"ILLUMINUS!"

"AHH!!" Arianna yelled as a blinding light nearly burned her eyes out. She pulled the sheets over her head in an attempt to shield herself from it, but they were swiftly torn out of her hands and yanked off of her, a cool breeze hitting her arms and legs. "What the heck?!"

"Wake up, wake up, wake up!" Velvet screamed at the top of her lungs and jumped up and down on her bed, catapulting the dazed girl to the floor. She stumbled to her feet, still not seeing a thing, and hit her head into a piece of furniture.

"OW! VELVEEEEEEE—"

She was swiftly silenced as the other girl shoved a sandwich into her open mouth. "Eat this!"

Wincing from both the pain and the light that blinded her, she finally managed to open her eyes only to see her friend throwing a heavy backpack at her. "Here's your stuff!"

Arianna almost toppled over when she caught it with both hands, the ham and cheese sandwich still hanging from her mouth. "Mmmphh!"

"No time to talk! We have to go, go, go, GO!!" Velvet demanded. She threw her staff and her uniform on top of the backpack she was holding so she wasn't even able to see over anymore.

"You can get changed in the carriage! I already took a teleportation tablet for each of us and my stuff is already downstairs! We have adventuring to do and tasks to complete! COME ON!!"

Shouting this, the crazy girl grabbed her under the elbow and ran for the door, pulling the confused Arianna behind her as she was screaming protests into her edible gag. They ran across the hallway and down the stairs, Velvet practically kicking the front door of the academy open as she threw her backpack at the first coachman that she laid eyes on.

"TO DRYWAKEN!" she yelled at him so furiously that the man recoiled in fright.

"T-to where?" he asked, completely taken aback by this abusive behavior.

"DRYWAKEN!!!! DID I STUTTER?!" she shouted even louder and pushed Arianna into the carriage together with all her stuff, jumping in herself and slamming the door shut. "GO!!"

The coachman whipped the horse and off they were. "Faster, faster, faster!" Velvet demanded.

"The horse can't go any faster, miss!" the coachman finally mustered up the courage to shout back at her. "If you want to use this carriage for the return trip, the horse must stay alive!"

"We don't need it for the return trip!" Velvet yelled in turn, shocking the man once again.

Arianna finally managed to spit out the sandwich. "ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND?!"

"Ahh," the other girl leaned back into her seat comfortably. "Now we can relax..."

"I'm in my nightgown!" her friend yelled. "And my hair is a complete mess!"

"Take it easy, we have two day ride to our destination now. You can get dressed, eat, and fix your hair on the way. I just wanted to give us an early start!"

This made the blonde girl flinch. What time was it even? It all happened so fast that she didn't even have a good look at the sky. She pushed herself off her seat and leaned out the window.

"The sun isn't even up yet!" she realized in shock. "The heck is wrong with you?!"

"Hey, Ralph said at dawn," Velvet shrugged. "And it's getting bright now, so..."

Arianna sighed. A part of her knew something like this would happen, but she still hoped that her friend would not go crazy like this. At that point, she started feeling her feet getting cold. Glancing down, she was immediately reminded why. Of course. She was still dressed exactly the same as she was when she went to sleep yesterday. Just her white nightgown. She sighed.

"Well, I better put some clothes on, lest I get a cold," the barefoot girl purposefully said out loud to make her friend feel bad. Not that it really had any effect, since Velvet was already doing the tasks in her head. A map, her staff, and a book about different creatures were on her lap as she was turning the pages furiously until she came to one talking about cave goblins.

"Cave goblins hate the light!" she read for Arianna to hear. "Makes sense, since they are dwelling underground. We have a total advantage over them because I use light magic! This really is a super easy task! We'll have it done in no time, you'll see!"

"Mmh," her friend mumbled in annoyance as she was pulling on her white stockings. After getting at least partially dressed, she went over her stuff in the backpack. "I swear, Velvet, if we forgot something because of your crazy rushing, I am going to be so angry!"

"Don't worry, there is no way we forgot anything!" Her friend waved her hand, still preoccupied with reading the book and mapping out their route.

