Artemisia Isle Evergreen's Story

”Silence isn’t empty; it is full of answers”
Code ~ #0B610B

---

The clear hostility coming off of Justice towards the entirety of the group as a whole was like waves of dark energy, and it was a bit suffocating for Althea’s tastes. Her backhanded comments and irritation, however, caused Althea to tilt her head slightly, as though in thought, her expression holding an inquisitive look to it as she studied Justice’s features. While not necessarily nasty, seeing as the girl was definitely an outward beauty, the countances that she held fell under that of an ugly nature for certain, and that stole away from a lot of her beauty. Mulling over that thought, Althea turned her attention away from Justice and tucked it into the back of her mind, focusing on Miss Evers.

What Lilith explained made a fair bit of sense, and was exactly what Althea had suspected to be the truth; that when their memories were locked away, so were these odd abilities that had come to light. It was little surprise to her that the others possessed magic, but what magic each one entailed, she would have to wait to see. It seemed as though only a couple of them had actually managed to bring forth their powers, so either it was the precise memories that were unlocked when Miss Evers unleashed the spell, or a matter of something else that she had yet to figure out.

The sarcastic clapping that echoed within the room was cringe-worthy, at least in Althea’s personal opinion, and instead of being embarrassed for herself - which is what she assumed was Justice’s intention - she was in fact embarrassed on behalf of Justice. When the slightly younger woman spat out a few more cold words towards Althea, the older woman simply tilted her head once more, locking eyes with Justice and giving her what could only be described yet another intrigued look, as though she were a foreign entity that she was attempting to understand better. Although Aurora did attempt to say something in her defense, and Althea generally wasn’t one for conflict, she couldn’t help but give the other girl a bit of advice in such a way that perhaps she would be able to comprehend. A bit of a taste of her own medicine, in a way.

”I would much prefer to be of the meadowsweet variety than that of a lackluster buttercup,” she said, her voice soft yet her words said with an almost offhanded tone, as though she were not saying it to be cruel but instead in more so that of a teacherly vibrato. Quirking her eyebrow ever-so-slightly, Althea pursed her lips a bit. ”You know, you should really learn to not judge everything that you see simply by your eyes. As the old verbiage goes, ’Don’t judge a book by its cover; you may miss out on an amazing story.’” With that, she seemingly lost interest in Justice, filtering out whatever noise she made in return to Althea’s words.

Fixating her gaze on one of the women, she recognized her immediately as a classmate from English, Cassie, and after digging through her newfound memories for a moment, was able to recall her as her cousin, confirming what she had said in greeting. Ladys Mantle filtered through her mind, the striking peculiar green hair reminding her immediately of the pretty flower when in full, green bloom. A gentle smile cast her way, Althea lifted her hand slightly as though in greeting, using it to tuck a stray hair behind her right ear.

”Indeed, it’s lovely to see you again as well, Cassie - or would you prefer Meridian?” she asked, her head tilted slightly in question, as was becoming a seemingly common habit of hers. It was that movement that caused her eyes to wander slightly, settling on the sapphire gaze of Dawn, her beautiful blond locks instantly reminding her of daffodils. When she noticed her smile, she gave her a small one in return, her nervousness of the whole situation clear in her features. Althea had never been one for large crowds and, like at the festival the day prior, had simply vowed to suck it up, but the entirety of the events combined with her new memories were giving her an obvious amount of anxiety.

Althea returned the pot of petunias to its original spot before she found a place beside the coffee table on the floor to kneel, her legs folded beneath her. Her hands clenched together in her lap and she plucked uncertainly at her nails, attempting to keep her nervous habit hidden from view beneath the table before her. A quick glance around the room gave her a bit of information on Lilith’s tastes, and she listened idly to the conversations around her as Miss Evers requested the assistance of Euphemia and Justice. After the events that Althea had observed between the group the day before, it was evident at least to her that the woman was attempting to separate the two - and rightfully so. Although they had seemed to have gotten on well as children, from what little she could recall, at this time they went together about as well as oil and water.

