The Witches Heart

In The End

Many years had passed since then, Sylvie had settled in quite nicely. After finding out Claudia and Rosalyn were witches she was reasonably shocked, but she got over it pretty quickly and even found it cool. Once she had gotten older, she had decided to begin learning witchcraft from both Rosalyn and Claudia. And after she felt she'd learned enough, she went off to find her own place and become the witch of another wood. Though she still came to visit of course.

Fortunately the villagers hadn't bothered them again, the people who had attempted to attack Rosalyn and Claudia were long dead. Everyone who had lived in the village during Claudia's younger days was, including her family. Nowadays the village was filled with the previous generations children and grandchildren.

Of course, Rosalyn hadn't aged a single bit, she still looked as young as the day Claudia met her. Claudia had aged a few more years, gained a few more wrinkles, but overall the magic kept her young.

These days Claudia and Rosalyn spent their summers soaking up sun and skinny dipping in rivers and in the winters they would read under the blankets and bake cookies. Right now it was one of those summer days, though they weren't skinny dipping at the moment. Instead, they were lying on a blanket outside under the sunset.

Rosalyn had been a reasonable distance from Claudia, but it seemed every time Claudia glanced at her she had inched closer. Claudia looked at the clouds, noting that one of them was shaped like a cat, before she looked to her side. She instantly burst out laughing. Rosalyn's face was right next to hers, their noses almost touching.

"What are you doing?" She asked in her laughter.

"What? I'm not allowed to be close to my wife?" Rosalyn replied.

Rosalyn grabbed Claudia's hand and stroked the ring on her finger with her thumb. Yes, they had gotten married about fifty years ago after having been together for three years. But Claudia still remembered the day like it was yesterday.

Rosalyn had told her she had a special surprise and led her into the forest not long after waking up. Somehow convincing Sylvie to stay home, actually now that Claudia thought about it Sylvie probably knew what Rosalyn was going to do.

Rosalyn had brought her into a clearing full of beautiful wildflowers. At first Claudia thought that was the surprise, but when she turned around Rosalyn was on one knee with a sapphire ring in her hands.

Obviously Claudia had said yes, and Rosalyn was so excited she picked her up and spun her around before practically shoving her tongue down Claudia's throat. If Claudia hadn't stopped her, she probably would've taken her on the forest floor.

Sylvie was ecstatic to hear the news of course. Whenever she'd first joined Claudia and Rosalyn it took her a bit to get used to the idea of two women together, she'd never seen a relationship like that after all. But it didn't take long for her to become their biggest supporter and wingwoman. She was only counting the days before they got married.

But back to the present, "of course you can. But you don't need to sneak your way over, you can just ask" Claudia replied.

"Well then, can I hold my wife?" Rosalyn asked.

Claudia giggled before saying yes and Rosalyn wasted no time in bringing Claudia to her chest.

One of the things Claudia appreciated about Rosalyn was how she still treated her like they'd just married. It seemed that for them the honeymoon phase had never ended.

"Momma?" A voice echoed around the corner.

"Mom?" The sound of footsteps got closer.

"What are- eugh!!" Sylvie exclaimed after walking around the corner of the cottage and seeing Claudia and Rosalyn together.

This was one of those times when Sylvie was visiting them. She'd been at their house for about a day now, she'd be leaving after a couple more. Much like them Sylvie looked very young for how old she actually was. Because she started practicing magic earlier than Claudia and Rosalyn, she looked a few years younger than them. Maybe eighteen or nineteen.

Rosalyn laughed at her reaction, "you're lucky we weren't doing something else" she said.

Sylvie made more disgusted noises before running back inside with her hands covering her eyes.

"Eh, she'll understand when she finds someone" Rosalyn mumbled into Claudia's hair.

Claudia hummed in agreement and looked up at Rosalyn. She looked peaceful, her breathing slow and her eyes closed. Claudia began tracing the scar on her face, Rosalyn had told her where she got it a while ago.

Apparently she'd gotten into a fight with her mentor, the woman who'd taught her everything she knew about witchcraft. Much like Claudia, Rosalyn had run away from her family. Though Rosalyn had run away because she was tired of her drunk of a father, not because she was forcefully engaged.

Her mentor, a woman by the name of Helena, took her in. She was everything Rosalyn had ever wanted in a teacher, and parent. But one day Rosalyn had messed up a spell, horribly so and It became extremely dangerous very quickly. Instead of allowing Rosalyn to take the effects, Helena had pushed her out of the way as the cauldron exploded. With a mixture of black and red liquid spraying everywhere.

The liquid had not only harmed Helena physically, but it seemed she'd lost her mind too. She grabbed her sword and attacked Rosalyn relentlessly, despite the fact her skin was melting off as she did so. Rosalyn managed to dodge most of her attacks but Helena had managed to strike her in the face and drag the sword all the way down her chest before collapsing. Rosalyn was forced to leave her mentor to die and seek care for herself before she too succumbed to deaths embrace.

That was what led her to Claudia's village, one of the older women there had treated her and allowed her to stay at her house while she healed. Once she'd fully healed she'd left and found a place in the forest.

"..I'm glad you came to this forest" Claudia whispered.

Rosalyn smiled and opened her eyes, "me too, if I hadn't I wouldn't have met you. Though I guess if you hadn't ran away from your marriage we wouldn't have met either" she said.

Claudia nodded and smiled too, "I'm glad I ran away from my wedding."