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Morai

M orai tiptoed through the backdoor, though she shouldn’t have bothered because as soon as she walked in the mana stone on the wall lit up, illuminating the house in a golden light. Her mother, who was sitting at the dining table, got up and rushed towards her.

“How did it go?” Her mother’s hair, which was always in a braid and tied back in a yellow ribbon, swayed behind her. She’d received the ribbon as a gift from Morai, who’d bought it on one of her jobs in another city. Morai had seen how bright the color was, and the silky-smooth texture and thought it would be perfect for her mother. She wasn’t wrong; it complimented her dark skin and hair quite well.

“I knew you’d be able to do it.” Grabbing onto Morai’s hands, her mother dragged her into a chair before Morai could speak.

Pulling down a bowl from the shelf, her mother filled it with soup, a soup that had a healing potion mixed in it. After every job, her mother always gave her and her siblings soup mixed with a healing potion regardless of whether they were hurt or not. Her mother placed the soup in front of Morai, who stared at it.

“Though when I heard the alarm, I was a bit worried.” Morai’s heart thudded in her chest. How was she going to tell her mother she’d failed? Never in her short life had she failed on a job before. Now she wished she hadn’t told her mother about it. But the job had been a personal request from her client. Usually, they picked jobs from a board at the guild, but once in a while they got personal requests. She didn’t have to let her mother know since her parents had left her and her younger brother to run the guild in their place, but she also never kept anything from her mother, so telling her about the job was only natural.

“I’ve never seen an elixir before. Do you have it with you?” her mother was saying when Morai tuned back into the conversation. Plopping down on the chair opposite her, her mother propped her elbows on the table, hands under her chin. Her brown eyes, that were the same color as Morai’s, sparkling as she waited for Morai to first taste her soup, then tell her what had happened. Morai cleared her throat and took a sip of the hot soup. It had chucks of meat and vegetables in it.

“It’s good,” Morai said. Her mother’s food was always perfect.

“Of course it is. But how did it go? Is it in your pocket?” Losing her appetite, Morai pushed the bowl away from her.

“No, Mother, it didn’t go as planned.” Her mother frowned.

“What do you…don’t tell me Luka showed up?” Morai stiffened.

“How did you…”

“Of course I know. I’m your mother. I know everything,” she said with a huff. “So, what happened? Does he have it?” Morai’s shoulders slumped.

“No, he doesn’t. It broke.”

“Oh, so neither of you got it?” Morai, who’d been looking at the bowl of soup this whole time, looked up to see her mother smiling.

“Well then, I’d say that’s a success, isn’t it?”

“Huh, but I failed.”

“No, you didn’t, if Luka had gotten it then yes, but he didn’t either, now did he?”

“Um.” Morai still felt like she failed.

“Finish your soup and get some sleep.” After finishing her soup, Morai made her way upstairs, wondering how she was to tell her client that she’d failed to get the elixir. That, and the fact that she’d just lost out on 100,000 gold. Morai groaned, slumping into a chair at her desk that faced the window. The window faced Luka’s home that was across the street. They’d become neighbors after both of their families grew too large, mostly because their parents were competing on who had more children. Luka’s family won that round with Luka having six other siblings and Morai having five. She was glad when both their mothers' ovaries dried up. She couldn’t handle taking care of all of her siblings. Morai sighed, staring at the house. From her spot, she could see the window to Luka’s room. The curtains were drawn, so all she could see was the light from the mana stone. She leaned her forehead against the coolness of the window, closing her eyes. She’d been so close to getting her money, and while she felt it was entirely Luka’s fault, she couldn’t bring herself to be angry at him. With another sigh, Morai moved away from the window, and pulled open her drawer taking out her bank book. She sat, flipping through it, she reached the page she wanted, and crossed out the 100,000 gold she’d written in it. Tapping her pen on the page, she looked out the window again. She’d have to find another way to get the money she needed, but how? No one paid such a large sum for a job, and this was the only job she’d had. Which meant she’d have to go back to working on smaller jobs until she got the amount she needed. She frowned at the glowing butterfly that flew to her window. She recognized that butterfly. It was how she and Luka had exchanged messages before they were aware of the rivalry between their families. Morai shot out of the chair, banging her knee hard against the table. Biting back a groan and with tears springing to her eyes, she doubled over, rubbing her knee vigorously. Thankfully, the potion was still at work, but that didn’t mean the pain wasn’t there. Limping towards the window, she opened it, and the butterfly fluttered inside, then dissipated into blue dust, the message appearing in shimmering blue light.

Are you alright? Morai couldn’t help the grin that appeared on her face. This was the first time in years that he’d sent a message of this nature. Pulling out another notebook, she scribbled a reply.

Yes, I’m fine. I had Mother’s healing soup. Sending the butterfly on its way, she watched as it fluttered to Luka’s window, it was now open with the curtain fluttering in the breeze. The butterfly flew inside, and Morai let out a breath. She was hoping to catch a glimpse of him. Morai frowned at the thought. This was really unbecoming of her, she moved away from the window. He was probably just worried about her ankle. She didn’t want to read too much into it, shouldn’t read too much into it.