Sorceress

Chapter 7

 Four years flew by.  My days were filled with new and wondrous ideas.  I learned the names of flowers, weeds, trees, shrubs and moss, how they could cure and kill.  I learned how poison could be used to suck the life from a person and also how it could breathe it back into them.  I learned the world was vast and enormous, and I was just one infinitely small piece.  I studied politics, war, governments, and history.  I learned to walk as though I was floating on a cloud, and dance as if I’d been born with wings on my feet.  The Matron oversaw much of my studies, and she pushed me to learn more, to think for myself and to form opinions of my own.  She questioned me, argued with me and encouraged me to do the same.  Where once my voice had been lost, the Matron drew it out to be stronger than ever.  I was not afraid.  I had friends, I belonged to something.   

  The Matron had chosen me to become part of a group of girls that showed exceptional talent in our studies. 

  Wynny, my closest ally and friend was beautiful, but not in a way that a person could ever get used to.  I could never quite tell what changed every day, but Wynny’s beauty was never the same as the day before.  Her pale blonde hair and green eyes made her seem exotic, drawing in both students and teachers alike.  Her cat-like gaze would fall on open books, documents, letters, committing to memory everything she saw in seconds.    

 Delaena was a raven haired girl, with pale blue eyes.  She was the oldest of our group by almost three years.  Her body was curvaceous and feminine, in stark contrast to my childlike form.  Delaena had breasts peeking out from under her tightly laced white shift and hips that swayed back and forth, where the rest of us were as flat as water on a still day.  Delaena also had the gift of the golden tongue.  She could convince anybody of anything.  I watched her talk her way out of every situation, even making the Matron laugh after breaking her prized vase.

 There was Kara and Karan, twin sisters.  The only way to tell them apart was by Kara’s different coloured eyes, one which perfectly matched here sister’s dark blue eyes, the other a dark green.  Kara and Karan were tall, willowy girls.  They had long, fine wheat coloured hair, and long slender necks.  Their skin was so white, I could see the blue and green of their veins.  At times, their beauty was ethereal, other times almost sickly.  Kara played the harp and Karan played the lyre with long, slim, white fingers.  If they had wings, they could have passed for angels.  They had the unsettling habit of finishing each other sentences and seemed to talk without words, passing thoughts from one to the other.

  Janelle was the youngest of the group by a full year and half.  She had curly auburn hair that looked like fire when the setting sun caught it.  She was short, and had such tiny feet, she had to have slippers made specially for her.  For what Janelle lacked in size, she made up for in personality.  She had a loud booming laugh that shook her whole body, exacerbated by her tendency to throw her head back when something was particularly funny.  Janelle had the gift of numbers.  She could calculate numbers in her head faster than any of us could on paper. She could look at a jar full of seeds and know how many there were.  Where I struggled with advanced mathematical concepts, Janelle could sleep through the lesson and still understand everything.      

 Lastly, there was Hesther.  Hesther’s features alone were plain and unattractive.  Up close, her eyes were to close together and too large.  Her nose too thin, and her lips to big.  Her hair was a plain shade of brown, and hung dead straight down her back.  The moment a person stepped back and looked at Hesther as a whole, they realized that her the colour of her hair brought out the gold flecks in her dark brown eyes.  Her mouth was a perfect rosebud that complimented her heart shaped faced, and her lips were the red of pomegranates.  When she smiled, her teeth were a dazzling white, and no on noticed they were slightly crooked.  Hesther had a way with animals.  She could entice birds into the palm of her hand, and calm the horses during the harshest of storms.  Her very presence seemed to calm and soothe all those around her.