Savoirs

Serena

It was clear that Jason had no intention of letting Jaclyn get hurt and I saw it as I weakness that could be used against him. I knew he was a soldier but that was several years ago and now, he's not acting smart about anything. It hits him too close to home and he has too many feelings on the situation and when one of the kids dragged me outside to play I was more than grateful. While we were outside the others were inside no doubt treating Jaclyn like a lost puppy. I sighed and picked a flower. The little girl ran up to me and grinned at the flower.

"You found a bell!" She exclaimed and I frowned. I knew a little about herbs and flowers but a bell is not a flower I knew.

"What's a bell?" I asked smiling and the girl grinned at me.

"Good luck!" She chirped and I smiled as she gently took he flower out of my hand and tucked it behind my ear. Fern called from the door and as we walked inside we found the others sitting in the main room talking and laughing about something. Jaclyn was sitting quietly next to Jason with a bowl in her lap and I noticed the others had bowls full of something too. I was handed a bowl and I went to join the circle. Joseph moved over to make room for me and I plopped down in between him and Adam. Adam smiled at me but I saw the worry in his eyes and listened as Lia started talking. 

She was talking about a time when an old woman from her home caught her trying to climb a building. She seemed happy about the memory and a memory of my own floated to the surface. My mother and myself were out in a field picking flowers for the house and she picked a bright baby blue flower. It was beautiful and she had put it up to her hair and posed. I had giggled to the point of tears and she had put it into my braid while I wasn't looking so when I walked inside my dad smiled at me and produced the same bright baby blue flower and questioned the fact that I was a person not a flower. I had laughed and tucked it behind his ear declaring that he was perfectly beautiful and he had wiggled his eyebrows at my mother and brought her close to him. He whispered something in her ear and she had laughed and taken the flower from him and tucked it behind her own ear. He had made a pouty face and crossed his arms over his chest like he was mad and I giggled. It was a good memory and I felt someone nudge my arm.

"What are you smiling about?" Joseph asked lightly and I felt my face heat up as I looked down at the floor.

"Nothing." I said quickly and Adam grinned.

"Oh no you don't! You have to tell us now!" He exclaimed and I glared at him. Jaclyn smiled and I sighed.

"Lia's story reminded me of my family. My mother and I had been picking wild flowers in the meadow near the house and she had found this beautiful blue flower and had stuck it in my braid when I wasn't paying attention so when we walked in the house my father took it out of my hair and asked me if I was turning into a plant. I had laughed and put it behind his ear and declared that he was the most beautiful woman ever to which he made a face at my mother and brought her close to whisper something in her ear that she found funny. Well then she took the flower and put it behind her ear and my father had acted like a little boy who had been told he couldn't keep he frog he found. It's one of my better memories." I explained and they nodded.

"It sounds beautiful." Jaclyn said quietly and I nodded.

"It is." I whispered and a silence fell over our group. It was like everyone was deep in their heads and Lia looked rather crest fallen which I wrote off as trying to remember her parents. Several minutes passed and when the silence was getting unbearable Millay ran over to Jaclyn and threw her arms around her neck. Jaclyn smiled at the lttle girl and let her sit on her lap. Jaclyn was acing like a mother and I watched her as Millay twisted around to whisper something in Jaclyn's ear.

"Did you have a child?" I blurted and Jaclyn looked up at me surprised. She shook her head and frowned.

"No. I would like to have children one day but I'm much to young for a family now." She said and I nodded. "But there was one young man that I nearly left my life to be with. He had come into town just as the first snow started to fall and burst into my inn in a hurry. He needed a room and lucky for him I had one. Well when the winter proved itself to be to harsh for him to travel in, he stayed at the inn until summer came around. So he helped me with tending the horses in the barn in the back and cleaning, sometimes would even fix something that couldn't be replaced. When I would be closing the inn for the night he sit on the counter and tell me about his travels and all he's done. It only took a minute to close up but it would take hours just to get done listening to him. When I was close to falling asleep in the chair I would sit in he would smile at me and hop down from the counter and I would go to the door of my room and he'd wait until I turned around to say goodnight. Well I'm sure as you'd imagine I fell in love with him. It became a routine for us. Well summer found its way back to the village and he had to leave. He had convinced me to go with him and as I was closing the door to my inn for what I believed to be he last time the guards came and arrested him. He had been wanted for murder and it broke my heart to see him being dragged away. That was the last time I saw him." She said. I nodded and Jason put a reassuring hand on her arm. She smiled weakly at him and looked down at Millay who was looking up at her awed. Jaclyn smiled at her and the little girl giggled. Millay's father came in a smiled at his daughter. He had a bow slung over his shoulder and a quiver across his back.

"Would anyone like to join me?" He asked and the three boys that accompanied us stood up Millay got out of Jaclyn's lap and tugged on Jaclyn's hand until she stood up and let Millay pull her over to her father. Jason smiled as he gathered his things and when he had leaned his own bow an arrows against the wall walked over behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist. She jumped and he chuckled. He pulled away and Millay tugged on her dress. She bent down and scooped the girl up and nodded to the men.

"Be safe." She said. It was like I was watching her with a family of her own, wishing them good luck with her daughter in her arms. They nodded at her and Fern hugged her husband before they left. Millay waved at her father as he walked out of the house. Little did we know the hunting trip wasn't going to go well.