The Outcast

“He asked you on a date?!” Dia’s voice echoed through the room, grating on Lily’s tired ears. “When??”

“Last night. He got his companion to come up and knock on the window; surprised it didn’t wake you up.” Lily yawned loudly as she rubbed the sleep out of the corner of her eyes. She would never get a night of decent sleep during any of this year at the rate she was going. For the life of her, she could not imagine what Dia saw in getting up early each morning.

“No! I didn’t hear anything!” Dia was so excited, bouncing on the end of the bed. “What did he say??”

“Finn asked you out?”

Neither girl even jumped when Tanith walked in wearing her baggy pyjamas with a tired grunt telling Dia to scoot over.

“He just asked to go to town and get some drinks then maybe have a bit of a walk,” Lily grumbled.

“That’s a date!” Dia half yelled, gaining a wince from the other two which she promptly ignored. “Isn’t that a date?” She demanded, shaking Tanith’s shoulder trying to get the answer to tumble out from her.

“I would consider it a date, he hasn’t asked the rest of us,” Tanith smirked while shoving Dia playfully off her. “So, you said yes, right? You are going, aren’t you?” They both looked at her so eagerly, eyes wide and excited, though Tanith’s smirk was teasing compared to Dia’s barely contained glee.

“Erm, yeah. We’re going after breakfast.”

Dia squealed loudly. Tanith responded by shoving her off the side of the bed with a yelp about bleeding ears which pulled a tired laugh out of Lily. “Is it really such a big deal?” She yawned.

“Oh please,” Tanith smirked. “With how awkward you are, I’m betting this is your first ever date. So yeah, it’s a big deal. Do you even know what you are doing? Are you going to actually be able to talk for long enough not to bore him to death?”

Dia looked at her with mildly offended wide-eyes. “Tani!”

“What? She’s the quietest out of all of us” Tanith defended, sending a cheeky wink towards Lily who just shook her head while smiling. Tanith could have a harsh mouth, but she only ever mocked her friends with a good heart. “But then, other than you, Finn’s the loudest so it should work out just fine.”

“You calling me loud?!”

“You saying you’re not?” Tanith snorted, nudging Lily who could only laugh quietly in agreement. Dia merely folded her arms and pouted, her curling red hair falling over her face. Tanith grinned in triumph. “We love you for it though, don’t you worry your pretty little head for it.”

“If you weren’t so loud, you probably would have never adopted me as a friend” Lily pointed out with a chuckle.

“You suck!” Dia whined but bounced up to sit next to Lily, leaning against the headboard. “So, what are you going to wear?”

Lily simply blinked at her in response before raising an eyebrow “Clothes?”

Tanith barked out a laugh as Dia rolled her eyes. “What clothes? Like you’ve got to dress up for a first date! At least to look like you’ve made more effort than a normal day.”

“Really?” Lily looked at Tanith for confirmation, getting a half-shrug half-nod in response.

“It’s a good idea, especially as he sees you every day. Plus, if you like someone, it’s fun to make an effort and see how they react.” She agreed.

Lily frowned in thought as she glanced between her two friends and then over to her joint closet. “But, I only have like ten outfits.” They were all black so no one seemed to notice the difference but they were similar enough that people probably thought she had more. Dia knew how few she had because Dia had made the ten outfits in the first place so she could mix and match.

“I’ll take one of them and change it up into something new!” Dia sprung from the bed and began rummaging in the closet for which outfit she deemed worthy of changing.

Half an hour later, Lily sat finishing off her breakfast with a new black dress that felt a little tighter than she was comfortable with and had lace shoulders and half-length sleeves. It felt strange, and the way her friends kept smirking at her made her feel hot under the collar. She’d never really dressed up for anyone before, and it was difficult to keep reminding herself that this wasn’t actually a real date. It was strategic and a way of gathering more information so she could figure out what was going on with this senseless war. The way Finnigan’s bright green eyes sparkled a little as he saw her while being nudged by Rainer shouldn’t have made the red on her cheeks darker either.

This wasn’t a real date, she scolded herself in her mind. It was pretending. The fact she’d never been on a real date and was simply out of her depth could not be a reason to get pulled along for a ride by her own emotions.

“Hey, you look good!” Finn chimed as he reached the table and dropped down into the seat beside her, reaching out to steal some bacon off her plate as it all remained awkwardly untouched. His words didn’t help. Lily ducked her head slightly, her brown hair shielding her face a little as her cheeks burned a bit more. Finn probably thought she was being ridiculous, making an effort with her clothes and acting nervous as hell. It was most likely laughable to him.

