The Book Of The Priestess

20

Willow awakened to the sun peeking inside her room. She stretched her arms up into the air and let out a yawn. She looked around the room for Philip, but saw him nowhere. She immediately looked towards the bed and let out a relieved sigh once she saw the little boy sleeping soundly.

She took a quick shower and went out of the room to grab a bucket of warm water and new cloths. She entered room and saw the little boy sitting up.

"Oh. Your up. Thank goodness." She smiled. "Let me go get you something to eat. You must be hungry." Willow placed the bucket down on a chair and walked back out of the room.

The little boy looked around the room. The little boy was actually not a little boy. The little boy was actually a white fox spirit named Yoshiro. He took the form of a child to be saved from those who were attacking him. He looked at his body to see the wounds almost fully healed. He turned towards the door when he heard the door creak. The girl who walked in earlier comes back with a tray of food. She sat next to him in a chair.

"Are you okay? Does anything still hurt? I  found you something to eat." The girl sat next to him and he wondered why she saved him. He really did want to die. He didn't care if he did or not. "That's okay if you don't want to speak to me. I am a stranger to you." He wondered if she was the one who sat next to him and stroked his head throughout the night.  He wondered what her reaction would be when she found out his true form. He wondered if she would run away in fear or be like the others and try to hunt him down. "What's wrong? Are you not hungry?" Willow began to worry.

"Hey Willow. I heard there was a little boy in your room. I wanted to see if the guys were lying." Kyle opened Willow's door and walks in.

"Oh. Hey. Yeah. It's true. Is that all?" Willow stood and walked towards Kyle.

"No. I wanted to see if you want to spend some time with me." Kyle rubbed the back of his neck.

"Kyle. I'm sorry. I can't. I'm going to have to decline you like I declined Philip. I-... let's go outside to speak." Willow began to push Kyle out of the room and into the hall.

Yoshiro looked at the tray of food and began to smell the food. He wasn't sure if the food was safe enough to eat. He decided to eat a piece of the meat. Soon enough, he began to eat all of the food on the tray. Willow walked back into her room and a smile appeared on her face. Yoshiro knew that once his wounds fully healed, he was going to take this woman with him, but for now he had to act like a child.

***

Willow began to go out and pick some herbs and berries. The little boy followed her and held onto the end of her dress. She thought he was cute when he did follow her around.

Yoshiro acted frightened when either of the three guys would come near him or Willow. He would hide behind Willow and Willow would let out a gentle laugh and hug him. Yoshiro liked the smell Willow had.

William began walking towards Willow.

"Willow. Do you have a moment?" Willow turned.

"Yes?" Willow set down her basket of herbs and berries.

"Who is this child? He follows you around like a little duckling." William looked at the child who stood behind Willow.

"I do not know who his parents are, but it looks like he trusts me now. I think I understand him a little bit from his actions and movements. He's not dangerous though. Or at least, from what I can tell, he's not dangerous." Willow giggled at the little boy.

"What's his name?"

"I don't know. He hasn't said a word since he awakened." Willow crouched down and smoothed down the little boy's hair.

"He has an odd hair color." William pointed out.

"It shouldn't matter what he looks like. I don't care about how he looks, but he is cute just the way he is. I wouldn't care if he had blond, blue or black colored hair." Willow smiled as the little boy stared at her.

"Do you think he understands you?"

"I'm pretty sure he does," Willow stood and picked up her basket, "is there anything else you want to point out about the 'strange' child?" Willow looked at William. He didn't say anything, so she began to walk further into the woods; holding the child's small hand. She wondered when or if the child would speak, but speaking wasn't the big problem here. Willow has been trying to find the child's parents for days, but she had no clue to figure out who his parents were.

Willow returned to the castle after gathering the things she needed. She set them down on the table and went to tuck the child into her bed. After he fell asleep, she began to read the new books she retrieved downtown. She felt the need to gain this knowledge from this world.

She started to drift to sleep, but then heard her bedroom door open. She quickly shot up and looked at the door. The door was opened, but no one was standing there. She looked towards the bed and didn't see the child laying down. She stood and began to run out of the room in search of the child. She passed a guard standing at his post.

"Hey. Have you seen a little boy with white hair pass by here?" The guard nodded.

"He was running towards the garden." The guard pointed towards a door. Willow looked out the window to see the rain pouring down from the sky. She started to panic and grabbed her umbrella before running outside to follow the little boy. She caught up to the boy as he stood in the pouring rain. She put her umbrella over him and crouched down to get to his height.

"Why did you come out here? Let's go back in and get you dried off, okay?" She smiled. Yoshiro grabbed the handle of the umbrella and smoke surrounded his body as he changed into his natural form. Willow stood up and looked at the man that stood in front of her. He had fox ears and a tail.

"Your coming with me." The man wrapped his arm around her waist. He jumped and disappeared into the rainy sky.