A cool autumn wind blew down the mountain, dancing through the sparse, stunted pine trees and whistling through cracks in rocks worn down by year after year of heavy frost. Faint whisps of clouds drifted by overhead, parting to reveal a sliver of the moon, gazing down on the trio making their way through the woods by the silvery-green light of Heilaâs witchcraft.
"A, a woman, my lady?" Ollie said, tugging at the lace collar at his neck that suddenly felt far too tight. "Thereâs no one, but, I mean... You and Lady Nyrielle are... and I.... Um," he stammered awkwardly, pulling a soft, musical chuckle from Heila.
"Youâve confused him, my lady," Heila said, hopping up on a nearby rock to give Ollie a teasing poke. "Mother Ashlynn is asking about your love life because, the life we lead, itâs a hard one," she said, her grass green eyes growing briefly cloudy before they warmed and the smile on her lips grew wider.
"I thought I was done looking for love," Heila added, her cheeks heating as she spoke. "At least, until the war ended. But... maybe something found me. Sheâs just asking if love already found you because sheâs worried about you. She doesnât want to see you living a lonely life."
"Oh, um, I see," Ollie said, wishing he could hide his burning face in the hood of a cloak or anything that would mask his embarrassment. "Thereâs no one, really," he said quickly. "Even when I was working in the kitchens, there wasnât really anyone who had much interest in me. So, so you donât need to worry about anything."
"No, I absolutely have to worry," Ashlynn said, reaching up to give Ollieâs cheek a playful pinch. "Have you seen yourself in a mirror lately? If you were a few years older and I didnât have Nyrielle in my life, even I might swoon over you. But youâre prettier like this I think," she added, tapping his face gently with her hand.
"But when youâre this good of a man, you leave me with a very difficult decision to make, Ollie," Ashlynn said as she tugged him along with her. "Do I introduce you to Jocey? Or do I hide you from her. Because I think that pretty face of yours is going to be very, very dangerous once you make your debut as Sir Ollie among other humans."
"Jocey?" Ollie asked, struggling to keep up with the whiplash in the conversation. She hadnât been interested in him but was she offering to play matchmaker? Where had this come from? "Wait, do you mean your sister? Lady Jocelynn?"
"The very same," Ashlynn said with a wistful smile. "You and she would be an amazing pair," she said as they walked. "Youâre kind and brave, and I know that youâd protect her. Sheâs clever and sheâs very good at helping people find ways to come together, even when they seem like unlikely partners. Itâs just..."
"Just what?" Ollie asked when Ashynnâs voice trailed off and she showed no sign of continuing.
"She should be close, you know?" Ashlynn said softly as a quiet yearning built within her heart. "The Summer Villa isnât far from here. Just a day or two if we move swiftly. Close enough to go for a visit..."
"Not yet, my Lady," Heila said, reaching out to give Ashlynnâs free hand a gentle squeeze. "You know it isnât time yet."
"I know," Ashlynn said, trying to shake off the wave of melancholy that threatened to overtake her. "She hadnât arrived in Lothian March yet when I left or I might have tried to rescue her. Now, I just hope that Owain hasnât done anything to her in the time sheâs been here. If heâs hurt her..."
"I donât think heâs done anything to her," Ollie said quickly, hoping to offer up at least a small balm for the hurt and anxiety he could hear in her voice. "Marcel sends regular updates when he hears word of your sister, Lady Jocelynn. But she isnât at the Summer Villa anymore. Sheâs been at Lothian Mannor ever since the Harvest Festival."
"Well, there will be time for introductions later," she said with a wistful smile. "I didnât mean to talk so much about her. I really meant to talk about you," she said. Casting her eyes around the forest they were walking through, she quickly located a few larger stones that could double as seats in the wilderness and gestured for Ollie to help her over the rocky ground to reach them.
"Ollie, I have a very serious question for you," Ashlynn said, loosing her playful manner once she took a seat. "A good friend recently taught me that serious questions like this shouldnât be answered instantly, so no matter what your answer is, I wonât take a âyesâ or a ânoâ until weâve returned to the keep."
"I want you to give this a good amount of thought before you make a decision, you understand?" she asked.
