her bed, crossed her arms over her chest.
"Fine," she hissed through her teeth. "I'll listen to your latest nonsense. But don't even hope that I'll believe a word of it."
Dominique took a deep breath. Well, the moment had arrived. She cleared her throat dramatically, gathering her thoughts and drawing everyone's attention, and then began her story:
"I'll start from the very beginning, then. As I mentioned before, I was born and raised on Earth. In an ordinary little town called Gardenia. My planet has no fairies, witches, or monsters. All this magic is considered purely children's fairy tales where I'm from. And I thought so too, until one day, walking in the park, I stumbled upon something that completely changed my life. I met Stella. And she... was fighting some kind of demons."
"It was an ogre and a pack of ghouls," Stella immediately chimed in. "I was just returning from Callisto. I really do know Varanda; we're very good friends. We were supposed to go to Alfea together this year, but... literally a couple of days before our departure, her father, the king, had a severe heart attack."
Stella stopped in the middle of the room and sighed heavily, remembering that day.
"Panic broke out in the palace, and the planet's borders were temporarily closed. Naturally, studying was out of the question for the heiress in such a situation. Varanda wrote an official letter of withdrawal and asked me to personally deliver it to Faragonda."
"Why a letter?" Tecna spoke up from her chair. "Wouldn't it have been faster and more efficient to cancel the enrollment via the extranet or simply call?"
"Because due to the closed borders, all communication channels were also blocked so information about the king's health wouldn't leak to the press," Stella explained. "There really is something strange about that attack. I saw the king the day before, and he was as healthy as a horse."
"An assassination attempt?" Tecna frowned, trying to look up current information from Callisto on the extranet. "Is that why Faragonda was talking about the princess's safety?"
"I don't know what really happened; I left before anything was cleared up," Stella began pacing the room again. "I took the letter and returned to Magix. There was still a whole week before classes started, so I decided to hit the boutiques. That's when those jerks ambushed me."
"They wanted to take your ring?" Flora guessed.
"Yes. And I had a bunch of shopping bags with me! They would have gotten ruined in a fight. I'm talking about designer pieces from limited collections..."
"Stella..." Dominique cut off the princess's monologue, which had clearly taken a wrong turn.
"Right, right, anyway, I decided: screw the fight. I wanted to portal straight to Solaria. But they did something..." Stella narrowed her eyes angrily and clenched her fists. "Most likely, those nasty Trix gave the ogre some kind of jammer that scrambled my portal's coordinates. And instead of ending up at home, I was thrown into some dirty park on Earth. And those freaks jumped right after me, into my own portal."
She carefully cupped the clay pot in her hands and, feeling like an absolute idiot, began to mentally recite simple commands, starting from a basic "open up" to a sincere "just bloom already, you little shit, before I rip all your leaves off." But alas, neither gentle coaxing nor threats worked. No magical unity with nature or voices in her head, other than her own, appeared. The flower remained a flower. Okay, let's think logically, Dominique ordered herself. What do plants need to bloom? Light? Stella managed it, even that idiot Amaryl got something to work, which means forcing it to open its bud is theoretically possible.
But there was one tiny problem: she didn't wield light; her element was fire. And if she influenced it with her flame, she would simply turn the plant into a damn charcoal briquette. Doing that right in front of the elf... could end badly. Not physically, of course—Palladium was unlikely to harm her—but he was fully capable of suffocating her with bad grades. How was she supposed to complete this damn assignment then? She couldn't burn it... Or could she? Right. Fire doesn't just burn; it can also provide warmth. Flowers supposedly like warmth. At least, all normal flowers on Earth reach for warmth and bloom in the spring when the ground heats up.
Deciding she had found the right answer, the girl focused and reached for her inner flame. Her palms warmed slightly, transferring a pleasant heat to the clay walls of the pot and the soil inside. The air around the flower became hot, like a summer day. And the result didn't take long to manifest. Only it was the exact opposite of what she expected. Instead of unfolding its petals, the Moonflower's bud shrank sharply and drooped dismally, bowing all the way down to the soil, as if trying to hide.
"Oh no, incorrect. Cease using fire magic immediately, Miss Bloom," Palladium's voice sounded right by her ear.
The elf shook his head, looking at the drooping plant.
"Fire and excessive heat are a signal of a sweltering day approaching. And the Moonflower is a child of the cool night. It instinctively hides from your heat, trying to conserve moisture. You are acting aggressively upon it, instead of listening to its needs."
Dominique took her hands off the pot and pursed her lips, suppressing the urge to say exactly what she thought about these botanical riddles.
