𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙡𝙙𝙨 𝙘𝙤𝙡𝙡𝙞𝙙𝙚 | ✓

010

𝘞𝘪𝘯𝘰𝘯𝘢 𝘚𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦

Reyna had led the group to a training site not far off from the kingdom's palace. It was owned by one of her good friends, Hollis Channing, who would also be helping the group train. According to Reyna, Hollis was about twenty and had lived on their own since they were fifteen. Winona, being a mother herself, couldn't help but feel for the poor thing. All of these people training for battle were just kids. She wanted them to feel safe with her, so Winona found herself taking on the mom role with all of them - except for Diana. She couldn't quite explain her thoughts about the previous queen.

Winona exited the little house that Hollis owned on a small prairie with lemonade cups placed on the trays. She walked over to the training groups and smiled. Hollis rushed over instantly and took a glass. "Thank you Mrs. Strange," they spoke calmly and bowed their head politely. Winona offered them a smile as she shook her head at the last name she no longer went by. She was free now, meaning she had to let go of everything of that past.

"I'm not Mrs. Strange anymore. I'm Ms. Darlington," Winona spoke with the use of her maiden name. She didn't want to share a name with that rat of her husband, however her children didn't mind as much as she did.

Hollis nodded politely before turning to head back to the group to help them train. For someone who owned a weaponry shop, knew how to use nearly every weapon created, was arrested for attempted murder, and was known to have violent tendencies they actually seemed really sweet and polite. Perhaps they were only kind to the people that were kind to them first. It made Winona wonder what those people did to deserve violence from probably the sweetest person she has ever met. She was especially conserned on how the attempted murder charge came about.

Diana grabbed a glass of lemonade and placed two bendy straws in the glasses. "Wanna share?" She asked, taking a seat on the blanket that Winona had spread about.

Despite being a green witch and often working with plants, she absolutely couldn't stand grass. She was allergic to it most likely, often getting rashes and then gaining temporary scars from scratching said rashes. So, she placed a blanket down so she didn't have to touch the grass. She sat down next to Diana and smiled as the two of them shared the lemonade glass.

"Why don't you talk to her?" Winona suddenly asked, noticing how Diana was eyeing Reyna. She didn't understand why she just didn't tell Reyna that she was her mother. What was the worst that could happen? Reyna would get angry and storm off? She had every right to do so, knowing that her mother had abandoned her and instead was told she died in during birth. Better to rip the bandaid off now than later when it may be too late.

However, Diana instead refused to answer the question. "My husband is dead," she spoke to change the subject, "and yours is too." She glanced over at Winona, a small grin being placed on her face. "Do you know what freedom that grants us?" Her hand slowly moved on top of Winona's, trailing her fingers up to her shoulders.

Winona, however, shook her head and grabbed her wrist. "Which would make whatever you are planning on doing disrespectful to them. As a witch, I do not want to anger the dead. Bad things come from that," she said. So instead the two women watched as the group of young adults trained their hearts out.

𝘈𝘵𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘶𝘴 𝘚𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦

Hollis had insisted on training with Atticus, wanting to show him a few sparring tricks with the sword the witch was holding in his hands. Josiah didn't seem to like that, but instead of saying anything he sat off to the side. Reyna had offered to train with him, but he refused. He didn't seem to trust Hollis that much and decided it was best to make sure they didn't hurt Atticus. Josiah had seemed to be the only one allowed to offend Atticus, anyone else tried and he would have a fit about it. Which Atticus thought it was sort of cute.

Hollis smiled at Atticus and walked up behind him, grabbing a hold of the witch's arms in order to fix his sloppy stance. "Better?" They asked the witch next to him, glancing over at Josiah who was squinting his eyes and glaring daggers towards Hollis.

Atticus grinned and leaned a bit closer to the person standing next to him, "ignore him. He hates everybody," he whispered. He only received a nod in reply. Hollis then stepped away from the male witch, making sure their hands didn't touch him again. They probably didn't want the conflict, which was understandable based on what was about to happen.

As Hollis stepped up to spar Atticus, Josiah stepped up quickly. "How about we spar, Hollis?" He interjected, a not-so-friendly grin placed on his face. Fearing Josiah would actually try and attempt to harm the poor person, Atticus grabbed Josiah's arm and shook his head.

"They're only trying to help. Relax princey," Atticus said. The nickname seemed to mellow out the prince a bit, a slight blush being placed on his cheeks. As he finally walked away to leave them alone, Hollis turned towards Atticus.

"Is he always this jealous?" They asked, finally getting into their stance. They earned a snicker from the witch who only nodded in response.

After a while of sparring, Hollis managed to get Atticus to his knees and pretended to stab him in the chest. Grinning in victory, Hollis glanced up to see the small house door slam open.

Vienna rushed outside quickly, nearly tripping on some random log outside. "A fire!" She shouted, panting heavily. "There was- there is a fire. The palace-" she cut herself off, trying her best to compose herself. When she noticed the group was only sat there staring at her she managed to finally snap,

"The palace is on fire!"