(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!"

The daughter of the chief looked up at her timorous friend with a cocked brow and looked around. Nothing was there.

"I think we should go, it's not safe!"

"You go back, I'm staying," Fìorea replied, whilst stroking the petals of the same flower with her finger tips.

"OH!" Nèopri stamped her foot, barely missing the flowers standing around her ankles. The rush of air sent small puffs of magical dust around her. "You're being unreasonable!" she huffed and crossed her arms across her thin chest.

"Look, relax. I think Father has maybe overworked you lately. I grant you the day off tomorrow," Fìorea sent her calm voice over her shoulder.

"That's not..." Nèopri began to argue but was interrupted again by her violet friend, who made her jump with a sudden gasp. "What?" she cried out and looked around like a meerkat on guard.

"Oh dear, you poor little sapling!" Fìorea skipped towards a bloom that was struggling to grow at the edge of the flowery carpet, and made her hands glow with her purple magic. It was then that she also heard something. A grunt from the bushes.

Fìorea glanced over her shoulder but shook her head and proceeded to give the flower aid when the sound was not repeated.

It was at that moment that a loud angry yell filled the air and the sound of Nèopri's screams got mixed in with the baritone noise.

A large Troglobha charged towards the Sìthicris chief's daughter.

"Curru, Fìorea!" Nèopri cried as she began to dart through the trees.

Fìorea got to her feet and with a raised, glowing hand cried, "Prod!"

Her violet magic caused the Troglobha to freeze mid-stride. With a relieved sigh, she looked around for Nèopri, who was nowhere in sight.

Silly thing. She must have kept running as if I was right behind her, she thought, then glanced towards the hyperventilating Troglobha who was surprisingly quiet in his frozen pose.

Fìorea looked at the aggressive looking, muscular creature with pity in her sparkling eyes. A glimpse of dark red then caught her attention and she looked down towards his still flexed arm, which had a nasty deep gash in it.

"Tha gàirami ain ursad maloirt," Fìorea said, pointing at his arm. The Troglobha looked at her with confusion plaguing his burning hot, orange eyes. "Oh, I'm sorry!" Fìorea rushed to say. "I didn't think! You of course don't speak Sìthicris-Sana. I was just saying that your arm is hurt," she explained in the Troglobha's own language.

No response came from him, he just stared at her with distrust, his chest heaving with panic.

"I can heal you, but I'll need to unfreeze you. I'm willing to trust you, if you are willing to trust me."

Fìorea edged towards him with her hands raised before her at shoulder height.

"If I unfreeze you, I ask you to please not attack me. I only wish to help you," she continued in a slow, gentle voice. "Will you let me?"

The Troglobha's gaze relaxed and he bowed his head down slowly and raised it again calmly. Fìorea took this as a "yes" and let him go. The violet glow around him snapped back into her left palm and her hands stopped glowing. She walked towards him, slowly, and reached her delicate hands towards him.

"May I touch you?" she asked, and the Troglobha answered.

"Yes."

With a small smile she placed both of her hands on the cut on his arm, making him wince.

"Now, this will feel strange," Fìorea warned him, "But I promise, you'll be completely healed in a heartbeat."

The Troglobha opened his mouth to respond but was distracted by a bright purple glow. Fìorea felt his flesh knit together below her hands and heard a small whimper leave the large, khaki skinned creature. When the healing magic was done, she let go and stepped back.

"There you go, good as new."

A look of amazement entered his now much calmer orange eyes.

"Thank you," he said and gave the Sìthicris a small smile. This was a rare sight for a Sìthicris to see, for no Troglobha ever looked happy in the presence of their enemy.

However, this delicate violet creature was kind, kind for no foreseeable reason.

"What's your name?" Fìorea asked him. "I'm Fìorea, the chief of Sìthicris' daughter."

"Vidurram," the Troglobha replied in his baritone drole.

A smile stretched Fìorea's lips. Then her eyes pulled wide as her new acquaintance decided to speak some more.

"You speak Troll Language so well! Do all Fairies know how to speak it?"

"Indeed we do. Our magic translates our words into others' sounds. We can speak to your Tribe, we can also speak to the animals and nature itself," Fìorea explained. Vidurram looked impressed for a brief moment but a glower suddenly slammed onto his face.

"Then why do you insist on hurting nature? You hear its language you say? Can't you hear its screams? Or do you choose to ignore them?" Vidurram snapped angrily.

"Hey hey, you've got us all wrong, all of you do, we don't harm nature. We help it grow."

"Then explain your attire! How is ripping young flowers apart to create your clothes helping them to grow?" Vidurram spat out his accusations.

"Oh no, Sìthicris clothing is not made of flowers. We make our materials from the wool of four legged beasts and also dead leaves at the time where they fall from their branches. We colour these materials and fuse them together with our magic," Fìorea explained calmly. "No new blooms are ever harmed by Sìthicris... erm Fairies."

Vidurram looked at her with a new scowl, not an angry or aggressive one, but one filled with awe.

"All our Tribes ever needed all these years was a calm conversation and a chance to explain our different ways of life," Fìorea said with a shrug and walked towards the small sapling she was trying to help before she was attacked.

"I don't understand," Vidurram called as he followed her footsteps. "Your magic can do all of that?"

"And so much more," Fìorea said in her melodious tone. "Watch."

She lit her hands with her violet glow and made them hover over the struggling sapling in an upside down cupped shape. Then opened them up as the flower grew and stretched to match its Strelle fo Bhlàth brethren. Vidurram watched in silence as Fìorea touched a gentle finger in its centre and sent a ring of glittering pollen into the air in front of him.

"Let it land on your left hand. " She watched the amazed Troglobha do as instructed. "Now think of a creature you like to see." Vidurram gave her a confused look, spurring her to then add, "In your mind."

Suddenly a tiny creature that looked like a leaf with a face and four tiny limbs ran in circles in the air. The image was made of glittering, white light.

"A tree creature! That's what I thought of! Can you see that too?" Vidurram exclaimed in excitement.

"I can." Fìorea got to her feet. "Are these creatures from your land?"

"Yes, they're the most important part of home. They take care of us. They clothe us, shelter us and keep us fed."

Fìorea's violet eyes widened as she stared at the light display and drank in Vidurram's story.

"I would love to see them one day," she said without really thinking. She felt so much closer to this Troglobha now, through a power she could not understand.

"You must!" Vidurram answered with a friendly smile, then brushed his auburn curls from his face. "They are truly a blessing to see!"

"Maybe I should visit your homeland tomorrow night?"

"Indeed! When all the Trolls are asleep!" Vidurram added to the arrangement with glee.

"Fìorea!" the sound of worried voices called from the shadows of the trees. It was much darker now, only the light of the stars above and the magical plants below lit up Fìorea and Vidurram's faces.

"Nèopri! She's brought a posse to come and find me. You must go!"

"You'll meet me tomorrow night?" Vidurram asked as he backed away.

"Yes, I'll meet you in this clearing, when it's as dark as this!" Fìorea replied, then saw him turn with a smile and run towards the bushes, then out of sight.

Fìorea then turned the opposite way and ran into the West Forest's trees, towards her anxious friends.