A Ward's Tale

Chapter 19

The Master—Miss Valarie—leads me into a simple house. The decorations are simple as we enter the living room. A couch, a few chairs, some wooden tables, and a few handmade objects scattered about. I am shocked, although, to see how spacious it is. From the outside this room would take up half of the space but I can see through a doorway that the kitchen is also a nice size and there is a hallway to my right that has at least two doors leading to more rooms.

"Magic is an amazing gift, is it not?" Miss Valarie says bringing my attention back to her. "From the outside this looks like nothing more than a shack, but with the proper use of magic we can expand the room inside to fit our needs.

"This is what those who aren't gifted get jealous of and try to take away from us." I glance at Miss Valerie and see in her eyes the anger of the Master. There is more to her than what she lets be seen. There is an anger that has been boiling for a long time.

"Welcome! I am Mrs. Evergreen!" a middle-aged woman greets us with open arms. "Please take a seat anywhere while I whip up something for you to eat."

The woman who brought us to this house, who was introduced as Rebecca, goes into the kitchen with Mrs. Evergreen. From the resemblance, Rebecca is Mrs. Evergreen's daughter.

"They seem like nice people." I say as I take a seat in a chair nearby. Miss Valarie had already sat down at the chair with the biggest back which was nearest to the fireplace. I glance at the picture above the fireplace. First, surprised that a commoner would have such a large picture painted, for those are expensive, then interested in the people painted. There is Mrs. Evergreen, a bit younger, and a handsome man next to her which I assume is Mr. Evergreen. Seated in front of them is a younger Rebecca, a boy around her age, and three almost identical girls who are a few years younger.

What really caught my attention was the three girls. I would say they were triplets if I didn't know that having triplets was near impossible.

"Yes, they are a miracle. A miracle that only happened with the use of great magic. If it wasn't for Miss Valarie and her mother being such great midwives I would have died giving birth." Mrs. Evergreen says wistfully from the kitchen doorway. She wipes her hands on a rag. "Food is just about ready if you would like to come eat in the kitchen."

"Where are the girls now may I ask?" I walk into the kitchen and again am shocked at the space. There is a large wooden table that can easily sit eight with two long wooden benches on each side. A furnace and cabinets line the other side of the room.

"This house is quite amazing." I say as I take a seat at the table.

Mrs. Evergreen sits a plate of eggs and berries in front of me at the table. My stomach growls in response. "Thank you, and the girls are out gathering more wood and berries. They should be back soon. Here you go. Eat up." Mrs. Evergreen smiles and places another plate down in front of Miss Valarie.

As we finish the three girls walk in. I am stunned by their beauty. The painting did not do them justice. Also, they are now about my age, whereas in the painting they were just older children.

They all three have midnight black hair that flows past their shoulders although they are styled differently. One has it tied back into a braid, the second, has it pulled back into a ponytail, the last lets it flow freely and has a bit of light brown mixed in with the black. They are all tall and have beautiful brown eyes almost ember-like.

"Hello!" the free flowing girl greets excitedly. "You must be the new girl everyone is talking about!" She sets down her stack of kindling then comes to sit next to me.

"My name is Haley! And these are my sisters, Jada and Kessa!" Haley introduces pointing to her sisters.

"Welcome to our home." Jada says placing her basket of berries on the counter. "Please excuse my sister's excessive excitement. We haven't had a new person arrive at our village in a long time." Jada smiles, "It's nice to meet you."

"Your eyes are so pretty! They look like springtime!" Haley says cheerfully. I am instantly reminded of when Peter told me that same thing during our second meeting. He was injured and shirtless and unknown. At the time he was a potential enemy but now I would consider him one of my strongest allies. Although I doubt my adopted family sees him as such. I pray they haven't imprisoned him, blaming him for my disappearance. I wish I could use my magic to reach out to him, to see if he is okay.

"Are you okay?" Kessa asks softly from the seat in front of me.

I look up realizing I had fallen into a memory. "I'm good," I smile, "Someone I know told me that same thing about my eyes. I haven't seen him in a while."

I wasn't going to say that the reason I hadn't seen him was because I was kidnapped by their precious Miss Valarie. I have no clue where I am, and I couldn't ruin the compassion here.

"Girls, why don't you show Clarissa around the village?" Mrs. Evergreen suggests.

"Yes! Come on Clarissa!" Haley jumps up and stretches hand out to me. I take it and she pulls me up and out the door. Jada and Kessa follow us out.

I watch the girls with a smile as we walk along a creek. Haley is full of energy, bounding around, jumping on fallen logs and messing with her sisters as we walk. Jada laughs as she pushes Haley off. She doesn't have as much energy but Kessa is the quietest. She has hardly spoken the whole time we have walked about.

"What is it like out there? I wish I could travel outside the border, but we are restricted from leaving, especially since the attack." Haley wanderlusts.

"I haven't seen much to be honest. I mostly stayed in the cas—the casson—that's my village's name." I scold myself on the inside for almost saying castle. "It's hard to believe it's gone. Miss Valarie found me, and we've been travelling by carriage ever since."

I can't believe I have to lie like this. Lie for the woman who took me from my life. Who took me the night before my wedding!

"I would love to get out of here and travel!" Haley says jumping up on a fallen log. "Sister's wouldn't that be wonderful?"

"How would we feed ourselves? House ourselves?" Kessa states. "You always have these big ideas but never think of the details, sister." She shakes her head but smiles.

"That's all in the adventure of it, sister!" Haley says wrapping her arms around Kessa's shoulders from behind while standing on the log.

"You just want to get away from your responsibilities, Haley." Jada laughs.

"That would be nice." I say. To just run away and see the world. To leave all this mess behind and not have to worry about having some huge power that could possibly start a war.

"Come! There is a spot we want to show you!" Haley says jumping down from her log and grabbing my hand again.