Rosie finishes wrapping up the wound on her patient’s side. She grabs a pillow under the bed then puts it behind Lisa’s back to prop her up, so the woman doesn’t turn in her sleep and accidentally lie down on the side with the still-tender skin. She stands back up straight before giving her work a last once over, then smiles with satisfaction at what she sees - the neat and tight bandages, the comparatively healthier looking skin around it and the very obvious lack of corruption and rot.

The healer dusts off her hands exaggeratedly then puts them on her hips, lips drawn into a thin line that her cheeks bunch up on the sides of her face. If anyone was looking at her, they would think she looked both smug and dumb at the same time.

“Mhmm. Mhmm. Good work.” Rosie nods to herself in pride.

The half-demon should recover with only a scar on her side. But if her demon blood is as strong as the healer suspects it is, in a few years her skin would bear no mark at all.

Now that she has a moment to breathe, Rosie can’t help but let her eyes roam the rest of her patient. Curiosity has been eating at the hem of her consciousness and finally, with everything done, she can inspect this stranger whom fate unceremoniously dropped into her lap.

Her eyes scan her patient from head to toe; long blonde hair and full bangs that are now swept away, pulled by gravity as she lays on her side, cute forehead peaking through looking a little wide (maybe that’s the reason for the full bangs?), thick sculpted brows, eyelids closed revealing long lashes, soft baby cheeks, a nose that’s a little wide (but cute and suits her face) , completed by equally soft-looking parted lips and a cute small chin.

Rosie blows out a breath. Whew, this woman is attractive . But that wasn’t all; everything about the half-demon’s face was soft and innocent.

With a closer look, Rosie realizes that the half-demon is sporting fangs on the upper row of her teeth, too. They weren’t long like vampire fangs, but they were definitely more pointed and pronounced to be witch or human.

Oh my god. Rosie covers half of her face with both hands in a quiet squee. That’s so cute!

The healer reaches out, and feels the pointed end of the fang with a fingertip before pulling it back in haste fearing that she might wake the half-demon up. She feels a fluttering in her stomach and  balls her hands up in fists to her chest, scrunching her face, doing her best to hold herself back from just screaming at how adorable the half-demon’s fangs are.

A squeak still escapes and one hand immediately flies to cover it. She looks to the side where the dark-haired witch is seated on the bench, to see if the woman had seen her embarrassing display.

Thankfully, the woman was looking at the door, seemingly lost in thought. Rosie straightens her self back up and smooths down her torn nightgown.

Okay, I need to calm down, Rosie tells herself.

The healer clears and tries her best, but the half-demon looked so adorable, and not at all demonic, sleeping soundly like that.

Gods, she looks like a sleeping child. So cute, Rosie thinks. She hears a soft snoring sound followed by a soft whistle and she stifles her giggle behind a hand. Oh gosh, she snores, too!

But another thought suddenly comes into her mind, a dark cloud blocking the sun. She holds a closed fist against her lips.

Why would anyone want to kill her?

The healer decides she needs to discuss this with her patient’s dark-haired companion. The kind of poison that was used did not sit well with Rosie and the leftover magical energy from the neutralized poison she extracted made her skin crawl - it was sinister and only the most evil creature could inject so much darkness in the substance. She looks up at Jisoo. Jisoo is still looking at the door, brow furrowed. Rosie realizes the other woman and the griffin still needed tending to, so she pads soundlessly over to them.

“Hey.” Rosie greets softly, but Jisoo jumps. The healer holds up a placating hand, apologetic expression on her face. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you.”

Jisoo puts a hand against her chest, over her madly beating heart. The healer smiles sweetly at her then looks down, avoiding her eyes. Messy blonde hair curtains her face and, out of instinct, she tucks one side behind an ear.

For an instant, Jisoo forgets to breathe. She feels her insides melt and her heart skip a beat. The healer was breathtakingly beautiful up close, even after being unceremoniously roused from her sleep by a fighting panther, a witch, a half-demon, and a griffin, and then performing rigorous spells and healing. Even the most heteroual of women would agree that this healer looked insanely attractive.

The visions she saw pale in comparison to the real thing; they’re like a pirated camcording. Now they’re face to face, Jisoo feels like she’s watching blu-ray on the 4k TV she and Lisa had at their apartment.

