5: Willow Amongst the Pines

Cassia and Liliana were making their way along the path.The sun shined brightly today. The warmth of the sun’s rays caressed their skin,which took the edge off of the cool morning air. The cacophony of songs from the different birds filled the woods, and the smell of juniper, pine, and sweet grass wafted on the gentle breeze. The ground was still covered in the silvery sheen of the morning dew. Cassia was absorbing every sensation that her senses could feel and for once she felt like she had no cares in the world. Liliana squealed with delight and clapped her hands. “ You are absolutely correct Lily it is a most beautiful day indeed.” Cassia replied to indulge her sister conversation. “Oh look blackberry!” Cassia exclaimed she walked over to the small patch and as she did she heard something moving in the pine trees. Cassia reached for the knife.

“DON’T TOUCH THOSE!” A shrill squeaky voice yelled at her “THEY ARE POISON!”

Just then a young girl stepped out from the trees. She was on the shorter side with mousey brown hair that was frizzy but was braided in pig tails. Her green eyes were large. Her nose was small and turned up a bit and was extra pink in color. Her ears were larger than normal and stuck out a bit. And she had a thin tail sticking out from behind her. All in all the girl reminded Cassia of a human and mouse highbred.

“What do you mean they are poisonous? They look like blackberries.” Cassia commented with skepticism.

“I they grow in 3 leave them be.” The girl replied.

“What? That’s the phrase for poison ivy.” Cassia replied.

“No, it also applies to mimics. They are a highly poisonous plant that takes on the characteristics of its neighboring plant and kills it off. Then takes over it growing space. Look at how the leaves and berries grow compared to the others. Cassia looked around and at that moment she did see a difference in the shape and color of the mimic compared to the rest of the plants. As Cassia stepped away she heard something crunch under her foot, and as she looked down she noticed for the first time that the area was littered with small bones of different animals. Cassia looked back at the young girl with shock. “That’s also a dead giveaway. The seeds don’t digest they grow from the rotting corpses.”

“Oh, thank you…..” Cassia trailed off, she wanted to include the girls name but didn’t have one.

“Willow” the girl replied and reached out to shake Cassia’s hand. Cassia took her gesture with gratitude.

“Cassia” she replied.

“It a pleasure to meet you finally “ Willow commented with delight.

“Finally? Do you know me?” Cassia was a bit off put by the familiarity that Willow had towards her.

“Yes the village was a buzz with the news when your family moved in.”

“I never saw you out and about town.” Cassia replied still confused.

“I wasn’t allowed out much. I worked in the apothecary where your mom would bring us her herbs and flowers. They were the best we ever got for medicine, teas, and tinctures.”

“Why weren’t you allowed out?” Cassia asked peaked with curiosity.

“I’m a wildling.” Willow replied.

“A what?” Cassia asked with surprise

“A wildling, we were born to humans but something went wrong with our DNA and we are born with animal traits and features. Some of us are more animal than human. That’s why we are called wildlings. The village was supposed to be a sanctuary for us. But we still weren’t treated the best. We still were picked on. Especially by the humans.” Willow stated with a hint of sadness in her tone.”there are actual blackberries over here.” Willow added.

Cassia followed Willow to the patch and began picking. “You said you were from the village, did anyone else escape the attack? Did you see what happened? Did my parents make it out?” Cassia was flooded with a million questions and emotions.

“I don’t know much but from what I do know when the bell rang there was just enough time for the children to scatter to the woods along with some of those who couldn’t fight. Those who could did. I don’t really know anything else…” Willow trailed off.

“My parents?” Cassia asked with ernest.

“I don’t know, if they could fight, I think they stayed.”she replied sadly.

Cassia looked down her mind flooded with thoughts and emotions. Her eyes welled up with tears threatening to spill over. She sniffed to fight them back. She quickly wiped her face to hide the fact. “Where are you staying?” Cassia asked changing the subject to distract her mind from her dark thoughts.

“I made a nest in a hollow tree. It’s not the greatest but at least I’m dry.” Willow replied meekly.

“Im staying in the storm cave, there is plenty of room, and it’s warm.”Cassia replied with a smile.

