𝐂𝗁𝖺𝗉𝗍𝖾𝗋 𝗍𝗐𝗈ㅤㅤㅤ───ㅤㅤㅤ𝖺𝗎𝗍 𝗂𝗇𝗌𝖺𝗇𝗂𝗍𝗒 𝗁𝗈𝗆𝗈,
ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ𝖺𝗎𝗍 𝗏𝖾𝗋𝗌𝗎𝗌 𝖿𝖺𝖼𝗂𝗍.
ㅤ
ㅤ
ㅤ
ㅤ
ㅤ
ㅤ
ㅤ
ㅤ
ㅤ
ㅤ

▬▬▬▬▬ㅤ 𝐒𝐎𝐋 𝐇𝐀𝐃 𝐀𝐋𝐖𝐀𝐘𝐒 𝐋𝐎𝐕𝐄𝐃 𝐇𝐄𝐑 𝐃𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐌𝐒, they were much more creative than any scenario she could ever fantasize about. Sol had dreams about eating a buffet with a big family of elves that used to live in Drupyn with her own family ere she was even born, of being able to breathe underwater and swim with water trolls and of being able to perform any and every kind of magic, even when she was only capable of only three to four spells━ given enough effort, that is.

ㅤㅤㅤThe night she was captured, however, no good dreams came to visit. In that cold and humid cube of cement and bricks, she had fitting cold and unusual dreams. She didn't even remember closing her eyes when suddenly the cell shook and the ground slowly caved in and forced the chains stuck to her neck strangle her with little pity. When she woke up from that first dream, gasping for air, she found that there were no chains in her neck and that the ground was still there.

ㅤㅤㅤThe second was even worse, Sol dreamt that the chains became snakes and bit her in all places, in her arms, in her shoulders, in her neck, and in her torso. She woke up still feeling the pain of the bites that weren't there, but she couldn't scratch the places that sting, as the chains were still made of iron and not just snakes tied together.

ㅤㅤㅤThe third dream was that she suddenly had been able to free herself from her chains with a pull of her arms, only to fall into a deep ocean as soon as she crossed the bars of the cell she had been thrown in. Sol tried to swim up, but from the bottom of the ocean she could see hands made of shadows rising to hold her legs and pull her down.

ㅤㅤㅤSol got tired of waving her arms around in an attempt to swim up, and soon stopped struggling, giving up on saving her own life while not being completely aware if what surrounded her was reality.

ㅤㅤㅤJust as she began to feel water invading her lungs, the sound of a few women talking in whispers made her snap out of her dream.

ㅤㅤㅤSuddenly Sol wasn't even in an ocean anymore, she felt the ground beneath her, the chains on both her wrists and her legs completely free from evil hands made of shadows.

ㅤㅤㅤShe gasped for air, feeling as she had actually been about to drown, and looked up to the women who stared at her with both surprise and fear.

ㅤㅤㅤ"Dear my, it has awoken!" one of them spoke.

ㅤㅤㅤ"Well, of course, with all those shouts of yours, who wouldn't?" another one frowned.

ㅤㅤㅤ"I think it was having a nightmare! Look at the sweat!" the one in the middle of the group pointed at Sol's forehead.

ㅤㅤㅤShe frowned, trying to clean off the sweat with her shoulder. Instead of helping, the action only made more strands of hair get stuck in her forehead by all the sweat in her face.

ㅤㅤㅤ"I didn't know they could dream at all." a quiet one whispered, covering her own mouth in pity as she watched Sol with interest, "Poor dear, it looks so young!"

ㅤㅤㅤFrowning in embarrassment, Solaomoni scoffed.

ㅤㅤㅤ"It looks like my youngest daughter, doesn't it?" the same quiet one turned to another that had yet to say anything, but the other only nodded in response. "Only that her hair isn't so red. My God, it looks like a flaming torch! Look!"

ㅤㅤㅤ"Stop!" Sol snapped, silencing the woman at once with a single word. "You are all so rude! I'm not an 'it', you dirty pig of a human! I have a name! A-And my hair isn't all that red!" she finished it of with a mumble, "Is it?", she questioned herself, trying to look at her own curls. The human was right, her hair was as red as could be, but that had never been a problem, why did she feel so embarrassed because of it now?

ㅤㅤㅤ"It speaks our language!" the loud one exclaimed in surprise.

ㅤㅤㅤ"Yes, yes, and I speak it very well, thank you." Sol rolled her eyes. "What are you here for? To gawk at me as if I'm an endangered animal?"