Rosie clears and Jisoo realizes she’s been staring dumbly (again) for spirits know how long. Jisoo closes her eyes, exhales, then opens them again to clear out the haze. She smiles at the healer and the healer returns it with the same amount warmth.

All of a sudden, Rosie holds her hand out for Jisoo to shake and Jisoo is startled. Rosie giggles at her reaction.

“I’m Rosie, by the way. I’m sure Jennie did a good job patching you up but I just wanted to check on how you are before I start working on your griffin’s wound.”

The griffin shuffles at the foot of the bench, finally glad someone acknowledged that it also needed attention.

Jisoo looks at the offered hand and takes it with both of hers. It was the healer’s turn to be surprised but then she sees the seer looking up at her with so much emotion in her eyes from her position on the bench. Rosie’s heart aches. She knows what the other woman is about to say.

Jisoo feels tears sting her eyes.

“You saved her.” Jisoo’s voice cracks. “You really saved her.”

The seer swallows thickly, looking down at the surprisingly smaller hand enclosed in hers. She puts a lid on all of her emotions, trying her best not to have a breakdown. The last thing she wants is to be an emotional wreck in front of this gorgeous woman who also happens to be a very talented and skilled witch. She would rather leave as much of a dignified first impression as she can.

But Jisoo allows the gratitude to fill her up to the brim, careful to tip herself back before she overflows. She brings the healer’s hand to her lips to place a gentle kiss on it, leaving gratitude and affection written on the healer’s skin. Rosie feels her whole face heat up and covers her face with one hand.

“Thank you. Me and my friend will be forever indebted to you.”

“No, no, no!” Rosie waves her hand around, suddenly feeling incredibly shy. “I’m a healer and it’s my job.”

Jisoo smiles with her eyes and lets go of the blonde’s hand, feeling how embarrassed the blonde suddenly is. That’s adorable, Jisoo thinks.

“Well, you are one very brilliant healer. I’ve never seen anyone do what you did. In fact, I didn’t think it was possible at all.” She tried to convey as much warmth in her next words as there was awe, to put the other woman at ease.

If Lisa was awake to witness it all she would have rolled her eyes at her best friend’s attempts at being smooth.

Rosie bites her lips, fiddles with her thumbs, and nods.

“So I’ve been told. I’ve had the ability since I was a child. I don’t know anyone else like me either.”

There was a tinge of sadness in the last statement and Jisoo’s heart ached. Deep inside, the seer knew that there must have been so much loneliness for the healer as she grew up with such a unique gift.

Jisoo knew because she grew up not really knowing anyone else with the gift of vision, too. It was a rare gift and not all who were born with it manage to develop it; some seers lose the ability as they become older. Jisoo was one in a thousand witches who was lucky enough to carry the gift into adulthood.

The Ministry’s previous seer had died before Jisoo was born, so Jisoo had no other seer to talk to. When her father discovered that she had the gift of vision, Jisoo was no older than seven years old. He sent Jisoo together with Lisa, his ward, to study with masters of the different magical arts and scholars to develop her gift but also make sure that she was the best witch she could be.

Of  course, the whole time she was studying away from home, Lalisa was with her. Lisa took witchcraft studies with her at first but her father realized that her witch blood was overpowered by her demon blood and she had little talent with spellcasting. However, Minister Kim discovered that Lisa was a good fighter and was physically strong, so he got master fighters and trainers to tutor her, instead. Jisoo and Lisa would move cities and places now and then, going from expert to expert, mentor to mentor, until her father told them, “enough, come home.”

When they returned home when Jisoo was twenty and Lisa was eighteen, Jisoo’s father immediately recruited them as agents under the Ministry. Jisoo, using her gift of vision and her expertise in divination, worked for the intelligence division of the Ministry while Lisa with her powers of conjuring and expertise in hand-to-hand combat, practical invulnerability with her half-demon blood, worked as a field agent and operative. At times, Jisoo and Lisa were made to work as a unit because their strengths and weaknesses complemented each other; Lisa was the brawns and Jisoo was the brain, Jisoo was the magical and Lisa was the physical.

But in all that time, even with Lisa always by her side, Jisoo never felt like someone understood the burden she carried possessing such a rare gift. Other witches put their lives in danger doing forbidden spells just to see a glimpse of the future, to find answers to their problems - Jisoo literally got her answers in dreams and daydreams without needing to flex any magical muscle.

