Coven

ꌚ꓄ꍏꋪꌚ

It can't be.

Nakshatra...she's supposed to be dead.

But here is she is - lounging on the couch, looking deathly tired perhaps, but alive and well.

I know by her expression that she has figured out my realization, but she does not bother to explain, and politely continues with the introduction.

"I believe we've met before, but it's lovely seeing you again." She looks me up and down, a fond smile on her face. " You've grown up well."

Nakshatra.

The previous High Ruler of the Forested Ones, the High Witch before Diane.

I faintly remember her visiting the palace when I was a mere child. She had picked me up into her arms and played with me for a moment before my father commanded her to let me down. "Lest she fall prey to a witch's influence."

She'd had long hair braided down to her waist back then, but aside from that, her features remain unchanged, as is the way with witches.

"You picked me up. When I was young." I say.

She smiles at me. "You were a curious little one. And unlike the elder royals, you didn't mind the company of a witch."

The High Witch coughs, and Nakshatra continues. "Let's save the nostalgia for later. We have more important matters to discuss. Starting with..." she looks pointedly at the High Witch, to my surprise, averts her eyes. "....your abduction. I assume you're not too pleased about that." She smiles at me. "In fact, I'm wondering why you're so surprisingly calm about it. Di tells me she's met with minimal resistance from you."

"I...did protest it...verbally...at first." I begin, but then I remember that fate I would have had, had it not been for the High Witch interrupting my Crowning. While I hate the fact that I was essentially kidnapped and brought to this strange place, a small part of me is grateful for what she did.

In an oblique way, it was the High Witch's magic, her curse, which had saved me from the ministrations of my father.

"But I have come to believe, that perhaps I understand what she did." I stare at the black design on my wrist. "And why she did it."

Nakshatra has an expression on her face which I cannot comprehend. "What do you mean, Melrose?"

"I mean that I'm grateful to the High Witch," I nod at her direction, "for breaking the hold which my father has- no, had, on me. Had the Crowning continued...I'd have been married off, to Elodias." I spit out the name of the country like it is filth upon my tongue.

"I didn't imagine you'd be so strongly against the marriage." Nakshatra says. "Our sources have always informed us that Balthazar's children were aligned strongly towards him and his rule. Some of us-" She looks at the High Witch, who has been staring steadfastly at the ground. "-tend to act rashly, rather than rely on logic, so it's quite a pleasant surprise that you're not the threat I'd assumed you'd be. However your father is quite enraged towards us witches in general, and has been searching extensively for you." 

She pauses as she gets up and walks towards the glass panes of the entrance to the veranda. "Aeris is tha last safe place for witches in this continent. I'd like to keep it that way Your father might be powerless against our Coven now, but who knows how that might change in the future. And besides," Nakshatra says as she gently pulls open the glass doors, and the morning breeze blows into the room, carrying the loose papers into the air with it. The high Witch snaps her fingers, and they neatly arrange themselves into an ordered pile. "I don't think you'd want to remain abducted, would you? This is not a place for princesses to stay."