Starling trod down the packed dirt path, trees towering on either side. Dense undergrowth filled in any gaps between the trunks and birds whistled out of sight on the tops of the trees. Light flickered through the gaps between the leaves above her head and landed in dappled patterns on her dark brown hair. Her black boots scuffed up small clouds of dirt as she walked, and she whistled in time with the birds in the treetops above her. A woven basket made of thin twigs hung from her arm, full of herbs and the edible plants and mushrooms she had grown up memorizing, and it thumped softly against her side in time with her steps.
She continued walking along the path, the shadows becoming less dense and the undergrowth thinning as a clearing took form in the gaps between the tree trunks ahead. The sound of an ax chopping wood drifted from the clearing, and Starling sped up, jogging down the rest of the path until it turned into grass beneath her feet and she was standing in the clearing, sunlight falling down onto her hair as she shielded her eyes and made her way to the woman in the center of the clearing, a pile of split logs on one side of a wide tree trunk and a stack of untouched ones on her other side. She had light brown hair and fair skin, lightly tanned arms visible in her short sleeved white dress that hung down just below her knees, brown pants only partly visible, obscured by black boots similar to her daughter's that came halfway up her calves.
"What did you find?" she asked, resting the ax on the tree stump and stepping around it to where Starling stood, peering into her basket.
"Mostly herbs, a few mushrooms," she replied, handing over the basket to her mother and picking up a clump of small white flowers off the top, "and some more Lily of the Valley for the garden," she said, smiling.
"Good work," her mother said, smiling as well, "the herbs look great, and there are no poisonous mushrooms here this time-"
"One time," Starling groaned as her mother laughed.
"And the flowers will look pretty with your other plants too," she finished.
"Shall we head back then?" Starling asked, holding out her arm.
"We shall," her mother laughed, placing the basket in her daughter's hand instead of her own arm and bending down to pick up the ax and a few pieces of wood.
"Hey, not fair, I wasn't asking for the basket!" Starling exclaimed, taking a bundle of wood as well.
"Well then, maybe you should have specified that before you held out your arm to me," her mother laughed, taking the lead across the clearing and onto another path opposite the one Starling entered from. Starling groaned dramatically and followed her down the shaded path back to their house.
-to be continued-
YOU ARE READING
Heroes Reversed
FantasyAt the Wisteria Academy for Gods and Goddesses, where everyone has powers and magic and charm, its hard for Starling, the new student with the weird name and upbringing -who didn't even know she had powers-to fit in or excel at this new school where...