***

They arrived at the village of Sleetle by nightfall. This was already fairly close to their final destination, which was the village of Drywaken. According to the map, their first task was found almost in the middle of the two, so Velvet decided to make an adjustment to their plan.

"We will order the coacher to drive the carriage to Drywaken and wait for us there," she told her friend on the way over. "We will get off in the middle and find that cave, kill the goblins, take that treasure and then make our way there on foot! Then we're off to the second task!"

The carriage stopped in front of a small inn where they would be staying the night. Velvet jumped off and landed directly in a puddle of mud, which she simply shook off. Arianna followed, landing in the very same puddle with a loud 'splat.' Her friend turned around to see her standing in it with her arms crossed and an unamused expression on her face. Her snowy white stockings were completely covered in the brown liquid.

"So we forgot your shoes!" Velvet shrugged. "No big deal! We will buy you some new ones!"

"When?" The shoeless girl cocked her eyebrow. "Tomorrow at dawn when you will throw me out of bed and drag me into the carriage again before the market even opens? Or today, when it's almost nightfall and all the stores are closed already? Please, do tell me."

She had a point. Velvet had absolutely no intention to wait until sunrise to resume their journey. Time was their greatest enemy after all. They had two tasks to complete and only six days to go. So where were they going to get a new pair of shoes for Arianna?

"I'll...get back to you on that one," Velvet said nervously. "Don't worry! I will fix this!"

"You better!" her friend hissed back with a hefty amount of disdain in her voice. This whole thing already started out pretty badly for her. First the rude awakening. Now she has no shoes.

They didn't talk a whole lot before going to bed that day, since Arianna was really not in the mood for it and Velvet decided it was best to leave her alone and let her cool off a bit.

***

The next day, Arianna woke up to the smell of fresh pastry. She rubbed her eyes lazily and propped herself up on the bed. On the nightstand beside her bed, there was a plate with cooked eggs, a glass of milk, and a piece of fresh bread. There was a bowl of cookies too!

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Leaning over the edge of her bed, she saw a brand new pair of boots. She immediately tried them on and realized they fit her perfectly. Velvet was nowhere to be seen, however. What was this?

Confused, she decided to eat the food while it was hot. The bread was freshly baked and still hot and everything tasted amazing. Her friend came in when she was almost done eating.

"Good morning!" she greeted her with a smile. "I see you ate breakfast already!"

"Yes," Arianna swallowed the last piece of bread. "Who made all this?"

"The food fairy!" Velvet exclaimed and started laughing. "Who do you think? It was me of course! I went to the market and the bakery and bought these things. Hope you liked it!"

"It was delicious!" the other girl smiled. "Wait, the market?!" She suddenly realized what that meant. She stood up and opened up the curtains, a bright light blinding her eyes. The sun was already high in the sky. "But...what about the early start you wanted? And our tasks?"

Velvet walked up to her and hugged her from behind. "It's alright. I was being selfish. You are my best friend, Arianna! I want you to be happy! And besides, adventures are supposed to be fun, aren't they? What good does it do if we are both miserable at the end of the day?"

The other girl felt tears sting her eyes at this display of true companionship. "I love you, Vel."

"Yes, I love you too, Ari. And that is why you and I are the best team!"

They stayed like this for a bit, before Velvet let go of her. "But we really should get going..."

"I'm ready to face anything with you!" Arianna exclaimed with newfound determination.

"That's all I ever needed to hear from you!" Her energetic partner grinned. "Let's go kick some cave goblin ass!"

***

"Stop the carriage!" Velvet exclaimed when they came up to a fork in the road. "This is where we get off! Mister coacher, can you drive to Drywaken and wait for us there?"

"As you wish, young miss," the man responded, pulling on his reins and stopping the horse. Both girls took their backpacks and jumped out, starting to make their way across the rocky terrain that lead them up a hill and down into a shallow valley. They made a few stops along the way to eat, drink and rest a bit.

Unfortunately, the new boots gave Arianna blisters since she wasn't used to walking in them, which only further slowed them down. After what must have been at least five or six hours, she collapsed on a nearby rock and took them off.

