Winter slowly began to loose its grip upon the land.
The ice began to melt and the lake swelled in size. Marcie had to clean the mud her boots every time she left the house to keep them watertight. Her father insisted on inspecting the roof for and leaks that might make themselves known during the rainy season.
These domestic chores occupied her time and kept her mind off the outsiders and Dara.
Aldren and his companions had done little to further her suspicions towards them. They mostly lounged around the Tavern, Jin telling his stories, Aldren wandering the town, watching the craftsmen at work, Sebastian occasionally disappearing, presumably to spend 'quality' time with Breen.
With the warming, excitement within the village began to grow, a sign the traders would soon set off on their long journey to bring The Forgotten their wares.
The craftsmen began working round the clock to have enough stock to trade with. Marcie also was busy with Miss Maiden getting all manner of clothes ready, orders for lengthening and repairs came in more often, everyone wanted to look their best.
Marcie was excited also because it was one of the rare times she would go hunting with the other villagers, to gather pelts. As soon as the cold spell broke they would set off for two weeks at most. It gave her an excuse to go into the forest without causing suspicion, and, as the others mostly ignored her presence, she should be able to sneak off to see Dara. Despite this, her excitement was tempered a little, she wondered why, before realising that it was probably because it meant Jin, Aldren and Sebastian would be leaving soon.
Although she found Sebastian infuriating and Aldren full of himself, Jin was friendly and good company and they were all interesting, different, a welcome change from the sameness of everyday life. Although life was and probably would never be the same again due to Dara's presence, it felt like a dream when she was with him or when she communicated with him. The three outsiders felt real, and vibrant. She did not feel the fear of reprisal she felt whenever she thought of them as she did her Dragon.
She realised she would miss them, miss the long discussions over mugs of ale, miss Jins innocent teasing, miss Aldrens harmless flirting and, yes, she would even miss Sebastian's dislike of her, as she guessed it was more a shield for himself than actual hatred, she recognised true hatred having lived under its cloud her whole life.
To distract herself from all this she made her way to Dafne's home. She had been reading up on the Daygon. Familiarising herself with their history, although she was finding it harder than she would have liked. Most of the writing was in the old language and she was having to use another book she found that translated the individual words into the common tongue. It made for disjointed reading not helped that the history was incomplete and included phrases such as "Some believe..." and "A common myth surrounding the Daygon is..".
The result was that she did not feel that she knew the Daygon any better than she had before they marched into the village in search of Dafne. She left the book of Daygon and tried to translate any more of the book of mystical creatures where she had found the information on Dragons. But gave up when the light began to fade and, despite her enhanced night vision, the faded words on the old paper became harder and harder to see properly. Instead she wandered around, placing the books back on the shelves and tidying up some of the parchment that lay scattered on the floor. No doubt Dafne would moan that she couldn't find anything, but Marcie had always hated to see such a beautiful home so messy.
She wandered around the darkening rooms, till she found a room she rarely had cause to visit. Housing a large cot, piled with plump cushions and blankets, that seemed unnecessary considering the inside of the cave was always kept pleasantly warm. It smelt much more strongly of Dafne than the other rooms, a mixture of different herbs and an earthy smell that was unique to her.
Marcie breathed it in, and felt sad. The place felt so...lonely...without the old Witch, she was always here, always welcoming, in her typically grumpy way.
Luce and Miss Maiden may have had a hand in raising her, but Dafne shaped her and had the greatest influence on her. There was nothing false about Dafne, she made no attempt to make the villagers like her and offered no excuses for her eccentricities. She did not lie, not to herself or to others. Of course she had secrets, and Marcie, probably more than most, had seen the evidence behind her contemptuous title of Witch.
Marcie wiped away a small tear that had gathered at the corner of her eye, Dara sent her a fleeting feeling, like that of a small pat on the cheek, one she found hard to explain. It felt like he was there with her, standing there in this room of someone she cared about very much, breathing in the familiar sent with her. It made her feel much better.
She turned to leave, but something caught her eye, a faint glow, coming from a small table next to Dafne's bed, which contained a number of small drawers. The faint glow, came from the very top drawer nearest to the bed, a thin slip of pale white light showing. Curious, she went over and opened the drawer, cautiously. Light poured out, too bright, she turned away, but, undaunted, reached in, felt around and pulled out the source of light.