“She does, doesn’t she!” Dia piped up, leaning across the table to steal the toast from Lily’s plate. “Though I think she’s a bit shy.”

“Nothing new there.” Finn chortled before looking at Lily as though studying her for a brief moment. “Though teasing may not be helping, how about we go now? Save you from any more torture.”

“We’re friends, torture is how we show love.” Tanith countered with a laugh and a wave indicating that she was encouraging them to leave.

“It’s a wonder you aren’t more popular,” Rainer drawled sarcastically as Finn took Lily’s hand and pulled her away from the group and out of the canteen, the sound of the friendly bickering following them until they were a little way down the corridor.

“They really are loud,” Finn mused with a chuckle.

“Yeah.” Lily stammered as she looked down at her hand which Finn was still holding. It was just for show, but her heart was loud enough to hear in her ears! “Dia was louder this morning. And she insisted I wear this, so, sorry I look a bit weird.” She flushed.

“Weird?” Finn quirked an eyebrow before smiling at the flustered look on her face. “I meant it when I said you looked good.”

“Oh.” Was it possible for her cheeks to grow any hotter at this point?! Lily seriously doubted it, especially as she was so pale already, it was only natural that the colour change would be so obvious. Finn didn’t point it out though, he didn’t say anything more as he led her from the school grounds and out passed the sentinels. Like the rest of their little group, they knew that Lily’s silence often wasn’t her being unfriendly, and it didn’t mean that she didn’t want to be there. She simply didn’t know what to say.

“So, I was thinking we should go and sit down with a couple of Spiced Mint Fusions, where we can talk a bit. The Café that does them is really good, they’ve got booths that help reduce the carry of people’s voices so we’ll be safe. Then we can go for a walk after if it’s not too cold.” Finn broke the silence with a plan for the day which Lily was glad to hear. She had worried that he was going to ask what she wanted to do or where she wanted to go to talk about everything and Lily was awful at making decisions. Her friends would drag decisions out of her every now and then, but it was easier to just convince her that she was allowed to say if she hated the idea.

“I do like Spiced Mint Fusions,” Lily replied with a smile on her lips at the memory of them at the festival.

“I had noticed,” Finn chortled. “I imagine your drinks back home were quite different?”

“Oh yeah. I wasn’t really lying about the whole being self-sufficient but usually having fruit and vegetable-based foods. We have a lot of milk-based foods too, but things like energy herbs and meat are non-existent.”

“Really? No meat?” Finn looked incredulous. “You’ve been eating it here though?”

“Yeah, I didn’t want to look strange not eating any,” Lily admitted with a shrug. “It did take my stomach a bit of time to get used to it, but I still can’t eat loads of it.”

“Crick!” Finn cursed in amusement as they walked into town. “Good to know though, if we’re going to date then I should probably know more than the others do about your preferences. My favourite food is meat though, so I’ll end up stealing yours off your plate which will help you eat less of it.”

Lily giggled at the thought “It’ll be easier than me trying to take less so I don’t get stomach aches.”

“It probably would have been easier to just tell people you didn’t like meat at the start.”

“Yeah, but I panicked when I saw the food and just ate it without knowing what it was till later.”

Finn laughed brightly while Lily rubbed the back of her neck awkwardly with her free hand. “The extent you’ve just accepted and adapted to so you blend in here is crazy. Surely there’s so much you don’t understand?”

“Tonnes, but if I ask questions I’ll look suspicious.”

“Didn’t they, like, school you in what to expect before sending you here?” Finn asked as he pushed open the door to the café and stepped to the side for Lily to enter first.

“We had no idea what it’s like here. I had long enough to learn how to make my normal magic move through a stick, and how to make a potion from the elements that made me look like this.” Lily replied quietly. The café was quiet with people chattering to themselves but now words really carried. It was a cosy place with wooden décor and red hued flames flickering across the ceiling and giving the place a warm glow. It wasn’t large, but the seats were spaced away from each other to give people privacy.

Finn headed over to the booth furthest from the door and sat down, pulling Lily into it after him. The seats were covered in soft cushions which Lily sank into happily.

“So, you just came here without any clue?”

Lily nodded at the question and shrugged. “It was a quick idea from them too, being wingless I was the only one who could get past the sentinels. But I’m also viewed as something that is wrong because I was born wingless, so they probably didn’t worry about me getting caught or killed.”

Finn looked horrified but paused as an older man came over and handed them a couple of small paper menus. “Drinks?”

“Two Spiced Mint Fusions, please,” Finn replied with ease, waiting for the man to walk away before he turned back to Lily. “So, they just sent you in without any help, hoping you wouldn’t get caught? That’s insane!”

