A Double-Edged Sword

Departure

Chapter 4:  Departure

The pants were warmer than skirts, especially with the long underwear she was wearing underneath them. She took long strides, stretching her legs far apart, and enjoying the freedom of movement she was experiencing. The cold wind rustled through her hair, but none of it bit into her face as it whipped around. It wasn’t long enough to slap her face like that anymore, she realized as she continued striding towards the grove of trees that Markie had pointed out to her earlier that night. She added a little swagger to her step, which she hoped looked manlier, as she approached the grove. Glancing into the shadows, she realized the Markie wasn’t there yet. A second glance up at the moon proved that she was a little early. Now that she wasn’t moving anymore, the cold wind seemed to bite a little bit more. She rubbed her mittened hands together and then hugged her arms tight against her body, hunching her back against the wind.

It seemed to take forever, but eventually she heard the crunch of boots on snow. She pivoted to find Markie trudging towards her.

He offered her a small smile, “Ready?”

“As ready as I’ll ever be.”

Markie didn’t speak more, but he turned and, with Lela following in his footsteps, started down the path that would lead them away from Mishka, over Corin’s Crown, through the province of Shalin and into the heart of their country’s capital.

Markie’s silence gave Lela plenty of time to think. Too much time. With every step she took she was walking further and further away from her home. Every footprint in the snow reminded her that behind her she was leaving everything that was familiar to her, everything that she held dear. Leaving behind the dormant fields that would soon contain the wheat, corn, and other crops that grew well in the mountain valleys. Leaving behind the familiar homesteads of her neighbors. Leaving the tiny town she had grown up in. Leaving her family. Each step brought her closer to a new life, unlike any she ever would have imagined. What would life be like without her mother there to comfort and encourage her? Without Sasha around to both argue with and confide in? Without having Derik dogging her steps, always with a smile on his, making her laugh at his jokes and antics? Without little Malia to take care of? And her father…

What if she never made it back? What if this was the last time that she saw any of them. She had missed Johhin and Jalin so much when they had left to go trading and had been waiting ever since for them to return. Johhin had been the one person that she could always talk to. They had been gone long enough that she was even starting to pine for the way that Jalin mercilessly teased her. How much more would her family mourn if she was never to return to them? Maybe Markie had been right. Maybe she was hurting her family more than she was helping them.

During that first hour, Lela almost turned back more times than she could count, but something kept her feet marching away from the only home she had ever known. At first the only thing that moved her feet was the depth of her love for her family. She couldn’t bear the thought of her family losing their land and becoming destitute. But with each step, she stuffed her fear and apprehension further and further into the back of her mind. As the sun began to peak over the horizon, Lela was startled to realize that a small, niggling emotion had crept into her mind. She was excited for this adventure. As much as she was afraid, as much as she hated the idea of war, she was ready for an adventure. Being a girl growing up in a small, and very much traditionally patriarchal, town, she had never had many opportunities to step out of the niche that had been assigned to her. She had spent her life following the rules. She had learned how to cook, clean, and look after her younger siblings. She knew how to farm and take care of the animals, but she had never gone against her traditional role. She had never taken her destiny into her own hands.