ㅤㅤㅤ"Oh! Yes!" the one in the middle shook her head as if she had just remembered something. "I mean, no. Not to gawk, King Arthur sent us here to fix you."

ㅤㅤㅤ"...Fix me?" Sol narrowed her eyes and the woman gulped, scared to elaborate any further.

ㅤㅤㅤ"To clean you, is what she means." the grumpy one who told off the loud woman just as Sol had awakened said in boredom.

ㅤㅤㅤTo 'clean'. Sure. As if she'd trust any of those humans.

ㅤㅤㅤ"There's no need. Just free me and I'll clean myself." she rolled her eyes, frowning when one of the women scoffed.

ㅤㅤㅤ"Absolutely not. Do you think we are dumb to trust a beast like yourself?"

ㅤㅤㅤ"There's no need for trust. Just throw me a sponge, a bucket of water, some kind of ᚩᛚᛖᚩᛋ and the keys to these chains."

ㅤㅤㅤ"ᚩᛚᛖ━ what?" the one in the middle frowned, as confused as the rest of the women.

ㅤㅤㅤ"ᚩᛚᛖᚩᛋ! Uh..." Sol absolutely hated the language barrier that finally made itself known, she had no idea if there even was a word with the same meaning in the human's language. "The... the thing you use to wash your hair and body! Perfume! ...Perfume? No, that's something else..."

ㅤㅤㅤ"Bear fat? Rosemary water? Vinegar? What?!" the one who told off the loud woman said, impatient as she gripped on the cell bars.

ㅤㅤㅤ"B━ Bear fat?! I am not to let you put bear fat in my hair!"

ㅤㅤㅤ"We'll use lye and oils, it'll give its hair a good smell!" the loud one nodded with an excited smile.

ㅤㅤㅤ"Once again, I'm not an 'it'. I have a name!"

ㅤㅤㅤ"And what's that?" the quiet one mumbled to her.

ㅤㅤㅤ"Solamon Izzet." she rolled her eyes, the human pronunciation didn't taste good in her mouth as her real name did.

ㅤㅤㅤ"It almost sounds like a name from around here." the loud woman pinched her own cheek, lost in thought.

ㅤㅤㅤ"Oh, it does." the one in the middle nodded. "Well, then, if we are to introduce ourselves, then I'll tell you our names. I'm Ruth, that's Margot," she pointed to the quiet one by her side, who shyly waved at Sol. "the one by her side is Bethany," the loud one. "this one is Sabrina," she pointed at the lady by her other side, the one who gave the idea to put bear fat in Sol's hair. "and that last one is Winifred." the one who hadn't said a word.

ㅤㅤㅤSol nodded, but stayed silent.

ㅤㅤㅤ"Okay, that's enough introductions," Sabrina clapped loudly. "let us start the cleaning."

ㅤㅤㅤThe women all stayed in the far corner of the cell once they finally got the courage to get in. Sol rolled her eyes at their fear and sighed, standing up straight.

ㅤㅤㅤ"Listen, why don't you just cover my eyes? If I have no sense of direction then maybe you'll be more comfortable." she was being too nice. To prioritize their comfort over her own was too much, but apparently it had to be done or else they'd be there the whole afternoon.

ㅤㅤㅤ"That's!..." Sabrina frowned, pointing at Sol before she slowly nodded. "...actually, not a terrible idea. Ruth! Cover her eyes!"

ㅤㅤㅤ"Why me?!" Ruth frowned, almost trembling in fear.

ㅤㅤㅤ"Just go already!" Bethany pushed her towards Sol and the others helped to get her closer to the fairy.

ㅤㅤㅤRuth groaned, and Sol threatened to bite her once she got close. Solaomoni burst out in laughter when all the women gasped loudly in shock.

ㅤㅤㅤIt seemed as they didn't like the joke, as they made sure to scrub Sol's skin raw when washing her. The fairy wouldn't be surprised if her skin had been scraped off completely.

ㅤㅤㅤAfter they were done, Sol was put back into the chains and had the piece of cloth removed from her eyes.

ㅤㅤㅤShe checked her skin as the women all ran out of her cell, and was surprised to find it only red instead of bleeding nonstop like she expected.

ㅤㅤㅤAt least she felt clean, not so much her hair, Sol felt it wasn't so used to the human ways of washing, but neither was she, so she couldn't blame her hair for it.

ㅤㅤㅤBut then, after the women were gone, she began questioning herself: why did they even need to clean her for? Were they scared that she was carrying diseases from the forest with her? Did they think she didn't shower?