However, at times Jisoo felt like people saw nothing more to her except her gift. Sure, her father was a kind and loving man, always giving her and Lisa what they want, even until now that they’re adults (the 4k TV was from him). But she knew he used her gift to his advantage, gaining higher and higher positions in the Ministry until he became one of the three High Ministers.

Jisoo just sighs, looking up sincerely at the healer, wishing that all her sympathy is conveyed in the vibrations in the air between them.

“I understand what you mean. I am a seer and I don’t know any other seers besides me. It does feel lonely.”

Rosie’s eyes widen at Jisoo’s statement. Some deep part of her knows that what the seer said was the truth and she feels amazed that the cosmos had worked in this way - that this random stranger who just barged into her shop and home is someone who understands. Jisoo scoots and pats the space on the bench beside her, asking the healer to sit. Rosie looks to the griffin who was waiting to be tended to, a brow raised in question. Jisoo laughs and addresses the loyal creature.

“I just need to talk to her, okay, Hinsaekie? You’ve had worse injuries. Stop being dramatic.”

The griffin turns away and snorts as if annoyed at its owner. The seer wasn’t wrong, of course, but it has never felt so ignored his whole life. Jisoo was always such a doting mother to it. It lays its head on the ground and decides to take a nap.

Rosie just laughs in amusement at the griffin and acquiesces the seer, perching herself on the bench beside her. Jisoo angles her body towards the healer and clears .

The seer’s warm aura is suddenly dampened by something dark and Rosie immediately feels that. A mask of grim seriousness is on Jisoo’s face.

“I need to ask you something important; do you know what poison was used on my friend?”

If Jisoo had to guess, she’d go for the healer knowing exactly what it was because there was no way she could have counteracted it without knowledge of what it was. But who knew? The healer has shown Jisoo tonight that she’s capable of many feats.

Hearing the question, Rosie couldn’t help but mirror the seer’s mood. The seer picks up on the significant change in the healer’s expression and the anger and thirst for revenge is awakened in her chest.

“That’s exactly what I came over here for.” Rosie looks down and thinks of how she should go about telling the other woman what she knows. She decides to go with facts first before her deductions. “The poison used on her was the sweat of a cursed Hynerian frog.”

Jisoo looked at Rosie with a blank expression, not understanding magical terms all of a sudden. Rosie clears . She has a lot of explaining to do.

“Hynerian frogs are a rare breed of magical amphibians. There are very few. They’re native to the Blessed Hill that’s magically cloaked in the outskirts of Rome.”

Jisoo nods, knowing about the hill. Rosie smiles, continuing.

“Hynerian frogs are incredibly fast and strong. They were once humanoid and fought in the old wars along-side witches. Now, evolution has made them look like normal frogs.”

Jisoo hums. She knows about Hynerian frogs and about their history.

“But something that not many witches know is that the sweat of these frogs have healing properties. It was said that they could bring people back from near-death and any form of dismemberment to unscathed and completely healthy. However, some evil witches from centuries ago found a way to corrupt the sweat and turn it into poison, instead. They put a curse on the frog, hold it over a fire, and gather the sweat that comes out of it until it dies. The sweat becomes the poison.”

Jisoo blows out a breath, consciously filing all the information away yet subconsciously feeling giddy at all the new knowledge at the same time. She realizes something, though, and steps in to ask the healer a question.

“Wait, even if this poison is the deadliest poison in the world, the spells I performed to slow it down or strengthen Lisa’s bodily defenses against it should have still somehow worked. But they didn’t. Why?”

Rosie nods, expecting this question.

“There are many ways to corrupt a Hynerian frog and equally as many kinds of poisons that can be made out of them.” Rosie looks down and picks at her thumb before looking up and into the seer’s eyes. “The poison they gave her was poison specifically used to kill demons. It was her witch blood that kept her alive.”

Jisoo’s mouth hangs open and the rate of her heartbeat multiplies tenfold. She reaches out to grip the healer’s hands. There was no way. Rosie continues.

“So, the first aid spells you performed didn’t work because they were probably spells meant to cure witches, not demons.”

