A Nymph of the Ossian Forest

Hideaway

I paused, weighing an idea that has suddenly come to my head.

"You're right. I'm going to speak to Aidan first. It's no use talking to my father, but Aidan... He will understand that I want to help. He knows I can help." I didn't know what made me so sure, but I spoke with full confidence, my voice echoing from the old cellar walls.

By the look on Mina's face I could see that she liked the idea, but before she could say something, we were interrupted.

"What are you doing here? Arian?" A girl named Ida curiously looked inside the chamber we were exploring. Her torch enlightened the cellar, catching me in a stupid pose across the wall. "Can I help you?"

"No, thanks." I dusted my hands off and quickly turned around. "We're going back."

Perhaps Mina was surprised with how decisively I walked out the room. But she also could have noticed my despair: the light of Ida's torch showed that the adjacent room of the cellar had nothing but bare walls.

There was no other way out.

That meant there was nothing I could do now but sit and wait. When everyone was gone from the House of Gatherings, I was going to try the same staircase. But now steps and voices above our heads suggested it was full of people.

I sat on the cold floor next to the children and older girls, who sat around in groups or tried to sleep and prepared for a long night.

"Can I ask you, Arian?" said Ida, the girl with a torch. "Is it true that you were attacked by a giant bear?"

"Yes, Arian." Echoed Louise, a cute blond haired girl. "Mina said you were."

I threw a quick glance at Mina and she shrugged apologetically. Something suggested that she might have exaggerated the events in her story.

"Yes, indeed," I said nevertheless, to keep her out of the uncomfortable situation. "We had to run for our lives."

"I thought Aidan could kill the bear," said Mia, a thirteen-year-old with two cute braids.

"No, silly. Aidan rescued her later. There were Creones when the bear attacked." I was surprised to hear how well the girls knew the details of my story, but then, I guessed, it was all Mina's responsibility.

"They don't fight as good as Ossian hunters, do they?"

I assured them that of course, not. I told myself I didn't even need to be surprised that everyone already knew the details of what had happened in the forest. I even caught myself thinking the legends about nymphs appeared roughly the same way: someone exaggerated what he saw in the forest, told it to his friends, and a hundred years later we had a great legend. I wished Kalista's story fit into that mold, but it didn't.

"Will you be with Aidan when he returns?" Louise asked curiously. "I think they must allow you to be together after what happened on the Sowing day."

While I was trying to come up with a polite answer not to make Aidan look like the bad guy and not to sound offensive, Mina came to help.

"I don't think Arian wants to discuss this," said Mina, showing incredible tact. "She has been through a lot and saved my life. She can't think about your boys now." I looked at her, grateful, and she nodded cunningly.

"Sorry, Arian," said Louise. "I will mind my own business. But if until the next Sowing day..." she exchanged glances with other girls and they chuckled simultaneously.

"Shame on you, Louise!" Mina exclaimed so loud, one of the kids nearby turned in his sleep. "Aidan loves Arian, he won't choose anyone else!"

"It's fine, Mina." I hushed her with a touch on her shoulder. "Let's just change the topic, okay? And by the way, we should better go to sleep." I tried to sound authoritative like my father. Having slept for many hours after our return to the Ossian Village, I wasn't tired at all, but wide yawns of other girls suggested they were exhausted. Although it was still early, I turned around and lay on my side a little bit too showy and waited for everyone to follow my example.