Of Swords and Flowers

Chapter One

Anastasia 

Chickens clucked and people shouted during the hot, sunny afternoon as she ran hurriedly between the sweaty bodies of  the villagers. The air was warm and dense causing droplets of sweat to run down her temple and directly into her left eye which left her to try and clumsily wipe it away with the side of her wrist covered with a soggy shirt. 

Damn she thought. She was going to be late once again and her mother was bound not to appreciate any of her halfhearted excuses this time around. 

As she squeezed herself between the large bodies of two men who were aiming to push some sort of wooden cart out of the middle of the busy road she continuously chanted a mix of "excuse me", "I'm so sorry" and "apologies". Finally catching sight of her beloved quaint little home with its lopsided roof she put on a spur of energy and sped up even more. 

From the sidelines she could hear a mans deep timbre calling out to her shouting "Oy Ana! Where are you heading off to in such a rush? You're going to injure yourself again if you don't slow down!". Though she could not see the man she knew it was the burly villages blacksmith whom she had known ever since her childhood. His son, Jason and her sister Elizabeth or Beth as she referred to her adoringly had been dating for as long as she could remember. 

There had never been a time where she could recollect seeing Beth and Jason apart. For her, they had always been sweethearts and would remain so up until the end of the world. Which as she thought about it - if she was any later than she already was - would happen sooner rather than later thanks to her mother scolding her till even the most wicked of people would spill a tear and beg to repent. 

Beth had always been the responsible, older sister. For one she was in a steady relationship with a respectable young gentleman. For another she enjoyed calm activities such as reading and sewing following in the footsteps  of our equally amiable mother Rosaline. Beth had a tall and slim physique and also had glossy long brown hair just like our mother. In her opinion Beth was perfect . She on the other hand was not she thought as she once again tripped over possibly a stone, her feet or the most likely option: the air. 

Ever since Anastasia was a little girl she had been chaos incarnate. If not her uncharacteristic fondness for all things nature be it animals or flowers then it was her stubborn, strong-willed and independent attitude that set her apart from most other young women in the village. 

It was exactly for this reason that she was running late. Earlier she had found a young bird struggling in the nearby lake, she couldn't just sit there and watch the poor thing drown. So she made a split second decision and jumped into the water, hence why she now looked like a swamp monster, drenched to the bone with lake water.  

Naturally she had spent too much time drying off the bird that she lost track of time and only realised too late that she was once again late to prepare dinner as she had promised to her mother when she left the house in the morning. 

She hastily burst into the quaint house slamming the wooden door - with hinges already loosened due to the prior times she made entrances like these - against the wall. 

"I'm home!" She exclaimed whilst trying to fix her long unruly white blonde hair and straightening her mud-caked skirt. It was to no avail, she would just have to deal with looking like something that came fresh out of hell.

As no response came, she made her way through the livingroom towards the kitchen where she could hear the utensils clunking and smell the cooking meat. Her stomach rumbled just thinking about the food, she hadn't eaten in ages it felt like. 

Standing in the doorway to the kitchen she watched her mother for a moment. It always fascinated her how she could look so different from the rest of her family.

Her mother turned around to grab a spoon from the table behind her and caught sight of Anastasia. She fully turned around to face her. 

"Really Ana, you've missed most of the preparations again" she said exasperated placing her hands on either side of her hips. 

"I know, I know I'm really sorry." Anastasia replied sheepishly tucking wet hair behind her ear whilst surreptitiously picking a piece of grass out of it.

"And look what you did to your clothes! You look like you went out of your way to tumble around in the grass fields" her mother exclaimed scanning her from top to bottom. "Dear I'll have to mend those holes again... I just got done with your other dress earlier this day" she said shaking her head and turning back to the stove, spoon in hand. 

"I'm sorry mother... I completely lost track of time" Anastasia said as she moved into the kitchen heading towards the aprons wanting to help at least a little. 

"So what happened today that made you late again?" Her mother inquired.

Knowing her sensible mother wouldn't appreciate how she had sprung into the lake of her own free will she decided against telling her the full truth and went with omitting a few details "I was out by the lake when I suddenly tripped over a log and ended up headfirst in the water." There, that excuse wasn't too unlikely, after all it happened to her all the time. Her mother liked to say that she had two left feet when it came to anything that required some semblance of coordination.

Looking at her her mother said " Well that does sound like you" turning to her more fully she had little wrinkles on her forehead as she worriedly added "You really ought to be more careful, what if you would've  landed on a rock and been rendered unconscious. No one  would've been able to help you."

Regretting having chosen that specific excuse as she didn't want to worry her mother Anastasia said "I know I'll be more careful from now on, I promise." Then she quickly tried to divert from herself " Mother where is Beth, I thought she also wanted to help out today?"

"Ah yes, she went out so go see Jason something about helping him out for a couple of minutes" her mother responded. Anastasia smirked to herself knowing what that meant, after all Beth was a good daughter but she still was no saint. "But don't think your showing up late like this is over and done with now, you'll get some extra chores later on" she added. 

Anastasia knew it was coming, but it was alright she deserved it. She ought to pay more attention. This sort of thing happened way too often for her liking too. At some point she was bound actually miss something important, she was sure of it she thought. 

Just as she finished that thought the back door opened and in came the large frame of her father smelling of pine and cinnamon.