Raven Meadows's Arc

Chapter 2 of 25

A week after the beam went up, the huts stood straighter and Raven had made the mistake of trusting Willow with her secrets. Not on purpose. Willow just kept saying them out loud. The elf sat at the kitchen table now, feet swinging, watching Raven stir the hanging cauldron over the stone hearth. "You burned the last batch on purpose," Willow said. "So I'd stop eating your good stew." Raven's spoon stopped. "I did not." "You did. That's the curse talking, not me. I see it whether I want to or not." Willow tilted her head, gold wings shifting behind her. "You also think the third hut looks like garbage and you're afraid to tear it down and start over." Raven's face went hot. That one was true, and she hadn't told anyone. She hadn't even said it to herself out loud. "Stop," Raven said. "I can't stop." For once Willow wasn't grinning. "You think I like blurting your business? Half the villages I've lived in threw me out for it. People hear the truth and they hate the mouth it came from." Raven set the spoon down hard. She could see it clearly now. Willow would say the wrong thing to the wrong creature, or say the thing Raven most needed hidden, and the friction would grind them apart. Her only helper. Gone by winter. She felt the old urge to shove first, before she got shoved. Instead she pulled out a chair and sat across from the elf. The cauldron popped and hissed behind them. "Then we make a rule," Raven said. "You don't hold it in. You can't, fine. But here, at this table, nothing you say leaves. I won't get mad about what's true. And out there, with the creatures who come, you warn me first. You tell me quiet before you tell them loud." Willow blinked. "You're not sending me off." "I thought about it," Raven admitted. "You'd know if I lied anyway." A slow smile spread across Willow's face. "You want me to stay. Badly. And you're embarrassed about it." "See, that's exactly the part I'm asking you to eat." Willow laughed, loud and bright, and the sound loosened something in Raven's chest. The elf reached across and shook her hand, mud and all. "Deal. This table's for the truth. Everywhere else, I whisper first." They ate together after that, bowls filled from the cauldron that never seemed to empty. Raven watched Willow talk with her mouth full and felt the fear drain out. The haven had two builders still. Not a fragile pair now, but a real one, bound by a rule they'd both keep. Then a knock came at the cottage door. Small. Uncertain. The first creature had found them, and neither girl had finished building a single hut fit to hold it.