"I understand," Ollie said. "But Iâve already put a great deal of thought into what I want. I know you offered a chance to become a knight as a reward for helping you escape the Summer Villa... but, this whole time, Iâve been working as hard as I can to be worthy of that offer."
"I want to be the kind of person who deserves to be a knight," he said, dropping to one knee in front of Ashlynn and placing a fist over his heart. "I want to be worthy of being your knight. So, whatever you have to ask, the answer is âyes,â before you even say the words."
"Even if that âyesâ might get you killed?" Ashlynn asked, staring directly into his pale eyes as she weighed his words.
"Listen to her, little brother," Heila said, taking a seat on the ground at Ashlynnâs feet. "I nearly died. Mother Ashlynn, she had to watch me dying, for days, because I said âyes.â And if I died, I donât think sheâd ever forgive herself, even though it would have been my fault for failing."
"Heila," Ashlynn said sharply. "It wouldnât have been your fault. It would have been Cecileâs fault for sabotaging you, and my fault and Big Sister Amahleâs fault for taking a shortcut with you that was more dangerous than we realized. It wouldnât have been your fault at all."
"See?" the diminutive witch said, turning her grass-green gaze to Ollie. "She would have blamed herself for my death, and it would become a wound in her heart that would take years to heal. So donât go saying that youâll say âyesâ when you donât understand yet. You might be willing to die for her, but sheâs not willing to lose you."
"I, I donât know what to say," Ollie said, taken aback by the intensity of the exchange between Heila and Ashlynn. Just what had happened that nearly cost the diminutive lady-in-waiting her life? Just how much danger had they faced on their journey?
"Ollie," Ashlynn said softly. "I know youâve been working hard to become a good man and a good knight for me. This whole time weâve been away, Iâve been thinking about what I can offer you that would match up to the dedication and the... the heart that youâre so generously offering me. Being someoneâs liege-lady, itâs a heavy thing and in the same way that you want to be worthy of me, I want to be worthy of you."
"In the Briar," Ashlynn said, her voice growing stronger as she gathered momentum. "I learned how to transform a person into a witch. How to welcome them into my coven. A coven is a special kind of family," she explained, seeing the confusion on his face. "Heila is the first. Thatâs why she calls me âmotherâ sometimes. Iâm not just the Mother of Trees, Iâm the âmotherâ of every witch in my coven, and she is the first."
"You, you want me to become the second?" Ollie asked, blinking several times in surprise. Until he found out Heila had become a witch, he hadnât even known that it was possible for someone who wasnât born with a mark of the witch to become one. The idea of becoming a witch was so far removed from possible in his mind that heâd never once considered it.
"Is that why youâve been calling me âlittle brotherâ?" Ollie asked, turning to look at Heila. "Because you knew she was going to ask me to join her, um, her coven?"
"Our family," Heilla said, reaching out to rest a hand on the tall humanâs knee. "Our small but growing family. Itâs not an easy thing to make a seed of witchcraft for someone, you know," she added, glancing at Ashlynn before looking back at Ollie and continuing.
"Mother Ashlynn, sheâs known what she wanted to offer you since months ago, and sheâs been growing a seed of witchcraft thatâs meant for you," Heila said. "There are other things to that she has..."
"Heila, enough," Ashlynn said, raising a hand before her friend could say anymore. Already she could feel the pressure gathering on Ollieâs shoulders, but the only pressure she wanted him to face was the decision itself. She wanted him to choose based on his own views, not because he could feel the weight of her expectations and hopes weighing him down.
"Ollie," Ashlynn said. "The transformation from a normal person into a witch isnât easy. There are trials to face and if you fail them, then youâll die, leaving nothing behind but a tree that contains an echo of the person you once were. Iâm not asking you to risk your life in battle," she added. "You want to be a knight and I respect that. A knight will inevitably risk their life in battle and I wonât try to shield you unreasonably from those dangers."
"But this is different," she said, placing a hand over the spot on her chest where the seed of witchcraft pulsed with the energy sheâd spent several months showering it with. "Thereâs no enemy to protect me from, no opponent but yourself and the question of whether or not you can come out the otherside of the seedâs trial."
"Knowing that," Ashlynn said, giving the flame-haired young man a very serious look. "Knowing that, would you still say âyesâ, now that youâve heard the words?"