Droplets of sun fell between softly rustling leaves, dancing over a young woman’s upturned face. She breathed heavily, pulling the sweet forest air into her lungs. Thick bark scraped her hands as she inched around the ancient oak, stepping carefully from one branch to the next. Her heart thudded in her chest, adrenaline and power coursing through her veins.
She stepped slowly from one branch to another, her back pressed against the hard bark of an old oak. An old grey wolf followed her path around the tree from the ground, ears twitching at each sound in the surrounding forest.
The young woman swung to a lower branch. The branch cracked under her; she gasped and grabbed a branch above her with one hand, clasping the other over her mouth, and watched the branch crash to the ground.
A long howl sounded in the distance. The young woman cursed herself and dropped from the tree.
Her bare feet hit the ground and she was running, the quiver at her side banging against her leg and the old wolf at her heels.
The pair hurdled an old, rotting fence onto a thin dirt path. “Alaster, go,” the young woman said, pointing down the path. The wolf bounded away from her, while the young woman sprinted across the path and back into the forest.
She ducked under a fallen tree; pressing her hands into the dirt and pushing herself back up into a run. When her hands sunk into the earth, the pounding of feet on hard earth echoed through her head. Her heart skipped a beat, he was close.
The roar of water ahead blew through the trees with the wind. The young woman came upon a wide river and jogged to a stop. She had no time to cross, not when there would be no way to defend herself. She turned to face the way she had come, backing up against the riverbank. She grasped her bow, her knuckles burning around the smooth wood, and waited.
After a few moments her shoulders began to relax and she let out a long breath. She must have mistaken the pounding for something else, a deer or a wolf maybe.
An arrow flew from the trees, just grazing the side of the young woman’s face. She yelped and ducked as another arrow whizzed overhead; her bow slipped from her grasp and landed just out of her reach down the riverbed. She pressed her hand to her cheek and cringed as warm, wet liquid clung to her fingers.
A young man stepped out from the trees, an arrow notched in his bow and pointed directly at her.
“Nice try, Natura,” he said.
Natura inched back along the riverbed, reaching for her bow.
“Do you really think I’m that naïve?” he asked. “You think your little tricks, sending Alaster running down the road, setting traps, hiding by the river. You think you could really take me off your trail?”
Natura shrugged. “I had hoped.” She slid an arrow from her quiver, notched it on the bow, and let it fly towards the young man. She sprinted back into the forest while the young man dodged her arrow.
“Natura!” he shouted. The sound of his fist slamming against tree bark echoed through the trees, followed by a string of curses, before his feet were pounding the earth in pursuit.
A smile played across Natura’s face as she ran. It was all too easy.
A rock flew by Natura’s head and broke against a tree, causing her to stumble. The young man cursed as another rock hit the ground behind her, just missing.
She leaped over a low, broken fence and turned onto an old dirt road. She needed only a few more strides on him.
Natura skid to a stop on the dirt path, a cloud of dust billowing up around her. She spun around and planted her feet firmly in the earth. She took a deep breath and thrust her hands toward the sky.
A wall of earth flew from the ground in front of her, just as the young man notched another arrow.
Natura laughed and started walking backwards down the road. Her arms throbbed and her feet burned from the rush of magic. She hadn’t expected herself strong enough to pull it off.
Two arrows flew over the top of the wall and landed in the ground in front of Natura. She pulled an arrow from her quiver and notched it just as the young man busted a hole through the wall.
His body slumped over and he fell through the rest of the opening in the wall as Natura’s arrow lodged itself into his shoulder.
The grey she-wolf that was his companion crept out of the brush beside the wall and approached the young man. She nudged him with her paw, whining, and licked his face.
Alaster barreled through the brush and tackled the she-wolf to the ground. The two rolled around playfully as Natura approached the young man.
She knelt beside him and brushed a patch of dirt from his cheek. “Told you,” she mocked.
He mumbled a few indiscernible words into the dirt.
“What was that, Nolen?” Natura asked. “You say, ‘yes Natura, you did tell me you would win. I was a fool to ever believe I could defeat you?”
Nolen turned his head slightly, so that his mouth was out of the dirt. Dirt-filled saliva ran down his chin. “Nu,” he mumbled. “I sed, thet wus unfer.”
Natura raised an eyebrow and laughed. “What was that, Nolen?” she asked. “I can’t seem to understand you.”
“Nah funey, Natra,” he muttered.
Natura reached over and yanked the arrow from Nolen’s arm and, ignoring his pained whimpering, pushed him up so he was sitting against the earth wall. He slumped to one side, a crooked scowl on his face.
“I hat yu,” he said quietly.