Jisoo feels like heaven and earth switched places and she doesn’t know what is up, down, left or right any more. Anxiety ate at her being, fear crawled like nasty critters under her skin, and terror wrapped its slimy tentacles around . Rosie’s senses are open from just performing her healing spell on Lisa and she is suddenly flooded with the dark energy from the seer. She immediately wraps her arms around the dark-haired woman and closes her eyes, mentally reciting prayers to the Taurean goddess and the stars for calm.

Jisoo feels the healer’s touch and closes her eyes too, helplessly sinking into the other woman’s warmth and comfort. She feels arms tightening around her and hands rubbing her back. She lets herself drown in the scent of sweet berries and nuts with a hint of sweat and exhales against the healer’s exposed collarbone.

Jennie chooses this moment to saunter back into the hut, feet light as a cat’s.

“Rosie, the barrier’s--”

The two women look up and Jisoo tries to pull away but the healer keeps her firmly in place. Jennie’s eyes sharpen and she raises a brow.

“Okay?” Jennie glares at Jisoo who flinches. “I leave to fix the mess YOU made and I come back to you stealing MY wifey?” Jisoo wonders if she’s hearing things or Jennie as a witch actually ended that sentence with a panther’s growl.

Rosie’s laughter cuts the tension in the room.

“Wifey, no one could ever steal me from you.” Rosie blows Jennie a kiss.

The healer’s arms fall to her side and Jisoo sits back up straight, holding a fist up to her lips and clearing to calm her nerves. She doesn’t know the nature of the relationship of the healer and the shapeshifter, and so far what she’s gathered is that the shapeshifter is a very jealous and protective lover.

At the back of her mind, the healer wonders which of them was the luckier one? The healer for dating a strong and loyal shapeshifter from a powerful bloodline or the shapeshifter for dating a healer who is quite literally like no one else.

Jennie holds to fingers up her eyes then points them at Jisoo, silently saying, “I’m watching you, I’m watching you.”

Jisoo gulps and holds up her hands in surrender.

“I’m not trying to steal your girlfriend, shapeshifter.”

Rosie throws her head back in hearty laughter, putting a hand on the seer’s shoulder. Jennie joins in, cackling loud with a hand over her stomach. They both blurt out their clarifications.

“She’s not my girlfriend,” says Jennie.

“She’s straight,” points out Rosie.

Jisoo just looks at them in confusion. They laugh again.

“She’s kidding. She’s just very protective of me,” Rosie explains.

Jennie loops her arm around Rosie’s shoulders and presses a kiss against the healer’s temple.

“That’s because I love you and I owe you my life.”

Rosie blushes and smiles, looking up at Jennie.

“Okay, I love you, too. Now, come join us. We were talking about something important and you should hear this, too.”

Jennie nods.

“Okay, but I’m very tired. Let me just go into cat-form so I can conserve my energy, okay? Cotton went off somewhere, too. He said he’ll be back in a bit.”

Rosie nods and sing-songs, “okay.”

Jennie bends down and in the time it takes for her hands to touch the ground, her soft porcelain skin becomes covered in black fur; hands and feet shrink to tiny paws; round human ears become pointed and move to the top of her head; whiskers sprout from her cheeks. Her transformation is punctuated by a tail sprouting from behind her, swishing left to right.

Jisoo watches the shapeshifter transform for the second time that night. It still takes her breath away.

Jennie, as a cat, stretches her front legs then her hips and hind legs before yawning wide. She jumps onto Rosie’s lap, rubs herself against the healer’s torso and settles herself comfortably on the blonde. Rosie instinctively rubs the cat’s forehead, the space in the middle, right above Jennie’s eyes. Jennie purrs.

“Mmmm. Okay, go on with whatever you guys were talking about.”

Rosie snorts in amusement and turns to the seer with a smile.

“My name is Roseanne, by the way, but you can call me Rosie.” The healer keeps petting the shapeshifter on her lap who is now struggling to stay awake.

Jisoo beams right back at her.

“I’m Jisoo. I’m a seer. The half-demon you healed is my best friend, Lisa.”

Rosie looks over at the bed where her patient is still snoring peacefully, completely out of it.

“Hmmm. Lisa, huh?” Rosie whispers mostly to herself but Jisoo picks up on it. The seer raises an eyebrow. Interesting.

Rosie turns back to the dark-haired witch.

“I think your friend suits her name.”

One side of Jisoo’s lips quirk up and she looks knowingly at the healer. Yeah, even at the point of death Lisa still has that charm that draws girls to her. Rosie sees the seer’s expression.

