Hexed

6

"Magick happens when you step into who you truly are and embrace that which fulfills your soul."

― Dacha Avelin, Embracing Your Inner Witch: The Maiden's Guide to Old World Witchcraft

☽★☾

Brynn was woken bright and early the next morning by someone vigorously shaking her by the shoulders. She groaned as she sat up, arms already blocking her face in case whoever was shaking her tried to attack again.

"I'm up, I'm up," she muttered, feeling exhaustion from the previous day still clinging to every one of her limbs. Apparently time travel took a lot more energy than one would expect.

Brynn rubbed the sleep from her eyes, finally recognizing the face in front of her. It wasn't Joan, as she may have expected, but Elise. The young woman was grinning at her playfully from where she stood at the side of the bed. Her dirty blonde hair was so long that it practically hung into Brynn's face. 

"About time! Anyway, I was sent to wake you up. Moonfall wants to train you herself, and she wants to get going with it as soon as possible. She took a real risk when it came to defending you last night, you know," Elise continued to chatter as Brynn got out of bed ― which was an actual single bed that was in fairly good shape, though there were a few suspicious lumps here and there ― and slipped back into the clothes she had been given. Brynn only paid some attention to what Elise was saying; she was too busy making sure her pants were put on properly to think too much of it. "It was definitely a little... strange seeing her get so protective over a stranger like you."

Brynn straightened up as she heard the words, feeling something similar to paranoia strangling her stomach. "Strange? What do you mean by that? It's not anything I've done, right?"

Elise shook her head. "No. It's not your fault. Moonfall just never does this with new members. She usually lets them wait it out and join in on a mission when she feels they're ready. For her to immediately want you in on a rescue... it's just not like her, is all."

"I guess that makes sense. I'm not entirely sure why she'd want that." The auburn-haired girl replied, biting the inside of her cheek. But that wasn't entirely correct, was it? Brynn knew that, for whatever reason, she was meant to be here and help out. The tarot cards had told her that much. Joan was just taking the cards' advice and helping Brynn get into a position where she could be of help. That was all this was about. Right?

Elise shrugged, a polite smile on her lips once more. "Yeah, I figured you wouldn't know. Not that it matters. I just wanted to let you know that it might not be smart to have Moonfall diving into battles for you again. If you want to gain respect of the rest of the members of our group, you're going to have to step up and defend yourself next time."

Brynn felt her cheeks growing hot. She felt embarrassed; she didn't want to be seen as someone who couldn't stand up for herself. "Of course. I didn't ask her to do that for me anyway." She took a breath to calm herself and forced a smile. "So where does Moonfall want to meet?"

☽★☾

"Took you long enough," Joan called from across the small courtyard. Brynn walked cautiously in her direction, confused as to why she would have wanted them to meet here of all places. Surely this place wasn't very hidden.

"I can promise you that it's only going to be us," the dark-haired young woman continued, seemingly sensing her confusion. "This is a closed courtyard, only entered from our group's hideout building and one other building that was abandoned years ago. We have frequent scouts always checking to confirm that no one else has moved in there. For now, we're all clear."