A long time ago, long before the “curse”, Kyra used to be a normal girl. Her original name was Moira. This was her first life before the reincarnations. A hundred and twenty three years before Kyra was born. Moira was a human girl born in Ataiyo. Her mother was a merchant and her father was a farmer. They were expecting Moira to take up the family business. But Moira had different plans. Her goal was to become the best painter in the world. She worked as a merchant apprentice with her mother until she was able to earn enough money to get lessons. At first Moira’s parents weren’t thrilled by the idea but she managed to get them to come around to the idea. The classes were difficult and many times Moira just couldn’t sit still long enough to learn. She thought about giving up many times but, determined to prove her parents she could do it, she kept going.
Moira was finally able to get a good painting done. It was a painting of a rock and looked highly realistic. The only issue was the fact that it was boring. Kyra tried painting the sky, but it too was boring. Her classes were done and she was able to sell her paintings now. However, nobody wanted to buy them since the subject matters were too dull. One day she became so frustrated with this fact she headed straight to the Menomori Forest to sulk. The 20 year old became lost and accidentally ended up in Kujishoku, The Spirit Realm. Walking through the bamboo forest, she came across a woman about her age sitting on a rock crying. Moira’s own frustrations melted away at the sight of somebody else in misery. She quietly approached the woman and sat next to her. Moira didn’t say anything and did her best to seem non-threatening. When the woman saw Moira, she did her best to wipe away her tears and to stop crying. It didn’t work very well.
“What are you doing here?” The woman asked Moira harshly, “Spying?”
Moira flinched slightly at the woman’s somewhat harsh words but sat next to her regardless.
“I came here to clear my head.” Moira replied honestly, “May I ask what troubles you?”
“No!” The woman said standing up, “How dare you! I am not just some idiot who will spill all the information about me because I am sad! You just want to laugh at me behind my back!”
Anger swelled up in Moira's face.
“Well excuse me if I am trying to be nice!” She shouted back, “I don’t even know where the f**k I am and still take the time to try to listen to you! Why are you crying in the Menomori Forest?! Surely there are better places to sob?!”
The woman looked at Moira with surprise.
“Wait, you do realize that we are in Kujishoku, right?” The woman inquired.
Realization hit Moira as she understood that she had just shouted at a fae. Curses flew about in her mind as she struggled to figure out what to say next.
“You’re a human. Aren’t you?” The woman asked with sudden interest, “There normally would be huge consequences for shouting at me. But I’ll make a deal with you instead.”
“NOPE!” Moira shouted trying to run away.
The woman caught her by the kimono easily.
“Jeez. You didn’t even stay to figure out what I was going to say.” The woman sighed, “In exchange for not having you burned for shouting at me, I want to come with you into the mortal realm temporarily.”
“What’s the catch? Fae always have a trick up their sleeves.”
“Well that’s rude. Here I am, trying to offer you a deal and yet you this is how you treat me?”
“Am I wrong?”
“….That’s not the point.” The woman said, “Well it’s either this or being burned. What do you say?”
“Like I have a choice?” Moira grumbled
“That’s the spirit! You may call me Miss Clanire. Now carry me off to the mortal world, human.”
“My name is Moira. And no.”
“I’m not going to walk and you promised to take me into the mortal world.” Clanire protested.
“Then I’ll drag you.”
“Oh fine.”
Moira and Clanire walked out of the spirit world, with a little help from Clanire. When they got to the human village, Clanire was fascinated by every single thing. She kept asking Moira thousands of questions. Moira was slightly annoyed by all the questions but did her best to answer them. An idea popped into Moira’s mind.
“Clanire, do you have magical abilities?” Moira asked curiously.
“Obviously, human.” Clanire responded, “Why do you ask?”
“I don’t suppose you have anything that would bring a proud bully down?”
A smile curled onto Clanire’s lips.
"I do. A mimic potion.”
The both of them made plans for this town bully. The town bully was named Arashi and had a habit of beating up anybody smaller than him. Moira had been on the wrong side of him once and ended up with a bruise. All because she said that he didn’t look that impressive. They tracked where he was going. After discussing the plan, they got a brick and followed him into an alleyway. Clanire stood in the alleyway alone which drew Arashi in. Moira came up from behind him and smashed the brick into his skull. Arashi shouted in pain then turned to Moira in anger.
“Sh*t!” The she muttered.
Suddenly a metal pan slammed into the side of his head. He collapsed to the ground. Clanire stood behind him with a smug look.
“You have to choose the right weapon, human.”
“Where did you even get that?” Moira asked.
“….I found it.”
“…Where?”
“….On one of the stalls we passed.” Clanire admitted.
Moira slapped her forehead with her hand.
“We aren’t supposed to steal.” She said.
“Well, we did just knock out a guy. I don’t think the law is really in our favor right now.” Clanire defended.
“Just tell me which stall it was so I can pay her back later.”
After that incident they dragged him into a crate and sealed it. If he woke up, the crate would keep him preoccupied for a while. Moira took a sip of the mimic potion that Clanire had given her. First, her toes began get bigger and her height became higher. The once short brown hair she had shrunk and turned black. Soon the transformation was over. Moira had become the exact replica of Arashi. For the rest of the evening they went around blackening Arashi’s name. In her disguise, Moira slapped a noblewoman, spilled alcohol all over the bar of one of the taverns, and broke somebody’s wagon wheel. All while pretending to be enraged and uncontrollable.
