Hi everyone!
So, yes! I'm (kinda) free! Still got meds and now I have some PT to do, but... at least I feel better.
Thank you so much for your support! It means the world to me :) I want to thank everybody who reads this, and yes, even you silent readers out there. I hope you're enjoying the story :D
And a happy birthday to my brother! Yaay!
Next update: March, 29th 2019 (Guys, I can't believe March is almost over already O.O Plus, the 28th is my Mom's birthday and I'm going to make a cake! Wish me luck... seriously)
Chapter 4
And time passed, as it often does.
As the days started and ended, Nephelle's battered body started to heal, and she watched with amazement as the Owens took care of her with loving care and so much tenderness she couldn't even begin to think on how to reciprocate.
While each one was different, they each melted her heart in a different way: Mrs.Greta with her motherly comfort, medicine and food. Wade, there was so much to be thankful for here. If she considered someone a friend, the boy would definitely be it. He would always bring books and read to her and, afterwards, they'd spend hours chatting about what they'd read... Those memories alone were enough to make her feel warm inside.
And Mabel herself... Once she felt better, Mabel started popping by with clothing she thought might fit on her. Her presence always reminded her of a burst of sunlight cutting through the dark. Fox, on the other hand...
If Wade made her feel warm and Mabel shone bright, Fox made her feel... Confused. He'd argue with her and make her so mad she wanted to kill him, and then say something silly that made her giggle like a schoolgirl. He'd pout whenever someone called her Nephy and stick with calling her Angelface - going into huge arguments with his brother whenever he found Wade and her chatting. He'd bring fresh fruit from their orchards, chastise her over the need take her medicines, and then sit with her and tease her mercilessly until late in the evening... when he'd sneak her a treat, kiss her forehead and bid her sweet dreams...
And then there was Mr. Tex, their father, who would shyly step inside the room to inquire her how she felt and if she wanted something new from the market.
"Maybe a ribbon or two – girls like those things, ay?" he'd told her an afternoon, scratching his dark beard.
What surprised her the most was that, in all honesty, they had absolutely no reason to do what they were doing. So, she had saved Mabel's life and she could understand gratitude. It did make sense they taking her in and taking care of her until she could fend for herself.
But all these little things? What was the reason for them? It wasn't like she needed books for her continual survival, or that she needed to eat her favorite foods or wear new clothes.
Clean ones were good enough.
While she couldn't help but be suspicious, Nephelle found herself surrendering to the avalanche of love that seemed to be coming for her from all directions.
And it was that suspicion that was making her leave that morning. Also, she was mostly healed and it was past time to get back on the road to discovering what had happened to her.
And if she felt a little bit of guilt, well, she needed to ignore it.
No need to involve Mabel's family on her problems, especially as she had no idea what those problems were and she had no wish to risk their lives on it.
After everything was solved, she'd come back. She could even bring them a little something, a gift to thank for their care. And maybe...
Maybe if she didn't have a family, she could live here. She'd like helping out at the farm, even if the idea of working so closely with Fox made her a little... excited? Anxious?
"So... you're makin' your big run for it?"
She squeaked, jumping away from the bed as if making it was a crime. Taking a deep breath, she tried to calm herself down - really, she shouldn't be surprised to find Fox leaning against her door, a half bit apple in hand, watching her movements with clear interest.
"What do you mean?" she wondered and watched as the boy gave another bite into the apple and chewed slowly before answering.
"You changed your bed covers. Put back your ol' clothes. All 'polite guest' like." He shrugged, glancing at the apple thoughtfully. "No' so hard to guess. 'Sides, you've been with a foot outta door since the day you first woke up over 'ere."
Taking another deep breath, Nephelle started counting backward from ten to zero. Fox wasn't trapping her, he was just stating facts. But, to be fair, how perceptive could a boy be?
Moving back towards the bed, she started focusing on making the bed. "It's time. I'm extremely grateful to your family for all your care, but it's time for me to go home."
"Oh?" Fox asked, giving another bite into the apple as he leaned against the door jamb. "And where is it?" When she didn't answer, he specified. "Your home?" Watching as she studiously didn't face him, busying herself with tidying up the room, Fox sighed. "Fine, you're not goin' to talk 'bout it. Then what happened to you? Mabel said you were already hurt when she met you. When you saved her life – she said you looked like you were about to die out there."
Staying silent, Nephelle kept straightening out imaginary crinkles on her bed sheet. She was so distraught that she didn't notice Fox had moved away from the door until he held her by the arm.
