Olive

Chapter 3

 Looking down from her perch atop the tree set miles from her house, Olive took in the beautiful scene around her. From here, she could see the village square where she spent so little time because of the kids there always making fun of her having Marks when no girl had ever had before. She grimaced. Her mother said that she had wanted to protect Olive from a life where she was rejected but instead gave her just that. The case surrounding her getting her Marks was always a weird one. Personally, she did not really remember, but her uncle had told her that when her father died, his spirit had transferred his powers onto her through some kind of ancient ritual no one really knew much about. Her father had given her a gift, Aisyah had said. But then her mother had always looked at the Marks on her face in disdain, saying the ruined her perfectly beautiful face with a horrible disfigurement. Olive felt the tears rushing back. It made sense though. Olea had gone to such great lengths to prevent the Mark from touching Olive's skin but it had happened anyway.

Olive shook her head. She still couldn't believe the woman who had raised her and comforted her when she needed it was the one person who had taken so much from her. And then what did my uncle do? Absolutely nothing. Not only had her own mother lied about what happened to her father, but her uncle too had keep the secret. Sure, he became the motivation for her to keep up her weapons training and sometimes even defended her when Olea got hysterical over the deer Olive brought home with an arrow in its heart, but he never told her the truth. He was always the one she could come to for advice and wisdom but he never held the same trust apparently.

Olive wanted to scream and cry and yell and say all kind of words about how the universe was so cruel to have let this happen to her. What had she ever done to it? She followed the rules, said prayers over the meat she killed, thanked the ancestors for giving her a chance to be someone everyone else thought she couldn't be. It just wasn't fair.

She looked over the forest once again. Her tears had dried but could still taste the saltiness of them on her cheeks. She knew this was going to be the last time she ever saw this place. She didn't know where exactly she was heading just that it would be far away from here. Olive begun descending the tree. When she got to the bottom she saw someone laying on the ground.

"Uncle Aisyah?" Her uncle smiled tiredly up at her, but when she got closer she realized he was bleeding. "Uncle! What happened?" All thoughts of anger went out as she ran over to make sure he was okay.

"Oh no, I'm fine, just a few scratches. I just needed to sit down a while. The blood's not all mine." Aisyah said as he waved her off.

"Then whose is it?" Olive looked around, her hand going to her quiver immediately.

"They're already gone. But if you have any chance of following them, then I suspect you get on it."

"Follow them? Why would I do that?" Olive asked her uncle, confused about the entire situation.

"Because they took her. They were looking for you but couldn't find you so they took your mother. And now you need to rescue her." He spoke with such certainty Olive wanted to do everything he said but-

"Who are they? Why are they looking for me? Why did they take her instead? And why should I even go? Olea has done nothing but lie to me since my father died. Well, since she killed him that is." Olive frowned angrily at her uncle. "And you didn't tell me about it."

Aisyah looked down again. "I know. And I am truly sorry about that. If I had, I had no clue what your mother would do to you, so I kept quiet. It was the coward's way out I know. I can only hope you will forgive me someday." He said in a shameful tone.

Olive studied her uncle. She could tell he was being sincere but it didn't really matter at the moment. "You didn't answer my question. Who is 'they' and why were they looking for me?"

Aisyah sighed. "In Ellahnisia, there is a Gnome King who believes himself to be the most powerful warrior there is. He makes it his business to know who could possibly be threat to his rule. A female warrior with a strong Mark has made him very angry. He seeks to destroy you before other people start having the idea to entrust other woman to join their ranks as warriors. He is something of a traditionalist." He added.

"He and my mother might get along well with them." Olive scoffed sarcastically.

"This is serious, Olive. If you don't save your mother, she will surely die."

"She does not deserve my help." Olive said defiantly.

"It does not matter who it is. If someone is in need of your help, then you help," Aisyah paused. "Your father would want you to do the right thing."

"Yeah? Well, he's dead because of her." Olive turned heel and began walking away.

Her uncle stood up. "Olive! Please! If you don't save her now, you will regret it for the rest of you life!" He yelled after her.

"I don't care." Olive mumbled to herself. She did not owe it to anyone to save the murderer of her father.

After she had let off some steam and gotten about hundred yards away, she slowed to a stop. She remembered the time when she was playing with some of the kids of the village, back when she was able to, and one of the boys had said something mean, so later that day, Olive snuck into his house and took all of his toys. The next day the boy told his parents, so her father come over to talk to her.

"Olive dear, you need to give back the toys you stole."

"But daddy, he's a mean person. I don't like him." A six-year old Olive had said, her tiny face scrunched up in a frown.

Aaron had laughed a little. "Olive, it doesn't matter what you think, it matters what you do. It's up to you to be the better person. Yeah, he might be a little mean but it's up to you and how you react that's important. Okay?"

"Okay..."

He smiled. "That's my girl."

As the memory faded, Olive looked up at the sky. "Is this what I'm supposed to do? Save the woman who took you from me?" She sighed resignedly and turned back the way she had came.

"You came back." Aisyah smiled hesitantly.

"It was the right thing to do." Olive told him. She decided that yes, it was what her father would have wanted her to do. Olea may not deserve it, but she was family. And 'it matters what you do,' not what you they might have done. "So lead the way."