Fredericka distracted her, causing her eyes to wander, a look of confusion on her face. "I-Uh-Fertilizer hands?" she stammered, her uncertainty evident in her features. "Business proposition?" she asked blankly, but after a moment, nodded, unable to say no to anyone who asks her a favor. A knock at the door startled her, causing Althea’s head to snap to the side rather sharply. A quick glance over those residing in the room, and she watched as Aurora went to answer it, on Miss Evers’ request. When she returned, she was no longer alone, but had yet another young woman trailing behind her. This one immediately reminded Althea of lilacs in full bloom, and it took her a moment, but after racking her brain of both her new memories and the university students, as it was part of her duty as Junior Class President to know all of the students on campus, she recalled her name. With a gentle smile in the girl’s direction, she called, ”Welcome, Luella - or if you prefer, Maestia, feel free to say so.”

The mention of her nickname from her former life in Rhindeval caused Althea to tune into the conversation between Meri and Aurora, and at the mention of her brother, she felt a deep ache in her chest. It was almost as though someone were gripping her heart and squeezing it, and tears pricked at her eyelids, threatening to spill. Blinking quickly in an effort to keep them from falling, Althea sniffled a bit and cleared her throat in an attempt to cover the sniff. At the same time, an odd feeling entered her, one that she hadn’t felt before, and she cast a sideways glance over at Aurora, having caught enough of the conversation between the two of them to understand the gist of it. Althea’s jaw clenched a bit, and she gripped the fabric of her dress against her legs.

Forcing a smile, she turned her attention to the remaining inhabitants of the room, looking for a distraction. At Silvia’s words, Althea paused, locking eyes with her. ”Be that the case, or whatever the happenings maybe, I do want it to be known that my top priority is to rescue my brother if he’s still alive. I just want to make that clear,” she said quietly, speaking to the women still gathered in the room as a whole. Averting her gaze, she rose and approached the spot where the drinks were, pouring herself a glass. After she had taken a sip, she cleared her throat and took a step off to the side, placing the glass on a ledge beside her and crossing her arms around her abdomen. ”I just want him to be okay,” her voice came out softly, a near whisper, and she blinked back tears as she stared down at her toes. Wiping them away with the back of her hand, she sniffed a bit and straightened her back. ”I can’t think of a reason as to why Ivelda would have killed them, other than to secure her place on the throne, but that reason alone scares me enough to have concern. I can only hope that the Fairy Queen has news that they are at least alive.” Turning her face back up to the other women, she steeled her features. "I can't imagine that this is going to be an easy or safe trip for any of us. I understand that we all may have our differences, and we may not get along, but if we're going to do this, then we need to be able to trust one another with our very lives. 'The enemy of my enemy is my friend', remember?" Looking over everyone, she gripped up her glass once more and took another sip before sighing. "I just don't want to lose anyone else," she trailed off.

Double post ignore this :(

”Only those who risk going too far,
Can possibly find out how far they can go.
T.S. Eliot”
Code ~ #0B610B

---

Althea stood before a large mirror in her bedroom, struggling with a hook on her vest. Muttering to herself in her frustration, she grumbled over the difficulty of the clasp’s positioning and softly cursed herself for not having designed the vest in a less complex way when planning it. Once she felt the leather finally slide through the clasp, she hooked it and patted it down and looked to survey her outfit in the mirror. Turning slightly from side to side, she freed her skirt where it was caught in her underwear and internally thanked herself for hemming the dress and making it knee-length instead of leaving it as short as it had been in the play that she had used it for a year prior.