"What do you think you are doing?" She asked, even as a thousand different ideas for freeing herself from his hold appeared in her mind.
Still, she didn't act on any of them.
"You're welcome 'ere." His voice was quiet, little louder than a whisper, and she had to incline her head closer to his lips to be able to hear it. "We're no' rich, as you can see, but we're no' poor either. You can find work with Mabel, at the Inn, or you can help me and Da at the farm. It's hard work, but you'll like it."
"Thank you." Nephelle found herself answering, looking away from him. "But I need to go."
"Are you married? With children?" He asked, and Nephelle found herself lifting her head to meet his gaze for the first time since he had appeared at the door. "I don't think so, but if you are..."
She didn't know. She didn't know if she was married, if she had family... Dear lady, she hadn't even known how she looked like until a couple of days ago!
It had been a strange experience, staring at herself in the mirror and trying to discover something, to remember something about her own appearance.
How scary, she'd pondered as she ran a brush through her hair, to look at herself in the mirror and see a stranger staring back?
And still, no matter how long she brushed her black hair or stared into her dark brown eyes, she still saw a stranger staring back.
"How... how can you say I don't?" Her voice was little more than a whisper, but Fox apparently heard her anyway.
"You don't look much older than Mabel and she's fifteen..."
Biting her lip, Nephelle wondered. Was she fifteen? The amount of information she had over her own life was so little, she sometimes wanted to hit the door in frustration.
"But how can you be sure?" She asked and Fox frowned, even as his eyes slowly widened in understanding.
"I'm sure." His answer was abrupt and he stopped facing her. Slipping both hands in his pockets, he took a deep breath before looking at her again. "But you don't need to be. I'm sure that if you wanted, you could find a missing person's list on the paper. Now that the fog's gone, the news arrives a whole lo' faster.'
Giving him her back, Nephelle considered his suggestion even as she tried to calm down her heart. Did Fox guess at her lack of memory?
Did he know of her weakness?
"Nephelle?" she jumped when she felt his hand touching on her shoulder, his warmth slipping right through the damaged fabric on to her skin. "You should stay. Go with Mabel to the Town Square, buy yourself a change of clothes... You need somethin' that fits you. Then grab the paper. Finish recoverin'... And when you're ready, I'll go with you."
Freezing in place, Nephelle turned towards him and lifted her head. "I don't need your help."
"No, you don't." he agreed, sliding his thumb up and down on her cheek. "You're gettin' it anyway."
"If this is gratitude over me saving your sister's life..." Nephelle started, only to be interrupted when Fox shook his head. He slid his hand on her cheek in a gentle caress until he touched her chin and lifted it so their gazes would meet.
"I am grateful for you, but it's not it. And, since Mabel talks about you as if you were some sort of white knight, well, it's no' as if I doubt you're a good fighter either." He stopped, looking away for a moment.
"Then what is it?" Nephelle asked, wincing as she recognized the challenge in her voice. "What is it?" She forced herself to face him, acting as if she was unafraid of the consequences.
Oh, what a liar she was starting to be! And to think she hated lying...
Or she thought she did. Who knew? Maybe she was an accomplished liar.
"If you have to ask, then it isn't the moment to tell," Fox answered starkly. Giving her his back, he gave another bite to his apple and started to walk, stopping only when he reached the door. "By the way, Ma asked me to let you know breakfast is ready. I'm off to meet Da for work and Wade already left for his work at school, but Mabel is waitin' for you downstairs. Be nice to her, yeah?"
Grinding her teeth, Nephelle growled. "I'm not a mean person."
Turning back towards her, a smirk on his lips. "You know, Angelface... I like you a lot better when you're mad at me... Wanna know why?" His smirk became even wider, making it clear that he was pleased to see her reaction. "When you're mad, you forget to be sad."
"I'm not sad!"
"Yeah, you are. But that's ok, Angelface, I'll get you out of it." Daring to throw a wink at her, Fox managed to duck away from the pillow she threw at him. Laughing scandalously, he left and Nephelle sat back on the bed, stunned.
What had just happened there?
Taking a couple of deep breaths, she managed to calm herself back down before leaving and grabbing the fallen pillow. After putting it back into place, Nephelle went down the stairs with every intention of telling Mabel and Mrs. Greta that she would be leaving that very same day.
Which was why, a couple of hours later, Nephelle wound up asking herself why was she carrying all of Mabel's bags as the girl squealed over the silliest things on the Town Square.
