Enjoined By The Fates | ✔️

Wise

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Abe Calahan told her about the more than unusual things he'd seen when exposed to this place. "I don't know why people suggest I would be interested in voodoo magic when all I said was that strange things happen outside their town. I am a newcomer."

He was saluted when he arrived in the town with his father, the sheriff. She noticed this mostly because of how people stopped and stared at them with praise. So she figured they must be somewhat important, and she was right. His father held the highest position for the safety of the townspeople. They came from a large country that prided themselves on their military officials, sheriff Calahan being one of their veterans. Now, he served at a town surrounded by trees and vegetation.

"Are you suggesting that there are conjurers, beasts, and who knows what else just outside of this town?"

She had just met Abe, and already she felt a surplus of socialization. At her post during market hours for her family's groceries, she observed the bystanders to pass the time. The business was slow that day, and it was only until Abe had asked her a simple question that she realized she was staring. She immediately apologized and asked if he would like to purchase something from her stand to cover the previous topic. He was smart. However, he bought a jar of berries in exchange for her name and then looked her up and down in assessment. She was uncomfortable on the inside, but her exterior was unbothered. He tentatively touched her hand and spoke with interest; he knew she was a farmhand, saw her diversity from everyone else, and did not flinch when she raised her arms up and stretched. He was unlike all the others.

"No, I know there are. I've seen unexplainable things."

The trees shifted; they changed positions in the blink of an eye. It confused the mind and the body. The nearby river thrashed without the weather's warning. When the wolves howled, the sky turned a slight shade of maroon on a blue moon. Gunshots grew silent as a pack of them grew larger. Fresh blood was found in the forest, not a body in sight. "I thought it was one of the hunters. My father's friend, the one who helped us move here has gone missing, but that was a fortnight ago... "

Abe came back every time the market opened, even when she wasn't there. He had his own stand and by then, they started conversing without a thought. It flowed carelessly on his end while she stayed cautiously aware at the attention they received day in and day out. He had so-called friends who sought him out indirectly, cutting her off their conversation and directly ignoring her presence. She rolled her eyes and went back to do her chores. They pulled him away quickly so he didn't have time to protest. Soon, he noticed and declined, but that's when it started going downhill. After an unwanted hunting trip out of town with his father and later on more outings for his apprenticeship, Abe was suspicious of the woods. He mentioned this to some comrades today.

"It could be witchcraft, I've noticed unclaimed shadows. Walle barks at nothing but thin air sometimes. It's the strangest thing."

She persuaded Abe to confide in her as she understood his words, to be wiser together.

Though she was uninformed of the world not far from her and others, the myths and tales of legends that were true to a fault. The stories were real, as were the creatures and their makers, gods, and immortal deities. Justice believed just as much as her mother did, for if she knew what her future held, she would never be the same.