ㅤㅤㅤSol scoffed, as far as she knew she was the cleanest creature there, taking double the amount of showers the humans did.

ㅤㅤㅤThey had dressed her in different clothes than she had arrived in, tucked her hair into four buns, one above the other, and removed her earrings ━Margot had told her women usually didn't wear any, as the people thought it was an act only witches did (that and many other things that Sol did not understand a bit, had the humans ever seen a real witch?)━. It made Sol a bit scared, she had no way of protecting herself from magic now, as the magic runes were written in her earrings and nowhere else. She had to wait until she was twenty to get some tattooed in her back and palms, but maybe after this ᛗᚨ would give them to her earlier than usual to ensure her safety.

ㅤㅤㅤThe sound of footsteps made her become alert. Sol stood up straight, the rattling of the chains making her irritated enough to pull on them with her left wrist.

ㅤㅤㅤThe footsteps stopped and the fairy looked at the door to see Merlin, the human wizard, trying to find the right key to unlock her door.

ㅤㅤㅤIn the end, he gave up with an impatient groan and put his hand over the lock. Sol heard a click and the door opened on itself, letting Merlin step inside.

ㅤㅤㅤHe glanced at Solaomoni, watched her with much intrigue, then pat the top of his staff, uncertain of where to start in his monologue.

ㅤㅤㅤ"How is Kalla?" he asked, so quiet that he almost seemed shy in Sol's eyes.

ㅤㅤㅤShe frowned, confused.

ㅤㅤㅤ"Who?" for a moment, he seemed to get caught off guard with the question. Merlin went pale and cleared his throat while putting a hand in his own forehead in apprehension.

ㅤㅤㅤ"You don't know who she is?" Sol figured that was more of a rhetorical question, as Merlin didn't wait for her answer before he took a deep breath and kept speaking. "Kalla, next in line to be the ᛗᚨ of Eriynx? Or... or is she already the ᛗᚨ?"

ㅤㅤㅤ"Oh." Sol didn't know ᛗᚨ's real name was Kalla. Good to know, she supposed. "Um, she's━ she's ᛗᚨ now. And she's fine, I guess. Was she the one to teach you my language?"

ㅤㅤㅤHe nodded, then tapped the top of his staff again.

ㅤㅤㅤ"And who taught you how to speak mine?" he narrowed his eyes, interested to know.

ㅤㅤㅤ"I learned it on my own." Sol told him, full of pride, "hearing from humans."

ㅤㅤㅤMerlin nodded again, humming along.

ㅤㅤㅤ"You're a fast learner, I presume." she shrugged as to be humble. "Well then, that will come in handy."

ㅤㅤㅤ"How?"

ㅤㅤㅤ"You need to learn how to act like a modest young lady to not bring any suspicions." he explained, waving a hand to free Sol from her chains.

ㅤㅤㅤ"Why?" she rubbed her red wrists, still hurting and all red from the direct contact with the iron.

ㅤㅤㅤ"So we don't have to worry about people asking too much about you when we pass by." he searched for something on his robes, frowning when he couldn't find it anywhere in himself.

ㅤㅤㅤ"What do you m━"

ㅤㅤㅤ"That's enough questions from you." he pointed at her, an impatient frown in his face.

ㅤㅤㅤAt that, Solaomoni frowned and crossed her arms.

ㅤㅤㅤ"I decide when it's enough questions from me. I want to know what mess you are getting me into." she stomped like an angry bunny.

ㅤㅤㅤ"There is no mess," Merlin sighed, rolling his eyes. "you are going upstairs to my workshop with me, that is all."

ㅤㅤㅤ"Why?" the ginger narrowed her eyes in suspicion.

ㅤㅤㅤ"I do not possess the time nor the patience to come down here every day. I am Merlin, for God's sake! I have my own work to do, and you will accompany me around to answer me a few things about the state of Eryinx and its politics nowadays." he finally found whatever he was searching in his robes and pulled it off to show Sol, ruining the perfect state the fabric had been folded in to fit in his robes. "Wear this to hide your wings and tell me if it is comfortable enough for your liking."

ㅤㅤㅤWhat he gave her was a long red cape with golden flowers sewed in both sides and small petals sewed at the bottom of the cloth. Solaomoni glanced at the soft pink dress with red and golden details they put on her━ she wasn't a fashion expert, but even to her it was clear that the cape and the dress were meant to be worn together.

ㅤㅤㅤ"Why would I do that?" she frowned, not liking the idea of being unable to move her wings.