"I love it when the merchants set up the Seasonal Market, don't you?" Mabel started, as she looked through a couple of dresses. "Way back when, it only happened once or twice a year, when the fog lightened a bit and let them pass by. But now that it has finally been lifted, it happens at least once a month! I love knowing that we can finally get access to the same kind of clothes that people in the city do – it makes me feel a little less like a hick."
"You aren't a hick," Nephelle said, shaking her head. "I like the way you dress."
"Aw, you are being nice – not to mention the fact that now we can dress nice, thanks to the Market." She smiled and turned to push one of the dresses towards Nephelle. "Let me see this color against your skin..."
"Hm, sure," Nephelle said, stretching out an arm so the girl could compare it. As Mabel mumbled some non-sense underneath her breath and compared different dresses to her skin, Nephelle took a deep breath and lifted her gaze to face the girl head on. "You said the fog dissipated recently... just how recently are we talking about?"
"Oh, about two months, give or take a couple of days." Mabel smiled, nodding to herself before turning to talk to the merchant. "We'll be taking the yellow and the blue one, thank you very much!"
New bag in hand, Nephelle followed Mabel as she headed towards the next stand – one with coats, this time. "It has covered Airyll for a very long time?"
"The fog? Oh, it has covered Airyll for ages, since the days of the Goldian Wars, or so the history books claim, anyway." Picking a light pink coat, she held it against Nephelle's face before frowning and putting it back into place. "You should probably ask Wade about it though, he always liked this sort of stuff."
Nodding in understanding, Nephelle followed after Mabel. "Is that why he works at the school?"
"Elisandra's Academy, yes. He always wanted to leave Airyll and go to Gavril, finish his studies, you know? But even without the fog, there's no way our parents can afford spending money on this... not to mention that Fox would never admit, but he needs our help around the farm."
Nephelle watched as Mabel paid for the coats and headed towards yet another stand when something called her attention. Almost as if on a trance, she found herself walking towards it.
There was nothing special about the painting of a tall man with dark blond hair and sky blue eyes and yet...
Maybe it was the way his right hand rested with ease on a sword's hilt, or it could be that it was the way his lips curved on an arrogant smile. There was something about the way the man posed himself, it made her feel a little bit sick.
"Oh, so this is where you went!" Mabel said to her back, sliding her arm around the crook of hers before turning to glance at what held her attention. "A painting of Alastair Bruhir! Wow, ok, I get it. I'd be distracted too – you're a fan?"
"A... fan?" Nephelle repeated, still unwilling to reveal the fact that she had no idea at all what Mabel was speaking about. Thankfully, Mabel waved her off and grinned.
"Aw, you don't need to be embarrassed! I mean, I don't think there's a single girl in the whole world who doesn't have a bit of a crush on him – after all, besides being a hero, the story of his lost love is just so... Beautiful. I mean, how can a girl not fall in love with a man who has spent the last couple of centuries mourning his lost love? It's so... Romantic!"
Nephelle nodded, unable to keep paying attention to Mabel's words as that story went down like a stone on her stomach. It wasn't right.
Something in her guts was telling her that it wasn't the truth... Not that she had any proof besides gut instinct, but then again, gut instinct was the only thing she had to go on right now.
"Hey! You" Nephelle had to force her eyes away from the painting in order to see the woman waving at her. With light blue eyes and hair as white as snow, the woman motioned for her and Mabel to come closer to the back of her stand, probably towards the place where she kept the things she planned to exhibit and sell.
"Are you the artist who painted Alastair's portrait, ma'am? Because it's a work of art!" Mabel chattered away to the woman, ease in every one of her movements, even as she followed the woman with the ease of trust. It stood in complete contrast with Nephelle's hard, controlled movements as she followed behind them silently, her eyes studying every movement around them with quiet caution.
"Oh, I didn't paint it – it was my great great great grandmother. Supposed to be a wedding gift to the great Alastair, before the tragedy that bated his life." The woman said, giving them her back as she flipped a heavy and thick fabric to reveal her wagon. It was made of wood and seemed to burst with beautiful paintings and exotic colored fabrics.
Nephelle watched as the woman moved the items around until she revealed a large wooden chest.
"Your family must be full of artists then." Mabel beamed, standing on the tips of her toes to look inside the wagon. "So many beautiful things!" She whispered, her eyes following a red scarf as it floated into the ground.
With a non-committal grunt, the woman opened the chest and went back on her search. It took her another couple minutes, but soon she was smiling, her eyes glinting with joy.
"Your name is Nephelle, right?"
Frowning at the woman, she felt her feet slide across the floor as instinct corrected her posture. She glanced at Mabel with worry, but the girl seemed entranced by a scrap of blue silk.
