Zephyra's Arc

Chapter 3 of 4

Zephyra pushed the last shirt into her satchel and pulled the strap tight. The skunk sniffed at her boots, ready to leave. She turned toward the door and stopped. Zelda stood there, holding a square of folded green cloth against her chest. "I almost forgot this," Zelda said. Her voice was quiet, almost ashamed. She had raised Zephyra for twenty-one years, yet still she kept things hidden. "I found it after she left. It was on the bed where she slept." Zephyra crossed the room. "Show me." Zelda unfolded the cloth slowly. In the middle, stitched in gold thread, a lion stood with its head raised. The same lion sat on the silver charm at Zephyra's throat. Her heart kicked hard. "What is it?" Zephyra asked. She reached out, then remembered her gloves and took the cloth carefully by its edge. "I don't know," Zelda said. "It was folded under her pillow. I never showed you. I thought it was only a scrap." She looked down at her hands. "I was wrong to hide it." Zephyra spread the cloth flat on the table. The lion faced left, one paw lifted, a small crown above its mane. This was no scrap. Someone had stitched it with care, for a house, for a name. Her mother had carried it here and left it behind like the charm. "She wanted me to have both," Zephyra said. "The charm and this." She traced the gold stitches with one gloved finger. "They match. A lion on silver. A lion on cloth. That's not chance." Zelda nodded. "A crest, maybe. From wherever she came." Zephyra folded the cloth again and pressed it into her satchel beside the charm's cord. Two marks now, not one. Two threads leading to the same place. Whoever bore this lion had known her mother. Had maybe sent her away, or driven her out into that storm. "South," Zephyra said. "I follow the lion crest south until someone knows it." Zelda's eyes filled. She reached for Zephyra, then dropped her hand, the way she always did. "You'll wear those gloves the whole way," she said. "Promise me." "I swear it Ma." Zephyra lifted the skunk to her shoulder. It settled against her neck, warm and safe, the one living thing her curse could not kill. She looked at Zelda one last time. "You should have shown me sooner. But you showed me. That's enough." Zelda wiped her face. "Go" she said. "Find who you are." Zephyra pulled open the heavy door. Cold air rushed in, sharp with rain and pine. Beyond the ivy, the land fell away south into gray hills. She stepped out with a charm at her throat and a lion in her bag. Now she had a crest to hunt, and a house that might name her at last.