ㅤㅤㅤ"It's either that or you stay here in this cell for a few weeks." Merlin shrugged.

ㅤㅤㅤ"Weeks?! No, that's too long." she shook her head, letting the cape fall from her hands into the floor. "I will not stay in Camelot for longer than a day."

ㅤㅤㅤ"I'm afraid that won't be possible. The king sees your kind as a threat at the moment, and unless I show him proof that you are not, then you will all be considered Camelot's enemy." Merlin picked up his cape from the ground and made Sol hold it again. This time she only huffed instead of letting it go.

ㅤㅤㅤThe fairy thought for a moment. Solaomoni simply could not let the king of Camelot see her family as a threat, she knew of his fondness for war and that he could go after them to try and end the fae or oppress them like he had done with the trolls for so long.

ㅤㅤㅤ"Only if I get a comfortable room and good food, along with protection during my stay here." she knew she was in no place to ask for things, being a prisoner and all, but Solaomoni knew how to cause problems, and she had to be confident of herself to gain at least some sort of respect. Going along with that, she wondered if she would be able to bring some of the humans' culture with her... "And I want to take everything I get here back with me."

ㅤㅤㅤHe raised a curious eyebrow at the last demand, but didn't argue.

ㅤㅤㅤ"Very well," Merlin sighed, waving a hand dismissively. "let us start your training."

ㅤㅤㅤAs expected from the human wizard, he didn't go easy on her, gave her wrist a slap everytime she made an unnecessary move in her ladylike walk and pulled on one of her buns to raise her chin when she was starting to sulk into her position with a curved back.

ㅤㅤㅤAt the end of the evening, Sol felt that her shoulders had changed from a curved line to a completely straight and wellmanered position, but her whole body felt stiff because of it.

ㅤㅤㅤ"Change the face," Merlin said once he realized she actually looked like she was visibly struggling to keep the good human girl act going, "you look like you're in pain."

ㅤㅤㅤ"I am." she muttered, almost as if it hurt to speak too, "I really am."

ㅤㅤㅤ"I don't remember the fae being this dramatic." he sighed in disappointment as his hands went to his waist. Sol ignored the insult, instead letting her curiosity show.

ㅤㅤㅤ"How do you know of us? And of our village's name? And of ᛗᚨ?"

ㅤㅤㅤ"Too many questions." he dismissively waved his hand towards her, then turned around. "Follow me, now. You will be given a room near my workshop so you won't have the excuse of "getting lost" in the castle or anything of the sort. The doors and windows will be locked and you will need to ask for permission to be let out for whatever reason, there will be a guard at your door whom you will ask permission to. Your clothes will be bought by me for the time being. If you behave correctly, I can manage to convince king Arthur of letting you buy your own clothing and anything you may thing you need. Do not speak with anyone unless you are spoken to, and even if it is the case, say you are too busy with work I assigned to you to make small talk. Do you understand?"

ㅤㅤㅤ"Too much information." she, with a frown, copied him, waving her hand angrily like he had. In response to her teenage attitude, he rolled his eyes and sighed.

ㅤㅤㅤ"I don't recommend acting like that in here, it'll only get you in trouble." he turned around and walked out of the cell, leaving the iron door open with no worries.

ㅤㅤㅤ"It'll." Sol had trouble twirling her tongue around the word, never having heard it before. It'll, it'll, it'll. She wondered.

ㅤㅤㅤ"It will." Merlin impatiently said from far ahead, near the stairs that Sol guessed was were they were to exit from.

ㅤㅤㅤ"I knew that." she lied in a mumble, catching up to him with a hurried step. Solamon hoped they wouldn't walk much on her time there, she wasn't very used to using her legs for longer than a few minutes of a short run.

ㅤㅤㅤ"Let us train something before any problems happen, what will you say if someone approaches you with a greeting?" Merlin didn't spare her a glance as he went up the stairs.

ㅤㅤㅤ"Uh... Ladies!" Sol copied Pretty Boy's low voice and gestured with her hands in the way she thought humans greeted each other.

ㅤㅤㅤWith the way Merlin send her a confused glare from the middle of the stairs showed her that she had done something wrong. The fairy immediately groaned in embarrassment and looked somewhere else.

ㅤㅤㅤ"Just say "hello there" and we should be good to go." he sighed, simply, and went up the stairs in a slow pace.

ㅤㅤㅤSol took her time climbing the stairs step by step, as she wasn't used to the human architecture, and Merlin didn't say a word to her stumbling. In the end, she had to use the help of her hands to climb most of it.