"I can't go on like this! My feet are killing me! And we're not even there yet!"

"Alright, give me your backpack," Velvet held out her hand. "I will carry both for us."

"No, that's too heavy," her friend turned her down. "I will manage somehow..."

"Give me the backpack and use a transformation spell! Turn into a bird or something!"

That actually wasn't such a bad idea. Arianna could simply fly that way and her feet wouldn't suffer. Still, that would expend her magic. Magic she needed to help Velvet fight the goblins.

"What if I drain myself before we reach our destination?" she asked with a concerned voice.

"Then we will use this," the other girl said and pulled her jacket aside, revealing a small bottle that was strapped to her waist. A faint glow emanated from it.

"Angel's Tears!" Arianna exclaimed. "I had completely forgotten about that!"

"But I haven't." Velvet smiled triumphantly. "See? I've got everything figured out! Now go ahead and do your thing! You can also have a look around while you're up there!"

"Alright, here I go." Her friend finally caved, handing her the backpack, and got ready to cast a spell. She raised her staff up high and exclaimed, "Transformation: Great White Eagle!"

Her clothes and hair turned into feathers and she shrunk down to about half her size, taking on the form of a large bird with a short, curved beak. It was as white as snow, apart from the tip of its wings and tail, which were as black as the night.

"That's awesome!" Velvet clapped.

"I don't know how long I can hold this form," the bird chirped with Arianna's voice.

"Hold it for as long as you can and then come back down for a sip of the potion!"

"Will do!" the eagle said before taking to the skies.

"And tell me if you see the cave we're looking for!" Velvet called after it. We should be fairly close at this point!"

It took them another two hours to finally find it and at this point, the sun was beginning to set. Arianna became exhausted after holding her transformation for so long and landed next to her friend, returning to her human form. She was offered the restoration potion but turned it down.

"We should set up camp and stay the night here," the tired girl suggested. "I don't think it's smart to go into the cave when night will fall soon. We should sleep first and go in tomorrow morning. In that case, I can rest up the old-fashioned way and don't need the potion."

The explorer in Velvet disagreed with this of course, but in the end, her logical side prevailed and she listened to her much more cautious and reserved friend. They brought a tent with them and set it up a good deal away from the cave. Just in case something decided to come crawling out at night.

Velvet gathered some dry wood and made a fire by focusing her light on it, while Arianna prepared dinner. After they ate, the savvy adventurer procured yet another bottle from her backpack. The liquid in it appeared just like regular water.

"It's healing water I bought at the market," she explained. "This one is pretty powerful."

"How can you tell?" the other girl asked. "Healing water is as powerful as the person whose water magic made it. What makes you think a strong sorcerer filled this one?"

Velvet pulled up the sleeve of her shirt, revealing a scar. "Because I cut myself to test it."

"Always when I think a person can't get crazier, you somehow manage to prove me wrong!"

"Well, it worked like a charm!" she said cheerfully. "Now take your stockings off and put your feet here, so I can heal those blisters. I need you in top shape tomorrow for the task!"

Arianna obliged and her friend poured the crystal-clear liquid on a towel, gently rubbing it over her wounds, which were soon no more, only leaving behind patches of freshly regrown skin.

"Better?" she asked her when she finished, replacing the cork on the small bottle and putting both it and the soaked towel away.

"Better." Her friend smiled and nodded. Exhausted from the long journey, they quickly fell asleep, cuddled up next to each other.

Thank you for reading this part of the story!

Did you know? Arianna's favorite food is chicken with grilled vegetables [https://img.wattpad.com/8a84f018812dc76078921583cf803b31fe56f4bb/68747470733a2f2f73332e616d617a6f6e6177732e636f6d2f776174747061642d6d656469612d736572766963652f53746f7279496d6167652f7646476178354b4c4d586e7a6d773d3d2d313236373432363039342e313731346636356566313331333662343835343936313931313838372e6a7067?s=fit&w=1280&h=1280]

Did you know? Arianna's favorite food is chicken with grilled vegetables.