She let her eyes adjust then looked at what she held. It was a crystal, rounded in shape, smooth on top but jagged and ruff on the underside.
She had seen the exact same crystals before. In the cave that Dara's mother had made her own and that Dara now resided in. She could see him there now, looking through his eyes she saw the rock face and of the cavern, the ceiling covered in clusters of these very same crystals, big and small, all giving off the same white illuminating glow.
She placed the crystal back in the drawer careful to push it back exactly as she found it and left quickly. She rushed home, checked to see if her father was home, he was not, and crawled under her bed. Feeling along the stones that made the lower wall she found one that was loose and pried it out, light spilled into the room as she brought out the crystal she had taken from the cave. The same white light, the same clear glass-like appearance, same cool touch. Although hers was long and sharp like a knife it was most definitely the same.
She sank to the floor. What did this mean, surely these strange crystals could not be so easy to come by that Dafne would have just found one for herself and thought it would be useful. It could only mean that she had been to the cave. Had she seen the Dragon? Had she seen Dara? Did she know that Marcie and Dara shared this strange connection? What did that mean?
Marcie clutched the crystal to her chest, she did not know what to do.
Kena dumped left over bath water out the back door of the Tavern.
She hated tidying up after the guests, she hated the laundry, constantly drawing and heating water, and cleaning up after they had too many drinks. She hated it.
She longed to do as her brother had and marry, simple so she could be free to do as she wished, out from under her fathers thumb. But she could not be like Breen and pick a plain, unsightly woman who turned a blind eye to his questionable activities. She was a woman and as such it was expected she would be faithful. And, what if she picked the wrong one? What it another came along who was better looking, had more money or was a better lover? What was she to do then? For now she held off deciding. Perick was pleasant to look at, was apprenticed to the blacksmith and was very eager to please, both in and out of bed. But she had her sights set on the outsider.
He was perfect. Handsome, clearly wealthy and a voracious lover. And, at the moment, the only thing keeping her from settling on Perick. However she could hardly sneak into Aldren's bed under the same roof as her mother, father and siblings, their liaisons took place in the herb shed or round the back of the Tavern and he had not been in the mood recently.
She kicked a nearby bucket in anger. Her nethers ached with longing and she was not being serviced nearly enough. With the difficult delivery of her latest sibling she was careful not to distress her mother further was any rumours but still. It was upsetting.
She stomped up the Tavern steps, but then caught sight of someone who raised her ire exponentially.
Marcie strode through the mud from the direction of The Witch's house, wearing mens trousers and a thick dear skin coat, her hair was unkempt and tied in a haphazard bun with strands hanging around her ears, her lack of care with her appearance infuriated Kena more than anything, well, maybe Aldrens obvious admiration irked her more than anything. Honestly, wasn't it enough that her brother was in love with this girl?
Aldren may think her a simpleton, but she saw more than people thought she did. She saw how the men of the village lusted after Marcie, while being simultaneously repulsed by her. And she saw that there was clearly something wrong with her. Apart from her eyes, she was a hunter, and spent far too much time in the forest, who knew what she got up to in there.
Aldren just didn't see her strangeness because he was an outsider and probably saw so many strange things, wonderful things.
He probably had a large house, with servants, that emptied the bathwater for you and made the bed for you. And she would wear beautiful dresses every day, not just on Passing. How wonderful it would be.
Marcie walked past, going in the direction of her house, Kena had seen her father in the Tavern, not drinking (he hadn't touched drop in a good while) but paying his respects to Mother and baby Myriam.
She went to back inside but spied Aldren and his two companions laughing and joking, mugs of ale in their hands, Aldren lifted the ale to his lips and took a swig, then cast a glance around the room, his eyes past right over her and she felt her temper rise.
She slammed the door and took off, watched Marcie disappear into the dark she made up her mind and took off after her.
What she planned to do she had no idea. Confront her? And say what? She just knew she needed to give the freak a piece of her mind.
She struggled to catch up, Marcie having longer legs. When she got to the house Marcie went straight inside without a backwards glance.
Kena caught her breath. After a few moments she squared her shoulders and strode forward with purpose.
Bright white light bloomed from within the house, causing her to stumble to a shocked halt.
The light shone from every small window, from the chimney and from the eve of the door.
Brighter than anything Kena had ever seen, she stared, her heart pounding. She backed away, then turned and ran through the trees, stumbling on the hem of her skirts in her haste, away from the glowing house and the strange magic within.