Who is Magpie?

Magpie climbed what could only be called ‘servant’s stairs’ to her bedroom. The staircase was hidden behind a mirror at the end of one of the halls, but that was just the closest entrance to the kitchen, and the secret hallways and stairs ran throughout the manor. The stairwell was hot and stuffy, with no windows, leading up to what should have just been an attic, but contained her bedroom. At the top of stairs a door opened up and over from the floor, eliminating the need for a landing and increasing the usable square footage.

Once inside she took a deep breath and allowed her shoulders to dip. Her room was covered floor to rafters in plants, growing wrapped around support beams and hanging from rafters. The room had angled ceilings that aligned with the pitch of this particular roof and no real windows, just large cut circles at either end with thick panelled wooden shutters that she could open and close for air flow. In the winter she would hang thick moving blankets over them to keep the heat in, but with all of the special lightbulbs she had for her plants it didn’t often get that cold.

She flopped onto her bed roll unevenly, knocking both her knees against the wood floor, but she had also forgotten about the wound. Removing her shirt and tossing it to the side, she sat in her sports bra to check it out in the mirror again. The stitches she had provided herself were crooked, having to use her less dominant hand to make them, but they were holding up.

She traced her pinky finger over them, grinning in her mind at the funny scar it would likely leave behind. Another story to tell her…. She wasn’t sure who she would tell. No one ever spoke to her, everyone she knew under the one roof but not one friend.

A sudden knock had her nearly jumping from her skin. …No one ever knocked at her door. When the supreme Doux wanted to speak to her he had a letter sent up through the tube system, and the rare time he had even come up the stairs he had been so angry he stomped up every single one before throwing the door open; nearly tossing it off the hinges.

‘Someone has come to see me?’ She questioned in thought. “Come in?” She replied, confusion slipping through into her voice that she barely recognized, as she sat up quickly on her bedroll, ready to bow if needed.

To her surprise it wasn’t even Bluejay, who, though he did knock, did not wait for her reply to come in, as it was part of routine. She watched Kookaburra enter cautiously, looking around at everything. Magpie thought her eyes looked judgmental, possibly at all the space she had to herself where everyone else shared; but her eyes were actually curious, looking at her lack of proper furnishings and excess greenery.

No words were said for longer than Magpie was comfortable, so she spoke first. “Kookaburra, did I do something wrong? Is a Doux waiting for me?”

“What?” The question surprised her. “Why would you think that?”

Her eyebrows pinched. “You’re in my room. No one ever comes to my room unless for punishment. It’s forbidden.”

“Forbidden?” Burra questioned. “Is it?” She had never been told that before.

“Why else would no one come? I am forbidden from entering anyone else’s room, like they are mine.”

There was a sort of innocence there that Burra felt sorry for. Surely she knew that no one liked her, but she guessed that Magpie’s forbiddance was more directed at keeping her from seeing how much more comfortable other suites were.

“It doesn’t matter.” Burra decided to say instead. “I am next in line. The same rules do not apply to me.”

“Oh… then why are you here?” It was asked so plainly that Burra knew others would have been offended by her question, but in learning more about her she knew it was just a question, without any intended attitude.

“I noticed you bleeding at dinner. I wanted to check on you since you obviously didn’t get treatment. Did they deny you ?” Burra asked. Trying to sound like a leader but ended up sounding like a girl talking to another girl, friendly almost.

Magpie shook her head. “It wasn’t worth asking. They were busy so it would have been a no anyway.”

Burra nearly laughed in shock, looking at the stitches. “So that’s your handy work?”

Magpie looked at it confused and then back to her. “I know it’s a little crooked, but I’m not left handed.” She argued.

“I’m sorry.” Burra tried to stifle a laugh but was struggling with it. “I didn’t mean it the way it came out.” She saw Magpie relax, but relax more into her bland expression and straight posture. She sat beside her on the bedroll, internalizing her cringe that they hadn’t even given her a proper bed. “I brought some of the Sanaberry gel for you. Lift your arm.”

“It’s not necessary…” Magpie tried to interrupt, but she was interrupted right back.

“It’s my own personal stache, you don’t need to worry, they’ll never know.” She assured, and Magpie nodded slightly.

“What do you want?” She asked as the gel was applied gently over the stitches.

