Born at Dawn

Chapter 1

Ayana barely even remembered anything from before her life at the cabin. It had been so long, and as the days passed, the memories of her past life became nothing more than dizzy dreams. She could only remember a handful of things; a soft blanket, a bush with beautiful rainbow flowers, and a warm smile.

She was so focused on trying to conjure up her faint yet comforting memories she nearly dropped one of the dishes she was carrying. Ayana quickly shook the thoughts out of her head, pushing them down as far as she could, making sure they wouldn't distract her again for the rest of the day.

Grabbing a small twig that was laying in the pile of firewood, Ayana carefully approached the fire, careful not to get too close, and tried to light the end of it on fire. Her hand trembled as it neared the fire more and more, but she was able to get a small flame on the tip.

She pulled back her hand as quick as she dared, careful to not let the flame die out, and moved to the table. Lighting the small candles, her hand continued to shake, making it hard to light the wicks. After all three were lit, she blew out the stick and quickly threw it into the fireplace before turning away from it. Her breaths were short and unsteady, and she tried to calm her breathing the best she could.

You're fine, a voice in her head said. Stop whining and get back to work.

The feeling of the heat on her hand resonated, but she kept moving. Her next course of action would be to boil water for tea. She filled the little kettle with as much water she could carry and brought it over to the fire, setting it on the rack next to the fruit. By now the fruit was nice and simmered and ready to cool before eating.

She brought it over to the table, and then took a seat, letting her poor feet rest. She sat there, listening to the fire crackle, and she closed her eyes for what felt like a second.

As if perfectly on cue, the sound of a door opening made Ayana jump. She shot out of her chair and went back over to sink, attempting to make herself look busy. She scrubbed a pair of cups as she felt the air fill with tension. Footsteps echoed throughout the small room, followed by a ruffling of feathers.

As Ayana dried one of the cups, she felt something on her shoulder. She didn't need to turn her head, out of the corner of her eye she could see the inky black feathers. Ayana reached over to the bowl where the berries had been laying in and grabbed a small blueberry. The raven excitedly cawed as Ayana fed it to her. Ayana gently stroked the raven before she flew away. Ayana was unsure if that raven was under his influence or not, but it didn't matter.

Grabbing the boiling water, she started to make two cups of tea. She filled one cup almost fully and then poured the rest into the other cup, the water only filling halfway. As she made the tea, the smell of the fruit was overwhelming and caused her stomach to rumble quietly. Ayana added a small amount of sugar to her own tea before she turned around and set the tea on the table, putting the fuller cup in front of him. He had already started eating, and took the tea without acknowledging her. Ayana was used to it at this point.

She grabbed an apple and then sat down, focusing on the tea in front of her more than anything. She told herself she should probably eat, but she had no desire to. She was too nervous to eat anything, her mind was too focused on the evening ahead of her.

The little cabin was silent besides the little crackling fire in the corner. Ayana stared into tea, giving herself a moment to relax. Her long, greasy hair fell around her face as she looked down, threatening to slip into her cup. Ayana hasn't looked in a mirror for years, but something tells her if she had one in front of her face right now, she would not recognize the girl staring back.

That thought made Ayana slip into her memories again. What did she look like when she was a kid? She had remembered a tall mirror in her old room, with a bronze framing. She was just about half the size of the mirror, and she wanted to grow taller than it one day.

Little bits of an image flashed in her mind. She could see herself with short, curly hair. That she could definitely remember, because she would always be upset when she woke up with terrible bed head. It also was painful to brush, and would scream when a brush got caught on a knot.

A bunch of dots. It took her a moment to register what that memory meant, but looking at her arms she understood it. Freckles splattered her face like someone had sprayed dirt in her eyes. "They're hundreds of little kisses from the gods," someone had once told her. She couldn't remember who, but she definitely didn't agree with them.

Blue. That was the last thing she could pull from her memories. She couldn't even remember what it meant, just a flash of blue in the mirror. The large bronze mirror, standing guard in her room.

The warlock's chair scraped harshly on the ground, creating a shivering screech. Ayana jerked her head up to see him already walking away from the table, his raven fluttering around his head, as if looking for a place to land. A feather fell from her wings and slowly fell to the ground as the warlock grabbed his cloak from an empty chair on the table. Ayana got up and went to deal with his dishes.

"I'm going to the market today."

Ayana was so startled by his voice she nearly dropped the dishes she was carrying. She turned to face the warlock, who was fixated on adjusting his cloak. For a second she wondered if she had somehow imagined him speaking before he looked up and met her eyes.

"If I bought you more of the ingredients, would you bake some cinnamon bread?"

Ayana didn't know how to respond. Cinnamon bread was one of her favorite things she knew how to bake. The single recipe book he had given her years ago only had a select few meals and foods you could bake, and that one was by far the tastiest. It was also fun to bake, she enjoyed preparing and kneading the dough. She especially enjoyed the smell it created that filled the small cabin, it could linger for a couple of days.

The main reason why she was frozen was because of the offer. She used to ask him all the time to buy her ingredients for cinnamon bread, and he would either refuse or not respond. She gave up on trying a couple years ago, knowing she wouldn't win the battle. But this offer was unprompted. Why was he all of a sudden having a change of heart?

Her voice seemed to catch in her throat, and opted to nod her head instead. Her mouth watered at the idea of biting into a warm slice of cinnamon bread again.

"Very well," the warlock said as he let the raven land on his right shoulder, "I'll be back before dinner." He unlocked the heavy front door and as quick as he entered the room he left.

Ayana stood there in silence, alone.

Something was off, she thought to herself, this isn't normal for him...is it?

What if this was his normal, and Ayana was just such a bad person she brought out the worst of him? Maybe she should....

No.

Ayana shook all the thoughts out of her head and distracted herself with her work. She still had to clean up the mess she made cooking breakfast, wash down the floors, and figure out what to do for dinner. He said he would return before, meaning she probably won't have time to prepare something after he returned home with new ingredients. Hopefully, he'll be in a good mood that night and not be too picky with his dinner.

Ayana sighed as she went to fill another bucket with water so scrub down the floor.