It was not quite dawn as Rowan sat at the edge of his bed staring at the old and tarnished mirror in his hands, his reflection smudged and warped. It was a morning ritual that mirrored the nightly one he performed as he cleaned his wife’s grave marker. Sometimes he spoke to the mirror and told it his plans for the day, or maybe some anecdote about his children that he forgot to mention to the stone plinth the previous night.
Lately he had just been staring at it in silence.
He had a habit of putting off important conversations. He knew and understood this fact, yet he still couldn’t bring himself to tear the bandage off and get them over with anyways. It had caused problems in the past, and he suspected it would be a problem for him as far in the future as he lived.
He was a stubborn creature of habit, and this was a habit close to his being. It was something Lexie had playfully taunted him about numerous times.
For such a large man you’re always afraid of a few little words.
Almost always followed by that beautiful laugh of hers.
A sigh filled his room as he placed the memento on his dresser and got ready for the day ahead.
***
It was dinnertime and Willow was munching on fried rice when her father requested everyone’s attention. He had been rather sullen this morning, almost beating out Yew on moodiness, but the young girl was unsure about why.
“There’s a bit of an announcement I have to make.” He said, clearly uncomfortable. He had even barely touched his food which was just rude, the girl and her aunt had worked hard cooking it!
Everyone stared at the large man, waiting to see what it was that he had to say.
“Once the Emerald Bloom is dealt with, we’ll be leaving the Vale.” He stared at his children to gauge their responses.
Yew rolled his eyes, clearly unsurprised. “Is that all?”
Rowan blinked at his son. “You knew already?”
“Rom told me a while ago.” He said with a shrug. “Can someone pass me the fried rice before the gremlin eats it all?”
“Not a gremlin.” Willow mumbled as she passed the dish that was near her plate to her brother.
Her father took note of her sudden change in demeanor. “I take it your brother didn’t tell you then.” When she shook her head, he sighed. “When the Bloom is gone there won’t be anything to stop the majority of the spirits in the Vale from attacking us. It’d be too dangerous for us to stay here.”
Willow took in the information and just sat with her head facing down, her hair a curtain around her face. She was genuinely unsure how she was supposed to process everything. Aside from her brief jaunts through parts of the nearby woods she had never really left the clearing or seen the world outside it. Even though she was fuzzy-headed at the time she still remembered running across the treetops in Li Wanyu’s arms, realizing just how small their little clearing truly was.
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But it was her home.
She noticed that both of the adults were growing increasingly concerned at her lack of response so she raised her head and gave the two of them a gap toothed smile to show she was fine. For some reason it didn’t work, and her aunt tried to console her.
“Child this might turn out to be a blessing of a sort. Where we’ll be going there’ll be a lot more people around including more children your age. Who knows, maybe you’ll find a friend among them.” She finished with a gentle smile.
The girl shook her head. “I have lotsa friends already, and I’ll have a lot more when I find the rest of the spirits I need.”
Something about that statement seemed to make Jieun uncomfortable. “It’s important that you have human friends as well. I know you don’t get along with young Remus for whatever reason, but when we settle down wherever we end up you should try your best to make some friends.”
Willow tried to shift the topic to something safer. “Where are we going to move to anyway?”
Her father snorted a bit at the abrupt topic change. “We don’t know yet. Probably one of the towns or villages near Darabaile. None of us have issue with the Darach clan, and the clans that were chasing us probably view us as long dead.”
That piqued the girl’s curiosity. “What do you mean? The clans were chasing us?”
Her aunt gave the large man a look and he just looked a bit baffled. “I had to have told you this before, right?”
Willow shook her head. “I didn’t even know what the clans were until Change told me about them when we first met.” And she hadn’t asked her family about them because then she’d have to explain the existence of the twin spirits. After that secret was revealed she hadn’t thought to ask again.
Jieun’s look sharpened and her father started grumbling and running his fingers through his bushy beard. “That can’t be right…” And the girl felt it when his emotions shifted as he realized that he had in fact not told his youngest daughter why they were out in the middle of nowhere. Maybe he had assumed Maple or Yew would have gotten around to it or something.
For her part Willow had never really questioned the location of their home, or what brought them here. Her family lived in the middle of the woods in a valley surrounded by mountains and that was normal to her. The heroes in her stories came from all sorts of strange places, that’s just how life was.
Her brother chimed in while crunching some pickled veggies. “I only know cuz Rom and Bai told me.”
Rowan looked a bit annoyed. “You didn’t think to tell your sister about it then?”
Yew’s relatively neutral expression shifted to a light scowl. “I know you and Maple don’t like talking about Ma’s death, but it’s not fair that I had to find out from other people.” He gestured vaguely in his sister’s direction. “She deserves to hear it from you, not her annoying older brother who barely remembers the woman.” Left unsaid was that the young man wished his father had been the one to tell him what happened to his mother.
Her father flinched at the harsh truth of her brother’s words, and Aunt Jieun just snorted.
“Trying to push off responsibility for telling the girl onto your son, really Rowan?”
Seeing that he was outnumbered, and more importantly that they were both right, her father took a deep breath and sighed.
“Fine. After dinner I’ll tell her everything.”
For such a large man you’re always afraid of a few little words.
In Rowan’s mind he heard the ghost of a laugh.
Should I Change The Title?
