Divine Guidance (Peregrine x Pupperr)

[Peregrine]

Through a haze of grey, misty fog, a lone silhouette sat on the edge of a bank, feet dipping in to a swirling, grey river. The figure rested comfortably at the edge of the bank, leaning back onto both hands. Occasionally, one foot or the other would bounce slightly, lifting pale toes out of the water, before they dropped back in. The figure stared vacantly out across the water, eyes occasionally darting restlessly from one side to the other. However, other than those occasional, small motions, there was no other movement in this realm of infinite, pale grey.

However, a moment later, the stillness was broken as the figure at the bank leaned forwards, pulling feet up into a crouched position, before leaning over the river. One long finger dropped into the grey water, and a ripple of golden light appeared where skin met water. As the finger moved upstream, the golden light drew out into a ribbon, waving slightly with the motion of the water. A faint smile played across the face of the lone person, before a sharp, sucking, popping noise suddenly ran out across the river.

Blue-grey eyes going wide, the figure's finger was instantly withdrawn from the water, as though something had bitten its soft skin. The golden light that had waved lazily through the water was also gone without a trace. Frowning, the lone figure's hands dipped into the river, pulling out little more than a mouthful of water in cupped palms. Staring intently into the puddle, look of concentration barely wavering, one thumb finally moved out, touching the surface of the water and creating tiny ripples on the formerly glassy-smooth liquid.

Apparently satisfied, the figure released the water, allowing it to splash back into the grey river, before once more leaning back into a lounging position. Slowly, almost delicately, blue-grey eyes fluttered closed.

---

In the middle of the forest, a ten year old girl was bent almost double, hands carefully closed around the base of a small, blue flower. With a look of concentration plastered across her face, she tugged delicately at the flower. It snapped loose from the stem a second later, and a drop of faintly glowing liquid, the same shade of blue as the flower, dripped out, falling to the ground silently before being absorbed into the soil.

"Ah, no!" she shrieked, short-cropped brown hair flying in a halo around her head as she shook her head wildly back and forth, back and forth. She looked down at her hands, nose wrinkled into a stink-face.

"Stupid hands," she muttered, before finally letting out a huff of air and marching away from the now flowerless plant. Luckily for her, however, there were easily ten other sets of the little blue flower scattered around the clearing in the middle of the forest, and she set about carefully tugging the next one. This time, the bulb disconnected from the stem cleanly, causing the flower to start to shimmer faintly with a gentle light. Smiling to herself, the brown-haired girl deposited the flower into a small basket, which contained two other lightly glowing flowers.

By the time the sun reached its zenith, the girl's basket was almost completely filled with glowing blue flowers. Humming tunelessly to herself, the girl picked up her basket, covered it with a clean cloth, and then began to race through the woods, a small bounce occasionally creeping its way into her step.

It didn't take long for the girl to arrive at the edge of the forest, where simple, wood and stone houses had been built in a loose gathering. Darting through the streets, she eventually arrived in front of a house, before knocking on the door. "Hello!" she greeted cheerfully when the door finally opened. "Mama and I are new to the village, and she told me to bring these as gifts!" One small hand fished out a blue flower, before presenting it with a beaming smile.

The glow still hadn't faded from the flower despite how long it had been separated from the stem. In big cities, these flowers were often sold as cheap alchemy ingredients, but many villagers, unaware of their value, simply considered them pleasant decorations when picked cleanly.

"My name is Finley!"

 

[Pupperr]

In the still quiet of the forest, hurried footsteps rushed through the trees. The small child skipped over surfacing roots and snaked around the labyrinth of tree and brush. Beads of sweat rolled off her brow with each heavy breath, compressing and expanding her chest, desperate to fuel the child's body as she ran through the wood. Her arms swung, propelling herself forward, and her heart pounded, circulating blood to her sprinting legs.

