The Forest

-12-

Aria longed to help them, all of them. But she didn't know how. Funny that even people who know so much and have been through such trials can still feel helpless and stupid in times of need. The woman let her hair down over her shoulders and closed her eyes to the firelight. She should go to bed too. It's no good to try and think when your mind is tired. A hurting heart makes for hurting thoughts.

Hammering footsteps passed overhead, and dust showered down from the floorboards.

Aria opened her eyes and looked to the stairs.
"Mum?" Aspen whispered from the next floor up.
"Yes?"
"Where's Lyn?"
The question lingered. Aria rose from the moss.
"What do you mean?" The woman whispered, louder. Azure stirred at the sound of her voice.
More stomping footsteps as Aspen hurried down the stairs. "Where's Lyn?" He appeared at the bottom with wide eyes, still clenching the banister, "She's not in her room."
"What?"
"What's going on?" Azure roused from behind her. She groaned into her arm and tried to open her eyes. Aria watched, then turned back to Aspen, who was standing frozen on the stairs. On his face was already a look of half-formed terror.
"Nobody's left the house since midnight." Aria breathed. Lyn had to be in her room, how could she not be in her room?
Azure sat up fully, "What's wrong?"
"Where's Lyn?" Aspen asked her instead. He came down the rest of the stairs, but only made it as far as the ledge where the floor dipped into the alcove, then stopped dead, as if possessed. The fear was in his eyes, the panic— where was his child?
Azure was still groggy, she yawned and rubbed her eyes, "Lyn?" She made a face, "In her room." Her tone said where else would she be?
"No she's not."

The house had gone very cold. Aspen stared between them, frozen in place. He looked like he wanted to ask a thousand questions but couldn't think of a single thing to say. The fire snarled in their silence and began to gnaw on the last of the wood.
Aria shook her head, "She was up there with her friends."
"What friends?" He demanded. As if she knew them all by name.
"Cecelia's sister."
"Fleur." Azure filled in.
The boys she knew, "Your scout, Alder. And Micah."

Azure was fully awake now, sensing something was wrong. She had been listening to every word, and at that moment went pale.
"Micah." Azure breathed. She got up and the blanket crumpled to the floor. There would be no sleep tonight for any of them, or many more nights to come. "You don't think..."
Aspen realised. A wave of horror swept over him, his eyes went wide. "Fuck."
"Aspen Fenland!"
"She's gone to get Rosin." He breathed. Aria froze. No.

Aspen turned to his mother with terror in his eyes. The fire sputtered out behind the three of them. And then Aria was in no place to lecture her son, because she uttered the exact same word that he had.

———

"This is so dumb. I bet she's not even in there." His teeth were chattering, his ears were cold and damp, and he wanted to go home. The tree gave about as much cover from the snow as a ripped up sock.
Mist swelled as Fleur spoke, "I hope she is... Rosin is nice." She was shivering too, even in his cloak. He almost wished he hadn't given it to her now. If his arms trembled any fiercer they might just jitter right off his body.
"She's not. She's the moodiest person ever." Moody was Alder's way of admitting he was secretly very scared of her.
Fleur didn't disagree that she had a scary face, but maintained her earlier comment, "She helped me when I was younger."
"With what, your class work?"
"No. When... you know... when the Hollow got destroyed..." she didn't say anything else, and she didn't have to.

Alder remembered that day vividly, as did everyone who had been taken by the human.
"Oh yeah." He said half-heartedly. It was something he mostly tried not to think about, but it was hard to forget how the human had eventually forced Rosin into submission. Rosin wasn't afraid of anything... but when he threatened to hurt Fleur, she had been left with no choice but to surrender and allow herself to be imprisoned.
Can't be much fun to have your life threatened, Alder supposed. He didn't know how Fleur was so... alright with everything. She was supposed to be the baby in their group. But if that had happened to him...