Marli slowly looked around the room. The unused cage was already covered in dust. Where Prim had always rolled around on her desk, only the piece of cloth that had been used as a blanket remained.

It was an empty house. Marli felt a wave of loneliness surge up inside her. Her red eyes dulled and her grip on the basket slackened. Bad fairy. For no apparent reason, she felt betrayed.

Maybe he really had left. Marli knew that it was her who had kept Prim locked up, but she’d never thought that the fairy would leave without saying goodbye. She’d thought they were friends.

Just then, a faint voice came from somewhere.

“…rin.”

“Prim?”

Marli’s eyes shot open. She whipped her head around, searching the room. In one corner, on top of a messy stack of books, something glimmered. Tossing the basket aside, Marli ran straight over.

Between the books, in a narrow gap, the fairy was lying there. No—it was more accurate to say he’d fallen and gotten stuck. Marli hurriedly pushed the books aside and lifted the fairy into her palm. Prim’s tiny body lay limp and powerless in her hand.

“Prim, are you okay? What’s wrong?”

“I… don’t know. I feel dizzy…”

Prim could barely get the words out, blinking as he panted, his breath hot and shallow. His wings had lost their shine and were crumpled.

Marli gently stroked Prim’s back. The fairy’s small body was as hot as a potato fresh from the hearth.

“Are you sick? Is it a cold? Wait, can fairies even catch colds?”

Prim silently shook his head and slowly closed his eyes. His head drooped forward in the same way that her grandmother’s had when she said her final goodbye. Marli’s eyes widened in alarm.

Could he be… dead? Prim is dying.

But at that moment, Marli wasn’t thinking about no longer being able to get ‘fairy essence’. None of that mattered at all. What mattered was that she might never hear the fairies buzzing around her again.

She was about to lose her friend and become the lonely witch of the northern forest once more. That was what mattered most.

Marli shook the fairy in his hand.

“Prim, Prim! Don’t die!”

The fairy, who was barely breathing, let out a faint groan. He was still alive. Marli fought back the tears threatening to spill and forced herself to stay calm.

“Don’t die, Prim. I’ll save you, I promise.”

She hadn’t been able to save either her mother or her grandmother. But she had made a vow to Prim. After all, she was a witch. No matter how rare or expensive the medicine, she promised to find a way to cure him.

🧚‍♂️⋆｡°✩｡⋆⸜🌸⸝⋆｡°✩｡⋆🧚‍♀️

It was a kind gesture, but Marli didn’t have an immediate solution.

First, she moved the fairy down to the lowest floor of the tower and into her own room. On reflection, however, the ‘witch’s room’ was not an ideal environment; it was never cleaned, it was full of dust, and it was cluttered with all sorts of ingredients. There was no way of knowing what might have endangered the fairy’s life. Marli felt sorry for locking Prim up there for so long without a second thought.

She laid Prim on a soft pillow and covered her with a clean, fresh cloth. The fairy groaned continuously and was unable to regain consciousness.

“Prim…”

Prim continued to sweat from his relentless fever. Marli dampened a cloth and gently wiped his tiny body. She dabbed honey on Prim’s lips whenever she could, but the fairy refused to eat. So Marli mixed the honey with water and slowly poured the mixture into Prim’s mouth.

Marli brought down every book that might help, including those on fairy biology, mystical creatures, and the side effects of herbs. She spent the night poring through every volume, desperately trying to discover what had made Prim ill.

But the answer wasn’t easy to find. She hadn’t used any poisonous plants, and fairies were said to have such a strong life force that they could purify most toxins from plants. Nevertheless, Marli refused to give up. Rubbing her tired eyes, she continued turning page after page.

She read, wiped Prim down, read again, and tried to feed him more honey. The whole night passed in a blur. As dawn began to break, she checked Prim’s condition once more. Perhaps it was her imagination, but the fairy’s breathing seemed steadier.

“Prim, I’ll be right back.”

Marli changed the cloth covering Prim’s body for a fresh one and stood up. She put on her cloak, grabbed a glass bottle she’d thoroughly sterilized, and left the tower.

The forest at dawn, just before winter, was bitterly cold. She felt as if her face might freeze at any moment. Still, this was all she could do for Prim right now.

With a small teaspoon, she scraped dew from the leaves and collected it in the glass bottle. It sounded simple, but it was far from easy—there was barely a single drop clinging to each blade of grass. By the time she’d filled even a small bottle, the sun was already rising.

Blowing on her frozen hands, Marli hurried back to the tower. As soon as she entered the room, she didn’t even bother to take off her cloak before going straight to the bed.

“Prim.”

Prim was still asleep. Marli gently dripped some dew onto his tiny lips. Some trickled out, but Marli saw his throat bob as he swallowed a little.

Marli let out a long sigh. She hadn’t slept all night, but there was no time for rest. If she fell asleep and something happened while she was asleep, Prim’s condition might deteriorate. She shrugged off her cloak and headed straight upstairs.

Marli began brewing every potion she could think of: fever medicine, antidotes, vitality-restoring elixirs and even a curse-lifting potion. She was more meticulous than ever, using the finest ingredients without a second thought.

Before she knew it, it was noon. She hadn’t eaten anything since yesterday, and her stomach ached. Chewing on a piece of dried frog’s leg that had been used for potions, she rummaged through the cupboard.

“Ah, here it is…”

In her hand, she found her grandmother’s notebook. Belladonna had written down potion recipes for Marli, the granddaughter she would one day leave behind. One of these recipes was for the so-called ‘Wish Potion’. Her grandmother used to say that if you drank it while making a heartfelt wish, that wish would come true.

Marli had considered drinking it after her grandmother died, but she could never decide what to wish for. Should she have asked to be with Belladonna again? But her grandmother would never have wanted that, so Marli couldn’t bring herself to do it. After that, there just wasn’t anything she desperately wished for.

Now, she poured fresh water into the pot and began to combine the ingredients with the utmost care. She prayed with all her heart that her grandmother’s wish potion would heal Prim.

🧚‍♂️⋆｡°✩｡⋆⸜🌸⸝⋆｡°✩｡⋆🧚‍♀️

Marli gave the fairy every potion she’d made. She made sure to leave enough time between each dose to watch for any reactions. Between potions, she fed Prim dew, and before she knew it, the sun was already setting.

Even then, Prim hadn’t regained consciousness. Now and then, he would let out a faint moan and shift slightly, but that was all. At last, Marli gently poured the wish potion into Prim’s mouth.

“Prim, wish to get better—please.”

She wondered whether the fairy could hear her while he was unconscious. Just in case, Marli made the wish herself. Instead of praying to a god, she earnestly pleaded with her grandmother, “Please, let Prim recover.”

Marli wanted to keep watching over Prim, but her eyelids felt impossibly heavy. She had to collect more dew at dawn, but perhaps she could close her eyes for a moment first. Even as this thought crossed her mind, her body began to crawl onto the bed.

Having given up her pillow for the fairy, she wrapped herself tightly in the blanket and curled up next to Prim. She kept the pillow with the sleeping fairy right by her side, just in case she needed to hear the slightest sound.

The moment she closed her eyes, exhaustion swept over her and she fell asleep.