Pausing for a moment, she mulled over the events of the previous two weeks, from Aurora attempting to make a connection with her once more to her scrambled finishing preparations for her graduation, but in specific when she had informed her siblings and father of her upcoming trip. Guilt still twinged within her chest over the fact that she had been forced to lie to them, telling them instead that she would be going to Africa to help in third-world villages that were poor and required the assistance. It was what she had to do though, because she knew that if she had told them the truth that they would try to stop her. She had opted to tell them the day after her graduation, having graduated from her BA early, and had told them that she wanted to take a small hiatus in her studies to help others and explore the world before pursuing her Masters.

---

Tears pooled in the eyes of a young girl - who could be no older than thirteen or fourteen years - eyes so large and teal in hue that they could give a shimmering body of water a rather decent battle in beauty. The girl’s lip trembled and she raised a hand to rub roughly at her tears as a small sob escaped her equally small body. A younger boy stood beside her, clearly attempting to ward off his own emotions, but also just as clearly upset as the girl. His startling red hair shimmered in the afternoon sunlight that streamed through the vast windows of the solely-windowed wall beside them, and the overall atmosphere of the room took away from the breathtaking view of a dazzling lake and forestry.

The near-deafening and uncomfortable silence came to an end as a rather large man made an obvious sound of clearing his throat, and in the same motion ran his right hand stressfully through his hair, combing it back from his face in what ended up being a futile effort as his bangs simply fell back to their original position almost immediately. Intense yet kind brown eyes fixated on the woman who sat before him, who was clearly nervous and hesitant as she wrung her hands tightly in her lap, chewing on her bottom lip under his scrutiny.

With a grunt, the man slapped his knees as though he had come to some splendid conclusion to a difficult question before turning his attention to the two emotional children beside him. His hand raised and softly brushed away the girl’s tears before moving to pat the boy’s head, and finally then did he return his attention to Althea.

”If traveling is what you wish to do, Althea, then so be it. You’re a grown woman now, and thankfully an intelligent one at that, who isn’t lacking in common sense, so I don’t doubt that you can take care of yourself. At my age, I can more than understand the wish to travel and explore, and I whole-heartedly encourage you to do so while you’re young enough to. As difficult of a transition for us as this will be, I believe that you’ll get more out of it than what will be invested, and it’ll be worth it for us to miss you for a little while. Just make sure that you learn a lot on this trip and come back with plenty of stories to tell us all, okay?” He ended his words with a small smile, the smile of a father finally seeing his baby bird off from his nest. ”And don’t worry about your mother; I’ll explain everything to her and take care of the fallout for you,” he added with a wink. Turning his attention to the two children, Chandler Regàlé rose to his feet and crossed his arm, his burly chest and biceps making it a tad bit difficult to do so. ”Now, as for you two, I recommend that you say your farewells, as your sister is going to be gone for who knows how long on this African safari or whatever it is that she decided to go on.” With that said, he gave Althea a goofy salute which drew a giggle from her lips and made his way from the room, presumably off to talk to the matron of the splendid home.

Turning her attention to teenager and preteen before her, Althea gave them a small, uncertain smile.

”I know you don’t want me to go, and I don’t want to leave either one of you, but this is just something that I have to do,” she said, her voice gentle. Her hand moved out and gently took her younger sister’s in it, smoothing over the back of it soothingly. ”I won’t be gone forever, but only for a few months, so try not to have too much fun while I’m gone, and watch out for Chandler and papa, okay? I’m putting you in charge as the oldest,” she said, her tone serious and her eyes equally so. Monét sniffled and wiped her eyes before forcing a small smile to her face and nodding. Before Althea could react, though, the smaller girl threw her arms around her, the boy following suit rather quickly, both of their behaviors speaking as though they knew that what she was going to do was dangerous. After a moment to recover from her surprise, Althea tightened her arms around the two, burying her face in Monét’s hair to hide her own tears.

