Constance's Arc

Chapter 1 of 1

Constance stepped out of the small cottage at the edge of the trees. Snow crunched under her boots. She pulled her purple dress close and touched the gold chain at her neck. The cold was coming for her soon. She needed to find someone to carry what she knew. She waited by the low fence where she always waited. The necklace was warm in her fingers. Her mother had taught her its shape. The beekeeper had taught her its silence. She watched the tree line and listened. A white wolf stepped from the frozen woods. Its eyes burned red against the snow. The village feared this wolf. They said it killed. They also said it kept worse things out. Both were true. Constance had learned long ago that a thing can guard and harm at once. Fresh footprints crossed the snow between her and the wolf. Small, bare, human. A child had passed through moments ago. The wolf did not chase. It stood and watched the prints the way Constance watched weather in a face. She followed the tracks to the stakes that marked her waiting place. Green gems glowed in the dusk. A girl crouched there, shivering, alive. The wolf had walked her in. Constance saw it then, plain as frost. This was the one who could learn by watching. Constance knelt and placed the gold chain in the girl's palm. The girl did not speak. She only looked. Behind them, the white wolf turned and slipped back into the trees. The choice was made. Now Constance had to teach her before the cold finished its work.