"I'm sorry, Professor. It seems harmony with nature isn't my strongest suit," she replied.
"All in good time," Palladium smiled gently. "I didn't learn everything in a single day either. So don't be upset if you didn't succeed on the first try," he continued in that same melodic voice. "Interacting with nature requires not only strength but also patience."
The elf turned and walked back to his desk with a light step. Dominique cast a dark look at her tulip. Next to her, Stella giggled quietly, stroking her perfectly bloomed silver flower. Soon after, the bell rang, sparing Dominique the need to keep glaring at the miserable weed.
"A moment of your attention, young ladies!" Palladium's voice echoed through the greenhouse, cutting over the students' chatter. "Those who managed to find common ground with the Moonflower today—excellent work. Those who didn't... do not despair. Nature requires patience."
The professor leaned both hands on his desk, and his face suddenly grew very serious.
"What we did today was merely a light warm-up in comfortable conditions. But real nature is far from always being as friendly as these flowers. It is often hostile, unpredictable, and sometimes... very dangerous."
A tense silence fell over the classroom.
"That is exactly why," the elf continued, sweeping a piercing gaze across the room, "next week, we will be going on a field trip so you can apply your acquired knowledge in real conditions."
Dominique glanced sideways and noticed the face of Stella, sitting next to her, contort with genuine horror. The princess had already figured out where this was going.
"Oh, God... Not again," she groaned, dropping her head onto her crossed arms in despair.
An excited and slightly anxious whisper ran through the rows.
"Excuse me... where will we be going?" someone from the front desks asked hesitantly.
"Oh, it's quite close," the elf smiled encouragingly. "It is simply the perfect place to learn how to... listen to nature. A unique ecosystem, rich with rare plants and astonishing life forms..."
"The Mud..." Stella mumbled into the desk in a miserable, strangled voice.
"...Swamp," Palladium finished for her enthusiastically. "You will have to navigate the terrain, find safe routes... and perhaps convince more than one stubborn plant to cooperate with you."
With a slight smile, the elf surveyed the class full of shocked girls' faces.
"I will provide the details during our next lesson. For now, you are dismissed."
Lunch passed in a highly tense atmosphere. Musa sat apart from their group again, but this time Flora joined her. The fairy of nature was softly but actively arguing with her, repeatedly casting pleading glances toward the table where Bloom, Stella, and Tecna sat. Apparently, Flora was trying her hardest to persuade the fairy of music to at least listen to their version of events. Because of this, the remaining two classes—a tedious history lecture and an unbearably boring etiquette class with Madam Du Four—passed in a blur for Dominique. All her thoughts were exclusively focused on the upcoming evening. She sat at her desk, staring blankly out the window, while a tense process was underway in her mind. She was running through the script of the upcoming conversation: what to say, how to present it, where to pause, and where to raise her voice. She anticipated possible questions and immediately selected the perfect answers for them.
Dominique was preparing for this conversation as if she were walking into another board of directors meeting, rather than a reconciliation chat with teenage girls. However, the stakes here were no lower. Right now, she needed to present herself in the correct light to finally close the issue of trust once and for all. Of course, she had ironclad arguments; her story itself was the perfect excuse. But the whole trick lay in exactly how to present it. Dominique mentally broke her roommates down into psychological profiles. Making soft-hearted Flora feel sorry for her was a piece of cake; she just needed to place the emotional emphasis on the fear for her parents correctly. Meticulous Tecna would have to be fed facts and pressed with logic. But Musa... With her, things were more complicated. Musa could only be pressured with one weapon—sincerity. This meant that in her case, only the truth was needed. But the truth, presented from the right angle. The truth that she, too, was afraid, that they had a common enemy and a shared vulnerability—that was the best glue for prickly loners like her.
Dominique gave a barely noticeable smirk at her own thoughts. It shouldn't be difficult. Her whole story was so good you couldn't make up a better one, and best of all—it was entirely true. All that was left was to tell it correctly. The sharp trill of the final school bell snapped her out of her thoughts, which had already acquired a clear structure. Well, the time had come. She could head to room 207 and wait for everyone to gather. And it would be best to close this issue quickly. She really wanted to manage to grab at least a little rest before her evening detention with Griselda. She was already starting to have nightmares about that damn mop. Dominique slung her bag over her shoulder and, exchanging a glance with Stella, headed toward the desk where Tecna and Flora were packing their things. At the desk next to them, Musa was also packing up.
"Well, shall we?" Stella tried to make her voice sound casual, though it came out frankly strained. Then she shifted her gaze to the fairy of music. "Musa?.."
Musa, zipping up her bag, let out a barely audible hmph and looked up.