ㅤㅤㅤ"Hello there!" she waved at Merlin when she got to the last step, testing our the phrase as she adjusted the skirt of her dress with one hand and smiled widely at the man, who cringed at her exaggerated motions.

ㅤㅤㅤ"No. Do it like this," he slowly bowed, holding an invisible skirt and putting one foot behind the other to look more gracious. "Or do nothing at all."

ㅤㅤㅤ"Hellooooo theeeereeeee!" she bowed aswell, almost like an irritating parrot.

ㅤㅤㅤ"What was that?" he suppressed a disgusted look very badly, making Sol frown in confusion. "Don't elongate it so much, it would be extremely painful to see you embarrass yourself like that."

ㅤㅤㅤ"Okay." the ginger rolled her eyes, as he was just being annoying now.

ㅤㅤㅤ"Before we go..." he looked for something in his robes again.

ㅤㅤㅤ"What?" Sol tried to see what he was getting, curious as always. "What is it━ AHH!" she covered her eyes with her palms as Merlin threw a strange powder over them.

ㅤㅤㅤThat's it! He had made her blind! Solaomoni knew she shouldn't have trusted any humans, now that was the price to pay for her insistence. She tried opening her eyes to see the blurry world, but soon her vision returned to normal and Sol found herself saying, "Oh."

ㅤㅤㅤMerlin examined her eyes, then temporarily created a small mirror in front of her for her to tell him it she approved of her new eye color: a brown that seemed to be just a darker tone of her original eye color to look more humanlike.

ㅤㅤㅤShe nodded in approval and they went on.

ㅤㅤㅤAs they turned the corner, a few of the guards pretended not to see Sol behind Merlin, others glared at her, but said nothing.

ㅤㅤㅤContrary to Merlin's beliefs, not a single soul questioned her identity as they passed through a labyrinth of corridors full of people. They went up a set of circular stairs and stopped only once so Sol could recover her breath.

ㅤㅤㅤ"Why do you humans like to walk so much?" she mumbled to Merlin as they went deeper into the castle towards a tower that seemed to be separated from the castle, as there was a long bridge between said tower and the rest of it.

ㅤㅤㅤ"Stop moaning and keep up, would you?" he grumbled, rolling his eyes with such lack of compassion that made Sol frown, momentarily losing her good-human-girl composure.

ㅤㅤㅤAs soon as he opened a door at the front of the tower, an annoying ━and somehow familiar━ voice called from inside, followed by the sound of something falling.

ㅤㅤㅤ"Master!" the boy smiled, oblivious to the pile of books he was sitting on falling behind him after he stood up on a rush. "I-I've done everything you told me, before you ask, and got all the ingredients you needed, too."

ㅤㅤㅤSol peaked from behind Merlin, watching the boy with amusement as he rambled. As soon as he saw her, he paused.

ㅤㅤㅤ"Who's that?" he chuckled awkwardly and scratched the back of his own neck, he likely didn't expect Merlin to bring a girl with him.

ㅤㅤㅤSol frowned. Who's. Who's, who's, who's. Whose? As in whose is that? Was that boy calling her someone's property? How rude! She didn't like him already.

ㅤㅤㅤ"Who is." Merlin murmured to her, able to sense her confusion even from behind his back.

ㅤㅤㅤ"Oh." Solaomoni went red in embarrassment for having judged the boy as someone arrogant before having even spoken to him, she had done the exact thing she feared the humans would do to her.

ㅤㅤㅤ"Hisirdoux," so that was his name. It sounded a bit funny━ but so did Solaomoni Ilzzetrum, looking from a human's perspective, Sol supposed. "this is Solamon Izzet, my new apprentice."

ㅤㅤㅤ"You're... you're replacing me? No, no, you're not replacing me." the boy have a nervous laughter that made Sol cringe in embarrassment for him. "Are you? I know you're not, but... are you?"

ㅤㅤㅤ"No, Hisirdoux, of course not." Merlin sighed and shook his head before he stepped to the side and nodded at Sol, hinting it was time for her to bow. As she did so, he continued, "I expect you two to work together, you will share apprenticeship for quite some time."

ㅤㅤㅤThe fairy made sure to not let her eye twitch in anger at that. Quite some time, he said.

ㅤㅤㅤ"Right." Hisirdoux seemed reluctant to say so. "As you wish, master."

ㅤㅤㅤAnd with the ignorance in which he said that, Sol decided she did not like him, after all.