---

Shaking herself from her reverie, Althea gave herself a once-over in the mirror again. Once she was satisfied with her appearance, she slid on her ornately designed telescopic ring, paired with an equally elaborate compass watch, tugged her mask down so that it rested around her neck, and dropped her hat atop her head. Might as well carry the outfit through its entirety, she supposed. It would take her a while to get used to wearing the cape, but seeing as Lilith hadn’t been very forthcoming in detail on the fashion in Rhindeval, Althea had drawn upon her own memories and creativity when choosing the ensemble that she currently wore. The rest of her wardrobe that she had packed consisted of another outfit similar to the one that she wore, as well as another costume from a previous play that when worn gave her the appearance of an actual princess and a few various other clothing articles that may come in handy when attempting to blend in with the citizens of Rhindeval. Alongside her clothes were a few sketchbooks, her artist’s pouch full of her drawing materials, some snacks, a leather-clad water bottle, a small lock picking kit, a towel, a blanket, a small pillow, and lastly, a first aid kit that she herself had put together with the basics as well as some of her own salves created from her various knowledge in herbology. Thankfully, she was an expert packer after traveling so often over the years that she had managed to squeeze everything within one bag.

The final touch and item that she had decided to bring with unfortunately would not be able to be hidden in her bag. Giving the item a once over, Althea shrugged and slid the beautifully hand-crafted bow into its sheath alongside its arrows, zipped it shut, and slung it over her head in one fluid motion. It was quick work for her to adjust the arrow quivers straps and attach it to her hip instead of its usual positioning on her back, and with that, she was ready to go.

After ensuring to lock her apartment door when she left, Althea nervously approached the loaner car that she had rented out for the month, a Nissan Versa, having opted to take a less-luxurious vehicle than her own to the site where it would be left for who knew how long. Now that it was actually time for her to leave, she was beginning to get the pre-performance jitters, as she liked to call them, as they were the same feelings that would arise before one of her big performances. Fighting back the slight sickness in her stomach, she tossed her bag in the trunk, opting to place her bow in the car with her, and made her way towards Lilith’s home.

When she pulled up, Althea made a quick note of the lack of cars in front of the home. It was clear that she was one of the first to arrive, which she internally thanked the gods for as she wasn’t one for large groups anyway, so with some easy maneuvering she parked and made her way from her car. Ensuring to grab her bow as she felt nervous leaving it alone in the vehicle, she tossed it over her head once more, locked her car with a soft beep, and made her way up to the door, her tiny fist come into light contact with the wood as she knocked politely.

”Carry out a random act of kindness, with no expectation of reward,
safe in the knowledge that one day someone might do the same for you.”
~Princess Diana
Hex Code ~ #0B610B

---

As they walked, Althea took advantage of the fact that they were surrounded by nature. Closing her eyes, she inhaled deeply and let it out in a slow, satisfying exhale. As she did so, it was as though she felt all of the stress leave her body at once, the tensity in her back relaxing by half and giving her a sweet feeling of calmness. The swaying of the leaves in the wind was on par with the soft noises of the animals hidden within the forestry, and alongside the gentle musk of the overall nature brought upon her an overwhelming sense of peace.

Her peace was shattered by the sound of Freddie's panicked voice, causing Althea to come to a pause mid-step as she tuned into the end of the girl’s shriek. Internally she debated whether or not to even look and see what the commotion was about - so far interjecting herself and attempting to help had ended in nothing but trouble for her - but the mental conflict was over in a matter of moments. Whether or not the outcome went badly for her, she had a moral duty as a human being to help if someone else was hurt or in need.

With her mind made up, she spun on her heel and made the short trek back to where Freddie, Reese, and Justice were huddled, rolled her eyes ever so slightly at Justice’s antics as she approached. An internal reminder later to mind her manners and keep her patience, Althea stopped a few steps away, peering around Justice and taking in Reese’s mannerisms and blank expression. After a few moments of simply staring - she really could care less if they thought her to be weird, she needed to study the girl as best she could from the distance that she was at - she turned her gaze to Freddie, completely ignoring Justice’s presence. It was better to not say anything if she had nothing nice to say to the woman.

