Intertwined Fates

The meeting

Ever since Ava let her consciousness slip, everything else was a blur. She heard Kyron barking orders to some of the guards, telling them to make sure that no one lay a finger on the black dagger. She remembered seeing the skeleton wolves follow Kyron out of the room. She remembered the gentle swaying of Kyron as he carried her down a dirt path towards a giant house made of logs atop a small hill.

When she finally woke completely, it was to the sound of men yelling downstairs. Ava was lying on a soft feather bed snuggled deeply into a warm wooly blanket. When she sat up, she saw that she was in a very nice and comfortable room. The door was in the left corner of the room. The bed was in the center of the room. There was a nightstand next to the bed on the left side. On the other side of the bed was a desk with a window above it. In the other corner of the room, on the same wall as the door, there was a dresser, and in between the dresser and the desk was a small walk in closet. Hanging on the back of the door to the closet was a full body mirror. All the furniture looked like it was made of dark oak wood.

Ava hopped out of bed and quickly realized that she was dressed in a nightgown. She stood and walked cautiously towards the closet and slowly eased the door open. Inside where her clothes from the day before. She grabbed them quickly and turned to put them on. Then, she stopped. There were other clothes in the closet, and they were so beautiful!

"I am gonna regret this." Ava murmured to herself. She grabbed a pair of black leggings and a purple and green striped shirt with a jean vest.There were also a pair of white and brown sandals. She set her old clothes on her bed and quickly locked the door so she could change. She pulled the gown off and pulled on all the other clothes. They were exactly her size.

Ava wandered the room for a moment, checking in drawers and things. She found a brush in the drawer of her nightstand and she pulled her red hair up into a tight french braid.

After she'd checked everywhere, Ava decided she should go see what all the yelling was about. She checked the closet for her sword and her bag, but they weren't there.

"Oh, come on!" Ava exclaimed. She pouted for a little while, then decided it was time to leave her room. She eased the door open and found a long hallway. There was three doors on each side of the hall, Ava's in the middle. At one end of the hall, there was a door. At the other end, there was a staircase leading up and down. Ava suspected that the yelling that she could hear more clearly now was coming from the floor below, so she crept to the stairs and slowly started down. When Ava was about halfway down, she could make out what the men were saying.

"She's dangerous!" One man shouted.

"We should have her executed!" Another exclaimed.

"I forbid it!" Ava recognized this voice as Kyron's. He was defending her! "I would never allow it. She saved my life. If you think I'll just stand by and let you kill her..."

"She endangered your life in the first place! And she attacked armed guards while in our village!" The first voice said.

"What about that family she helped?" A woman's voice said. "She was..." But Kyron interrupted her.

"We will finish this later. I sense someone eavesdropping on our conversation. Ava, will you come off the stairs please?" This startled Ava a bit, but she descended the stairs the rest of the way to see Kyron, Stephen, and Dominic sitting on a couch in the main room with two other people Ava had never met before who reclined in two chairs. One person was a man who looked pretty old, probably in his sixties. He was glaring at Ava and looked annoyed. He was half bald and he had a scruffy beard and a little mustache. He wore a black tank top and gray pants. The other was a woman, maybe in her thirties. She had long curly hair that was dirty blonde. She was very skinny and fit. She wore a yellow and green shirt with tan capris. She was also glaring at Ava, but she had a hint of admiration in her gaze.
Kyron and Dominic both stood and dipped their heads slightly.
"Good morning." Ava said. "Lovely day, isn't it?"
"Indeed it is." Stephen murmured.
Kyron glanced at him then returned his gaze to Ava. "Actually it's the afternoon."
"Oh, yeah, I knew that."
"Did you now?" Stephen said sarcastically.
"Well, there's a window in my room and I can see the position of the sun, so it wasn't that hard to figure out."
The woman started coughing and Kyron chuckled darkly. Stephen rolled his eyes and all of a sudden became very interested in the floor.