Clanire worked in the crowd to help ensure that Moira would be able to escape after every incident while allowing enough witnesses to see these events. Perhaps this might have seemed a cruel prank but Moira had seen Arashi bully, abuse, and almost kill so many people. Everytime it happened he got away scot free. This wasn’t just a prank. It was revenge for all those he had harmed. At the end of the day they were exhausted. Mimic potions didn’t last forever, Moira returned to her regular form. Clanire had run out of mana. The both of them were sitting in an alleyway laughing out loud.
“Did you see their faces when….” Moira’s voice died out.
A tall angry man stood over the both of them. He had wood splinters in his skin and a face full of rage.
“Hi Arashi.” Moira said nervously.
When he attempted to reach down and grab Moira, Clanire pushed her out of the way, getting grabbed by the hair herself. Moira stood up in horror as her friend was being dragged by the hair.
“Damn you little fae. I know what you are.” Arashi said angrily, “Do you know what I’m gonna do to you both? I’m gonna find the nearest slavers and turn yah in. I’ll tell em you both are fae. They’ll torture yeh. And harm yeh. Cause yeh more pain than I could come up with.”
Moira didn’t wait another second. Her hand reached up. A burst of magic surrounded her hand as she summoned her sapphire sword. Movements quick, she sliced at Clanire’s hair to free her from Arashi’s grasp. Moira moved in front of Clanire with her sword facing Arashi.
“Touch her again. I dare you.” Her own voice surprised her.
Instead of fear, she could hear anger coming from her own voice. It wasn’t the same as earlier. Instead this tone was darker and full of determination. Arashi raised up his fist to try to punch Moira but a voice stopped him.
“Hey! There he is!” A villager shouted.
The scene must have looked simple to them. Clanire had cut hair and was laying on the ground, looking defenceless. Moira was standing in front of her looking to defend her. Arashi seemed to be the attacker. The village soldiers jumped at Arashi to stop him. “You stupid son of a-” He got hit on the head with a shield. Arashi looked at Clanire and Moira.
“I swear I will get yeh both back!” He swore, “And I’ll make sure yeh feel more pain than you’ve ever been in before!”
They watched him get dragged away. Dropping her sword, she reached over to Clanire, who was sobbing.
“Clanire, it’s fine. He’s gone. We are safe.” Moira said trying to comfort her.
Clanire pushed her away in sorrowful anger. “I’m not crying about that! Look at my beautiful hair!” She sobbed, “You cut it!”
That was what she was upset about?
“My beautiful black hair is ruined! I’ll never be able to show up in the fae world again! I can’t! They will laugh at me!” Her sobs were loud and pitiful.
Some of the remaining villagers were looking at her with confusion. Clanire refused to even stand up. So, Moira reached down and picked her up. She was relatively lightweight. Many years on the farm and work as a merchant’s assistance had trained her to become stronger. The fae was surprised by this sudden act. She stopped her wailing and reserved herself to silent tears as she wrapped her arms around Moira’s shoulders. Heading home, Moira explained to her parents that Arashi attacked them in an alleyway.
They managed to fight him off but Clanire was badly shaken and needed a place to stay. After hearing such a story, her parents had no issue letting the girl into their home. Her mom, a woman named Koharu, buzzed about, talking about how she knew that Arashi was an evil person all along. Despite the fact that she used to ask Moira to get a husband like him in the past. Itsuki, Moira’s father, quietly cooked some food and brew some tea for their new guest. Soon Clanire was wrapped up in a warm blanket and handed a cup of relaxing tea. The fae’s eyes were tired from crying but there was a soft smile on her face.
“How are you feeling?” Moira asked.
“Better.” Clanire hesitated for a moment, “May I stay here for a while? At least until my hair grows back.”
Confusion crept up on Moira’s face.
“Where I come from, a change in my appearance like this would cause fae to talk. When fae talk, they are not kind. I don’t want to suffer through that.” Clanire explained quietly.
Moira nodded. “Let me talk to my parents. But they should be fine with it. And…I’m sorry for cutting your hair.”
Suddenly Clanire put aside her tea and embraced Moira. “You saved my life. Never apologize for that.”
Blush crept up on Moira’s face but luckily Clanire hadn’t notice. Freeing her from the embrace, Clanire picked up her tea again. Koharu entered the room with a bowl of soup to give to their new guest.
“Mom, would it be alright if Clanire stayed here for a while? She doesn’t really have a place to go at the moment.”
A smile spread on the mother’s lips as she handed the soup to the fae. “Of course! But our guest room is filthy at the moment. She will have to stay in your room until we can properly fix it up.” Koharu said.
Suspicion lingered in the back of Moira’s mind when her mother claimed that. Pushing it aside, she nodded to her mother. They would be staying in the same room tonight. Her eyes glanced over to Clanire to see her response. It seemed that the fae was happy enough with the solution. She would be staying with them. Moira wondered where this would lead to.