”As far as I can tell, she was given a sedative of some sort, but in an extremely strong dosage. What I would recommend is to give her some activated charcoal.” At the blank and confused looks on their faces, she went on to explain, ”The charcoal's porous texture has a negative electrical charge, which causes it to attract positively charged molecules, such as toxins and gases. This helps it to trap toxins and chemicals inside of the gut. It is used in a lot of emergency rooms for overdoses. I only have activated charcoal pills with me, but they should work just as well,” she finished as she opened the first aid bag at her waist and fished out a small bottle. Twisting it open, she dropped out two small green and white pills and dropped them into Freddie’s hand before closing the bottle and returning it to the bag, which she then zipped shut.

Once that was done, she crouched down beside her cooler and retrieved a bottle of water, which she also handed to Freddie. As she did so, she managed a slight glance over the other girl’s shoulder, her gaze skimming over the tear-coated face that belonged to Sybilla. She did notice Kinera and Silvia lagging behind the group as well, but to be frank, she could not really care less considering their earlier attitudes towards her. It wasn't like they had been doing anything to try and rein in the chaos that had been ensuing at Lilith's house. At least she tried to help. Noting Sybilla's presence for after she had dealt with Freddie and Reese - as with Kinera and Silvia, she could not care less about Justice's presence as the girl was a complete menace - she turned her attention back to Freddie. ”If you can get her to swallow those pills, she should be fine within half an hour. I would highly recommend keeping an eye on her and monitoring her state for the next few hours or so, though, whether or not she returns to normal. I have no idea what she took, but it looks like she was given far too much of it.”

Althea wrapped her fingers around the handle of her cooler and hefted the bag up on her shoulders slightly to adjust its weight on her back, her feet already taking her away from the small huddle of women. ”Good luck, and if you need anything, feel free to come and ask!’

Taking note of how they were beginning to fall slightly behind the group and that they needed to hurry this up a bit, she came to a stop in front of Sybilla. Her hand reached up and drew down her mask, a soft pah sound escaping her lips as she did so, and she shook her head slightly to take in the fresh air before once again turning her gaze on Sybilla. Before she said anything, however, she reached into a small pouch on her large backpack and retrieved a few tissues, passing them to the other girl. At the same time, she moved a bit to the side and motioned to the cooler as an offering for Sybilla to help herself, her hands sliding into her skirt pockets as she did so. She scuffed the dirt slightly with the toe of her shoe, looking up at the slowly retreating figures of the other princesses and Lilith on the trail ahead of them.

”I know that things are difficult right now, and that the beaucoup d'entre nous* are not getting along that well, but I promise that if you power through, things will work out in the end. So chin up petit chaton**,” Althea said with a slightly sheepish smile. One-on-one pep talks weren’t really her forte, especially with someone who was essentially a stranger, but it was clear to her that the other girl was overwhelmed with everything that was going on and all of the emotions that came along with the events of the last few weeks. It was only right for her to try and cheer her up a bit. At that thought, she was reminded of earlier occurrences, prompting her to once more open her first aid bag, this time retrieving a small vial identical to the one that she had given Lilith back at the house.

Closing the bag once more, she unscrewed the cap, revealing a roll-on applicator, and without actually applying it to herself, she demonstrated how to use it by moving it in circles over both temples and the center of her forehead. As she did so, she explained, ”This is an oil that I made myself and is completely natural. It smells like lavender and is extremely helpful when you are stressed or anxious, or when you have a headache or cannot sleep.” Closing the container once more, she took up Sybilla’s hand without waiting for a response and slid it into her palm, closing her fingers around it and releasing her hand. ”Try it and if it works, wonderful! If not, then all you did was waste a few moments of your time. We should get back, though; we do not want to be left behind! En avant!***” With that said, Althea tugged her mask back up, grabbed the handle of her cooler, and began to walk after the rest of the group, her pace slightly quicker than usual so that they could catch up with them.

*Lot of us
**Little Kitten
***Onward