“I suppose it was a chance they couldn’t pass up. We’ve never known anything but what we see in the battles every hundred years. We can’t even begin to think about how daily life would be to witches.” Lily frowned for a moment before adding more, “Well, we could. But as Witches are always painted as villains, the theories were always horrific and terrifying to think about.”

“Like putting wings with dried blood on in cauldrons alongside live screaming animals perhaps just to make us eviler?”

Lily winced a little as the close accuracy he had guessed and nodded “Something like that. There were also theories that you’re constantly being trained to kill us, and that’s what the school actually is.”

“Ha! I’d love to know how learning about pupuacrin would help us kill fairies.” Finn laughed, pulling a soft giggle from Lily as well with a nod.

“Yeah, obviously everything I’ve been taught in the lessons, and all the books I can find, and all the potion ingredients I’ve cleaned has no threat to them in the slightest. But when I tell the council that, they just tell me to search further.” Lily sighed with a shake of her head. “I’m beginning to think there isn’t anything to find though, and I need to prove that to them.”

“And knowing our side will help with that.” Finn smiled brightly over at her as their drinks were delivered and he ordered a couple of snacks as well, knowing Lily hadn’t eaten anything at breakfast.

“Hopefully.” Lily shrugged again, feeling less confident in her little plan than she had done the night before.

“It’s worth a try!” Finn encouraged as he sipped his hot drink, not as bothered by the heat. “If we find enough evidence then I could go to the city. I can try and get the council of witches to listen too.”

“Really?” Lily’s eyes lit up, heartened that she would not be the only one trying to convince her own kind to listen.

It came to light as they were talking that witches were taught that fairies would kill on sight and that they also had fangs like a predator of the forest. They thought that they didn’t know about their magic over the elements and thought their magic was limitless and powerful. Which was probably true now that Lily had discovered she could use incantations for ‘normal’ magic as well, but the rest of the Fairies would only ever use one of their five elements. The witches also thought that they were tricksters and evil people who liked to watch others in pain and needed more space in the forest because they needed to feed their growing community.

It sounded to Lily that the witches attacking was more like a defensive cull to reduce the numbers of other races, they thought they were stopping the fairies from taking over their lands and leaving them for dead so they could watch on in entertainment.

Both sides had developed horror stories about the other and raised their generations on the belief that they were going to be a hell that descended on them one day. But no matter how they examined it, neither Lily nor Finn could figure out how the truth hadn’t come to light sooner. Both species just went to war without wondering if it was something that really needed to happen, both believing they were in the right and that they were fighting against the evil in the world.

“This is crazy, the stories don’t match up in the slightest!” Finn sighed as he let his forehead plonk onto the table in front of them, frustratedly chewing on a sweet macaroon he had ordered for them both.

“I wonder why the war even started in the first place.” Lily placed her now empty cup onto the table and glanced around the café. Everyone was peaceful, getting about their day, living in the same way that her kind did.

“Who knows, I bet no one really knows either,” Finn grumbled.

“You never know, I’ll have to keep looking for something.”

“I’ll help. My family dates back quite far and I’ve got relatives in the city, they might have some older history books kept in their properties.”

“The city?”

“Oh, yeah. There are quite a few towns for witches and then there’s the big city where we have our council the same as you have yours.” Finn explained with a small smile on his face.

“Oh. I suppose we have outer villages in other little bubbles, so I’m not sure why I expected this to be the only town.” Lily chuckled with a hint of embarrassment, though it did mean that this war would be considerably bigger than she had ever imagined if they didn’t convince the Elders and the witch council to not go through with it.

The café was beginning to get busier with the time trailing into lunch and afternoon hours; so, before they could discuss anything else, the pair decided to get some sandwiches to take with them on a walk. Lily chose the avocado and cheese mixture while Finn went for a spiced pulled meat.

“You weren’t kidding.” Lily laughed at the order causing Finn to shrug with a small blush on his face.

“I told you, I like meat. Of any kind.” He tilted his head “Do you want to try and bite later? It’s probably spiced differently to stuff you’ve had before.”

“You sure?”

“I wouldn’t offer if I wasn’t,” he teased.

Lily shook her head a little, knowing she really needed to stop triple checking for confirmation that the people around her were being truthful in their words. “True. Then yeah, thanks.”

Once they had their little bags of sandwiches, Finn’s hand found Lily’s again and led her out of the café and out of the town itself. They headed up towards the edge of the woods just like Dia and Lily had done before. It was the only real place you would be guaranteed peace as fewer people were likely to walk towards the woods that housed their enemies.