“Oh, don’t say that,” Natura scolded. She examined the arrow in her hand, turning it over and looking closely at the black arrowhead. “These arrows really are something, Nolen,” she said. “How’d you manage to make them have so little effect?”
“I wouln’t say te effect is little,” he said, scowling at Natura. “Jus temprary. See?” He pushed aside the ripped portion of his shirt to show his bare shoulder. The shallow wound was already healing itself with a thick brown scab. “But don’t change the subject, I still hate you.”
Natura sat back against the earth wall next to him. “Alright, I’m sorry that I beat you so bad,” she said. “Even after I warned you I would.”
Nolen rolled his eyes at Natura and feebly crossed his arms. “So what, you’re still going to have to carry me home.”
“That’s what you think,” Natura said. She pushed herself to her feet and started walking down the road towards the village.
“Come on now, help your little brother home!” Nolen shouted after her.
Natura sighed and went back to him, pulling him to his feet. His legs were still weak under him, and he collapsed onto Natura’s shoulder.
“So much for being a little brother,” she muttered as she struggled to hold his weight up. “What are you, fifteen years? Shouldn’t I at least look three years your elder?”
Nolen raised an eyebrow. “And be the tallest Icarthian woman to ever live? I don’t think so,” he said. “Besides, I’m not that much bigger than you.” He leaned further onto his sister, a mischievous smile plastered to his face.
The weight buckled Natura’s knees, pushing her to the ground. She pushed herself up several times, only to crash back down after barely even making it to her feet. “Do you want me to leave you here?” she asked through gritted teeth.
Nolen sighed. “No, I guess not.” He took all the weight he could onto his own legs, but was still only minimally supporting himself. Natura finally pushed herself to her feet and started walking down the dirt road, the muscles in her legs burning under the strain of Nolen’s weight.
She struggled to make anything but slow progress, and the two rambunctious wolves entertained themselves by running circles around the pair.
“You’re much too old for this,” Natura scolded Alaster as he ran through her legs, causing her to stumble for the fourth time.
“The ending arrow shouldn’t be the decision of the true victor,” Nolen said, starting in on his favorite argument. “The true victor ought to be the one who tracked the best, fought valiantly, and proved himself the strongest!” He gestured with the arm that wasn’t around his sister’s shoulders for emphasis.
Natura pushed him off of her, letting him fall backwards on the ground. “If you don’t stop talking, I’ll hit you with a few more arrows and leave you here!” Nolen stared at her in shock, his eyes and mouth wide open. “If you’re strong enough to wave your arms around like that, and talk continuously then you’re strong enough to walk,” she said.
Alaster and Nolen’s wolf, Jade, ran circles around the fallen boy, jumping onto his lap and nipping at his ears. Natura turned and walked away, leaving him to the mercy of the wolves.
“Oh you’re just sore because I should have won!” he called after her. “Hey - get- get offa me!” he shouted, pushing the wolves away and clambering to his feet.
He jogged after Natura, stumbling on stray roots and stones. When he caught up to her he grabbed her around the waist, threw her over his shoulder, and kept running.
“Nolen! Nolen let me down!” Natura yelled, hitting his back with fisted-hands. “Oh, I knew you were well enough to walk!”
Nolen laughed; it was that sort of warm, infectious laugh that belonged to their father. Natura couldn’t help but smile at it. It was what made their father, and recently Nolen, so beloved in the village.
Nolen slowed to a jog and came to a stop at the edge of the forest. He set her down on the dirt road and strolled ahead into their village, Parcel. Jade followed behind him, licking his hand as he reached down to pat her head. Natura jogged after them, Alaster at her heels. She gave Nolen a gentle push when she caught up.
He laughed and put his arm around her shoulders. “I guess I can let you claim victory to this one,” he said. “But you watch, I’ll get you next time.”
“Not on your life,” Natura said, smiling. She leaned into her brother and took in the evening atmosphere of Parcel. As they walked along the road of cottages – one of the outer roads of the village – they listened to the evening chatter and music that flowed freely over the thatched roofs of the homes.
Natura and Nolen’s cottage was on the opposite side of the village. It was a small, warm cottage nested between two others with its back to the forest. A stone wall built by their father surrounded their property, low at the front and high at the back of the yard. As they approached, they were met with a familiar melody drifting from the extensive garden at the side of the house.
“Mother,” Nolen whispered. He pressed the heel of his hand against the healing wound on his shoulder and winced. “She will not be pleased with us.”
Natura touched a scraped hand to her cheek, bringing away warm blood with it. Her heart sank. She had been so careful.
“We can avoid her,” Nolen said. He opened the gate in the stone wall and ushered Natura through. The gate swung back, and he scrambled to grasp it before it slammed, but he wasn’t quick enough. Wood crashed against stone, and the siblings froze in their place on the path to the front door.
