The Witching Hour

Ch. 3

Avalonna

The encounter with the mysterious merchant still played back in Avalonna's mind as she found her way to her old home. She realized that the more she thought about it that his eyes seemed to be unique and rather hypnotic. It had not occurred to her before that she was staring into them far too much. The man's eyes were strange, yet had a familiarity to them. She moved along quietly and avoided eye contact with other strangers passing by. It was evening already, and Avalonna had not realized how quickly time had passed. The air was crisp and the sun glowed as a cool breeze blew in around her. Despite being away for several years, she still knew exactly how to find her way home. She touched her necklace and held on to her brother's gift carefully as she followed the stone and dirt pathways. One thing she loved to see on all her travels were the various architectural achievements in the different lands of the kingdom. She had always dreamt of creating her own castle and structures and her mother used to say she had a great imagination to make new things.

After a few moments she came to the end of the trail and saw her old home, hidden away from the main trails behind a couple of large trees. She smiled as she remembered all the good moments she had here along with her brother and Lydia. Her memories of her mother were loving, but have begun to fade over time, and the memories of her father were far and few between as he was very busy at work for years before his death. She took a deep breath and exhaled and ran towards her house. She knocked on the door happily and waited.

Not a moment later she heard Lydia's pleasant but stern voice calling out
"She's here, Connor! Oh for goodness sake wake up, this is no time for a nap."

Avalonna smiled and hid a giggle thinking how even if Connor would be turning 18 tomorrow, he was still a boy at times. The door opened widely and Lydia rushed out and embraced Avalonna.
"Oh, Val, it's been so long. I have missed you, I thought you left me alone with Connor forever." She said with a smile and hugging Avalonna tightly. For her size and appearance, Lydia was quite strong.

"I have missed you too, Lydia, but please be careful, I can hardly breath!" She replied, resulting in laughter from both of the women.

"Sorry, dear. I can get carried away at times. Please come in! Your brother is sleeping again, as if he did not sleep in enough today." She smiled and gestured for Avalonna to follow her.

She did and was flooded with fond memories as she looked around at her old home. She smiled and saw Connor sleeping deeply on a chair in the main room as Lydia announced she was preparing dinner. Avalonna was amazed at how much her younger brother had grown, he was now taller than her and with wider shoulders. His hair was neatly cut for once and he seemed to have the beginnings of facial hair. Lydia moved back and forth quickly and seamlessly to prepare their dinner. She had a small metal cauldron over the fireplace with food already simmering and the smell of meats and seasonings filled the air as she stirred it.

"It's your favorite stew, Val." She said with a smile.

"Thank you, Lydia, but you know you did not have to go through all this trouble just for me," Avalonna replied smiling and sitting on a old stool,
"Can you please tell me what's wrong with this one?" She asked laughing slightly and nudging Connor with her foot. Lydia grinned and rolled her eyes.

"Oh it's no trouble at all, love, and I don't think we have the time to list everything wrong with Connor." She finished stirring and came over and tried waking him up.

"Connor, darling, dinner is almost ready and your sister is here so... For the love of all that is good and decent please wake up!" Lydia and Avalonna laughed as Connor mumbled and slowly woke himself up.

"I am glad you can rejoin us in the land of the living, dear brother." Avalonna said with a smile and embraced her brother. Connor hugged her in return and yawned.

"Have I been sleeping all this time?" He asked aloud.

"You certainly have, maybe I will have to gather the firewood myself next time." Lydia said, getting wooden plates for the three of them and setting the table.

"Well darling," Connor replied to Lydia with a hint of a smirk,
"I had a rather unusual time in the forest. I will tell you all about it later, but first," he gave Avalonna another hug, "how are you Val? How were your travels?" He sat down to listen to Avalonna talk and Lydia started serving dinner.

"I am excellent, Connor," she replied, taking a seat,
"I even have a gift for you for your birthday tomorrow."

"Oh do you? So do I, I'm sure you'll like it," he replied with a smile.

"Now you two, enjoy the humble feast I have made, all by myself mind you."
Lydia interrupted, rolling her eyes at Connor with a smile. She placed rolls on each of their plates and took a seat with the two siblings. Avalonna couldn't help but notice that her meat in the stew seemed more undercooked than her own.

"Are you sure your serving doesn't need more time to cook, Lydia?" Avalonna asked.

"Oh no, dear. I'm perfectly fine, but thank you very much. I would love to hear about your travels as much as Connor does." She replied, smiling and taking a bite of her stew.

Avalonna nodded and picked at her own food.
"Well let me see, where shall I start? At the beginning of my travels, fate was not always the kindest to me. I got lost in various places throughout the kingdom and could not always find work or money to earn my necessary food for the day." She paused as Lydia held her hand gently and looked saddened.

"Oh it wasn't all bad. As time went by things improved and with the changing of the seasons I found various jobs to sustain myself. I discovered unique and beautiful works of literature, art, and architecture that I did not know existed when I went to the southern borders of the kingdom. The culture in the towns there seemed to mix with the neighboring kingdom of Pandune and it was quite a sight."

She paused again for a moment, not only to take another bite of stew but also to consider what she should and should not leave out of her retelling.
"Well I settled down in that area and learned all I could about Pandune and our own kingdom. From the stories I can tell that their kingdom has far more freedom but also less citizens, as the Red King has conquered more lands in the north recently. I don't wish to talk to much about that though. I made friends in the southern town of Rydell, even a very special friend,"

She blushed slightly as Lydia raised her eyebrows and Connor rolled his eyes.
"Oh my dear I am happy for you, what happened with your friends? " Lydia asked.

"There were... Raids. From the southern kingdom. Due to the Red King's aggressiveness, they were scared and decided to attack to protect their own territory from being seized. the Red Guard came and held off the strikes. In the aftermath of the attacks, my friends and I were scattered and I had not seen any of them since." She teared up slightly and Lydia embraced her.

"I am fine... The man I fancied, his name was Drow, I do miss him. All this happened a year ago. Since then I made my way back to Eversong, learning all I could about as much as I could. I even began to pick up archery and began drawing nearly every day of any inspirational things I saw. I still have my book here if you'd like to see." She reached into a pouch in her robe and pulled out a small leather sketchbook.

"Drow gave it to me... Here, please feel free to look through it." She handed it over to Lydia and Connor looked on from over her shoulder.
Lydia flipped through several pages and smiled fondly. The book contained sketches of towns, people, nature, and also Avalonna and Connor's parents. Avalonna noticed that Lydia's eyes seem to go wide for only the slightest moment at a few of the images. She did not know why, the section Lydia was in was mainly symbols and images Avalonna imagined and created.

"These are brilliant, Val. I look forward to seeing all of them in the morning, but I need to to go to bed my dear." Lydia said with a smile and handing the book back. Avalonna had not even realized Lydia had finished eating her food already.

"Oh yes, of course. It is getting late. Connor and I shall retire when we are done as well."

"Very good, my loves." Lydia embraced each of them as she said goodnight and went to her room upstairs. Avalonna and Connor talked to each other and caught up about the last few years before cleaning up and going to their own beds to rest for the night.