Dawning of a Seer

Blossom

Spring led Elizabeth through the gathered nymphs and out of the upper chamber into the network of tunnels. Elizabeth tried to concentrate on where they were going, rather than the enormity of what had just happened. She had found sanctuary, but at what cost? After several twists and turns, Elizabeth gave up trying to remember their route through the dimly lit tunnels and wondered if she would ever see daylight again.

Now, feeling hot and clammy, Elizabeth was relieved when Spring stopped and opened a circular wooden door. It led into a small room lit by fireflies that intermittently darted across the ceiling in different directions. A carpet of soft moss covered the floor and felt warm underneath her bare feet. A light floral fragrance filled the room.

"Welcome to your new home," said Spring. "Make yourself comfortable and get some rest. We will arrange for you to have a keeper, who will collect you in the morning."

"A keeper?" Elizabeth asked.

"Yes, a keeper," replied Spring. "They will mentor you until you earn the right to become one of us."

Elizabeth went to respond but wasn't sure how to. Questions raced through her mind, fighting for priority. How would she become a nymph? Did she want to? Before she could think of what to ask first, Spring had left the room, shutting the door behind her. Elizabeth's heart was beating fast and she began to feel faint. Sitting on the bed, she took slow deep breaths and began to take note of her surroundings.

Next to the bed was a table. On the wall just above, hung an oval mirror, its frame made from woven twigs which were entwined with red and white berries. On a small shelf nearby was a silver lantern that seemed to hold no candle, tallow or wick.

The soft sound of water running from a reed pipe in the wall opposite caught Elizabeth's attention. It cascaded into a basin set into a washstand below. Getting up from the bed, she walked over to the basin, allowing the cool water to run through her fingers. The fireflies in the room suddenly converged above her, drenching her in a pool of brilliant light. She looked up at them in amazement, watching them flit back and forth just above her head. She splashed some of the water onto her flushed cheeks before returning to the bed. As she led on the softness of the woolen blankets, the fireflies dispersed to the corners of the room. Only a few lingered above her, providing a soft subtle glow, like that of a single, flickering candle. Elizabeth began to recall the exhaustive events of the day as she breathed in the soothing scent of lavender that seemed to emanate from the pillow. Her eyes closed and she let herself sink into the softness of the bedding.

.................................................

Elizabeth awoke to the smell of eggs. Sitting up, she saw a nymph with short, pale pink hair that curled at the ends and had vivid blue eyes.

"I've made you breakfast," the nymph offered a plate with a wooden spoon. "I found some clothes that may fit. Try them on once you've eaten and I'll take you to the bathing pool to get cleaned up."

Elizabeth's stomach growled in response. "Thank you," she replied, taking the food.

"The eggs are fresh this morning. I collected them myself," said the nymph. "You'll feel much better once you've eaten something," the nymph commented. "My name is Blossom. I've been chosen to be your keeper until you become a nymph."

Questions flooded Elizabeth's mind once again. "I don't know if I want to be a nymph," she hesitantly stated. The light within Blossom's eyes seemed to extinguish and Elizabeth wished she hadn't said anything at all, but she couldn't hold it back any longer. "I don't know anything about being a nymph. I just happened to stumble into the woods ___ I don't know what to do ___ I just know I can't go back." Tears escaped from her eyes and cascaded onto flushed cheeks.

Blossom put her arms around Elizabeth, letting her sob on her shoulder. As Elizabeth cried, Blossom hummed a tune that sounded like a lullaby. Evoking treasured memories, Elizabeth's thoughts turned to her younger sister Annabella. The tears stopped as she resolved herself from self-pity to concern for her family. Pulling herself out of Blossom's embrace, Elizabeth gave her a pleading look. "I must find out the fate of my family. I've got to somehow put it right."

"I'm afraid Winter won't allow it," replied Blossom looking away.

"But they'll be punished for my actions. I'm sure of it," Elizabeth's eyes, again, began to fill with tears.

Blossom sighed and thought for a moment. "I'll take you to Marrok, he'll know what to do."

Blossom insisted that Elizabeth finished eating whilst she packed a few things in a small hide bag. She handed Elizabeth some leather slippers with cords that wrapped around her calves, soft leather leggings and a cream tunic decorated with leaves of autumn colours. Before they left the room, Blossom took the lantern from the shelf and opened the front panel. Without a word being uttered, some of the fireflies flew into the lantern allowing Blossom to trap them inside. 

"Here," she said, giving the lantern to Elizabeth. "They'll provide you with light whenever you need it."

"Thank you, Blossom, for everything."

"Don't thank me yet. I'm supposed to be taking you to the bathing pool and the seamstress, not letting you wander around the woodland."

They left the room and entered into the dimly lit tunnels. Elizabeth felt more at ease this time with the additional light shed by the fireflies in the lantern, although she stayed close to Blossom as they navigated their way to what she called the 'hollow', an entrance up into the woodland which was rarely used.

"Is it true?" asked Blossom. "Did you kill a man?"

Her question caught Elizabeth off guard. Hearing Blossom's words brought home the severity of what she had done, but it still paled in comparison to the guilt she felt for abandoning her family. "It's true, yes, but I wasn't my intention. I don't know what was going through my head," Elizabeth confessed. "I went through with the marriage to keep my family safe, but when he tried to touch me I just couldn't bear it. I just lashed out I suppose, to protect myself and he fell onto the floor. He didn't move and when I saw the blood I panicked and fled."

"Spring didn't say why you had done it, just that that was the reason we agreed to give you sanctuary. I didn't mean to upset you, but I just thought it strange, I mean you don't seem to be a warrior of any kind."

"Me, a warrior? No, I'm just an ordinary girl." Elizabeth couldn't help but smile at Blossom's comment as she recalled her usual daily activities of reading or sewing. Brought up as every other young maiden in Aurora, to be a wife and serve her husband. But Elizabeth knew now that something inside of her needed more than that. Otherwise, she wouldn't have murdered her husband on her wedding night and put her family's lives at risk.

"Well, you're not ordinary anymore," commented Blossom.

They finally reached the end of a long and narrow, winding stretch of tunnel which ended abruptly, the floor bending itself upwards into a coil of fibrous tree roots tangled with brambles.

"I can't get through there," exclaimed Elizabeth.

"You'll be fine. The bracken is just an illusion designed to keep your kind and others out."

Elizabeth followed Blossom, using the tree roots to climb up the curvature of the tunnel into the hollow of the tree above. Elizabeth was mesmerised as Blossom walked straight through the bracken which shimmered as she disappeared from sight. Blossom called to Elizabeth to follow. Taking a deep breath and scrunching her eyes shut, Elizabeth clambered through. Opening her eyes, she smiled with relief as shafts of sunlight found their way through the canopy of the woodland onto her face.