Princess Willowyn's Arc

Chapter 18 of 70

Six months of combat training passed. Willowyn no longer feared her own power. She could draw water from the stream to close a cut on her arm. She could raise a wall of water to catch a blow. Once, on the ridge, she swept a mock attacker off his feet with a single wave. Her hands stayed steady now. But the year moved fast. Only six months of her freedom remained, and she still knew nothing of the wide world she meant to heal. One evening she sat with Raven in the mossy courtyard. The green fox dozed between them. Willowyn's pale minx chased the fox's tail, then curled against its side. The two animals played this way each day now, as if they had always been kin. Willowyn watched them and felt her old restlessness return. "Raven," she said softly. "Yes, Willowyn." "Tell me where you come from." Raven set down her scroll. For a moment she said nothing. Then she reached out and took both of Willowyn's hands. Her grip was warm, not the cool distance Willowyn once knew. This was the witch who had crossed a country for a stranger, who now shared her fire without pay. "I grew up in a tower," Raven said. "Far past the oceans of this land. Higher than any spire here. My mother raised me there alone." Willowyn leaned close. "Alone in a tower. Like me." "My mother trained me the way I train you," Raven said. "Slow. Hard. She made me who I am”. “I wield book magic and spells, you cast pure magic from within” Raven's eyes moved to the far wall, as if she could see across the sea. "Beyond those oceans there are kingdoms at war. Rivers run red there. I left the tower to walk among them. I saw what magic can mend and what it can break." Willowyn's chest tightened. Here was proof that the world she dreamed of was real, and reachable. "You have seen the lands I want to help," she said. "You know the roads." "I know them well." Willowyn stood. The idea felt solid, like a sword in her hand. "Then teach me those too. Not just how to strike with water. Teach me the way past the oceans. When my year ends, I will not wander blind. I will go where you have been." Raven studied her a long moment. The fox lifted its head. Then the witch nodded once. "When your freedom comes, I will guide you," Raven said. "You will not go alone." Willowyn had trained six months to master her power. Now she had something greater than power. She had a path across the sea, and a friend who knew every step of it.