Witch, Wolf, Woods

Chapter 5: AN UNEXPECTED DISCOVERY

There was a palpable excitement in the air the following morning—Affinity Testing would soon be completed and there would be a marvelous feast in the Essen Hall to celebrate, welcoming the six-year-olds into their new role within the Hexen and marking an important milestone.

Now that she'd discovered her affinity, Katja could relax and participate in the remaining tasks without the added pressure of needing to uncover something about herself. This was especially nice since part of the day involved being around animals, something she'd always enjoyed.

The Hexen housed a large animal sanctuary, and the witches who ran it regularly took in unwanted or mistreated animals from the surrounding villages.

The animals were allowed to remain as domesticated or wild as they preferred, and while this meant there were always animals available for petting or brushing or companionship, it also meant the animals didn't belong exclusively to one witch. The creatures were viewed as sentient beings with the right to their own lives, and there was a strict rule barring the individual ownership of pets.

The Hexen in charge of the sanctuary showed the girls how to greet different animals, explained their likes and dislikes, as well as their diets and any special care they required before having the girls attempt to communicate with the creatures using only their minds.

Even knowing working with animals wasn't destined to be her occupation, Katja thoroughly enjoyed feeding a large pig a bag of turnips and stroking the soft ears of a friendly goat.

Elise, on the other hand, complained about the smell in the barnyard and grumbled about being forced to be outside, saying she hoped she didn't get sunburned as she directed a particularly mean glare in Liesel's direction.

Katja almost pointed out that even if Liesel had already uncovered her affinity, they all still would have had to complete the outdoors tasks, but she held her tongue, doubting her words would change Elise's mind.

After working with the animals, the girls moved into the orchard at the back of the castle, which also housed a large community garden where most of the castle's food was grown. Here the Hexen botanists, farmers, and gardeners were to assess whether anyone could communicate with plants, an affinity that would be used to assist in fruit and vegetable production, as well as the healing of sick or injured flowers and trees.

Katja had always enjoyed being out in nature, and with the exception of the foreboding Schwarzwald across the river, she loved going into the other nearby woods and foraging for berries or mushrooms as her assigned chores dictated.

Katja sat down cross-legged a little ways off from the other girls, near a cluster of dark purple violets. She had no expectation of being able to communicate with the flowers, since she'd already uncovered her affinity, but she ran a finger gently over the soft petals anyway, wondering what it would be like to live rooted in the same place for the span of your entire life.

Probably not much different from being a Hexen, she decided, since the majority of the witches never moved elsewhere or even traveled beyond the closest neighboring villages.

One of the violet's heart-shaped leaves caught Katja's eye, and she leaned closer, inspecting the brown spots dotting the leaf. It looked duller than the rest of the flower and didn't appear healthy; in fact, it looked so sad and out of place against the rest of the deeply-hued petals and lush leaves that Katja felt sorry for it.

Pressing her fingertip against the sickly leaf, she thought, I'm sorry. If I could make you better, I would.

And then a most unexpected thing happened—the edges of the leaf began to curl, such a small movement Katja wouldn't have noticed it if she hadn't had her face so near the flower.

Her eyes widened, and she sucked in a sharp breath as something stirred inside her, similar to how she'd felt when communicating with metal but different at the same time. To her utter shock, the leaf began to change colors...the brown spots faded until they disappeared, and the leaf rose straighter on its stem, holding itself proudly before bobbing up and down ever so slightly.

Thank you.

The voice Katja heard inside her head wasn't her own, and she immediately dropped her finger and sat up so quickly, it was a wonder she didn't snap her spine.

"Is everything alright?" asked one of the botanists, Tante Vera, stepping closer to where Katja sat.

Katja pressed her lips together, uncertain how to respond.

On the one hand, she knew what she'd seen and heard. She'd healed the plant, and it had thanked her, but that was also impossible, meaning perhaps she didn't really know exactly what she'd seen or heard. Not wanting to get into trouble, Katja forced what she hoped was a convincing smile to her face.

"I thought I saw a ground hornet," she explained, "and I didn't want to get stung."

Tante Vera smiled understandingly, but as she turned to go, Katja couldn't help but ask, "Has there ever been a witch who had more than one affinity?"

"Not to my knowledge," replied Tante Vera, coming over and crouching beside Katja. "I don't know why each witch is limited to only one, but perhaps that's Nature's way of ensuring no single witch is too powerful. No one can do everything by herself, which means we need each other. We need our community to work together to make a good life for ourselves."

That made perfect sense, but it still didn't explain what had just occurred.

Gazing down at the violets, Katja wondered if perhaps she'd imagined the entire thing. She kept wondering as they left the garden and made their way to the Medizinhalle, although she was able to drag her attention away from the garden long enough to cheer enthusiastically when Liesel finally discovered her affinity, which turned out to be healing people.

As she headed back to the dormitory to prepare for the evening's festivities, Katja made a decision.

Even though she hadn't meant to heal the flower, it would be considered incredibly out of the ordinary for a witch to possess two affinities. She already stood out, thanks to her scars and being an orphan, so she decided then and there never to say a word about her experience with the violets. In fact, she decided she would never attempt to communicate with a plant again, on the off chance she had actually healed the flower.

She didn't need any other reason for people to view her as different.

(Artwork by AnnaER from Pixabay)