The melody stopped from the garden. “Is that you?” the sugar-sweet voice of their mother called from around the cottage.
“It’s Natura and I, Mother,” Nolen answered.
“Where have you two been for so long?” she asked. “Come over this way.”
Natura bit her lip. “We’ve been for a walk in the forest, Mother,” she lied. “We’re going to wash up for dinner.”
“Wait,” she said, her voice closer now. “I’d like to see you.”
She came around the side of the cottage a moment later, her simple green dress falling elegantly around her, her chestnut hair pulled delicately away from her face. Her contented smile fell as she took at look at her children.
“Oh, look at you,” she said. She pressed a hand to her cheek and shook her head. “How many times must I tell you—?”
“The forest is a dangerous place,” Natura and Nolen repeated in guilt-ridden unison.
She sighed, her face was tired. “Inside with the both of you.”
She ushered her children into the house and set them down at the rounded wooden table in the kitchen. Natura got up as soon as she sat and went to the small storage room off the kitchen, coming back with an armful of jars.
“Sit,” her mother instructed.
“I’m fine, Mother,” Natura insisted. “Let me take care of this. You worry about Father coming home.”
“Natura—”
Natura placed a hand on her mother’s shoulder. “Mother, I’m doing this. Father will need you when he comes home.”
Her mother smiled, but her tired eyes weighed it down. Natura watched her mother go to the small hearth and tend to whatever was boiling in the big pot hanging over the fire. She hated seeing her mother like this, so tired.
“Sit down, Natura,” Nolen said quietly. He twisted the lid off a jar of creamy white salve and looked up at her again. “Sit down,” he repeated. “I can do this too.”
Natura sat in the chair beside his and let him carefully spread the salve over the scrapes on her face. It burned, but she bit her tongue.
“Shirt off,” she instructed him when he finished. She pulled a jar from the table and a long bandage. She pulled the wide, dried green leaves from the jar and pressed them onto the slowly healing wound on Nolen’s shoulder. He cringed, his hand tightening in a fist around the edge of his chair. Natura wrapped the bandage around him and secured it in place.
“Now go change,” Nolen said. “Father won’t be happy to see you in that.”
Natura glanced down at the threadbare green tunic she wore, the torn grey leggings that she had cut off at the knee long ago, and the old leather rope she had tied around her waist.
“You dress like a child,” Nolen said as he stood from the table, shaking his head. He gathered the jars and took them back to the storage room.
Natura sighed and climbed the stairs leading to her room. She pulled a clean, simple dress from the tall hand-crafted armoire against the wall. It matched her mother’s, and would please her father.
She stared at herself in the mirror for a long time, absent-mindedly braiding a strand of her hair to keep it away from her face. She looked like her mother; a young, less weary version of her mother. In her eyes though; in her eyes she was her father. Deep, strong, like an ancient Icarthian oak.
She returned to the kitchen, taking up her mother’s work. Natura tended to the stew cooking over the fire in the hearth while her mother sand softly and mended Nolen’s torn shirts.
“Well isn’t this a sight for sore eyes.” A grinning man stood in the doorway, his weight held on a hand carved cane.
Mother was up and at his side in a moment. “How are you feeling?” she asked, kissing him lightly on his stubbled cheek.
“Healthy as a horse,” he said, his voice booming. He wrapped his arm around his wife and pulled her close, burying his face in her hair. “I feel better than ever.”
“Well, come sit,” Mother said, leading Father to the table. “You need to rest.”
Father laughed; a hearty, joyous, musical sound that filled the kitchen with warmth. “I’ll rest when I’m dead.”
Mother bit her lip and turned away. She grabbed a clay mug from the counter, filled to the brim with steaming, fragrant liquid and placed it in front of Father. “Drink this,” she said softly, her voice catching in her throat.
He stood and pulled her into his arms. “I’ll be just fine,” he assured her. “With an astounding Healer as my beautiful wife, how could I not?”
Mother smiled and sat beside him at the table, wrapping her hands around his. Nolen set old clay bowls on the table and sat with them, picking up a conversation with Father about the impending Hunt.
Natura watched them from where she stood at the hearth. This portrait of pain hidden under love, this was her family. She lifted the pot of stew from the hearth and set it on the table, taking her place in the portrait.
A/N: This has been posted on YWS in the past (not for a long time, though). This is the most current revision of the first chapter, and I do hope to actually be posting more than the first chapter/first few chapters this time.
Also, I couldn't decide which was better to use when referring to Natura's parents. Should I stick to "her mother/father" or does it make sense to refer to them as "Mother" and "Father"? I can't decide, and I kind of switched between the two here.
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