AllFreeNovel
Share Us
When she had pointed out all the things and animals around them, she asked the animals to start acting. The rabbits jumped, the birds flew, the minks walked and ran, the fox pounced and rolled. Raela’s questions were endless and voracious. Killian was enraptured by the glitter in her eye and her contagious smile. Her laughter came quickly and loudly without the usual courtly restraint. He was in the middle of showing her a picture of water and swimming when a pair of blue jays circled over her head screeching.
Her face paled, and she stood, grasping his hand to pull him up too. Patting Jax on the back, she pushed Killian in the direction of the gate. “Nami dela’aco kai. E’otu ra shum bet Kak.”
Jax rushed past them.She says someone is coming, someone she loves.
An urgent, reedy, female voice called, “Raelametanashi! Nami aco, e’olo olit na. Olo’acotip bet dus e’shohona iyat poren’ta.”
Killian nodded at Raela who smiled back at him. He winked, then dashed deep into the woods. He only realized, after he and Jax had silently made their way through the gate, that he had left his notebook and paper behind. He considered turning back, but with her gone and her … person … approaching, he resigned himself to return to the castle without it.
Raela felt like freedom. She felt like breathing, like peace … or rest …
Killian wondered at the sense of hope bubbling within him.
Raela
Raela hung her stockings on the line. After jumping into the pond to grab the fox cub that was holding onto a log, utterly refusing to let her bring him closer with her water magic, her clothes had been saturated with algae and mud. It had taken several scrubbings to get it all out.
She was responsible for all the woodland creatures, more responsible since her aunties had aged and retreated from their former duties to spend their time gardening and cooking. But leaping into the mucky end of the pond wasn’t exactly what she’d planned for the day.
As she worked, Raela mentally repeated the words she had learned that morning. She kept her satchel on her, Killian’s book tucked at the bottom so her aunties wouldn’t find it by mistake. When they weren’t around, she’d reach for it to review the spellings, but too quickly, the elk or an auntie would pop around the corner, and she’d have to hide it again.
After bathing and slipping into a clean nightgown, she called down the stairs, “I’m going to bed, Aunties!”
Auntie Toru popped her head around the corner of the living room where they were quilting. Her brows furrowed deeply. “Did you catch an illness from the pond? Are you unwell? Did you get too tired from the swim? I can make you tea.”
Raela smiled, her heart as warm with affection as it was exasperated. “I’m fine, Auntie. Just heading in early because I want to start the day early.”
Auntie Toru nodded, her thin reedy fingers tapping on the wall. “It’s best to collect the food when the dew is still on it.”
“Exactly.”
Her auntie grinned. “So grown up. So mature.” Her grin wobbled, and her eyes filled with tears. “Too grown up. Too old!”
“Torulonmana’at, don’t even start!” Auntie Mo called out sharply. Raela couldn’t see her, but knew she was in her usual place just around the corner, sitting in her old rocking chair.
Auntie Toru turned and shuffled away. “But Momo!” she whined.
Raela headed upstairs as their voices jumbled into back-and-forth bickering, shaking her head slowly. She’d heard this “discussion” many times before. Besides, it was time to study.
She flipped through the pages of Killian’s book, committing each word he had written to memory. There was something familiar about the language—something warm about it. But Raela couldn’t pin down what it was. When she’d had memorized all the words, she opened Auntie Shou’s poetry book. She slid her fingers across her auntie’s lovely script. How it made her miss her Auntie Shou.
A finch in fall is fun to see,
but the lark in March tends to be
My favorite one because in spring
it sings a song that sounds so free.
And another:
Purple pansies squeal when picked,
perhaps they did not like my lick.
Raela snorted. Her auntie was absurd. Turning the page, she paused when she read the lines of her favorite lullaby.
Run little mink, the storm is on its way.
