Shit.

Kali repeated that particular curse in her head as she limped through the forest, leaving an obvious blood trail behind her. She probably shouldn't have been careless enough to leave behind that obvious of a trail- but she had little time or energy to bind up the gash on her left thigh. Not to mention supplies. Damnit, she wished that pack hadn't gotten stolen. Son of a whore. Though she probably shouldn't be judging. After all, she was a daughter of a whore herself.

They had ambushed her. Saw a seemingly helpless girl walking along the roadside, and decided to help themselves to her meager pack of food and supplies. And her body, perhaps. But little did they know, that 'girl' that they'd decided to attack could easily best most of them in a fight. And she had, using her fists and the trusty dagger at her side. Though, she hadn't defeated them. Just stabbed and punched enough to be able to get away.

She held a hand to her bleeding eye, wincing. Damn. They had gotten her good. She held the hand away from her face, examining it. It was absolutely soaked in blood. Great. Just great. Now it was time for her to lay down and die-

Was that a cart?!

Sure enough, in the distance, Kali spotted a wooden cart bumping along the road. Her expression widened into a grin, and she hissed at the sudden pain. She could definitely take a free ride in that thing! Perhaps she could take a well-need nap- oh, wait. She was injured. Right. Didn't negate the need for a free ride, though.

Slowly, Kali limped over to the vehicle, doing her best to scramble into it. She crawled towards the front, where she found a nice burlap sack of apples to rest her head on. Yeah, that made a good pillow. And so, the dark-skinned girl yawned and fell into her dreams.

Abigail finished selling the last of her candles to her usual clients and walked back to her cart, the sunset casting a pumpkin-orange onto the street. Without looking into her wares, she attached the cart to her horse and jumped in the back, accidentally bumping into something. She glanced down and--

"What the fuck?!" she nearly screamed at the sleeping girl beneath her. She was about to roll her out onto the streets whenever she noticed the blood, how pale her face was drawn. "Good God," she muttered before commanding her horse to go, whipping the reigns. She slipped some soothing oil from under her skirt, making sure nobody saw her smear a clear stripe across the girl's forehead. The stranger's breathing evened and her pulse raced. Soon, they were right outside Abigail's cottage. She hastily dragged the girl inside as the sun began to sink beneath the earth. The witch placed her upon the bed and began performing a healing ritual, afraid if she used normal doctoring methods, she might take too long and the girl would be dead.

A few hours later, Kali awoke with a groan. Everything hurt. Her face throbbed, and her leg-

Well, it felt like shit. Almost immediately, she jumped up on the bed, sitting straight up. But, that hurt a little much, and she laid back onto the pillow. "Where... am I?" she groaned. She raised a hand to her face, feeling nothing but dried blood. Impossible. It couldn't have healed that fast. There was no way in hell any wound could ever heal that quickly. Unless there was a witch involved. Again, that was impossible, as witchery had been outlawed years ago. Either it was witchcraft or she was dead. But, this certainly didn't look like heaven.

Kali took in her surroundings carefully. The rickety bed beneath her was decent, so whoever resided in this home was richer than the average person. The cornflower blue sheets were soft, and also... covered in blood. Probably Kali's blood, really. But other than that, they were of a quilt-like material. There was a soft pillow beneath her head, which she quickly inferred to be made of some sort of feather. And the room itself was simple, with a blue carpet at the doorway and a dresser and mirror in the corner. At least, that was as much as Kali could see with only one eye open.

She sighed again, half-closing her other, uninjured eye. She might as well bide her time until whoever owned this house came back.

@Irisity

(note, this was several hours later, when Kali had woken up)

(@canaryrose)

Abigail had been outside tending to her garden in the early morning when she sensed a touch of life in the house. She immediately stood and walked inside, finding the girl awake and alive on her bed. "Thank goodness, you're awake," she murmured to herself as she moved to examine her, running her hands over the girl's forehead and neck without permission. "We fellow magicfolk gotta look out for each other, don'tcha think? My name's Abigail."

(@Irisity)

Kali glared at Abigail through her one open eye. The woman seemed nice, for the most part. But she couldn't be trusted, even if her face was kind. "I'm Kali. Miss, I'm afraid you got the wrong girl. I've never had a touch of magic." Now, that part was true. Kali had never been able to set fire to a building with a flick of a finger, or craft potions, or control water, or make plants bloom. She was as normal as normal could be. "Magic is for the rich, miss. Me- I'm just part of the common riff-raff. You know- lowlifes, undesirables." Kali added, still glaring at the woman.

Abigail frowned. She had sensed a touch of magic in the girl ever since she laid eyes on her. "Magic is more for the common folk, you'll find, Kali," she noted as she stood and walked to the medicine cabinet, pulling out a few bottles with tiny bulbs in them. "I don't know where you come from, but magic around here is not welcome, whether you are royal or not." She walked back, forcing a few of the black spheres into the girl's hands. "Eat this. You'll feel better. Where are you from, anyway?"

Kali, examined the black spheres, sniffing them. Not poisoned... unless it was some form of poison she didn't know. But why go to the trouble of saving her if Abigail was just going to kill her? With a face that still looked quite cautious, she popped the spheres into her mouth and chewed slowly. After she swallowed the medicine, she turned to Abigail. "I'm from the Southern Continent, miss. Y'know, the desert," Kali added. "The fact still remains that I've never had no magic. Not a lick."

(@Irisity)

@canaryrose

Abigail frowned and began preparing tea. "A lot of people lose it in the bloodlines, but it calls to the surface eventually. I can tell you have some ancestry of a sort. Your mother dabble in anything? Maybe an aunt or grandma?"

Kali scowled. "I know next to nothing about my ma. I don't even know a lick about my da," she replied with a glare. The dark-haired girl propped herself up on her elbows with a jaundiced look on her face. All of what she said was true. Her mother had never told her anything about herself- not even her name. And her father- that was a complete blank slate. She had never seen her father, or heard anything about him. She knew that he existed (or had existed), and that was about it.

@Irisity