The child closed her eyes tight as she crashed through a brush, falling to her hands and knees on the other side in a small clearing. Hunched over, lungs desperate for air, the child looked over her shoulder, back at the direction from which she had come; back at whatever it was she had run from. The child began coughing, wheezing, and gasping for breath. Her body began to tremble, her vision blurred, and the world around her began to darken. Just what had it done to her?

~~~​

Green eyes fluttered opened, welcoming the morning sun trickling through the curtained window. In the other room dishes could be heard clanging together in a basin full of sloshing water, likely the clean up from the breakfast which she had missed. The child sat up in her bed and stared at her blanketed legs. One week had passed since her accident in the forest. One week had passed that she hadn't breathed a word of what happened to anyone. No one would believe her anyway. Was it even real, or was the child's mind playing games on her?

A voice from the living room jolted the child out of her daydream but before she could respond, a figure appeared in her doorway. "Amari, sweetheart, are you going to get out bed?"

"Yes mama." A faint voice replied. Amari had been sleeping more since her accident and she could tell that her parents were beginning to worry. They would chalk it up to a common cold but she knew it had something to do with her accident in the forest. With that thing she came across and what it did to her. She had never seen anything like it before. It looked as if a giant animal had clawed the very air open but there was more to it than just that; there was a strange aura surrounding the claw mark. It felt as though something was oozing out of it and whatever it was, seeped into her body when she was close enough to it.

"Amari, are you alright?" The child's mother asked, concerned for the twisted discomfort that appeared on her daughter's face. Amari looked up at her mother with a quick, shocked smile, displaying her pearly whites with pride. "I was just daydreaming! Can I go outside and play now?"

Amari's mother smiled softly back at her, feeling reassured by her child's happy face. Amari's mother stood from her bed and returned to the doorway, leaning against it and folding her arms across her chest. Whenever Amari's mother leaned against her door and folded her arms, she was going to lecture her. Amari looked at her mother sheepishly, hoping to persuade her with adorable charm, but it was futile. "You can go outside once you have had a proper breakfast and bathed. Remember, Amari, the early bird gets the worm."

Amari's mother was always telling her that the early bird gets the worm but she never really understood what her mother meant, and yet, her mother continued to say it. Amari wondered if her mother was hoping that she would miraculously clue in to the important life lesson she was trying to to teach her simply by repeating it on a daily basis. The figure disappeared from her doorway, returning to whatever morning chores had to be completed. The child stuck her tongue out at the empty doorway in a small rebellious act of defiance when a knock came at the door.

"Amari! Get your butt out of bed and answer that door." Her mother commanded from the other room. But she wasn't even dressed yet, and how were you supposed to get the worm in your pajamas? Amari pulled herself from the bed, her long black hair an unruly mess on the top of her head, and scampered to the door.

"Hello?" Amari asked as she opened the door before a surprised look washed over her face. There was a girl her age standing at her door, extending a gift, and introducing herself as a newcomer. Before accepting the flower, she curiously looked around the city streets behind the newcomer, expecting a group of children waiting to see how their cruel joke was going to end… but there was no one. No one except this small, short brown haired girl, cheerfully introducing herself as Finley.

"Thank you…" Amari accepted the flower, it was truly beautiful and still retained its glow. She knew where Finley had plucked the flower; the forest was her favourite place afterall. "How did you pick a Cerulean without losing its glow?" she asked with a curious smile. "Oh! My name is Amari, by the way."

 

[Peregrine]

"Oh, it's easy," Finley boasted, before beckoning Amari a little bit closer. Playfully, she pulled back the cover on her basket, revealing her small collection of blue flowers. Then, she quickly pulled back, restoring the cover to the basket and glancing around surreptitiously, as though making sure no one had eavesdropped on her revelation.

"I do it all the time," Finley continued, boasting all but uninterrupted by that brief pause. "You just have to pull them off the stem in the right way. There's a little bit of water at the bottom of the flower, and as long as that doesn't fall out, the glow stays all shiny." She nodded once, self-satisfied, having either forgotten or ignoring the fact that she'd ruined well over half of the flowers she'd tried to pick.

Finley glanced through the doorway into Amari's house, before turning back to give a sheepish glance to the other girl. "Hey... do you think you could... help me?" she finally whispered, a rather sheepish expression crossing her face. "Mama said I was supposed to give every house in the village a flower but..." the girl hesitated, glanced at her basket, and a slight flush stained her cheeks. "Well there... just aren't enough flowers in the forest for that."

A lie, one Finley had no way would easily be revealed by the other girl's familiarity with the forest, if it wasn't revealed simply by the rushed way she spoke that final sentence. If she'd managed to pick every flower in the clearing perfectly, she would have had just enough to gift to everyone. But there was no way Finley was going to admit that her previous boast had been nothing but, well, a boast.

"So... who are the most important people here? I need to make sure only the people that matter get a flower."

 

[Pupperr]

Blinking with astonishment, Amari leaned over to peek at the treasure the strange girl on the stoop was showing her. The basket was filled with Ceruleans illuminating their famous blue glow as if they were still firmly planted in the ground. A genuine smile swept across her face at the sight. "Amazing!"

Amari listened intently as the girl explained the hidden method behind plucking the flowers. Finley sounded as though she was an expert in Cerulean picking, if there were such a thing, but there was a curiousity prodding her; where was Finley from? In all of the books she read, all of them wrote that the Curelean was native to the forests around the capital in the Obsidian Realm. Was Finley from the capital!? Shocked by such a revelation, she barely noticed the girl peering into her home and asking her for help.

"Me?" Amari asked, stunned by the comment but seeking confirmation that Finley hadn't made a mistake in who she was asking for help. The question itself was mostly rhetorical because it wasn't long before she was speaking again. "Well, I guess the most important person here is the Colour Elder. He helps people break into White Essence. It seems like a big deal but I don't really understand. It must be though because he is an important person here! People are always talking about the Colour Elder. But not like how people talk about me, not at all. They say nice things about the Elder."

With a sudden halt in her speech, Amari clasped both of her hands to her mouth quickly, realizing what she had just said. Her cheeks turned a rosy pink and she could feel her heart beginning to pound in her chest. "I'm sorry, I'm rambling!" She suddenly blurted out, but didn't bother to pause to allow Finley to respond. The girl seemed nice and she didn't want to scare her away like all of the other children. Finley could be her last chance to have a real friend.

"I can help you. I would love to! But I have to catch the worm first… can you wait for me?"

 

[Peregrine]

"Color elder," Finley repeated, nodding her head slightly. Finley was no more familiar with the nature of essence than Amari was, but she was certainly willing to trust the other girl's judgement. If she didn't get help, Finley was just going to have to assume that whoever had the largest house was the most important, and she couldn't help but imagine that was a faulty judgement.

Finley's thoughts were interrupted, a trace of awkwardness flashing across her face at Amari's comment about people not saying nice things about her. "People don't..." Finley began, before Amari's hurried words interrupted her own question. Finley shrugged slightly to herself, before nodding her head.

"I can wait," Finley agreed. "But why do you have to catch a worm to help me?"