Sequoia hummed happily at Aniña's answer. It was really nice that Aniña trusted her enough… that Aniña liked her enough… to say that her favorite way to wake up was by Sequoia's side. She didn't even bother to give a verbal answer, instead waved her wrist and caused a little orb of light to float a few inches from her fingers.
Aniña’s eyes widened a little and her gaze flicked from the orb to Sequoia to the orb again. She blinked once, twice, “How?” She breathed, completely bewildered.
"You don't use magic in your kingdom?" Sequoia was kind of shocked. Magic was just… something that people did. She'd been learning different simple spells and incantations since she could walk. Maybe before. Almost everyone knew how to do it. "We do it all the time."
Aniña shook her head, “Magic has been outlawed. Well, it was outlawed a while ago and I was always told it was a myth.” She was still kind of shocked that that Sequoia could do something like that. It just didn’t feel real.
A furrow worked its way between her eyebrows. Magic? Outlawed? How had that law ever gotten passed? Sequoia waved her hand absentmindedly, letting the little light follow her fingers. "Well… It's not. I don't really know what to say. Uh… I can show you what I can do."
Aniña perked up and rolled over so she could see Sequoia better, “Could you? I’ve never seen real magic before, apart from the cheap water trick that I learnt so that would be great!”
"Of course! If there's one thing I love, it's showing off." Sequoia slid from the bed with a wink and stood before her wife. The magic she was best with was illusion magic, as illustrated by her glowing orb. Her most impressive trick by far was changing her appearance. She ran her hands through her hair, letting bright a bring blue bleed into it where her hands touched. She moved to her eyes, making them a flat white color. Her skin faded to a blueish white. "How do I look?"
Aniña laughed a little, “Amazing as always. That’s a cool trick, how long did it take you to learn that?” She asked. It had taken her forever to learn her small water tricks, not that she’d call it make for anything, just tricks compared Sequoia’s magic. And with magic outlawed if anyone had caught her then she’d be in even more trouble.
"A couple months, but I can do any color." Sequoia let the magic drip off of her and disperse into the air. Her skin tingled slightly from the magic that had been humming through it. She used her magic to make it appear that spiders were crawling over her arms, and then ants and then snakes coiling around her. It felt weird to see animals around her but not feel them. "Almost any illusion is pretty easy for me."
Aniña crinkled uno her nose, “I don’t like that illusion.” She muttered as her eyes scanned over her wife’s body for a few moments, “Can you do stuff like I can with the water?” She asked, running a hand through her hair.
"Only with electricity." Sequoia let the snakes slide off her arms and dissipate as well. She called some electricity and let it crackle around her arms where the snakes had been. This she could feel, and instead of the pain anyone who tried to touch her would get, she enjoyed a pleasant tingling sensation. "I can make it into shapes and stuff." To illustrate, she formed a bow, a basket, and a butterfly and then let it disappear too.
Aniña smiled, "That's so cool." She blinked a few times before turning her gaze to Sequoia's face, "You're so cool." She still felt like this was all a dream that someone could do all these things without fear of being killed or sent to work in the salt mine or something else.
Sequoia shrugged, feeling a little sheepish. "Not really. There are people way better than me." Sequoia knew a passable amount of magic, as would befit a princess, but she wasn't anything special. Magic mastery was a skill that almost every adult knew to some degree, and she was only slightly better than other citizens of her country.
“I don’t care. I think you’re really cool with all that and I don’t care about the other people.” Aniña said, climbing off the bed and walking over to Sequoia, looking her over once and admiring her again with a smile on her face.
Sequoia shifted her weight a little, soaking in the praise. "If… if you say so. I can teach you a little if you want. I brought my Kitahir- …Spell… book, I think- so I could practice some new stuff I've been working on." She was trying to figure out how to give her illusions some kind of substance. So far the results had been mixed.
Aniña’s smile widened a little, “If you want too. You don’t have to teach me, I was just curious was all. Besides, we need to explore those tunnels I was talking about earlier.” She hadn’t completely forgotten about them until now after everything that had happened.
(Sorry I was gone. Babysitting)
"Oh I do want to but tunnel exploring comes first. Any idea what's down there?" If they ran into a dead body Sequoia was going to block it off and never return. What if they rant into rats? Or bugs? Or snakes? This idea was sounding scarier by the minute.
(All g)
Aniña shook her head a little, "Nope. I have no clue and that's what makes everything more fun," She grinned at Sequoia, "I'm gonna go change." She kissed her wife on the lips, grabbed her other clothes and sprinted back to her room with a little giggle.
Sequoia smoothed down her skirt with an uneasy frown. Should she change too? Her dress was a bit elaborate for exploring and she actually really liked it. It would be a shame if it got covered in dust and gross shit. She shucked off her dress and yanked on some of her least elaborate pants and an embroidered tunic.
Aniña quickly changed into a simple pair of loose fitting pants and navy blue and gold tunic before braiding her hair half up. After she felt she was ready, she headed back to Sequoia’s room and knocked before entering.
Sequoia opened the door, moving her legs in fascination. She hadn't worn pants in months and they felt kind of weird. Being able to move her legs around and possibly do the splits if she felt like it was so strange after so long stuck in a skirt. "You ready to go?"
Aniña nodded and slipped a hand into her pocket, “Yup, all set. You look strange in pants, a good strange, though.” She said, kissing Sequoia on the cheek before moving backwards from the door so her wife could leave.
Sequoia kissed Aniña on the cheek in return and stepped outside. The tunnels weren't going to know what hit them. "Thanks Habibi. You look wonderful too. Do you know where to go?"
Aniña nodded, “Of course I do, otherwise we’ll be looking forever.” She let out a small sigh. They’d been hard to find when Aniña had first found them and had marked the enterance so she would never forget.
Sequoia felt… mixed, to say the very least. Exploring was exciting and fun and she really liked it- but not when she was crawling down into spooky, claustrophobic crevices and tunnels. What if they got stuck down there and had to eat rats and see light through tiny cracks in the ceiling for the rest of their lives.
Aniña took Sequoia’s hand in hers as she led them though the long hallways of the manor. She didn’t pay attention to the surrdoing arteoks depicting the gods her people believed in, knowing the stories behind them anyway.
Sequoia took in the beautiful pieces of art depicting beautiful people in the middle of a bunch of different scenes. One was a girl in the middle of a farm, holding out grain and fruit and another was a strong looking man holding a wicked sword. They took her breath away and distracted her from her irrational worries about exploring the tunnels.
After a while, the hallway turn darker and the paintings became less about beauty and more darker and sinister. One depicted a man, ready to decaptiate someone in front of a burning fire that almost looked like strange looking people. Aniña everted her gaze and kept walking.
The creeping dread was back with a passion as the scenes got more and more sinister and dark. Sequoia stopped staring at the scenes and kept her eyes on Aniña's back. "So this hallway got really creepy…" her voice trailed off. She had no idea what to say but just staying quiet seemed kind of weird.
Aniña nodded and swallowed, “Yeah… this place always give me the creeps…” She’d never liked this hall, and probably never would. She stopped in front of a painting with the same man from before, only this time sitting on a throne of bones. Around him, stood men in cloaks as black as night and masks fashioned into different creepy designs.