Willow smiled and noticed Liliana on the back of Cassia.”Hello you. Aren’t you the cutest little thing.” She waved at Lily. Liliana replied with cooed and rambled in her baby gibberish clapping her hands.

“I can hear my sister really likes you .” Cassia replied with surprise.

“Ok then it’s settled I will accept your invitation” Willow replied as she started to play with Liliana’s hand.

The continued to forage together for the rest of the day. The party took a break and ate some of the blackberries. Cassia pulled out a bit of bread a small bit of cheese and couple of pieces of dried meat. They were able to find some more wild mushrooms, some tree nuts, and some wild leeks. Willow found some healing herbs along with some eatable roots. Then she lead Cassia to the stream to collect fresh water and to collect from the fish trap willow had made. They found a couple of fish in the trap. But they were very small. Cassia placed a small bit of bread in the trap as bait. “We can add some of the roots and nut to my stew to make it heartier “ Cassia commented. Willow nodded in agreement. They reset the baited fish trap and made their way back to the cave.

When they entered the cave Willow eyes widened with excitement. “I have heard about this place, I didn’t think I would ever get to see it. It’s amazing.” She stated with a sense of wonder.

“It’s been here for a while. A hunting party found it and over the years have made it quite homey. My Da and I would stay here when we would do an occasional hunting trip.” Cassia replied matter of factly.

Willow helped Cassia take off the cradle board and pulled Liliana from it. She began to play with the little toddler, while Cassia rekindled the fire and got the pot heating up. She washed and diced the roots and mushrooms and added them to the pot. Willow pulled out of her pack a small pot to boil water to make tea. Willow smelled the pinch pots of herbs and combined a delicious smelling mixture tied it together and added it to the pot of boiling water.

Cassia washed the nuts and set them by the fire to dry and cure. “These acorns will make an amazing flour when soaked dried and ground up.” She commented “listen to me I sound like this is going to be a long term situation.”

“Would it be such a bad thing?” Willow quietly asked.

“My Da is supposed to come and find us in 3 days” Cassia replied.

“Oh.” Willow replied with an air of disappointment.

“What’s wrong don’t you want to go back to the village?” Cassia inquired.

“No not really. I’m a wildling we are not very well treated amongst the others. See it one thing to be a half breed. Half breeds are predictable on what the species characteristics are going to be. Wildlings are just that there is no predictable characteristics no warning of how much of the human characteristics are going to be inherited. Those that can talk and are more human like are sold to learn skilled trades. We are also modified to look as human as possible. Those of us that are more animal like are treated as pets or casted out into the woods and left to become feral if we survive.” Willow’s eyes welled up with tears.” Was fortunate that the apothecary was kind enough to take me in. She found me wandering in the forest. She fed me, clothed me, taught me how to read and write, and started to tech me how to be an apothecary. She said I had the eyes and nose for it.” Willow made a half hearted giggle at the pun. Cassia joined in with her giggles at the impromptu humor. “ You are the first person to not judge me by my appearance “

“You saved my life Willow, why would I judge you for your appearance.” Cassia reassured her.”What kind of person would that make me? I am grateful to you.”

Willow looked at Cassia with a deep and heartfelt smile. “Thank you Cassia “

“You know what Cassia is a mouth full to say just call me Cass I think it’s more fitting any way.”

Willow smiled and said”Thank you Cass.”

Willow set up the bowls for the soup. She rummaged through her pack and found a cup for tea. When dinner was ready Cassia served up the soup. She sliced a bit of bread and lightly buttered the bread with the remaining butter. They all sat and ate quietly savoring each bite. When dinner was finished they cleaned up. They played with and entertained Liliana until she began to rub her eyes and yawned.

Cassia cleaned her sister up and got ready for bed.

“Where do I sleep?” Willow asked shyly.

“Right here, with us.” Cassia pointed to the bed.

“Oh! You aren’t afraid of catching fleas or lice from me?”

“Why, do you have them? “ Cassia asked.

“No”

“Fine then come to bed.” Cassia insisted.

Willow grabbed her blanket roll. She jumped onto the bed flipped out her blanket in one fluid motion. She covered up and all three girls laid on their sides watching the warm flames danced across the logs till they fell asleep.