A Crown of Gold

The Beast

After being scolded once again by my father, he left the cottage for what I assume to be a drink. My punishment: house arrest with Nan.

Nan wasn't all that bad, all she wanted to do was braid twine and wires for jewelry. Occasionally she'd tell long winded stories that always ended in a lesson aimed at me. But today, Nan was quiet, as she had been for the past few days.

"Nan?" I asked softly. She hummed in recognition, never looking up from her craft. "Are you alright? You seem... quiet lately."

She shrugged, "Not a lot to talk about in our little village, is there?"

She was baiting me, I could feel it. Although I knew exactly what she wanted, I couldn't help but give in.
"Precisely why I'm so desperate to leave."

She chuckled a bit, "You don't have to explain your reasoning to me, girl. I know as well as anyone how strangling this village can be."

I tilted my head, eyeing her. She had a smirk evident on her face, reeling me in further.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

She sighed, setting her half competed necklace down on the table and finally looking at me. "I mean I've ran out into the Beyond thinking I could 'escape my imprisonment' just like you." Her voice rose to a mocking tone toward the end.

I didn't mind that part. "Seriously? What did you do out there? How far did you go? I mean, I only got about a mile out on my own and with father we made it to the river."

She was amused by my enthusiasm, a smirk plastered on her face. "Firstly, I went out with the goal to put as much distance between myself and this village as possible, so walking mostly. I went east, away from the rivers and traveled until I was exhausted. I fell asleep in a ditch to escape the cold, the search party caught up with me in my sleep."

I was dumbfounded. My Nan, who scolded me for disobedience almost as often as my father, had broken one of the biggest laws of the village.

"But wait, I thought the restrictions of leaving came into order when my father was a child. How old were you?" I questioned.

"I was a bit older that you. And it wasn't a rule then, no." She explained, "I was running away from my betrothed, not exactly the village itself."

"You what?" I almost shouted.

"Long story short, that wild that's in you, the wild that was in your mother, came from me." She leaned forward, a proud grin on her face.

I opened and closed my mouth, trying to summon something to say. She shook her head, "A word of advice: commit."

-•-

I made a decision that day. I decided I'd leave again, only this time, it'd be quick. Quick to the point that no one would know I had left. I would leave in the night when the moon was at its peak for light, and head for the river where my marker had been set.

It wasn't the most solid plan, but I had to go back out. I hadn't been able to see what had fallen in the river and needed to find out.

The gods were playing on my side. Father came home drunk and fell asleep on the floor of our cottage. I nudged him with my foot a bit, to see if he would stir. Nothing.

Nan sat on the porch, her neck craned up to the stars. I didn't think she'd be too bothered to find I had left again, though I wasn't entirely sure.

I strapped my mother's dagger to my hip, prepared to draw it quickly. I threw some bandages and one of Nan's viles of medicine into a satchel as well as some spark rocks, in case I needed a fire for extra light.