Rolling her eyes, the woman walked towards her and handed her a... stone?
Staring at the stone, Nephelle tried to guess what that stone could be and why the woman was giving it to her... and why she knew her name.
Should she know her too?
Patting at Nephelle's head, the woman offered her a small smile.
"So many thoughts, little one... You are going to burn yourself out. You need to learn how to share when it's needed." Opening Nephelle's hands, she pointed at the stone. "This is a precious stone named turquoise. It's very hard to find one in Philtria, so make sure to take care of her and it will take care of you." She advised, sliding a hand through her hair. "Turquoises are good stones for helping one to learn how to control one's magic. This one is even more special because of--"
Mabel rushes forward and takes the stone away from Nephelle's still open hand. "Then why are you showing this to her? Magic is forbidden, you know?! Nephy won't do anything that will get her in trouble!"
Shaking her head 'no' patiently, the woman stretched out her hand and waited until Mabel gave it back to her. Closing her hand around the stone, she held it for a couple of minutes. After letting out another deep breath, she unclenched her hands and offered it to her again.
"Of course I do, which is why having a stone capable of helping you holding it in can be very useful. But more than that, this stone is supposed to be yours. Do you see this?" Nephelle leaned forward to see what the woman had been pointing to - it was a mark of sorts: a heart crossed by two thunderbolts. "Do you know what this is?"
"Kildaria's mark." She whispered, the memory clear from the time Wade showed it to her in one of his favorite books. "It's the mark that her army carries."
"Exactly." Slipping the stone in Nephelle's hands, the woman sighed. "I have a feeling you'll need it."
Mabel frowned, putting both hands on her waist. "But if we are seen with it, Nephy might get into trouble!"
Nephelle's eyes widened as she turned to look at Mabel, even as she slipped between her and the other woman and took on a protective stance. It was so strange, she thought, to have someone attempt to protect her.
Staring in utter shock at Mabel, she watched as the girl lifted a finger and pointed at her.
"I don't want Nephy getting into trouble, she's a nice person! So, let us leave if you will."
"My name's Vanessa." The woman said quietly, still holding out the stone. "And believe it or not, young Nephelle, I hold you no ill will. On this, however, you have no need to trust me; anyone can tell you that the stone, by itself, isn't magic. If you refuse it now, you'll come to regret it."
Frowning, Nephelle stood frozen. She knew she couldn't trust her, but what if she was saying the truth?
As if feeling Nephelle's indecision, Mabel moved forward. "Fine then, how about you let me hold it? I'll keep it hidden and... and if Nephy needs it, I can give it to her."
The woman, Vanessa, moved forward and gave the stone to Mabel. "You found a good friend this time around, Nephelle, I'm happy for you..."Biting her lip, the woman picked another stone in the chest. "This is an amethyst. It's a healing stone, a powerful one. You should hold on to it, little girl... You'll find it will come in handy."
Giving the two of them her back, she went to close the chest. " You should go now, I've done what I could to help. I'll see the two of you again... but it'll be a very different situation."
"What do you mean?" The question burst out from her lips, Nephelle feeling as if she couldn't move. "Why will I need the stones? Why should I trust you?"
Vanessa's eyes were strangely sharp when they found her. "For the same reason I know that you'd prefer I give back to you your azurite, but I won't. To recover what you lost, you'll need to learn how to trust – not only yourself and others, but your own instincts. It's going to be a hard path to walk, Nephelle, but as you can see" she said, nodding towards Mabel. "you won't have to walk alone." Giving her back to them once more, she started organizing her paintings and silks. "When all hope is lost and the future looks dark, your azurite will find its way to their next holder and then, eventually, to her rightful owner."
Nephelle blinked, surprised to see herself standing back into the middle of the Town Square, Mabel standing beside her with an equally confused expression on her face.
The stand with the portrait of Alastair was nowhere to be seen.
"What do you think that meant?" Mabel wondered out loud, as she played with the stones still on her hands. "Should we keep these?"
"They are just stones," Nephelle muttered, lowering herself to grab the bags that were around her on the floor. "I don't think there'll be a problem."
Nodding, Mabel slipped the stones in one of the bags and picked them up. "Fine... Nephy, you'd tell us if you were having trouble, wouldn't you?"
Looking away from her, Nephelle took a deep breath. "I won't put you or your family in danger, Mabel. I promise you."
Mabel shook her head gently. "That's not what I was worried about, Nephy." And letting the phrase hang in the air, the two girls walked away from the market, heading back towards the farm.
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