ㅤㅤㅤ

ㅤㅤㅤ𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐈𝐓 𝐒𝐄𝐄𝐌𝐄𝐃 𝐀𝐒 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐁𝐎𝐘 𝐃𝐈𝐃𝐍'𝐓 𝐋𝐈𝐊𝐄 𝐇𝐄𝐑 𝐄𝐈𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐑, Sol was quick to find out.

ㅤㅤㅤShe had built a plan in her head to explore the rest of the castle, and thankfully so far it had been working well: the guard at her door allowed her to leave to go to the bathroom ━as the guestroom she was staying in wasn't luxurious enough to own one, which, luckily for her or not, was absurd!━, and somehow she managed to trick him with a basic spell to go the opposite direction she was walking to. All Sol had to do now was to avoid the heavy sound of armor to not get caught wandering around, and she had been doing a good job, until...

ㅤㅤㅤ"Ow!" Mister Ignorant decided to crash against her in a corner while running away from... a broom? How curious!

ㅤㅤㅤ"I apologize━" he started before he could process who he had stumbled on, then immediately frowned when he caught Solaomoni's brown eyes. "Oh. It's you."

ㅤㅤㅤSol's eyebrow twitched in annoyance.

ㅤㅤㅤ"What's wrong, my dear colleague," her voice dripped of sarcasm as she mumbled through her teeth, "are you not happy to see me?"

ㅤㅤㅤ"Oh, of course I am!" he smiled sweetly, but there was still a hint of a frown in his face. "Who wouldn't be happy to see Merlin's spare apprentice?"

ㅤㅤㅤ"Spare━ Oh! Ohoho, I see how it is━ you are jealous of your master! Dear boy, poor you!" Solaomoni wiped a fake tear from her eye as she pouted in pity. She could have sworn a single vein popped in the boy's forehead out of anger, but his expression remained the same. "Tell me, what is your name? I seem to have forgotten already."

ㅤㅤㅤ"My, what a good memory you have, dear lady colleague," he laughed, the sound reverberating like a strangle from his throat with how forceful it was. "my name is Hisirdoux Casperan; Merlin's favorite apprentice." he smiled proudly.

ㅤㅤㅤ"Do you really find the need to include fake titles when I only asked for your name?" she found a way to remove a single curl of her hair from her buns and starting twirling it around her finger. A giggle escaped Solaomoni's lips when she saw his smile falter, she took that as a sign that her teasing was infuriating the boy ━great!, that was exactly what she wanted━. "Hisirdoux ᚳᚨᛋᛕᚨran, is it?"

ㅤㅤㅤ"No, no." he resisted the urge to pinch his own frown. "Casperan. His━"

ㅤㅤㅤ"Douxie!" someone called from behind the boy, but it was not a voice Solaomoni recognized. "Merlin's waiting for you at his workshop, what are you doing here?"

ㅤㅤㅤ"Archie! Oh no, is he mad?" in half a second, any anger that he carried within him vanished, his expression of pure fear brought a drop of worry to Sol, who watched as a black cat ran to them, adjusting his falling glasses when close enough to the two apprentices ━or, rather, one apprentice and a half, if you were to consider Solaomoni's temporary state in Camelot━.

ㅤㅤㅤ"Not yet, but I fear he'll be soon enough if you don't hurry back now." the cat spoke, frightening Sol, who took a step back in shock ━talking animals could only mean one thing: familiars, and she certainly did not know humans could have familiars!━, "Oh, hello." he nodded at her, only noticing her presence now.

ㅤㅤㅤ"Hello there!" she was not sure whether to bow at the cat or not.

ㅤㅤㅤSol hadn't had any time to think of her manners, her thoughts were cut short by the sound of armour just around the corner.

ㅤㅤㅤSooner than Hisirdoux could even think to look in her direction, Sol ran to turn another corner and went into the first door she saw, too tired of the damn stairs to go up the one at the end of the corridor.

ㅤㅤㅤShe waited until the sound of armour became far and only then risked spying through a little gap of the door. She let out a high pitched scream when Hisirdoux's thin face appeared looking at her from the other side. Sol, without thinking, slammed the door shut and cringed when she heard "ow!" from the other side.

ㅤㅤㅤ"I'm sorry!" she quickly opened the door again. "IdidnotmeantohurtyouIswearpleasedonottellMerlinhewillkillmeifyoudo!" and then she allowed herself to take a deep breath.

ㅤㅤㅤ"Ah..." Hisirdoux had both his hands over his nose, frowning in pain as he rubbed it. "Don'd worry, I dow it was on accidend... I won'd dell Berlin if you exblain why you were hiding from dhad guard! And in by room, on dob ov dhad!"

