12. Chapter Eleven
Chapter Eleven
I awoke to stiff hands touching my side.
I lurched for my axe and bent water, aiming it toward whoever was touching me.
They blocked it as I rubbed my sore eyes, my sight still fuzzy, as Willow came into focus.
My temples throbbed. My guess was from alcohol being fun while drinking it, but not fun afterward.
“What are you both doing here?” she questioned.
“We found a place to sleep. What does it look like?” My tone was full of attitude, but I was still exhausted, nauseous, and I could hear my heartbeat in my head.
“Why didn’t you come back to my home?” Her tone remained level, calm.
“Didn’t think we had an invitation just because you tended to our wounds.”
“Well, come on then.” She nodded toward her home and didn’t wait to see if we were coming as she started hobbling away. The brain fog from the night before was affecting me because I gaped at her with a knitted brow, unmoving, trying to figure out if she was being serious.
Her dress swished at her ankles, her long gray hair weaved into a loose braid down her back.
She glanced over her shoulder, “Are you coming? Because I’m tired, my patience is running a little thin, and I need to know how many mouths to feed tonight.
” Willow spoke with a quick tongue and a soft heart.
She didn’t have to give us anything, but she was offering us her home, her food, her attention.
Ace was still sound asleep. I saw his boots lying on the ground between us and grabbed one, chunking it at his chest. He woke up with a grunt, looking around, confused. It was early morning, and I knew we had gone to bed late. He squinted up at me while I gathered up my blanket.
“Come on,” I said as I stood, walking in Willow’s direction.
Ace stumbled to get himself together quickly before he caught up to us.
“What is going on?” he signed lazily, still trying to get his body to function after the night of drinking we had.
“You’re both coming with me.”
I didn’t have to speak; Willow did, without even glancing over her shoulder. It was like she had eyes in the back of her head and she knew what Ace was asking. “I could use some extra hands around, and the company,” she continued as we followed closely behind her.
We stayed quiet during the walk to Willow’s small hut of a home.
She laced the trail leading to her dwelling with decorative trinkets, crystals, and wind chimes dangling from the surrounding tree limbs.
The gentle noise of clanking wood and chimes brought me comfort in a way.
Maybe because this was the last place that I felt safe.
She moved to the side, waving for us to come in.
Walking through the threshold, I could tell the place wasn’t big enough for the three of us, but Willow had done her best to make us feel more at home.
The cots that she treated us on still sat in the back of the room with fresh sheets.
There were no lofts. It was one room, and a small kitchen sat to the right, along with a little wooden table and chairs.
To the left sat a divider, a living wall full of different plants and vines growing from it like a vertical garden.
She had a small conservatory in her home in case someone needed tending to.
The house smelled of wet earth and flora.
Everything from spices to remedy plants and herbs hung from and climbed the small wall. I assumed her bed was behind it.
Ace went to touch some of the bigger leaves dangling from the wall.
“Careful, some of those bite back,” Willow said, glancing over her shoulder with a wink. “You’ll be itching for a week, but don’t worry. You’ll learn more about those while you’re with me.”
Ace and I gawked at her as she sauntered around her small kitchen gathering the ingredients she needed to make something to eat.
“We’ll have chores to do, too. We’ll cast the nets for fish and sell skins for coin at the dock markets.
I’m sure you could work on your healing skills too, Eme.
” She paused, placing the handful of things she had gathered on the wooden table before she signed to Ace.
“And don’t think I forgot about you.” She smiled, and Ace ran a hand down his face as he tried to process everything.
“How do you know sign?” he questioned. Willow eyed him with a scowl as if he had insulted her.
“When you’ve been around as long as I have, child, you learn a thing or two.”
“How long is that?” I asked curiously.
“Long enough.” She nodded toward the things on the table. “Now, help me get these things out to the fire so we can eat and get some work done today.”
We did as we were told. My headache subsided through the day’s labor after some water and a meal.
We made breakfast. Cast the nets. Had a lesson on plants.
And by the evening, we were huddled around the fire outside, preparing dinner and getting ready for the day’s end.
Willow’s cooking was immaculate. I guessed having knowledge of herbs and spices, along with many other things, had done her well in knowing how to cook a good meal.
The woman could make plain oats taste good, and she had just this morning.
The calm wind flowed through the trees. The chimes and clanking sounds echoed gently when the same wind chime from before caught my attention: the sun and moon twisting with one another.
“Willow?” I called for her attention.
“Hmmm, child?” she asked, looking up from whatever fur she was weaving as we sat around the fire together.
Ace kept tossing daggers into a nearby tree and would use his air bending to bring them back to himself.
“What is all this?” I gestured to all the things dangling from the nearby trees.
“They all hold a story or have a purpose. Would you like to learn about them?” she asked, and I nodded, peering up at them all. “Alright, how about you pick one and I’ll tell you a story about it?” She gave me a smile, and all I wanted was to hear her knowledge.
“What about that one?” I pointed to the sun and the moon and she shook her head as if she knew I was going to suggest it.
“I think most of us know that story. But it’s one of my favorites, so I’d love to tell it.
The wind chime represents the god of the sun and the goddess of the moon.
Long before our time, they waged war. Neither won nor lost, neither stronger than the other, but equals.
Always tugging and pulling against one another.
After centuries of endless strife, the moon became tired and dull, and the sun took notice, giving her a sliver of his light to bring back her glow.
The exchange created peace among them, and they blessed Osparia.
Their power coated the land, soaking into the ground and becoming one with the people that dwelled here, blessing us with the abilities we have today.
” She paused, glaring at Ace. “Which is why we should use our abilities for more important things rather than knife throwing and being too lazy to get up and go get it.”
The knife fell midair at her statement and Ace rubbed his neck as his face bloomed with embarrassment. I giggled under my breath but felt a pang of sadness fill my heart. My mother would use those same words on me. The loss of her filled me suddenly, unexpectedly.
I missed my ima and pada more than words could describe.
Willow had been the only thing keeping me grounded.
I felt she did the same for Ace, too, after everything that happened.
She kept us busy in our ways of life and hadn’t mentioned who we all lost the day Ember came.
Willow’s voice brought me out of my thoughts.
“How about you pick something every day, and I’ll tell you its story every night before bed.” She gave me a warm smile, leaning over to give my hand a gentle squeeze as if she could hear the thoughts in my head.
“Sounds like a plan,” I said, returning the gesture.
And she did.
Over the following months, Ace and I learned of plants, tending wounds, cooking delicious foods, and trading at the dock markets, and every night, after our long days of labor and learning, she would tell us a story.
Some were about dragons and other fantastical beasts that roamed our world, while others were lessons on those we should fear.
Willow had become our anchor in our storm of grief, and I was thankful.