Flawed and Tainted

CHAPTER 9. Sighted

Violet

Every now and then, rumors about recent sightings of Myrkers spread through the nation. I eventually started tracking and marking the places where the incidents had been registered on one of the old maps pinned to the wall of my room.

Time went on ticking, never minding its inconvenience. The die on my hair also started wearing off. Elga would frequently request me to look for certain herbs around town. During the hours I spent doing so, I also made it my goal to find another of the black flowers I had once used to darken my white locks of hair. However, the ones near Elga's house had either been taken already or were still growing. Hours passed, and I often went back home with only about half of the herbs listed by Elga on a piece of paper. My own plea missing.

I was about to give up once more, the sun setting behind me as I reached the flower shop's doorknob.

"Violet!" I heard my name being called somewhere near me.

I immediately turned around, catching sight of Sam. He was waving at me as he came closer, letting his eyes drift from my face to the almost empty basket on my arms.

"Hi" he said, his typical smile back on his face. "Looking for herbs?" he slightly frowned, waiting for my response.

"Yes. Elga's requests." I let him know. He glanced back at me, probably trying to figure out why I looked so exhausted. "The difficult part is I can't seem to find more than half of the ones she listed. It's as if Verlian's flora had run out of them..." I grumbled whilst rubbing my forehead.

Sam seemed deep in thought after my comments.

"What about outside? I'm sure the herbs you want can be found near the woods." he muttered cautiously.

I quickly raised my eyebrows, not expecting him, of all people, to say such a thing.

"Outside? You're telling me I can go outside? What happened to all the restrictions? What about the search for the White one? What about Myrkers?" I blurred out without even thinking before talking. I was very confused.

"Well... the recent sightings are quite far away still."

Short silence.

"Faere" we locked eyes on each other as we both mumbled the name of the last village where a Myrker had been seen.

Another short silence.

"You wouldn't be going alone though. I could go with you. I'm guessing it's something punctual, of course." Sam's shy side taking over. "If Elga needs those herbs..." He paused before finishing his statement. "we'll get them for her. We just need to be a bit more careful than usual".

He then gave me a slight smile. I didn't break eye contact, not until I finally organized all of my thoughts and was able to articulate my next words.

"I don't have a permit." I mentioned truthfully.

"No problem. I do."

Was it really that easy? It angered me that he could talk so carelessly about something so serious to me. It seemed totally unfair that he could wander around with such liberties while I was trapped in Verlian. A cage. Completely dependent on the Guardians' decisions. Thinking further, it shouldn't piss me off that much, for even if I escaped town I'd still be trapped in a wider enclosure. Probably a more dangerous one as well.

***

We had passed the gates with no problem whatsoever and I started feeling somewhat anxious, unsure if to feel happy about finally being outside or not.

We started by surrounding the towns walls, hoping there would be no need to move any further into the woods. I had mentioned to Sam some of the names on his grandmother's list, knowing all too well he knew exactly how they all looked. Four eyes are indeed better then two. Shortly after noon we had already found most of the herbs in Elga's list. Still however, no sign of my desired flower.