Bound To; The Wish of the Witch

XXIV

The late winter's air was relatively warm and even with a still somewhat chilled breeze blowing through, Scinthia couldn't have asked for better weather to be training in. Compared to the last three months or so of bitter cold, these comfortable conditions were certainly odd but more than welcome by Scinthia, who had spent several hours outside training every day since she heard of the impending attack on the capital. Now on the last day of winter, Scinthia couldn't help but feel like it was ending almost as quickly as it had begun.

Following another day's worth of training, Scinthia stood on the bridge connecting the central and eastern towers as the day approached its end. Leaning on the railing in front of one of the large windows, she stared off over the open fields beyond the capital's eastern border as night's shade began to cover them. Those fields that were once used for families to picnic, lovers to rendezvous, and wild horses to graze and play, now brandished archer towers and lines of spiked wooden barricades, all newly built from the southern forest's trees to defend against the coming raid. Many of the open areas surrounding the capital held similar redoubts, however since the eastern fields were the largest and the most likely pathway the enemy would use to approach the capital, they were especially fortified.

Scinthia's mind swirled in a maelstrom of conflicting emotions. Thoughts of dread and regret mixed with those of anger and anticipation. Despite the horrors she imagined this battle would bring, she simply couldn't shake a strange sense of excitement she got at the thought of facing Ilia again. Her thoughts remained on her witch-born twin sister for only a brief moment as her mind wandered to Tori as it had rather often recently. She would wonder where he was, what he was doing at that moment, or what he was thinking about more often than she cared to admit considering the impending ordeal that was supposed to befall them before the next day was done.

She let out a weary sigh, frustrated with her anarchic thoughts before hearing the door to the central tower open far to her right, prompting her to look back to see who was there. Standing in the doorway was Locke, holding two objects, one in each hand, both neatly wrapped in light brown cloth. She couldn't tell exactly what these objects were, but one was long and thin while the other was large and relatively flat with a slight curve to it. She gave him a quaint smile as he walked up next to her.

"Enjoying the evening view?" He asked turning and peering at the sunset in the west.

"Something like that." She answered, turning to him. "His majesty have you on delivery duty or something?"

Locke chuckled.

"Despite the amount of miscellaneous tasks he's given me after taking over command of the Ranger Corps himself, no this is something else; a little birthday present from the boys down in the armory. They really appreciate all the help you've been giving them with moving and delivering their supplies while they worked on arming all the new soldiers. Same thing with everyone else you've helped out around here, but this was the only thing everyone could agree would be good for you."

"Birthday present? How did they all know?" Scinthia asked, a bit embarrassed.

"I kinda told them since I needed help figuring out what to give you." He said through a sheepish smile. "So this is from me too." He added.

"But how did you know?"

"Well in the briefing, it was mentioned that Ilia, your twin sister, may be more powerful since she was born on a spring equinox. So I just kinda looked back a few calendars to see what date the equinox fell on that year and voila. Now here." He explained, holding the two apparent presents up to her.

"I see, but wait, how did you know what year to look f-"

"Just take these and open them already!" Locke interrupted, shoving them further in her face.