“What?”

Jisoo shakes her head, smiling.

“Nothing.”

Rosie just looks at the healer for a moment then shrugs “okay”.

“So,” Jisoo starts again, “that was one way to clear the negative air between us, huh?”

Rosie giggles.

“I guess so. It worked well.”

Jisoo nods.

“Yes it did.”

The seer worries her bottom lip between her teeth. Rosie’s eyes instinctively follow the motion. The healer’s subconscious takes note of Jisoo’s lips - pretty and heart shaped. Jisoo realizes what the healer is staring at her and she smirks. Rosie is snapped out of her haze and looks up to meet Jisoo’s eyes. She sees it in the seer’s expression, how she got caught staring and she blushes, covering her face.

Jisoo feels her ego inflate. Yeah, Lalisa might be notorious lady charmer with her cute fangs and athleticism, but Jisoo never lags behind.

Rosie clears , trying to cool down the heat on her face. She tries to get them back on track. What were they talking about again? Feels like ages ago.

“Anyway…” Rosie starts, “about the poison…”

Jisoo shakes herself out of her non-heteroual train of thought. There will be lots of time for that later and it’s always more fun to deal with girls when her best friend is awake, anyway. Definitely later , Jisoo tells herself. Back to more pressing matters now.

Jennie fights sleep from Rosie’s lap with the healer’s hand brushing her. She was hearing muffled voices

“Lisa is no ordinary half-demon.” Jisoo blurts out all of a sudden. Her visions of the blonde healer flash before her eyes. She should be worried about sharing all of this to two witches she’d just met tonight. But there is heat at her nape and there is a prickling sensation at her fingertips. She might not be seeing visions now, but she knows what her gift is telling her now - trust them, trust these witches, because they will play a bigger role in all of this. The spirits are speaking and it was Jisoo’s job to listen.

“I-,” the seer sighs, running a hand through her messy hair from the fight. How does she begin to explain everything? It’s all so complicated, now. “You see, I’m Jisoo Kim, daughter of High Minister Kim, seer and senior divinator at the Ministry. Lalisa has been my father’s ward for sixteen years and a Ministry operative for four.” Jisoo’s voice shakes.

Rosie realizes why their names rung a bell. She knows these witches and their names. Jennie’s ears perk up and suddenly she’s awake. Jisoo isn’t done with her explanation.

“Lisa isn’t any ordinary half-demon, half witch. She’s the daughter of Marco, the demonic high general and the witch who was the last daughter of clan Manoban.”

Rosie forgets to breathe. Jennie’s tail stops swishing and stills.

The demonic and witch wars ended more than thirty years ago. It was after a high ranking demonic official changed his views and beliefs, pushing instead for peace. It was all in the textbooks and tomes. Jennie grew up learning about the history. Rosie heard about the stories from the old witches and from Cotton, too. Jisoo knows what they’re thinking, reads the thoughts plainly-written on their faces.

“Yes, well, the books never talked about how the reason Marco changed was because he fell in love with a young talented witch, how they got married after the war, how they had a child twenty-two years ago.”

Rosie and Jennie are stunned. Jisoo continues.

“Marco angered many demons with anti-witch sentiments but received more support from much of the demon population who were tired of fighting, weary of the wars. He and other high officers signed a peace treaty with the Ministry and he stepped down from power soon after. He assumed another identity and lived instead in the midst of witches. What the books also don’t tell you is that Marco and his wife were assassinated in their home, sixteen years ago, while their daughter Lalisa slept over at my house.”

Silence blankets the whole hut. Jisoo’s face is grim.

“Since she was six and I was eight, Lisa and I lived together. No one else except me, my father, and some high officials in the Ministry knew of Lisa’s true identity.

But six months ago, we received reports of deaths of demons who have reformed themselves and have lived peaceful lives since the war. There was one link amongst all of them - they associated with Marco and supported him in ending the demonic and witch wars. My father kept me away from the case and assigned it to another team, but I kept tabs on it. With what happened tonight, I believe all of this points to one thing - someone learned of Lalisa’s identity and wants to kill her.”

Jisoo turns to Rosie and speaks to her directly.

“And I feel like you appeared in my visions for a bigger reason, not just so you could save Lalisa’s life tonight. I feel like I’m going to need your help if I want to keep her safe and alive.”