AN: This year I wanted to write for as many categories as I could so this is the next one on my list 😊 I hope you enjoy this.

I also know this has a series of novels but I'm basing it on the one movie so it's kind of AU.

Secrets of the South Wind

Chapter One

So long ago, my mama let my grandmother drift off in the north wind. I was glad that we didn't have to move any longer, that I could have friends and develop relationships in the community, that my mother and I were accepted and people adored our chocolate. It felt that I could finally have a home. It felt that, when Roux came back that my mother would be happy. He and his 'river rat' community left as frequently as we used to but he always came back to my mother. He did odd jobs around the village for money but he was destined to journey. It certainly made things harder but if anyone could understand that, it was my mother.

"Anouk!" Vianne called out as she walked through the shop. She had more customers than ever and people even travelled in to try her famous chocolates. She had been approached and asked if she wanted to teach classes or if she wanted to open a second location. She had told them that she would think about it. Chocolate was a hobby, a tradition that led her back to the cacao of her ancestors, it wasn't just a commodity. Vianne wasn't one to care about money and the finer things in life, she was someone who cared about her family's happiness and bond.

"Mama," Anouk smiled as she rushed forward from the kitchen where she had been studying her mother's craft.

"What did I tell you?" Vianne asked with a chuckle and shake of her head. "You shouldn't run. Imagine if you were to trip and to hurt yourself." Vianne smoothed down Anouk's clothes as she looked away, exhausted as any child could be with her parent.

"I wasn't running very fast," she tried to reason and Vianne kissed her forehead.

"Not very fast, eh?" she asked with a raise of her eyebrow. "Well, you shouldn't be running at all, not when there are so many knives around."

"You always treat me like a child," Anouk told her, "I'm not a child any longer, Mama. If you want a child then -"

"I'm pregnant," Vianne told her and Anouk paused, her mouth opening as she stared at her not sure what she should say. She blinked and Vianne looked away. She still wasn't married and in a village as religious as this, they were sure to shun her again for having yet another child out of wedlock.

"Is it Roux's?" Anouk asked as she took a step back, her hand absent mindedly going into a bowl filled with dark chocolate covered espresso beans.

"Why?" Vianne asked with a short laugh, "Have you seen any other men around here? I think not."

"Have you told him?" Anouk questioned. Surely Roux would stay if he knew. He was a man who had a lot of moral principles. He wasn't one to just suddenly abandon a family that he had become so connected to. Vianne looking away told Anouk all that she needed to know about her mother. She hadn't told him because she hadn't wanted to tie him down. In her mother's eyes, Roux should be free. "You have to tell him, Mama."

"If the time is right," Vianne said and Anouk stared at her in shock.

Anouk hadn't really known her father but if her mother was pregnant with Roux's child then her younger sibling should know that he was their dad, their papa. Still, her mother would never forgive her were she to take things into her own hands. There had to be someone who could convince her.

"Anouk," Vianne said as she turned to her daughter with a firm look, "Just between the two of us, okay?" she asked and Anouk opened her mouth to argue. She tried to calm herself before asking.

"What about Josephine, Mama?" she asked and Vianne froze. Maybe it would be best to tell her best friend about what had happened and Josephine wouldn't judge her for this. Vianne had helped her with a difficult period in her own life. They just needed to let the truth free, that should be the story that followed the flow of the wind.

End of Chapter One

Thank You For Reading