"Flora said you're planning an evening of revelations here," she drawled, giving the princess a cold stare. "You know, I'm actually curious: what new fairy tale are we going to hear today?"
Stella instantly flared up with indignation.
"Listen, if you're just going to be snarky and rude out of nowhere again..."
"Stella, please, don't," Flora hastily wedged herself between them, pleadingly folding her arms over her chest. Then she turned to the fairy of music. "Musa, we agreed. You promised to just listen."
The fairy of music rolled her eyes and hitched her shoulder in annoyance, adjusting her bag strap.
"Go to the room. I'll catch up," she tossed out and, without waiting for an answer, walked briskly out of the classroom, disappearing into the corridor.
Dominique merely scoffed mentally. Another petty demonstration of her grievance. Fine, let her play this game if it made her feel better. However, half an hour later, the atmosphere in room 207 began to heat up rapidly again. Stella paced the space between the beds, repeatedly glaring at her watch in irritation.
"Where is she?!" the princess finally exploded, throwing her hands up. "Half an hour has passed! Are we supposed to beg her to come? She's clearly doing this on purpose to piss me off!"
"She'll come. Just show a little patience, Stella," Flora replied, looking at the door with growing anxiety.
"Yeah, well my patience is already..."
A sharp click of the handle cut Stella's angry tirade short. The door swung open, and Musa finally entered the room. She carelessly tossed her bag onto her bed and immediately sat down next to it, crossing her legs.
"Alright," Tecna looked at everyone. "We're all here."
"Finally," Stella snorted, crossing her arms over her chest. "We can begin this historic moment."
Musa gave the princess an icy stare.
"No historic moment," she cut her off. "I only came because Flora asked. And because I'm genuinely curious to find out: what new little fairy tale have you come up with?"
Stella opened her mouth to shoot back a barb, but Flora beat her to it. She took a timid step toward the fairy of music.
"Musa, please," the fairy of nature asked quietly. "Let's just hear them out. For the last time. For all our sakes. Please."
Musa sighed heavily and, leaning back against the headboard of her bed, crossed her arms over her chest.
"Fine," she hissed through her teeth. "I'll listen to your latest nonsense. But don't even hope that I'll believe a word of it."
Dominique took a deep breath. Well, the moment had arrived. She cleared her throat dramatically, gathering her thoughts and drawing everyone's attention, and then began her story:
"I'll start from the very beginning, then. As I mentioned before, I was born and raised on Earth. In an ordinary little town called Gardenia. My planet has no fairies, witches, or monsters. All this magic is considered purely children's fairy tales where I'm from. And I thought so too, until one day, walking in the park, I stumbled upon something that completely changed my life. I met Stella. And she... was fighting some kind of demons."
"It was an ogre and a pack of ghouls," Stella immediately chimed in. "I was just returning from Callisto. I really do know Varanda; we're very good friends. We were supposed to go to Alfea together this year, but... literally a couple of days before our departure, her father, the king, had a severe heart attack."
Stella stopped in the middle of the room and sighed heavily, remembering that day.
"Panic broke out in the palace, and the planet's borders were temporarily closed. Naturally, studying was out of the question for the heiress in such a situation. Varanda wrote an official letter of withdrawal and asked me to personally deliver it to Faragonda."
"Why a letter?" Tecna spoke up from her chair. "Wouldn't it have been faster and more efficient to cancel the enrollment via the extranet or simply call?"
"Because due to the closed borders, all communication channels were also blocked so information about the king's health wouldn't leak to the press," Stella explained. "There really is something strange about that attack. I saw the king the day before, and he was as healthy as a horse."
"An assassination attempt?" Tecna frowned, trying to look up current information from Callisto on the extranet. "Is that why Faragonda was talking about the princess's safety?"
"I don't know what really happened; I left before anything was cleared up," Stella began pacing the room again. "I took the letter and returned to Magix. There was still a whole week before classes started, so I decided to hit the boutiques. That's when those jerks ambushed me."
"They wanted to take your ring?" Flora guessed.
"Yes. And I had a bunch of shopping bags with me! They would have gotten ruined in a fight. I'm talking about designer pieces from limited collections..."
"Stella..." Dominique cut off the princess's monologue, which had clearly taken a wrong turn.
"Right, right, anyway, I decided: screw the fight. I wanted to portal straight to Solaria. But they did something..." Stella narrowed her eyes angrily and clenched her fists. "Most likely, those nasty Trix gave the ogre some kind of jammer that scrambled my portal's coordinates. And instead of ending up at home, I was thrown into some dirty park on Earth. And those freaks jumped right after me, into my own portal."