The Seelie Curse

Chapter 46

Rowan blinks at Astrila in shock, her mind buzzing in her head. She can't think, her mind is full of static. "You think the prophecy meant the scars?"

Astrila shrugs. "Perhaps. As you said, we won't truly know, we can just speculate."

"But what do we do now?"

From off to the side, Kyma clears her throat. "I would guess that try to figure out how to break that curse."

Rowan grimaces. "But how? No one knows anything of how to break it."

Kyma frowns as well, but her frown is more thoughtful. "Are there any Aos Sí that answer questions?"

Rowan frowns. "There are a few groups of Aos Sí, but they're dangerous and often hard to find. They're not guaranteed to know the answers to your questions either."

"Are there any that would know the answer to any question?"

"A rare few, but Wave, it's really dangerous to go looking for these creatures."

"You think we have a choice? We're supposed to break the curse, so we need to know how to do it. How do we find one of those Aos Sí that answer questions?"

Rowan sighs and looks down at the ground. She moves to reach for her bag, for her runestones, but there is nothing there. She inhales sharply.

"Where are my things?"

Astrila shifts, reaching for Rowan. "Don't worry. You just left them back at the clearing."

Rowan slumps, trying to ease her shaking. "Look at me, I'm a mess. I'm constantly afraid."

"Things will get better, Ro. Come on, let's go get your stuff. Then you can answer Wave's question before she explodes."

Rowan giggles. "Yes, that's a good idea."

The forest is calm on the way back to the clearing, waiting. Rowan frowns, touching one of the trees. It warms beneath her touch and a hint of feeling flashes through her mind. Rowan smiles and pats the warm bark of the tree in gratitude. It was welcoming her now that she knows who her father is.

Rowan pulls away from the tree and darts forward, into the clearing. Her runes are scattered on the ground, she hadn't even realized it before. Rowan crouches to pick them up, gathering them in her unscarred left hand. It's not just the two runestones that she used that are scattered on the forest floor, it looks like her bag spilled when she collapsed.

She opens it and moves to pour the stones back in, pausing to remove a dark stone from the bunch. She turns it over in her hand, frowning. It's the same shape as the other stones, but it doesn't hold any of the shifting colours they normally have inside them. What happened to it? It's like the stone has died, but it can't die if it isn't even alive. She turns to Astrila.

"What happened to this?"

Astrila chews on her lip for a moment. "The Forest King used it on you while you were unconscious. I think he was trying to stop the effects of the Ludeag's heart. I don't think it mixed well with the fire. But when he used it to heal you, I think the Ludeag's heart destroyed it."

Rowan stares down at the dark stone in her hand. These runestones have been so helpful to her. She shakes her head. She has more than just this one, and she has the runepen too. While the loss of one runestone is bad, it hasn't crippled her. Rowan glances over at Kyma.

"You want to know how we're going to get the answer to how to break the curse?"

Kyma nods. Rowan looks down at the blackened stone in her hand and lets it fall to the dirt. She wipes her hands on the cloth of her pants and reaches into the runestone pouch for a fresher runestone. Then she hesitates. While the runestones are helpful, she may not always have them. But she will likely be in the forest, so maybe she should ask the forest for help?

She pulls her bag onto her shoulder and steps outside the clearing, placing her hand against one of the trees. Energy courses through her palm, but it doesn't feel quite right. It feels off. She pulls her hand away and glances down to see the scar. Rowan sighs and shakes her head. There's nothing she can do about the scar. She places her hand against the tree once again and let the energy move through her without interruption.

The tendrils of it poke inside her head, trying to understand the request she hasn't voiced. Rowan has to hold back a giggle at the tree's eagerness to assist her. She leans her forehead against the rough bark and sighs, thinking of what she wishes to find. The energy pulses in answer and the tree glows. From behind her, Kyma gasps. Rowan pulls away from the tree to look at her, smiling.

"It's amazing, isn't it?"

Kyma nods quickly, staring at the tree with wide eyes. "What is it?"

"The forest is helping us. It's creating a path."

"To where?"

Rowan laughs. "Why, to answers of course!"

She begins to walk through the trees, following the glowing path. As she moves, she trails her fingers along the bark of each tree. The leaves in the canopy above her whisper, louder than they should in the breeze. Rowan can feel the heat beneath her fingertips, the life spiralling out of her. She knows that if she looked back, there would be a perfect trail of growth on the bark where her fingers touched. Different forms of growth each time, but growth nevertheless.
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Where do you think they're going to go to get answers? What type of Aos Sí could provide them? Tell me your thoughts!

Happy reading and I'll see you next chapter!

~Goddess of Fate, signing out.