Dilecto Meo

|| three ||

Days passed by, and Avalyn stayed with Amarantha. While healing from many pulled muscles and other injuries, she would help gather herbs and other plants for the witch's craft, tend to the familiar, and overall just keep Amarantha company. Amarantha always made sure that Avalyn rested often, though.

While she was warming up to Amarantha, Avalyn was very conservative about her story. Amarantha never really asked about her history, anyway. They were just content with the fact that she was being safe and healing properly.

The familiar, who almost hated everybody, actually liked Avalyn. Like, liked her. It was barely tolerable to Amarantha. The cat would constantly watch Avalyn, making sure she was alright. When she looked sad, the cat would come and ask for attention. When she went to bed, the feline would stay in the room with her. If not, it would claw at the door until it was let in.

Amarantha silently was jealous of the cat, getting to know Avalyn quicker than they were. They were also silently jealous of Avalyn, being that she got more attention from the cat than they were.

The nights were growing shorter, the air getting cooler. The duo worked hard to finish up their tasks before the winter's first snowfall rolled in. Gathering whatever they could, the two searched for whatever was still in season. It was nearly November now, and there wasn't as much left to harvest.

-|-

On one particular night, it was the warmest it had been in weeks. The two, wrapped up in their cloaks, sat on the cabin's porch, enjoyed the night's tranquility with each other.

While they respected the fact that Avalyn wasn't really one to talk about herself, there were a couple, if not more things Amarantha would like to know about the teen. They decided to ask these questions in the most respectful way they could think of right at that moment.

"Avalyn, I understand if you don't want to answer this, but I would like to know. Why have you been on the run? Is it solely because of your hair? Or something else?"

Avalyn stayed quiet for a while, and Amarantha felt like they had done the wrong thing. But before they could apologize, the teen answered.

"My village wanted me gone. The only reason I lived as long as I did was that my parents didn't want me dead. They took care of me and raised me as if I was normal. They didn't care what the village wanted, this is what they wanted. I was what they wanted."

"So your parents didn't believe in the lore? That you were some curse?"

"They thought it was bad at first because my hair was solid white when I came out. They thought they did something wrong and were about to throw me out. But then, I opened my eyes. The townspeople say that's the reason they kept me. They thought I had magic and I became a blessing. That's why I was named Avalyn"

"And what does that mean?"

"It means beautiful breath of life."

"What did the townspeople have to say?"

"A lot of things. It got worse as I got older. Then when I turned thirteen, they said if my parents didn't get rid of me, then all three of us would hang."

"So you left?"

"Mhm. I did it to protect them. But as I went, people saw me more. They sent guards to chase me out of their villages. It got less and less as I got closer to the region border, though."

"So those guards I saw had chased you all the way from the western region?"

Amarantha was sure they had been imperial guards. They had been chased by them, too.

The familiar rubbed its back against Avalyn's arm, looking for attention. She quickly started to pet it, just before replying to Amarantha's initial question.

"No. Those guards were imperial guards. They were probably hired or something. They'd do anything for money."

Imperial guards. They were right about that. Those were not something Amarantha wanted to deal with. They were the knights of the capital and yes, they would do anything for money. All of their morals are twisted.

They knew this because for the past two years, the witch had created the role of the Imperial's high Mage, Lucinda. "She" would travel all over, blessing villages and cities, hunting down witches, and exterminating "runners".

Runners were mostly kids around Avalyn's age who were hired by other kingdoms to bring supplies to the people of the Imperial Empire. Some, called weapons runners, were wanted more than supply runners. These carried a types of weapons, from knives to guns to launchers and more.

All runners were trained to get from place to place on foot while carrying heavy loads. The had to be fast on their feet, and had to be able to dodge and jump away from soldiers and guards. The capital city is crawling with them.

Of course, Amarantha supports them.

But back to the topic at hand. Someone had hired imperial knights to get rid of Avalyn. A kid who has done nothing except receive backlash for something she couldn't control her entire life.

Avalyn was not meant to have this life.

At that very moment, Amarantha decided that they would do what was best for this kid. So they could live the rest of their life to the fullest.

Make no mistake.

Amarantha silently promised this to Avalyn after she'd eventually gone to sleep.

A witch is not one to break a promise.

Ever.

Word count: 932 words