Scattered Fragments

Chapter Seven~ Wavering Hearts

    Alice sat on top a hill humming a tune, the city stretched out before her. The sky was still a stone cold grey, which threatened rain, or maybe both depending on how Aliyah, the goddess of weather, felt today. The cold winter breeze brushed across the fields, eventually landing on her rosy cheeks and pulling softly on the strands of her hair. Alice began reminiscing about a better time, when she was with her parents. The tune she hummed was one not of this land, but a far off place she called home. Her mother and father would hum this tune every night before tucking her to bed. Alice was deeply homesick. Although her time in Etra was a gift in and of itself, the time for her to go back home was approaching. In a couple days she will leave this land and cross the sea with Fay, leaving everything behind.

    She stopped her humming, the winds halted their dance as well. Alice tightened her jacket around her body. There was a small sound of a chain rustling at her hands. She looked down and noticed James' pocket watch. She wondered why she would still hold onto the watch after what she saw yesterday. She could have easily given it to a guard at the castle. The thick metal the watch was made of would easily sink at a nearby lake. So why did she hold onto it? There were many men in Etra that had strong feelings against the Onen. There have been countless families that have lost loved ones to Onen when the wars raged. So why did she feel so bad for this boy she barely knew?

    Shaking the thought, she got up and turned back to the cabin, putting the pocket watch back into her coat pocket. Alice tried not to get attached to her small home on the hill. She tried not to get attached to the farmers who had helped her and Fay through those horrible winters. She told herself a long time ago that this would all be temporary, that one day she would have to leave this all behind eventually. Fay had told her that they were drifters, and drifters do not leave roots. Alice knew Fay was one not to get attached with anyone, anywhere. She figured that if she did have roots in the land, she'd pull them out of the earth with her bare hands, set fire to them, pick up the ashes, and throw them into the wind so that they could move on. Fay was a lot better with these things than her. How do you tell an old man and his wife that you would be moving away forever and that they wouldn't have help with the harvest this year when they would need an extra pair of hands? How can you leave the first real house you've lived in after eight years? How can you convince a whole kingdom that you're people are innocent and only wish for peace? How do you look a boy in the eyes and know that deep down he wouldn't hesitate to kill you if he knew what you were?

    Alice snapped out of the deep thought once again. She shouldn't be worrying about these questions. Her mother always told her that the cosmos always had a way of sorting things out themselves. She would focus on getting home first. Ever since she had come to Etra she hadn't heard much news coming from Kardia- the real name of the Onen Territory. She wondered about her people. Was her family okay? She could feel her people's Essence in the ocean of energy in the atmosphere. It was an ability only the Onen and Astranovan people had; being able to sense the Essence that radiated from all things living. The energy from her people was warm and inviting like it always had been.

    She opened the door to the small house and noticed Fay was not back from the woods yet. Alice closed the door behind her and sighed. The inside was almost empty aside from all the bags that were packed in the corner of the room. They were really going to do this; they were really going to go to Kardia and find her parents. Excitement filled her heart, but then there was always the hint of anxiety. Alice never remembered coming to Etra, she just remembered waking up in Fay's arms on a small boat; drenched in seawater. She had told her that she was floating in the ocean during a great storm. Since then, Alice had always wondered if her parents had abandoned her. Had she done something wrong that would cause them to discard their only daughter, or have they been looking for her ever since? There was a knock on the door before she delved deeper into her thoughts for a third time.