653 Difèrne || Land Quests || First Land

“Let’s explore a few shops,” Zealin suggested. “Maybe you’ll want a souvenir or two… that isn’t from a muddy bog.”

“That sounds great! I haven’t written a letter to my family in a long time, so maybe I can find a trinket or two to send them.”

Zealin smiled. “Well, there are always stores for visitors. It’s a huge marketing tool.” Ember and her exchanged a few silent words, and Zealin pointed in a direction. “Ember says that there’s a chain of stores in that direction that seems pretty populated if we wanted to try our luck there.”

“Of course!” The yellow mare trotted in that direction, followed by her trusty dog, who seemed equally excited to go where more quirlicorns were.

The two eventually reached the location. Like Ember indicated, there were a dozen stores and many more quirlicorns there. Most of them didn’t seem like they came from the Swamp Region, merely stopping by.

“Does anything here look interesting to you?” Zealin asked, willing to follow Difèrne’s lead. She didn’t have anything in particular she was looking for, and she could always send someone else to gather resources for her if needed.

“Hmmm,” Difèrne studied the store fronts, then pointed at one in particular. It looked like a dismantled witch hut. “Let’s check this one out. I have a feeling we’ll be finding more authentic Swamp items in there.”

Zealin tilted her head, but acquiesced with a simple “alright.” She could protect both of them if necessary. Very few other quirlicorns seemed to wander into that store, and Zealin preferred to avoid other crowds.

Friend let out a low growl once they got close to the door. “Don’t worry,” the yellow quirlicorn said, brushing her dog’s muzzle with her tail. “It’s just the store’s aesthetic. This isn’t a haunted house.”

The second they stepped hoof into the hut, a quirlicorn with a matted mane rushed out from behind a veil to greet them. “Hello, young travellers. Come in, come in.”

Zealin instinctively did not like the quirlicorns for calling her a “young traveller,” but she held her tongue, letting Difèrne take the lead on addressing this storekeeper. ‘Do not set this place on fire,’ Zealin chanted to herself. ‘Do not set this place on fire.’

The shopkeeper grabbed a necklace from the table and held it close to Difèrne’s face. “Hmm, yes, it brings out your eyes, pretty one.” She picked up another one and repeated the process. “Hmm, this one’s bright. Like your coat.” She eyed Zealin and the necklaces, and snorted. 

“For you, something more… special.” She held out a bottle. “Refreshing. Quenches the fire inside.” 

Zealin’s right eye twitched. “No need,” she said, keeping her voice even. “I’m here for my friend.” 

The shopkeeper snorted again and picked out another bottle and once again offered it to the black and white quirlicorn. “Friendship drink. Good for bonding.”

“I don’t need a drink to make friends, but thank you for the offer,” Zealin half-growled. Ember, sensing her distress, flared out her wings in warning. The shopkeeper blinked slowly, seemingly unimpressed. A few sparks from the quirlicorn and phoenix pair nearly caught several items on fire before they were able to restrain their powers.

Difèrne laughed while placing several coins on the counter. She stuffed the necklaces into Friend’s bag. “Friendship drink? I like the sound of that. What is it? A soda? Alcohol?”

The shopkeeper whipped around from having pushed her stuff away from Zealin and the phoenix. She seemed to think about how to describe her product. “Herbal tea. Made from plants of the swamp.”

“That sounds gross,” whispered Difèrne. “But also fun! I’m gonna give it a try.” She placed another coin on the counter and eagerly accepted the bottle from the keeper. The shopkeeper returned to her counter, still glaring at Zealin, and handed Difèrne her change.

Zealin rolled her eyes. I suggest that you drop the attitude unless you want me to set this store on fire, she telepathically informed the shopkeeper.

Without another word, the quirlicorn retreated to her backstore. 

“Well that’s done.” Difèrne said. “Let’s find a post office, next! I bet my siblings are gonna love these necklaces. It’s easy to shop for things when we all look the same.” She laughed.

“Mhm,” Zealin said, having been ready to leave ten minutes ago. ‘Do not set this place on fire,’ she reminded herself one last time before stepping out of the store. “Ember, scout for a post office.” The phoenix spread her wings and flew off. After half a minute, Ember returned. “That way,” Zealin said, trotting off in a direction.

“Aren’t you going to write to your family too?” Difèrne asked after staring at a blank sheet of paper for what felt like hours. “I have more stationeries if you want.”

“No need,” Zealin briskly replied. “If they need me, someone will just send me a telepathic message. Or vice versa.” 

“Oh right, I keep forgetting you could do that.” She thought for a bit, then finally started writing. “So, are you guys from the mountain region?”

Zealin tilted her head for a few seconds. “Well, we come from everywhere, but we currently live in the Mountain Region,” she answered. “I think it’s a nice place to live.” Unlike here was left unsaid. 

“It sure is,” Difèrne sighed. The letter was quickly sent out after that and they headed back to their hotel room.