“What do you mean?”

“People don’t help you without wanting something in return.” She rephrased. “What is it you want?”

Burra shook her head. “I don’t want anything.” She assured. “I’m next in line to lead, and I want to be a better leader than the last.” She finished. “No one should be in pain if they don’t have to be.”

There it was. A spark inside Magpie that she hadn’t felt in a while. It was a small light, like a tea candle in a dark room, but she felt it and it left her unsure of how to reply.

“Th….” She began, hesitating at openly accepting kindness. “Thank you.” She said finally.

Burra pulled away, done applying the gel. “It’s not a problem.” Then she returned to looking around the room. “You have a lot of plants. You must be very good at growing them.”

Magpie nodded. “I’m not allowed in the garden. So I worked very hard to earn each plant to make my own.”

“Why can’t you go into the garden?” Burra wondered, personally loving the tranquility and safety of the garden that surrounded the Garden Manor.

Magpie looked baffled, well as baffled as her expression ever changed. “Because it will kill me? The garden is poisonous to everyone except the fae.”

“Oh yea.” Burra nodded, questioning everything in her head.

The garden wasn’t poisonous to humans, only to the wolven. That was why she felt so safe, there; no one could sneak up on her while she was outside. They lied to Magpie to gain another way to control her. Not only could they insure she only left or came by car, but they also made her believe having permission to have her own plants was a reward despite otherwise meager living conditions.

“Keep this.” Burra said suddenly. “In case they deny you again. I can get more… I’m the granddaughter.” She added hastily, not wanting to be the one to tell her it was only her that wasn’t given any.

She pushed it back across the bed roll. “No thank you. I could get in a lot of trouble just for this. Anything greater.. the punishment wouldn’t be worth it.” She said it in such a way as if she believe Kookaburra knew exactly what she meant.

So she just nodded, feeling worse about every assumption they ever made about Magpie with every new ruleshe had that they didn’t. “So there’s a lot of plants. Can you tell me all their names?”

Magpie’s face didn’t change, but Kookaburra could swear that she saw the girl’s eyes lit up. “Of course!” The girl then began going around the room showing all the plants she had, giving their proper names, and why she liked them. Some plants had personalities, like the croton plant that wilted the second the soil went dry but perked fully half an hour after watering. Others had backstories, like the succulent garden she blew up a cruise boat in the harbour for. Her favourites had origin myths or were easily propagated to help fill her space.

She stopped suddenly, looking at a clock. “It’s late.” Her tone never seemed to change. Like her clear excitement before only showed in the speed of her words, and her disappointment now only present by how slow she spoke. “I apologize. I’ve kept you passed curfew, and after you were.. kind. If you get into trouble, please feel free to tell them it was my fault. I take full responsibility.”

Despite them being the same age, Burra couldn’t help but think of her as ‘cute’. For as many missions she had been on and people that she had killed… and yet she presented so innocent when alone. Burra pat Mapie shoulder, knowing somewhere inside her that the special rules for Magpie would change when she was in charge.

“They won’t bother me.” Burra assured. “Don’t worry, and try to get some sleep. Training early tomorrow for group A.”

Magpie nodded, moving to lift the door to the stairs for Kookaburra to leave.

Kookaburra went to one of the lounge rooms to watch the news, realizing rather sadly that this was another activity Magpie probably wasn’t allowed to do, surrounded by dozens of others on the main floor ‘after curfew’. Some how her view felt forever altered. She had felt so negatively against Magpie just 24 hours ago when learning they would be on the same team, and to find out most of the reasons why could be explained through this special set of rules just for her. Kookaburra sighed, knowing that the girl had been doomed to be an outsider, without any friends, by her grandfather.

Upstairs Magpie used her small attached bathroom to continue getting ready for bed. She replayed the longest conversation she had ever had with anyone from the Garden over and over. She continued wondering if maybe there was still another motivation for the kindness but secretly hoped she was wrong. She had planned to check her plants for watering needs but suddenly felt so tired all she wanted to do was lay down.

She thought that maybe it had been a mistake for her to treat Kookaburra like any other person in the garden, instead of the heir of the estate. There were no grand ideas that this kindness would make tomorrow any different in Magpie, but falling asleep was a little easier and the nightmares didn’t hit so hard.