“So, you said the fairies all have one element that’s most prevalent in them, right? What’s yours?” Finn asked as they walked, leaving footprints in the snow that covered the floor.

“Ice.” Lily smiled softly, being able to talk about herself properly made her less anxious. “My natural hair is white, and my eyes are actually silver.”

“That’s so cool! So how does your magic work? Do you need incantations like us?”

“No, we just have to focus on what we want the elements to do. Some that are continuous are controlled by having so many of one prevalent set of fairies nearby that it becomes as automatic as breathing though.” Lily explained. “We have light and shadow fairies who don’t have to focus the whole time to keep our season as one continuous season because there are enough of them that have been trained to do it as naturally as moving their limbs, same with the storage of ice. They usually end up with other jobs like council work, or fabrics, or looking after the fugacapra. Water and plant fairies will always end up involved in the farming or housing upkeep of the kingdom.”

“Does that mean you kind of know what training and work you’ll go into from when you were born?” When Lily nodded at the question, Finn frowned slightly. “Well, that kind of sucks.”

“Does it?” Lily tilted her head in confusion.

“Yeah. Like you don’t get a dream of your own.” The blank expression on Lily’s face prompted Finn to continue. “Well, you don’t get much of a choice. Especially if you are water or earth prevalent. Like what if you loved the idea of farming but you were born as a shadow fairy, you could never do farming because you aren’t the right type?”

Lily mulled over the new way of looking at it in her mind. She had never met any fairy that seemed to be bothered by the work they had, but then, no one had ever pointed out that there could have been other options.

“I don’t think anyone has ever looked at it that way.” She admitted, finally. “We’ve always strived for a self-efficient and peaceful lifestyle, so I doubt anyone has ever been unhappy enough with that to think about other ways to do it.”

“So, you never had a dream job?”

“My only dream was to be accepted by them even without wings” Lily laughed softly to herself. “That’s why I want to be able to go back and save my people the losses that would come with war. One, I would ensure my parents would be safe, but I might also have earned a place in their minds. My future job is to work in the archives like my father, but I’d at least like it if people didn’t avoid me at lunch.”

“Archives?” Finn’s voice showed he obviously didn’t approve.

“Yeah,” Lily giggled. “It’s not that bad. I get to learn a lot from the papers and I don’t have to deal with that many people.”

“True, I suppose you couldn’t be someone who needed to speak publicly.” They both laughed softly at that though Finn’s laugh was a little more pitiful. “But seriously, there’s nothing else you’d want to do if you had the chance?”

Lily looked up into those serious eyes and saw her own reflection within them. Was there something she’d ever wanted to do? Back home there certainly wasn’t anything that she thought about which made her feel the wish to do it forever. Nor was there any class particularly which gripped her in such a way either, though that could have been because of the pure focus she had to keep to make sure she didn’t slip up. Classes made her constantly anxious.

“Maybe some kind of cross-race historian?” She tittered finally. “The more information I find about the past about this war alone is giving me enough questions to last years, I can only imagine how many I would end up with if I looked into other races as well.”

Finn looked at her with a grin growing on his face which made Lily flush in embarrassment and shake her head quickly.

“Which is daft, pretty sure no such job exists.”

“But if the war can be stopped, then maybe that job will become a vital one to build all the bridges between races?” He nudged her side softly. “And you’re the one who’s started this so you’d be the ideal person to carry it on.”

“Yeah right.” Lily scoffed.

“You need to give yourself more credit! Look at what you’ve already dug up.”

“I’ve been here for almost four months and I’ve mostly got confusion and questions.”

“Correction: You’ve only been here four months and you’ve worked out that both fairies and witches have been living with lies for five millennia which no one has questioned.” Finn folded his arms stubbornly as he stopped moving through the snow to look down at the smaller girl. “Seriously, your willingness to see witches as good people despite everything, and draconians despite everything the witches say about them. I think you’d be the right person to ask the questions because you don’t point blame.”

“I kind of got adopted without much choice by Dia.”

“Maybe, but you could still have remained suspicious after everything you were taught, instead you’ve gotten to know her and Tanith. And you started asking different questions rather than just searching deeper for the same thing you came for. You’re now asking why, instead of where.” Finn reached out and stroked the side of Lily’s hair, revealing her ear for a second before the locks fell back down. “You’re a really good person, Lil.”

Lily flushed deeply and shook her head. Finn was giving her far too much credit, she was just confused and she wanted to know what was going on, but he made her sound like she was someone amazing for doing it.

