A woman with fiery hair scrambled through the bushes on her way to the lake.

“How much is possible?!” she hissed angrily, once again entangling the curls from the hazel branch. “Varin, it’s not time to play, I have to make it to sunset!”

A young man with a small stature appeared on the barely trodden path, with green skin and long grass instead of hair. It was Varin, still quite young, about 300 years old, a forester, the keeper of the forest in which our witch lived in recent years.

“Well, sorry, sorry, Vayana. Turn this way and you will immediately get to the lake,” the forester pointed to the nearby bushes.

Already imagining how she would pull out the leaves and small twigs, the witch Vayana went into the thicket, but in a few minutes, she climbed out on the shore of the required reservoir.

“Look who came! This is our witch!” sounded cheerful from the old willow. There, on the branch, local mermaids skated.

“Come to us, Vayana, let’s dance!” shouted one of them.

“I would love to, but there is no time. Water lilies must be collected before sunset,” the witch had already taken off her shoes and was taking off her shirt and pants.

“Can we drown her?” unexpectedly offered the youngest one.

“Are you crazy?” giggled the elders. “She will drown you herself, as she wants. And will not look that you are a child of water”.

Vayana no longer listened to them, but carefully approached the desired plants, holding a basket in her hands. Taking out a sickle from it, she began to cut the flowers, quietly whispering words in an ancient language. In the light of the evening sun, her eyes burned with green fire, and her skin cast gold.

Having finished the gathering, Vayana began to go home.

“Hey, witch,” shouted the mermaids. “Will you come for the holiday today?”

“Of course, I will be there, I`ve already promised your father to bring a fly agaric tincture,” Vayana got closer to the mermaids. “I also brought you colored ribbons from the fair.”

The mermaids were incredibly happy and already started discussing who would take which color. Vayana shook her head with a smile, looking at these little spirits, and went home.

The way back was surprisingly short. It seemed that everyone was preparing for the summer solstice. In a few minutes, a clearing with a small one-story house appeared before the witch’s eyes. If it weren’t for the light of the mushrooms that surrounded it on the perimeter, it would be dark – even if the eye was poked out.

Pausing for a moment in front of the door of her temporary home, Vayana closed her eyes and, stretching her lips in a smile, pushed the door.

“Were you not told that entering the house without an invitation is impolite?” the witch put a basket with lilies on the table near the door.

“I decided to surprise you as an old friend,” a vampire sat comfortably in a chair by the fireplace. His white hair fell over his black shirt, and his red eyes stared intently, as if they were trying to burn a hole.

“Friends come more often than once every 15 years. Tea, coffee, tincture, wine?” suggested the witch to the vampire Nekron.

“Something to your taste, Vayana. And I didn’t come earlier because I was worried that you would curse me,” the vampire got up and followed the witch to the kitchen.

“Your intuition works well. But agree when you are almost burned alive at the stake – it is not pleasant.”

“Well, I’m sorry again, I didn’t think that everything would go so far,” Nekron took the glass with tincture from Vayana’s hands. “Mmm, cherry, and also with thistle.”

“I know, that’s why I didn’t add poison there,” the witch nodded at the glass. And only the vampire stopped squinting suspiciously, she added, “Just a few drops of laxative.”

Nekron snorted, and Vayana smiled with satisfaction.

“And what do you want to get me involved in this time?” asked the witch, sitting down on the sofa with a glass of Sangria.

“Can’t I just visit my friend?” Nekron objected.

“Can, but don’t pull the cat by the balls, Nekron. I have a Sabbath soon, and I still need to gather many things.”

“You`re always like that, Hurry somewhere, run… Not to sit for a moment, to enjoy peace…”

“At this moment the poison will appear in the tincture.”

“Okey, I’m assembling a team to find one artifact. Nothing complicated,” said the vampire.

“Yes, everything is so simple that you did not send one of your subordinates, but you are gathering a team yourself. Last time it was the same song,” Vayana mockingly looked at her friend.

“In general, this is a private request of an old acquaintance of mine, so you should not interfere with this work, but you are right – it may not be so simple,” the vampire exhaled heavily and looked into the witch’s eyes. “It will be interesting, that’s what I definitely can promise, and fun, not safe, but definitely fun… I need a connoisseur of dead languages; besides, the pay will be good too,” he got up and handed the witch a contract. “Read, if you like it – sign. In a week, you will be transferred to the collection point, if you agree… And it’s time for me to go. Thanks for the drink, witch, and see you soon,” Nekron winked at Vayana and dissolved into the air.

“Scum, you know I’ll agree,” said the witch out loud, and got up to gather for the Sabbath.