Olive

Chapter 1

 Two years later...

"Good job!" Give it a few more years and you'll be shooting circles around me!"

"Dad, I didn't even hit it."

"Nonsense. If you squint just right.." The father, Aaron, squatted down next to Olive.

"I'll never be as good as you."

"Don't tell yourself that. Negativity yields to doubt and doubt gives way to failure. If you believe you can accomplish something, then you will accomplish it. Promise me, Olive, that you will always believe in yourself."

Olive sighed, "I will."

"Aaron! Could you please come inside?" Olive's mother Olea yelled out from the doorway.

"Yes, I'll be there in a second. Okay Ollie, just keep practicing, you're getting really close."

"Could you head into town? We need some things for the winter." Olea asked her husband from where she was, standing on the porch.

"Alright, I'm going to say goodbye to Olive and then I'll be right there." He yelled back to her. 

"Hey Olive, I'm heading to town and I won't be back until tomorrow." Olive had turned back to focusing on her bow.

"Alright dad, love you." Olive said distractedly as she took another arrow from her quiver.

Aaron laughed to himself. "You just keep practicing. I won't be long."

Aaron walked toward their cottage, shaking his head at the focus and determination of his little girl. She really will change the world. His wife, Olea was waiting for him at the door of their humble looking home. It was set slightly away from the rest of the village, the family preferring to be surrounded more by trees than people. Aaron's brother, Uncle Aisyah as Olive liked to call him, was usually the only one visiting them, sometimes bringing gifts for his niece.

If he was to be going into town, it would take a day or so. Olea liked to do all their shopping at once so he would probably be there a while. It works out this way. I can get Olive's present ready. It was going to be Olive's 7th birthday in three days time. For warriors in their tribe, when boys reached that age they would receive their Mark of Power that would grant them ancestral help in their trials. Aaron had decided from the time Olive was born that she would be the one change the tradition of only male warriors. He believed anyone had the potential to protect the ones they loved and that everyone should be be taught how to do that. I just really wish Olea felt that way. His wife, having been raised with a father and mother who drilled it into her that women had no place in the world should their skin be blemished by scars of battle, believed with all her heart that Olive should stay as far away from the Marks as possible. They often disagreed on how to raise Olive, and recently, Aaron had noticed a change in the way she regarded the him and Olive. Olea looked at them with more of a quiet reservedness than outright hostility as it sometime got to be.

"Do you think I could walk with you some of the way? Just to the bend in the road. Aisyah is coming over for a little while and I need to talk to you before you go." Olea asked, a little distractedly probably thinking about something else entirely.

"Sure. Just let me grab my things. It's a half day walk from here to town. Wouldn't want me to starve now do we?" Aaron said with a chuckle, but he sensed that something was off.

"Oh..yeah. I'll just be outside." Olea was already walking out the door before Aaron had a chance to respond. He grabbed his things and then looked out the window at Olive one last time before following his wife.