An open window of opportunity

In retrospect, getting into a yelling contest with the stranger who had committed breaking and entering, trespassing and who knew what else- oh yes, there was also that small matter of a kidnapping attempt in the making, how could she forget that- wasn’t that good of an idea, but, in her defence, consider this: she was scared and confused, and whenever she was scared and confused she bypassed all of her emotions and sensible thoughts and went straight to biting humour. Sue her.

“‘Princess’? I’m Opal, you wannabe knight! Even if you have any actual armour, anyway, I bet it’s stolen!” she exclaimed, indignant, pointing a finger at the other girl.

She waived her hands in front of her body, her eyes widening. “What?! I don’t steal, I just borrow things! Not even that often, only from time to time!”

Opal made a vague gesture in her direction. “I compliment you for your dutiful behaviour! Do you also want a merit badge or something?”

“Also, I never steal- borrow! I never borrow armour, only crystals and such!” She even had the gall to put a hand on her heart.

“Oh, because that makes it so much better!”

“In any case” she said, changing the topic with the subtlety of a sledgehammer. “Nice to finally meet you, Opal, my name’s Celsian!”

The newly introduced Celsian extended her hand in greeting, with a smile and all the confidence of someone who could break a work of art and still be carefree like that, and Opal exploded.

“The pleasure is not mutual, you vandal, you freaked me out and you also destroyed my window!”

The other girl’s hand lowered and her smile became a bit strained, but maybe she was just trying not to laugh. “I mean, it’s not exactly your window-”

“It is, for the time being! My temporary room, my temporary window!”

“Come on, there are a lot of similar windows in this city-”

“I don’t care, I liked that one!”

Celsian shook her head in disbelief, and Opal could see that there was a long and thin braid extending down to her back. “Why are you so fixated on that window, anyway?” Before Opal could answer her in an extremely angry tone, however, she put her hands in front of herself. “Don’t yell even more, please, you’ll attract the guards even faster!”

Opal hadn’t thought about that, to be perfectly honest, as busy as she was with giving the other a piece of her mind, but it was a good idea. “Well maybe that’s exactly what I want to do!” It was strange they hadn’t already arrived, actually. What were they doing? That was the royal castle, for crying out loud! She had seen its guards, so where were they? Did that girl do something to them? It wasn’t out of the realm of possibilities, considering she had somehow managed to climb over all those walls and reach her room- in the morning, no less!

To her surprise, Celsian’s stance relaxed and she raised an eyebrow, with a seemingly amused smile that didn’t reach her eyes. “Are you really sure about that?”

Opal was caught off guard. “What do you mean, of course I’m sure, are you even aware of what you did by coming here?”

She put a hand on her hip and inclined her head on the side like some kind of bird. “I am, despite what you seem to be thinking.”

“Then-”

“However, if I go away and you are put under stricter… protection, let’s say, you’ll lose your chances at freedom. Forever, I’d wager. And that’s not what you want, is it?”

“I-”

Celsian continued to smile, but it still seemed calculating. “If you follow me, I’ll get you out of here.”

Opal frowned. It couldn’t be that simple. “… What will you gain from this? What do you want with me?”

“With you, next to nothing-”

She scoffed. “As if I could ever believe that-”

“You didn’t let me finish! What I’m actually interested in is the Saintess’ stained glass in the cathedral” Celsian said, her eyes glittering. There were many things Opal would’ve expected the other to tell her, but ‘stained glass enthusiast who also happens to be a criminal’ wasn’t on her bingo card. “I’ve already tried to study it, but there’s always been some sort of… wisp of magic, surrounding it, that I’ve never been capable of tracing back to anyone.” She grinned. “And this is where you come into play!”

“Me…?” Opal was getting more and more confused by the minute. “I don’t know anything about magic, though.”

“It doesn’t matter! You’d just have to stand near the stained glass and maybe touch it, so that I can see if it reacts to your presence or your magic signature, and that’s it!” Celsian clapped her hands. “After that, we can merrily go our separate ways.”

“Let me understand, you did all this… just so that you could analyse a stained glass while I stand next to it and look pretty?”

“I mean, if you explain it like that it sounds stupid…”

Opal raised a single eyebrow, crossing her arms over her chest.

“… but it isn’t! I have a hypothesis” Celsian assured. “And, in any case, I can formulate another one if the need arises. You literally fell from that same stained glass, after all, and everybody and their brother are saying that you are our new Saviour, so you must have at least a little something to do with it.”

“I-”

Before she could continue, however, they both heard loud voices and the sound of heavy steps, that paired with the clattering of armour and weapons were the telltale signs of the guards running up and down the castle.

Celsian made a face, checking the outside situation. “… ah, they discovered the true nature of my decoys.” However, she bounced back quickly. “Well, no biggie, I guess it could’ve been worse too.” She made a hurrying motion with her hand. “Come on now, Opal!”