Difèrne took the luggage off Friend’s back and the dog raced inside, tracking mud everywhere, before jumping on her owner’s bed, panting contentedly.

“So… did you want to do anything?” Zealin asked after a few minutes. “Or did you want to rest for the rest of the night? We were planning to head to a different region tomorrow anyways, so it’s up to you on whether you want to explore a little more or not.”

“Well, I was thinking about having a light snack-” she pulled out the bottle from earlier, “-and trying this out!”

“...Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Zealin asked skeptically. “I don’t trust the shopkeeper.”

“Why not? It’s just tea. Even if it turns out to be gross it’ll be a fun memory.”

Zealin narrowed her eyes. “She- I just don’t like her.” The quirlicorn sighed. “Fine, but if this goes wrong, I’m setting her shop on fire!” 

“It’s teeeeaaa,” Difèrne repeated, pouring the muddy liquid into two glasses. She shook her glass in an attempt to dispel the cloud of what looked like dirt in the glass, before regaining her sunny composure and offering the other glass to Zealin. 

Zealin wrinkled her nose. “At the same time?” she asked, hoping to get this over as soon as possible. It looked disgusting.

“Yep. Bottom’s up!”

“Here we go,” Zealin sighed before downing her cup. She gagged, the acidic taste stinging her tongue. Something felt strange. Suddenly, she felt distress in her bond with Ember; it was painful. Her back seemed to split open, and she couldn’t feel the weight of her horn. She slowly opened her eyes and nearly leaped into the wall. Ember was in front of her with Zealin’s black-and-white wings and horn. The phoenix looked absolutely furious, and Zealin raced to the mirror. She no longer had her horn, and her wings were replaced with Ember’s fiery wings. Zealin’s right eye twitched again. “That store is going down,” she growled.

Across from her, Difèrne seemed to fare better; she had simply switched places with Friend. Except, the dog seemed to be staring back at her with oddly animated eyes. “Ummmmmm,” the dog studied herself carefully. Zealin realized that this was not Friend, but rather Difèrne in her dog’s body. “Wait, wait, wait. This isn’t so bad. I can work with this.” Difèrne - or rather Friend- let out a half-neigh, half-bark from the bed. 

“Let’s wait for a little bit,” Zealin finally decided. “Hopefully this’ll wear off. If not, I’m contacting one of my s- family members to see if they can reverse this.” Zealin went to the other bed and laid down, closing her eyes.

“Haha, yeah, sure. Let’s just wait here…” Difèrne the dog waited until she was sure Zealin was asleep before slipping out the door.

Zealin woke up after a few hours. She noticed that her horn and wings were back. Ember, who laid across from her, also switched back. A quick glance told her that 1) Friend-quilicorn was missing, and 2) Difèrne-dog hadn’t changed back.

She opened the window, unfurled her wings, and flew out with Ember, blue flames surrounding her body.

After an hour, Zealin and Ember returned with a potion. Zealin nudged Difèrne-dog. “I got the potion for you,” Zealin stated. She also got revenge, but she didn’t say that out loud; Difèrne seemed to have stricter moral standards than Zealin about burning property.

The quirlicorn-dog looked at her uninterestedly, huffed, then went back to staring at the door where Difèrne had apparently disappeared from. And now appeared again, covered in mud. 

“Oh! You’re awake,” the dog-quirlicorn stuttered. The quirlicorn on the bed started wagging her tail excitedly. 

“...Do I even want to know?”

Difèrne looked at the bottle Zealin was holding. “Do I want to know?” 

“Probably not,” Zealin admitted. “Drink up!”

Difèrne sniffed the bottle hesitantly. “Since I only had half of a bottle yesterday, is having a whole bottle going to make me twice the quirlicorn I was?” She drank a bit of it. Her eyes welled with tears of disgust. 

“We’ll find out,” Zealin answered unsympathetically. She was still a little annoyed that Difèrne had bought the “tea” in the first place.

Suddenly, the yellow quirlicorn’s tail stopped wagging. The dog dropped the bottle on the ground and looked confused. 

“It worked!” Zealin said, relieved. “Okay, good, because-” She cut herself off before she could say that they probably wouldn’t be able to find another potion from the shop. “-we’re traveling tomorrow,” she quickly said.

“Yeah. I suppose it’s best if we leave this place.” She eyed Friend for a bit before grabbing her luggage and putting it unto her back. 

“You’re eager to leave this place,” Zealin chuckled. “Alright, I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to leave a little earlier. Where is Braise, by the way?”

Difèrne’s eyes widened. “I haven’t seen it in a while. Braise! Braise!” She looked in the bathroom cabinet, turned the pillows over and finally looked under the bed. The dragonet was sound asleep. The quirlicorn delicately grabbed it and slipped it inside a pocket in Friend’s bag. 

“Alright, guess we’re ready then!” Zealin said, then turned to the door. “Let’s go.”