“You may not believe me, but you are.” Finn insisted, leaning to press one of those heart-destroying kisses to her forehead again before beginning to walk again. Even if this was supposed to be fake, there was no chance Lily was going to get found out with her blushing like this every time Finn did something gentle or sweet.

The rest of the afternoon was less talk about the two races and their differences and diverged into more talk about themselves. Lily found out over their sandwiches that Finn’s favourite food was actually sweet pears with syrup on, but as that was more expensive he didn’t get it all that often compared to his second love, meat. They laughed over the antics of their classroom time at school, both laughing loudly at each other’s little stories from classes the other one wasn’t in. Like the time Dia had spilled potions ingredients over her leg and turned her skin purple for an hour, and the time that Rainer and Finn got into a play fight while flying up on their charmed objects and both fell off and landed on Warlock Parvoz.

By the time they returned to the school, the atmosphere between them was light and joyful. Both knew that they had a lot of heavy questions to answer, but Lily felt like a huge weight had been lifted now she had a close ally in her search.

Finn took her hand again as they walked to their dormitories and Lily could feel a couple of eyes look their way. They were probably wondering what a boy from a good heritage was doing with the farm girl who spent all her time with her nose in books.

“Ignore them.” Finn smiled as he felt Lily begin to pull her hand away. “It’ll help us if everyone thinks we are dating. They’ll naturally give us space when we are alone together.”

Letting out an anxious breath, Lily tightened her fingers around his and attempted to move more confidently beside him. How did she walk around him previously? Was she walking funny now? The chuckle from Finn suggested that maybe she was and once more her cheeks flushed with colour.

“It will also help that you are really cute when you are nervous or get teased.”

“Huh?” Lily snapped her gaze up to his amused features before quickly averting her gaze and pouting through her embarrassment.

“See!” Triumphant, Finn pulled her to a stop just before they reached the dorms and waited for her to turn her head before kissing her forehead again. “Now, remember to make it seem like it was a really good date.”

“Well, it’s the best one I’ve ever had?” Lily chuckled lightly.

“Still feel bad about that.” Finn laughed, letting go of her hand with a wave so he could head back to his own dorm.

Lily tilted her head slightly as she watched him go, finding that she really didn’t mind that this had been her first ‘date’ even if it wasn’t real. She liked Finn, he made her feel things she didn’t understand but mostly, he made her feel comfortable and he made her laugh. Even a fake date with him would surely be better than a real one with someone she didn’t get on with?

Heading back into her own dorm, pausing only to let the Morequcor statue trot out of her way, Lily couldn’t keep herself from smiling. She felt like she was finally making progress.

“She’s back!!!” Dia’s voice was loud in her ear as the curvy redhead launched herself at Lily the moment she entered their room.

“Whoa!” Lily stumbled back against the door facing a very excited looking freckled face.

“You’re blushing!! Oh my god! Did he kiss you when you came back? What happened? Where did you go? What did you talk about? Did he hold your hand??” Dia grabbed Lily’s face in her hands and half shook her in excitement and eagerness for answers. All her questions only brought the pinkness back to Lily’s cheeks where they had only just begun to fade.

“Let her breath, Dia.” Tanith laughed from Lily’s bed where she sat with Oscar curled up on her lap and Kiki staring at Lily from the pillow. “But seriously, did he kiss you?” She smirked.

“What? No. Well… on the forehead.” Lily mumbled through the crushing hug she received from Dia.

“Cute.” Tanith chortled. “I did wonder if I’d have to beat him for making you uncomfortable.”

“No! Not at all!” Lily rushed a little too loudly. “It was really fun and I felt really comfortable with him…”

“Eeeeee! Yush!! Our little baby got a boyfriend!” Dia yelled as she bounced back to her bed with Lily in tow.

“Our baby?” Tanith raised an eyebrow.

“Yup! I’m the mom who gives her the pretty makeovers! You can be her over protective dad!” Dia chimed.

Tanith considered the idea for a while before nodding her head with a serious face. “I better give Finn the ‘dad talk’ later then.”

“The ‘dad talk’?” Lily had no idea what they were going on about now.

“Yeah, you know. The one where I tell him that if hurts our precious baby then no one will ever find where I bury his body.” Tanith grinned evilly in a way that made Lily genuinely believe her to be able to do something like that.

“Oh.”

“We wouldn’t really, but it’s the protective parental threat that happens a lot.” Dia laughed at Lily’s unease. “Though, I will at least hex him into next week if he hurts you.”

Lily laughed softly, feeling happier about her friends’ protectiveness than she had done even when she was flustered and embarrassed over Finn’s compliments. Maybe one day she would be able to tell them the truth too.