Princess Willowyn's Arc

Chapter 17 of 70

Two weeks of night training passed. Each evening Willowyn met Raven in the mossy courtyard of the pale keep. The witch pushed her hard but never mocked her failures. She made Willowyn hold a coil of water until her arm shook. She made her breathe slow before she reached for the stream. Willowyn learned to pull water with a steady mind, not a hungry one. On the last night she held a clean ring of water in the air. It did not wobble. It did not fall. "Better," Raven said. She rarely gave more than one word. That single word felt like a crown. Willowyn wanted to give something back. Raven had been fair when she owed nothing. She had crossed the country to teach a stranger and asked for no thanks. So Willowyn decided on a gift. Not gold. Not a jewel. Something that had guarded her heart for years. The next dawn she walked to the edge of the woods behind the keep. She whistled low. A fox slipped out from the ferns. Its fur shone green as spring leaves, and thin vines twisted through its coat. She had found it when she was one hundred and sixteen, small and shaking, caught in a snare. She had freed it and fed it ever since. It curled against her boots now. "Come," she told it. "I have someone for you to meet." Raven was packing scrolls in the courtyard when Willowyn returned. The fox padded at Willowyn's side. Raven froze. Her red eyes went wide, then soft. For once the witch had no dry word ready. "This is my friend," Willowyn said. "I have kept her since I was a child. She is calm. She is loyal." She knelt and set her hand on the green fur. "I want you to have her." Raven shook her head. "I cannot take what you love." "You taught me to steady my own hands," Willowyn said. "Besides I have my minx now and it is hard to keep up with another. Please. She should not sit in a castle all her days. She belongs with someone who travels." The fox left Willowyn's side. It walked to Raven and pressed its head to her leg. Raven crouched. She stroked the vines along its back. A small smile broke the stern line of her mouth. "Then I will keep her well," she said. Willowyn stood. Her chest ached at the loss, but her mind stayed steady, the way Raven had trained it. She had given up a piece of home to bind a friend closer. The witch was no longer only her mother's hire. She was Willowyn's own ally now. Raven lifted the fox into her arms. "Rest tonight. Tomorrow the real fights begin. Water can push a man back. Soon you will learn to make it strike."