ㅤㅤㅤIt took all her might to not laugh at how funny his voice sounded, instead, Sol focused merely on thinking how to word an explanation without giving away her human disguise.

ㅤㅤㅤ"Wait." she paused, looking back at the room behind her. "Your room?" the hint of curiosity in her voice made Hisirdoux's eyes widen.

ㅤㅤㅤ"Don'd you dare!" the door was shut in his nose again, this time locked aswell.

ㅤㅤㅤShe looked around, carefully taking the room in to decide which part of it she should snoop into first. She completely forgot the idea after a single glance at a window just above Hisirdoux's study desk; a window that was most likely not locked like her own. The door handle rattled, Sol rushed into action.

ㅤㅤㅤSolaomoni ran to the window and opened it, taking her shoes off so it would be easier for her to quickly slip out from it. She heard the lock of the door click and immediately jumped to grab the top of the window to hide above it.

ㅤㅤㅤHisirdoux hesitated.

ㅤㅤㅤ"Solamon?" he called, and Sol held her breath.

ㅤㅤㅤShe heard the boy walk around his room in search of her, opening and closing doors all over. When she heard the sound of a door closing and silence right after, Sol guessed he had given up on trying to find her, and so she let out a relieved sigh.

ㅤㅤㅤShe held it in again once Hisirdoux's head appeared out the window, managing to hide further above the window before he saw her.

ㅤㅤㅤ"You don't really think she jumped a window, do you?" she could hear the disbelief in Archie's voice as Hisirdoux went back inside.

ㅤㅤㅤ"I don't know. But where do you think she could've gone to?"

ㅤㅤㅤ"Maybe she used a spell to go through the floor. We should check the room under yours."

ㅤㅤㅤ"I doubt it," Hisirdoux giggled, his voice getting quieter as he walked away. "the Ghost spell is way too advanced for someone like that weird girl."

ㅤㅤㅤSolaomoni clenched her fists unconsciously in anger.

ㅤㅤㅤ"Well, we can't just assume that," she nodded at Archie's words, but couldn't hear the rest as the boy closed the door to the room and walked away with his familiar.

ㅤㅤㅤSolaomoni decided that it was time for her to properly think of a way to get away from there━ she'd had enough of Camelot already.

ㅤㅤㅤGlued to the roof, she wiggled to the side of the tower and looked down to watch the guards standing in tactical places where they'd easily catch anyone breaking their laws; there were a few circling Merlin's tower, but thankfully they hadn't seen her yet because of how high she was located━

ㅤㅤㅤWhich, now that she thought of it, would also be a problem. Solaomoni looked to the side and ducked as soon as she saw a bridge where a few knights stood, all with their backs turned to her. She'd been lucky to not be caught so far, Sol had to be very careful now.

ㅤㅤㅤShe cautiously stepped back and did her best to not fall as she went down to another roof, finding a blind spot to hide in. There was a gap in one of the smaller towers where Sol was able to slip into, but she had to cover her nose as soon as she got there in order to not sneeze━ the smell of dust was overwhelming enough for her nose to sting. It was too dark to see, the only light came from the gap she had entered from, and so she had to put her left hand outside to reach for the sunlight so her magic would work, soon making her right palm lit up the whole room ━could she even call it that? It was so small and, comparing to other rooms, the maintenance was so poor━. The only door was a square one on the middle of the floor, otherwise, the room had no way in or out ━with the exception of the gap, that wasn't supposed to be there in the first place━.

ㅤㅤㅤFeeling a little lonely, she looked around and sighed.

ㅤㅤㅤ"This will do, for now." she told a little spider, who hang from a thread so thin that was only visible through Sol's light. "It isn't comfortable, but I can survive here until I find a way out of this castle."

ㅤㅤㅤShe nodded to herself and looked outside, disappointed when she found that she only had a poor vision of a few of the guards.

ㅤㅤㅤShe wondered if, at some point, Merlin would come looking for her. Hopefully he'd forget of her existence for long enough and Sol would have time to think of an escape plan.

ㅤㅤㅤAfter a day or so, Solaomoni was starving, and she hadn't even found a way to watch the knights to learn their positions throughout the day. Yet, she still managed to keep her mood up by talking to the spider and cleaning the room by burning the little puffs of dust that she found laying around.

ㅤㅤㅤAt least it kept her busy enough to not think anything negative━ Sol wouldn't dare to think of failure, as to not jinx any possible chances of escape.