"Ava, I'd like to introduce you to Salevon Edvan," Kyron gestured to the man sitting down. "and this is his niece, Charity." The women nodded her head.
"Salevon is our healer in this village and Charity is his apprentice." Kyron explained.
Ava nodded. She didn't even need him to tell her who they were or what their names were. She already knew.
She knew because when she was on the stairs a second ago, she had quickly whispered a spell that made a connection between all of their minds for a few moments. She saw their greatest fears, weaknesses, and darkest secrets. As soon as Kyron had sensed her, the connection was broken.
She had seen some things that particularly interested her. She stared at Stephen with a hint of respect in her eyes.
Kyron's voice interrupted her thoughts. "So, who's ready for lunch? Because I'm starving!"
Ava suspected that he only said this because he noticed Ava staring at Stephen, but she didn't say anything. "You're starving?" She joked. "I haven't eaten in three days!! Where's the kitchen!"
...

Ava sat in a chair at a large table that was at least ten or eleven feet long. Around it were twelve chairs, one on each end and five on each side. She sat in a chair on the left side.
If Ava had to choose one word to describe that meal, it would be awkward. Everyone kind of sat there silently, giving each other accusing looks. Ava kept staring at Stephen, Stephen kept staring at Kyron, Kyron kept staring at Salevon, and Salevon was staring at Ava. Charity was the only one who seemed in a relevantly good mood.
"So... Ava," she tried. "how did you rest?"
Ava was silent for a moment, still staring at Stephen. When she realized everyone was looking at her, she finally looked away. "Hm?"
"How did you sleep?" Charity asked again.
"Alright. It was very nice of you to lend me that room. It was very comfortable. Who's house is this, anyway?" She asked.
"It's actually Salevon's." Kyron answered. "He's actually sort of like the lord of this village."
Ava nodded. Then, a woman walked through the doors that Ava guessed lead to the kitchen. She was pushing a tray with all sorts of sandwiches and soups on it.
"Lunch is served!" The woman exclaimed.
"Thank you, Minda." Salevon said as he stood to dish up his food.
Ava waited until everyone else had gotten their lunch before she got up to serve herself(even though she hadn't eaten in three days). She only ate one sandwich and half a bowl of soup. She didn't know why, but she had the feeling that she should be ready for a fight or to run.
After everyone had finished eating, Kyron and Salevon left the room for a moment before Kyron returned and asked for Ava to follow him outside.
As they walked through a labyrinth of hallways and rooms, Ava stayed quiet. She could sense that Kyron was tense and alert. She felt like if she made a sound, he would blast her with some of his death magic stuff.
Once they were outside the house, Kyron turned and looked Ava straight in the eye, and he asked her a question that surprised her. "What did you see?" He asked with a hint of anger in his voice.
Ava knew exactly what he was talking about, but she tried to act clueless. "What?" She asked, tilting her head a little.
"I know that you know what I'm talking about, Ava. I felt you make the connection. That's how I knew you were there."
Ava sighed. She was a terrible liar. "Fine. So what if I did? I just wanted to get some info on the people who were plotting my execution. Is that so bad?"
"Yes. Yes it is. I noticed that you keep staring at Stephen. What did you see?"
"I told you, I didn't see anything!" She explained.
"We need to be honest with each other, Ava. I keep telling the others that you can be trusted, but they don't believe me. Unless you want to be executed?"
"I...I'm not very great at this trusting people thing."
"That's okay." Kyron said. "How about I go first?" And with that, he held out his hand and her backpack and sword appeared. She looked at Kyron suspiciously as he handed them to her. Ava accepted them and strapped on her sword belt and all her daggers(except the black one). She glanced at her backpack and then at Kyron.
"Can I do something real quick?" She asked. He gave a slight nod.
Ava raised her hand towards her backpack and murmured a spell. A few seconds later, Ava's backpack flickered then disappeared.
"Where did it go?" Kyron questioned.
Ava grinned. "Oh, it's still here, you just can't see it." She snapped her fingers and her backpack reappeared. "It's just a simple camouflage spell. You can only see it if I want you to. Now, if I get captured again, my captures won't be able to steal my bag because," she snapped again and it disappeared.
"Smart." Kyron murmured. "But stop avoiding the subject! What did you..."
But Kyron never finished his sentence. He was interrupted by an explosion somewhere in the distance. They both jerked their heads toward the explosion.
Kyron and Ava made brief eye contact, and when they realized they were thinking the same thing, they both started running at full sprint towards the commotion.