Stained in red

Scars in the Heart

Dana had set Serta and the Healer, Roseanne, up. She had planned it all last night. They would both have received a letter, each one signed at the bottom with a question mark. It would tell them to meet in a flower field, it was one Dana had seen a few days ago when she went to explore with Serta. They would both meet, thinking then that the other had sent the entrancing letter. Of course then they would have no choice but to have the romantic evening they deserved. Of corse that was only According to Dana's plan.

Butterflies fluttered in my stomach. I rarely got nervous, so this was more on the exciting front. Hurriedly, I threw the letter in my pocket. Before I could rush out the cave, I went to scavenge something to wear. Something to make me feel... better. Feel more acceptable. First off I needed some shoes. They were where they always were, in the corner where I left them all the time. I slid my feet in. They felt claustrophobic and stuffy but I kept them on.

I walked around the cave, asking some people for spare bits and bobs to get me started. After I had got a new shirt and some descent clothing to put over my legs, I headed to the underground spring.

Thankfully, no one was there. I got to work. Using my reflection I styled my hair and cleaned it. My face too.

My shoes trudged over the grass as I walked to the flower field. It looked very lonely in the fading light.

I met by the tree in the middle, my eyes straining to see anyone else.

A silhouette appeared over the long flowers. I recognised her in a heartbeat. I was trapped looking at her glowing pale skin and green eyes that matched the ombré of the grasses. Her long scar perfectly decorating her face. She wore a dark navy dress that had light blue embroidery, scaling the fabric at the bottom of it. Stunning. There were no other words.

"You said one day you'd tell me about that scar." I called. Her head was bowed as she walked to me, but I could see her faded pink cheeks.

"If that's what you would like." She smiled. She reached where I was standing and sat on a root below me, I joined her. As she watched the fading sun, I stared at her smile. It was so timid, so playful. It reached her mint eyes that shone with emotions I couldn't read. "When I was younger, my father would take me to his patients to learn how to use my healing powers." She fiddled with a wild flower between her small fingers, it reminded me of Dana and the letter suddenly clicked into place.  "I learned all my skills there because mother wouldn't let me go. She'd keep me in her sight... always. She'd tell me I wasn't ready for the real world, that people would use me in ways I couldn't imagine." Suddenly I could see why. Her beauty was precious, but it would be deadly in the wrong hands. Her smile faltered.
"She'd say I was too innocent and that if I listened to her, nothing would ever happen to me. I wanted to believe her, but she'd do things that changed my mind. One time she hit my father after we sneaked out one night to practice magic. He covered for me, but it wasn't long before she found out what we'd done after dark." She shuddered. "She shattered half a dozen plates that night. A shard cut my eye and when I used my magic to fix it she put me in irons. It took more than a week to scab over. Mother took me away from Father, saying he was a bad man. I never saw him again after that." My mouth was too dry to speak. "I found the healers three years later. Those three years made a scar that ran deeper than the one you see on my face." All we could do was sit in silence, each other's company comfort enough.