ㅤㅤㅤ"...And it just upsets me that she would take away something that I loved with no hesitation like that, you know?" she mumbled to the spider, whom she named ᚳᚨᛋᛕᚨ as a homage to Merlin's apprentice, paying little attention to what she was telling it as the jealousy in her rose up with the fact that the spider was having its third lunch of the day. "It was my fault, I know it was, but she took away the only think that made me important."

ㅤㅤㅤSol paused. What was she talking about, again?

ㅤㅤㅤShe had started the day by complaining about how hungry she was and how a piece or two of pork would be great, then she started explaining how she was working out to be as strong as Owl ━or even more, if she did her best━ to be able to lift a boar as easily as he did, then of how she missed him and━

ㅤㅤㅤA loud cry made her jump in the spot, aiming her lit up hand towards whatever had made that awful noise as if to threaten it with light.

ㅤㅤㅤThe crow looked back at her with its big eye, so still that she could've sworn it was a statue of some sort. Then it cried out again, and bit Sol's finger.

ㅤㅤㅤ"Ow! Stupid bird!" she angrily swinged her hand at it to slap the crow away, but it flew around to dodge her violent attack and stumbled to the ground again, as if it had just learned to fly. Sol swinged her hand at it again, this time not even getting close enough to slap the bird. "Get out of here!"

ㅤㅤㅤHer eyes widened when she saw it was having a staring contest with ᚳᚨᛋᛕᚨ, then gasped when he ate the poor spider with no mercy in his dead eyes.

ㅤㅤㅤ"NO! What have you done?! That was my only company!" she jumped on top of the crow, but it flew again and made her drop do the ground with a thud instead. Without her hand out to use the sunlight as a charger, Sol had no way of using her magic, and so the room was dark again.

ㅤㅤㅤShe followed the sound of the crow and held him by the legs. At least now she'd have dinner! It would be her revenge (but, truthfully, it was less because of ᚳᚨᛋᛕᚨ and more because of starvation).

ㅤㅤㅤ"I got you now!" Sol laughed maniacally. "Oh, I bet your wings will taste wonderful with some salt! I'll find something to use as seasoning, maybe some grass will do."

ㅤㅤㅤSuddenly, the place she was kneeling on leaned to the right and made Solaomoni fall to the side. The trap door fell on top of her and squeezed her legs, but Sol paid no mind to it ━or to the crow flying away after it bumped its head three times on the wall trying to get out from the gap━, her eyes stuck on Merlin's red face.

ㅤㅤㅤ"So that's where you've been hiding!"

ㅤ
ㅤ
ㅤ
ㅤ

HI GUYS

I AM SO SORRY IT TOOK ME THIS LONG TO UPDATE

I'll be honest, it was mostly out of laziness, but also it was because I was incapable of writing in my phone + school work kept me stressed for like a MONTH

I honestly can't believe I was able to write 6k+ words for this chapter, I was having such a hard time that I thought it'd be much shorter :'D

yay sol and douxie get their rivals to lovers trope!!!!!

I was gonna write more but damn it's 1am I need to study for my test, thankfully tomorrow i have a day off so i can focus on that, but do I want to? no, not a single brain cell of mine wants to memorize math

god I hate math

anyways

I hope I could make the solxie interactions more fun to see, I'm honestly so glad I decided to rewrite the story from the start cause DAMN SOME OF THE STUFF I WROTE MADE ME CRINGE SO HARD REREADING IT

hello to the new readers who had no idea this was a rewrite, yes!!!! this is a thing!!!!!

you may notice from the next few (unedited) chapters that my writing wasn't very good, but it was because I use to value quantity over quality and I was so used to writing in portuguese that most of it didn't make any sense cause it was either too literal or some word that literally no one ever uses in english

I am so sorry, I swear the first version of the chapters were a crime against humanity (except maybe the archie has no thumbs joke, still proud of that one)

I wanna thank the old readers who stayed with me for so long, this story is very much a passion fueled fic and it makes me so happy to see people enjoying it! can you believe this story has been on wattpad for over a year already??? I can hardly believe it myself!!!

ANDDD for the people who get discouraged from reading this book by the quality of the next few chapters- NOOOO!!!! COME BACK PLSPLSPLSPLS I PROMISE IT GETS GOOD

ok that's it I'm tired

have a grEATTT day/evening/night!!! ilysm, bye

- beex

posted: July 5, 2021
rewritten: November 1, 2022
edited: November 2, 2022