Lady of Crows

Chapter 12 - Listin

I walked out of the building with my medium-sized pouch in hand.

I was back in my normal clothes.

"Shafija." Someone on my left said.

I turned my head. It was Visha.

She wore a black puffy long dress.

But her hair was a mess. As if she just got out of bed.

Also, there were bruises on her face.

"What happened?"

"Wanted to make a distraction for you both."

I looked up. You could have seen the Telin Royal Palace from here. It was on fire.

"Impressive."

"Nevertheless, I am going with you to Listin."

And so we traveled to Listin, just on one horse. It took us hours.

However, we had to take a break. So we did. In the middle of a forest.

We both sat on the ground and ate sandwiches.

"How long till we get to Listin?"

"Three hours."

I tried to come up with what to say. Tell a story? Ask about the party?

But then Visha began to speak.

"You know... I always crashed parties."

"How did you do it generally?"

"Eat like a maniac, or start a food fight."

"You? Start food fights?"

"Yeah."

"I could never imagine you doing that. I mean you are so elegant constantly."

"I am not always."

We spoke for a few more minutes.

Then we kept on moving.

By nightfall, we arrived in Listin. And it was enormous. It was overall just a large city. Some parts were poor, some weren't.

The architecture was mostly Gothic. But on the outskirts, it looked like an abandoned village.

Visha and I walked with our horses.

It was snowing on us. The sky was cloudy.

So much snow was in our hair.

"What was here?"

"My home."

"What happened?"

"WSA attacked."

"West Saforia army?"

"Yeah, they destroyed everything. I mean we were fighting with them too."

"No other choice huh?"

"Yeah... I saw my birth mother and father die here."

I didn't know how to respond. But in a way, I felt her pain. My mother and dad are dead too. It's just... What do I say?

"Well..." I tried to come up with what to say. can't know exactly what you went through. But I know how it is to have both parents dead at such a young age."

She turned to me.

"I know. But I wasn't close with Gilette. Or Litenti. I mean they were just step-parents. What happened to Litenti?"

"I never found out what happened with him. However, Mom died of an illness. I remember... how she died." I said quietly. "Am I making this about myself? I'm sorry if I am."

Silence fell between us. It felt comfortable.

"We both lost people that were to care for us." She glanced into the distance, then right back at me. "We both can be sad together."

That made me shed a tear.

She hugged me.

Visha hugged me tight. I hugged her tighter.

We kept on moving.

Both of us moved into the town.

We got to the center. There was a church on top of it.

Visha and I walked right through the entrance. 

When you walked in there were stairs on the first level. Or you could continue going downstairs. But there were guards.

But I had Scar create a distraction.

So we both went downstairs.

Statues were everywhere.

I saw mothers statue. It was beautiful. So elegant.

It was just like described in the archeology notes.

I began to look through the files.

Trying to find everything.

Every single file spoke about everyone. Talking about what they ate to the scars they had. And also a punishment record.

I was someone who didn't have many scars. But got a lot of punishment. There were even descriptions of how I was punished. Belts, sticks, you name it.

I looked in Visha's files.

They interested me the most since she was the sibling I knew the most.

She had a good eating report. She didn't have much scars.

And very small punishment record.

But she had an odd category in her files.

Power category.

Her veins were black when she was young. That suggest possible Crow powers when she was young. She could have been like me. Controlling a crow. But because they didn't remain black till she was 13, she didn't get one.

And I use 13 since it's when a person becomes an adolescent. A new life stage for a person.

"Shafija!"

I turned around.

Visha was holding up a file.

"I found something!"

I walked up to her.

It was coordinates.

Must be the Crow Royal Palace.

I'll be able to find out the truth about who I am finally.