A Curse of the First

•«CHAPTER FOUR»• •«STARLING»•

Birch walked through the halls of the castle, hitting her head with her palm over and over again. She was unnerved from the storm and was scared the Phobiaeos would finally come for her.

Her hands were shaking and she was heading to the guard tower to relax with Starling, her best friend who always comforted her. The chocolate brown Maomded with light amethyst eyes was sitting on the bench outside the guard tower.

Birch walked up to her slowly. Keeping quiet, she snuck up on her friends and grabbed her amethyst necklace, surprising her.

"Hey!" Starling snarled, tearing the necklace out of Birch's hand before putting it back on. "I hate you." She muttered.

"I know." Birch replied with a smirk. Starling looked at her for a moment.

"Why did you come talk to me? Do you want to practice?" She asked.

"Because I'm bored and yes." She replied sorta bluntly.

Starling nodded and they both walked inside the guard tower. They headed to the bunk they shared and grabbed their armor and sword. Then, they headed to the inside gym.

Birch smiled at Starling as she put on her armor. She had been training and was almost at the top rank, a soldier.

"I'm gonna win." Starling teased.

"You know you're not." Birch said, grabbing her sword off the bench it was sitting on.

Starling did the same and immediately attacked. She parried and drove her against a wall. Starling pushed her away and lunged at her quickly. Birch slipped to the side and hit her on the shoulder, drawing blood.

Starling clutched her shoulder immediately and glared at her.

"Sorry..." Birch muttered. "I'll go get some bandages from the silver towers so you can wrap up your shoulder." She sighed before racing off to the garden.

She ran through the halls until she got to the silver towers, the ones with the bandages. Birch opened the narrow door before stepping inside. A grayish brown Maomded stood by a shelf, organizing bandages. He must of heard her come in because he turned around and waved at her, his teal eyes sparkling friendly.

"Nice to meet you! I'm Brush! What do you need?" Brush asked.

"I need some bandages. I was training with my friend and cut her shoulder." Birch sighed, walking over to him.

"You must be a good fighter," Brush paused, not knowing her name.

"Birch. My name's Birch."

He nodded and grabbed a role of bandages. Birch took it when he offered it to her. "Thank you!" She said before speed-walking back to Starling.

Her friend was sitting against the wall, still clutching her bleeding shoulder. Birch walked over and checked the cut. It wasn't very big nor very bloody so she grabbed a wet, small rag she had fetched on her way back.

She gently touched the rag to Starling's cut and, a moment later, wrapped her shoulder up securely.

"Finally." Starling sighed, rotating her shoulder.

"It wasn't so bad." Birch said flatly. "What do you mean?!" She hissed. "Most battle wounds are at least three times larger than that puny cut."

Starling got up and raced out of the gym. Birch grabbed both the swords and headed back to the guard tower. When she got there she swung the door open and ran to her bunk.

She threw the swords onto her bunk before heading to Fir's room. She knocked on the door when she got there. Fir opened the door, his eyes lighting up when he saw her.

"Can I come in?" Birch asked.

"Uh. Sure." He replied, letting her in. She stormed in and plopped down on his bed. He sat down next to her and looked at her distressed face.

"What's wrong?" He asked.

"Starling is mad at me again." She told him.

"Again? I've only seen you with Starling once." Fir reminded her.

"I've known her for a loongggg time." Birch told him.

"How many times does she yell at you?" He asked, putting his arm around her to cheer her up.

"A year? Around eight hundred times." She bleakley joked.

Fir looked at her and sighed before pulling her into a hug.

"Uhh? What are you doing?" She asked.

"Oh. Sorry." He apologized, letting her go. Birch brushed the hair away from her face.