She heard the rustling of leaves, the snapping of branches in a familiar rhythm, and yet no sound in the forest had ever surprised her as much as this one. This wasn't a fox, a hare, or a moose. Her throat tightened—was it a bear? According to her mother, her brave great-grandmother Onni had wiped those out long ago, but its warm fur would be a valuable prize.

The clothing—a long emerald-green cape and a dark brown leather pointed hat with a wide brim, better known as a witch's hat—that her mother had left her was already quite worn, and she had no idea where it had come from.

Lumi pulled a small bottle of liquid from the wolfsbane out of her satchel, dipped a dart into it, and loaded it into her blowpipe. Her heart pounded wildly in her chest as she hid behind the bushes. The sound approached rapidly. She wished she had more lung power now than earlier that day on the beach.

A small fox darted through the dense underbrush with something strange in its mouth, but she held her breath. This wasn't the prey she was after. This fox was fleeing, and whatever it was fleeing from, she would deal with it.

Clumsy and loud cracking sounds crashed through the underbrush, and when she perceived something alive—something larger than herself—she startled and blew with all her might.

The dart whizzed through the air, and suddenly everything went silent. She stared at the figure emerging from the bushes, surprised, as it reached for the dart embedded in its abdomen.

The pink, bare skin, the lush hair that, oddly enough, grew only on its head like hers, and the unnatural coverings on its skin. This being was just like her.

It was... human. Lumi's heart was still racing, but she wasn't afraid anymore. Cautiously, she emerged from the bushes.

The young man painfully pulled the dart from his stomach and looked at her fearfully. "W-what was that?" He raised his hands hesitantly in the air as she approached, overwhelmed by curiosity. "Please don't kill me, okay? I... uh... come in peace...?" He tilted his head, and Lumi curiously mirrored his movement, unsure what he meant by it.

"That might already be too late," she replied, a worried frown on her face as she lifted the white cotton of his blouse to inspect the point of impact.

She opened her satchel and pulled out a water flask, but as she reached out to him again, he stepped back fearfully.

"H-how... do you mean?"

"Aconitum napellus," she muttered ominously, her eyes giving him a serious look.

Fearful squeaks escaped him as he stumbled backward in panic. "W-what are you? A witch?! What have you done?" He tripped over branches and fell onto the ground.

Lumi's face contorted with empathy. "Oh dear, this isn't working in your favor. Try to put as little pressure on your stomach as possible. Come on, we need to rinse it out properly," she soothed gently, walking toward him.

He seemed to relax slightly and now lifted his blouse himself to examine the wound, which was hardly visible. He appeared to calm down a little, though it was hard to tell with his flowing black hair obscuring his face.

She crouched down and smiled at him reassuringly, hoping not to scare him further.

He looked at her in amazement. Despite the witch's hat she wore, she had a kind expression. Freckles danced across her face, something enchanting twinkled in her ocean-blue eyes, but he sensed that the calmness she exuded was merely a facade. He nodded hesitantly, while something seemed to choke him, and he loosened the tie around his neck.

Lumi twisted the cap off her flask and poured the cold water over his stomach. He flinched at the chill, and she placed a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"We need to get to my hut quickly. In the best-case scenario, you'll be paralyzed within four hours. In the worst case, you'll be dead in half an hour." She stood and extended her hand to him. His heart pounded wildly, irregularly. He knew this wasn't good.

"Come," she said with a friendly laugh. "Let me help you up; it's not far."

"Dead?" he squeaked as she helped him to his feet. It was strange how her warm hand in his gave him a sense of safety, even love, while she might have killed him—or would kill him? The phrasing didn't really matter; you know what I mean.

"I think we need to call 112. Do you have a phone? That cursed fox took mine," he hissed through clenched teeth as he pulled himself up. He immediately felt dizzy, and his muscles felt weak.

Lumi quickly grabbed him by the waist, and he threw an arm around her shoulder.

"Phone?" she asked, puzzled, as they carefully took their first steps.

From that moment, he knew he was in deep trouble, but panicking wouldn't help. He wanted to believe he was in good hands with this strange herb woman; surely, that's all she was, he tried to convince himself.

"Do you have an antidote?" he asked weakly as they stumbled through the uneven forest terrain. His trousers constantly caught on the undergrowth, and his neat, black leather shoes turned brown.

With every step, his body grew weaker, and he leaned heavily on the woman. It surprised him how much weight she could bear.

"There is no antidote, but don't worry," she said calmly. "I can probably brew something to counteract the symptoms." She mentally went through her herb garden. Valerian root, garlic, and hawthorn, she decided.

Thank you all so much for the support so far! This story is really somethingelse for me, as Tir na nOg has been a project I have been working on for 10 years, never really being able to let go of rewriting and continuing the plot. Others struggling with this too? "^.^

So for this story I set a goal of 10k words and getting it down in a week, and I did!  I think it must be due to all the amazing inspiration you all gave me since I got here ^.^ 

Special thanks to @KarolinaPoniatowska9 and @missivylynn for bringing two awesome witches into my life <3 I think Gariella and Holly helped me shape Lumi a bit, I hope you ladies don't mind ^.^