ONEIRAL: The Witch, The Book and The Mirror

Chapter 15: Silence

The smoke from the town was still visible in the distance, not that she realized. She had just walked out, not once looking back, heading aimlessly into the forest. She didn't know how long had passed, not did she particularly care; the only clue being the shear exhaustion from her body.
She kept going thinking nothing, paying attention to nothing, until her foot triped over a root and she fell, slamming into the ground. She winced, but simply curled up to the side and clutched her waist, where a small trick of blood had come out of a re-opened wound. She moved her hand over it and it closed, her eyes dropping closed almost instantly after.

When she woke up, the sun shone bright in the sky, though she was covered by the shadows of the trees. Slowly sitting up, she drew the rune for the tent...but nothing happened. She tried again, and felt a weak rush of magic through her veins, but it was quickly tampered away. She frowned,  instead focusing on summoning her cape. With great effort, it appeared in her hand, and when she put it on, her hand lingered a moment longer than necessary on the pin.

Eyes closed; eyes opened. She was still in the same place.

Resigned, she stood up, carefully adjusting the hood to her horns, and then she kept walking, no destination in mind. Her mind, her steps, the forest; everything was quiet.

It was familiar. Safe.

The grass flattened under her steps, ans she wondered how long would it take for it to stand up straight again, or even if it would.

A bird called distantly, and she thought it sounded anguished.

Leafs fell from a tree, and judging by the lack of a breeze she assumed it might have been an animal passing by.

The person walking in front of her was carrying a heavy basket full of mushrooms; and she concluded he must collect and sell them in the market. She hated mushrooms.

She passed him by.

The girl walking on the side of the road was constantly arranging her skirt and checking her hair. Was it a date or was she just expecting to catch his attention?

And then she collided with something, and hot water poured over her side, drenching her and making her hiss in pain.

"Oh dear! I am extremely sorry," a voice said, and Sel turned to a short, middle aged woman, probably in her 50s. She was wearing working clothes, nothing fancy, and her hands were covered in small, not-painful looking cuts and stings. Her hair had spots of white here and there, but she also wore crinkles in her eyes; those that belong to a happy person. The lady set her bucket on the ground and tried to help Selenya out of her wet cape, but she flinched back at the touch, and the lady frowned.

"I apologize dear, I wasn't paying attention to where I was going. It's just that with the celebration this weekend work has had me on my feet all day," she laughed, picking up her bucket "Now now, you must come with me, I can't leave you al drenched like this in the street," she said, moving around Selenya and placing a hand on her back, pushing her along. Selenya didn't feel like she had enough energy or care to fight, so she wordlessly followed the lady across the town she had inadvertedly walked into, to a house that had carefully kept roses in front of it. Something about the roses gave her an uneasy sensation, but it died down as quickly as it came. The lady ushered her into the house, which surprisingly lacked the acomodattons proper to it, like a couch or a dining table, and instead was filled with mannequins dressed halfway, rolls of all kinds of fabrics, scissors of different sizes and metric tapes everywhere.

"Come along dear! Let's get you dry," the lady called, breaking Selenya out of her daze and tugging her along to a back room. Inside there was a small kitchen, in which the lady shuffled through the cabinets until she found her teapot, and put water to boil. She then turned to Sel, and moved to remove her cape, but Sel gripped the pin that was holding it close tightly, digging it into her skin.