She took a step back on instinct, her body suddenly remembering it shouldn’t have been so relaxed. “What? No!”

“What do you mean, ‘no’, we don’t have much time!” The rapidity with which her gaze travelled outside increased.

“I never said anything about actually joining you!”

“Oh, please, would you just-”

“Don’t come closer!” she exclaimed, closing her eyes and extending her arms.

After that, Opal didn’t know exactly what happened. One moment Celsian was stepping towards her with her hand outstretched, but the next there was the sound of rocks sliding on one another, and then silence. When Opal tentatively squinted, her eyes widened and her arms fell uselessly on the sides: multiple deadly spikes of stone had emerged from the walls, floor and ceiling and all of them pointed at various vital parts of Celsian’s body, stopping just shy of touching and actually hurting her. It was a close thing, though, if the way she didn’t dare move even a single muscle was any indicator. However, while Opal was shocked and low-key terrified, Celsian was, after a moment of muted surprise, grinning like a madman, her eyes shining in pure exhilaration.

“… Hiding a lot of tricks up your sleeve, Miss Saviour, are you not?” There was a spike directly pointing at her neck, but apparently it wasn’t enough to stop her from talking. She did it cautiously, being extremely careful not to touch it, but still. “You’re so much more interesting than what I first thought.”

“I…” She was at a loss. “Don’t call me ‘Saviour’.”

“Sure, Opal” she complied easily.

“I didn’t even know I- Aren’t you scared?”

“Oh, I’m sure some part of my brain is very busy being afraid, but to be honest I’m way more excited than scared at the moment.”

Good for her, because Opal was currently freaking out; she was officially the person with the upper hand, in that situation, but she felt like she was the one trapped. Where did that surge of power come from? She was pretty sure she wasn’t capable of creating spikes of stone before arriving in that world. She couldn’t spend much more time pondering about it, however, because she could hear people running down the corridor, probably approaching her room. She turned her head towards the door, increasingly worried.

“If they see what you did and you stay here, you’ll never manage to avoid going to the battlefield” Celsian said, as if she was reading her mind. Opal looked at her. “If you come with me, on the contrary, I’ll explain to you how the Saintess’ magic works, in exchange for your cooperation with my stained glass study.” She was so calm, as though she didn’t perfectly know that she would’ve been thrown in a prison cell – or worse – the moment those guards got a hold of her.

In the meantime, the sound of steps outside her room was getting louder. Opal felt her heart hammering even more inside her chest and her thoughts going a mile a minute, while her body was frozen. What was right? What was wrong? What did she have to do? No, those were all incorrect questions. What did she want to do? What did she need? Her mind went to what had happened since she had appeared in that world, to the one conversation she’d had with the king, and found her answer. She looked Celsian in the eye. “… If I come with you, you’ll also help me find a way home.”

The other girl smiled in triumph, as if her birthday had arrived early. “Only if you let me study your powers too.”

In that moment, Opal heard people skidding to a stop just outside her room. The next second, they were rapping repeatedly and insistently on the door. Her time was officially up. “My lady! Please open!” When she didn’t, they tried on their own and failed to unlock it, so they went with their backup plan. “We’re going to knock down the door, please move away if you’re near it!”

She hastily got closer to Celsian in response, never taking her eyes away from her, and spoke exactly when the guards did good on what they’d said. “Agreed” she answered, the trembling sound of the single word she uttered drowned by the cacophony of the door being busted off the hinges and falling on the floor.

“My lady-” The guards started walking in, but stopped in their tracks once they saw Opal’s rocky addition to the room décor. “The Untethered Magic…” one of them murmured in awe, as if they were witnessing a miracle. Maybe, from their point of view, they effectively were.

“I’m certain they’d like to see more” Celsian commented from her spot, as sure of herself as ever. “Come on Opal, show them.”

She nodded, even though it wasn’t like she actually knew what she had to do. Sadly, arriving in another world and getting strange magic stone powers didn’t come with a practical, useful instruction manual; it really was a shame. Still, she put her hands on the spikes, willing them to disappear just like they had emerged, and to her surprise they obediently crumbled down to the floor in tiny little pebbles, mingling with the glass shards that were already there and freeing Celsian, who rolled her shoulders and stretched her limbs.

“My lady, what-” The guards began to wake from their stupor, but it was already too late.

Celsian extended her hand again, and this time Opal took it. Then, Celsian pulled her towards herself and, ignoring Opal’s indignant shriek, pretty much swept her off her feet, picking her up in a bridal carry.

“Celsian, I didn’t agree on this!”

“Hey, stop flailing this much-!”

“My lady!”

Both of them seemed to remember they had an audience – an audience that was now hurrying towards them – and Celsian took advantage of Opal’s momentary distraction to strengthen her grip and get closer to the edge of the broken window. “So long, my fellows!” she exclaimed, winking.

And then, she leapt over the edge.