Blood Born

One

Present Day

On the outskirts of the Kingdom of Magnar, the sun was barely peeking out from behind the heavy autumn clouds filled with potential rainfall yet it shone brightly down on a clearing in the middle of a forest. The trees on the edge of the clearing were shedding their leaves with the coming winter. The spring flowers were dying off and the autumn weeds were crawling in. the clearing life, however, despite the changing seasons, was still in full bloom. Lively trees filled with greens and pinks, and the flowers still swaying in the chilled breeze. Off to one side stood a cabin with worn wooden walls and a small porch. The walls of the cabin were beginning to warp with its age as the boards of the small porch were stained a faded brown with the wear of the weather. Just around the back of the cottage was a decent-sized garden with various fruits and vegetables growing in it.

A voice, soft and melodic, came from the windows of the small house. The door to the house was thrust open and an older girl, looking to be nineteen years of age, stepped out with a young man trailing behind her. He looked to be older than the girl, but only by a few years. They hopped down the few steps from their porch chatting away as they went. The girls long, curly brown hair flowed down her back nearly reaching her waist. She was small and frail, but not to the point that she looked malnourished. The breeze ruffled between the loose fly-aways of her hair and she reached up to smooth them back down. Her fingers snagging in the few tangles that were present. She smiled up at the young man by her side before turning back to the door. An older woman was standing there leaning against the frame of the door trying to grab the attention of the two younger people. They began talking back and forth before the man reached over and ruffled the girls hair. She shoved him with a playful glare taking over her features as she smoothed her hair back down yet again. The young man just laughed joyously before making his way back over to her.

•••

"Now Thomas, you stop bothering my daughter!" Mother exclaimed dramatically.

"Yes aunt Harriet!" Thomas said in a mocking tone before turning back to me.

Mom said something back to him, but something caught my attention. I tried to focus on the conversation but I could feel that something different. There was something different that I couldn't quite place. "Come on Mae, we have to get to the village and back before supper," wandering passed me, he made his way to the path.

I just rolled rolled my shoulders trying to get rid of the feeling. "You mean you want to get home before supper?"

"Can't be late for food!" Thomas grinned back at me.

"You and your stomach." I couldn't help but roll eyes with a smile on my face.

I couldn't a scowl as I mock saluted with as much fake seriousness as I could muster, and followed after Thomas.  Only turning around once to wave goodbye to Mom. Walking down the path Thomas and I spoke about the garden growing peacefully behind our home. He didn't know very much about gardening and was simply going on about the different colours that were protruding there. I, on the other hand, was very prone to it. I always loved the way spending time outside and tending to the plants had always made me feel more at ease. It wasn't the normal outside relaxation. I could feel the energy moving between the breezing. The feeling of thousands of blades of grass gliding against each other. If I tried hard enough, I could even feel the water in the air waiting for a command. It was beautiful. I took great pride in my garden and always spoke with passion while conversing with others about it. My garden, even during the time of the drought, had been the most successful and beautiful in the village.

   "Do you think we need some more Tomato plants? The ones we have don't look very promising." Thomas was always quick to buy new plants for the garden.