ꜱᴄᴀʀ ᴏꜰ ᴛʜᴇ ᴋᴇʏꜱ

Chapter 29: Cazzlyn

 Cazzlyn's nails dug into the dirt as her breathing suddenly became labored and uneven. Her hands were sweaty and shaky. She looked around the darkened forest as her vision blurred slightly through her tears. Cazzlyn leaned on a charcoal tree.

Rheton's footsteps echoed beside her as he paced back and forth, "Cazzlyn?" he muttered.

"I think I'm having a panic attack," she wheezed. She ran her dirty fingers through her hair. She gritted her teeth to hold back a cry of agony as the air beside her shifted into freezing. Cazzlyn closed her eyes and imagined her sister grinning ear to ear.

"The wind's cheerful for you today, Cazzy," Castilla giggled as Cazzlyn danced across the leaves.

"It is!" she twirled around the leaves, causing them to cluster around her feet. Cazzlyn's dark boots were covered in the fallen leaves.

Her sister grinned from the top of the tree. "Have you practiced yet?"

"Practiced what?" Cazzlyn looked up at her sister as she swung around the thick branch of the tall tree.

"With your bow." she paused. "And your wind,"

"The wind dances with me!" she giggled as the leaves landed on her legs now. "I dance with it,"

"Hm? Windstorm? Is that your new nickname?"

"No! Winddancer," she must have mumbled it out loud.

Rheton was shaking her shoulder hard. "Hey," he hushed her. Cazzlyn followed her gaze to his own. "You okay, Winddancer?" He smiled softly.

She wiped the falling tears from her eyes with her hand and smiled back at him. "I'm alright. The name windstorm just brings back memories,"

Rheton reached for her still shaking hand and cupped it on his own. He gave it a reassuring squeeze. Cazzlyn felt a blissful tingle through her arm.

"Do you get those often?" he asked.

"Mhm. But only when I get strong memories," She brushed the dirt off of her hands and glanced up at him again discreetly.

Rheton's gaze softened. "Strong memories about who? It's okay if you don't want to tell me,"

Cazzlyn was too distracted by his soft freckles scattered across his nose and cheeks to hear his question loud enough. A few of them formed a constellation to her imagination. She hesitantly leaned closer to them.

"Cazzlyn?" he squeezed her hand again.

She snapped out of her trance and looked away from his face. "Hm?" Cazzlyn leaned back to where she was.

"I asked you a question," he reminded her.

"Oh? Sorry, I didn't hear you,"

Rheton made a sound that sounded like a soft laugh. "I asked you who the memories are about,"

"About my older sister," She looked away from his freckles to avoid falling into her trance again.

"She seems important to you,"

Cazzlyn nodded. "She was,"

Rheton sighed softly. "Sorry for making you talk about her again." He leaned against the tree she was on.

"It's okay. She wouldn't want me to be sad over her death, she would want me to honor her with our memories." Cazzlyn ran her hand over the burnt bark. "You know? We can honor her with healing this forest,"

"We can?"

"Yes," she tugged Rheton up with her hand as she stood up and looked around the forest. "Let's start with the smallest tree and work up to the biggest, or we can work up to the biggest," Cazzlyn held back a light laugh at his surprised expression. "That's the easiest way to do it. We won't be tired by the big ones,"

Rheton nodded at her. "Let's get started then, Winddancer,"

Cazzlyn let go of his hand and ran over to the smallest tree she could see. "We'll start with this one,"

He chuckled. "Your determined,"

She nodded back with a smirk. "Definitely,"