Chapter 3 - Goodbye

"Julian! Jasmine's here!" Julian rolled his eyes. He couldn't stand Jasmine. She was a complete airhead. He wished their mothers would stop trying to push them together.

Why where they trying to push them together, anyway? One would think that, after what happened two years ago, they wouldn't want Julian anywhere near Jasmine. Honestly, he could no longer remember why he had targeted Jasmine in the first place. Did he do because he had thought she was cute? Popular opinion said that Jasmine was the most beautiful girl in the village. He might have agreed two years ago, but he couldn't anymore.

The other villagers found it disturbing that although Isis was his age - 16 - she looked like a ten year old. Two years ago, Julian had only been couple inches taller. He had hit a growth spurt and she had stayed the same. She only reached his elbow. The traits that put the other villagers off, he found endearing. Her silver hair was like starlight and her golden eyes were mesmerizing. Those beautiful eyes haunted his dreams.

It was her intelligence that had originally attracted his attention, back before her father died. She was so smart, she made the rest of the villagers seem like slack-jawed idiots by comparison. Jasmine had no hope of capturing his attention. He was so glad he had Isis.

Speaking of which…where was she? It had been two days since he had last seen her. Maybe he should go to her hut, see if she was okay.

Suddenly, the hair on the back of his neck stood on end. Someone was watching him. He spun around to look out the window. No one was there, but there was a piece of paper stuck in the frame. It hadn't been there a few moments ago.

Cautiously, he eased the window open and pulled the paper out of the frame and into his room. It was a letter addressed to him. A chill ran down his spine and made him hesitant to open it.

"Julian!" His mother yelled up the stairs. He ignored her and opened the letter with shaking hands.

Dear Julian,

I am sorry that I haven't come to see you, but I don't know how the villagers will react and I don't want them to think you had something to do with it. I've taught you everything I know about healing. You'll make an excellent healer. I want you to know that I'm proud of you. I'm so lucky and thankful that you are my friend. I've restocked everything in the hut. It's yours now. I hope we will meet again someday. Goodbye, Julian.

Isis

No. It-it was a joke, right? Right? She-she wouldn't just leave, right? But he knew it wasn't a joke. Dispite his best efforts to prove that she was a good person, the villagers still treated her like vermin.

Julian knew she wanted to get away from the hostile environment. She had told him that once his training was finished she would leave. He just hadn't thought it would be so sudden.

But she couldn't just leave him! He needed her! Dropping the letter, he bolted from his room. He rushed past his mother, on the way up the stairs to get him. He flew by Jasmine without so much as a thought. He shot through the door and raced towards the Elder White Birch clearing. The villagers stared in shock as he ran by, but he ignored them.

Maybe he could convince her to stay. Maybe she would take him with her. Maybe-. Maybe-. He stumbled as he ran, his heart pounding wildly, but he kept going. Please. Please still be there. Please!

He burst into the grove and froze. The hut was there. Everything looked fine. But it was too quiet. The leaves didn't rustle in their usual greeting. No sounds of movement came through the windows. He slowly approached the hut, the deathly silence eating away at his nerves. He pushed the door open.

Ares, the small black and red dragon that was her familiar, was not curled up on the hearth. There was no fire in the fireplace. There was no evidence that Isis had ever lived here. It looked like any empty healers hut. Julian dropped to his knees in the doorway as tears rolled down his face. He never got to say goodbye.

After a few moments, he got to his feet and stumbled into the back room. Her bedroom. She had left sheets, a quilt and a pillow on the bed. There was also a fuzzy white lump. At first he couldn't tell what it was. As he approached, it moved. Julian froze.

A head lifted out of the fuzz. Two ice blue eyes stared at him from the pure white face of the wolf pup. His ears were tipped in black. The pups tail started to thump the bed, and Julian realized that it too was tipped in black.

Where had the pup come from? The pup stood up on the bed as Julian moved closer. Julian noticed that the pup had been laying on a piece of paper. He offered the pup his hand to sniff as he picked up the paper to see what it was. It was a note…from Isis.

Hi Julian.

I thought you might rush down here. I am sorry to leave you like this. I hope that one day, you can forgive me. The local wolf pack has been under threat from the villagers, so they are coming with me. This little one is not old enough to make such a journey. I thought you might like him, as you once expressed an interest in the wolves. His name is Kaizma. (K-z-ma) Do you like the quilt? I hope you do. I made it. You are amazing, Julian. Thank-you so much for being my friend when no one else would. If you hadn't been…I don't know how I would have made it. Good fortune upon you and yours.

Isis.

His chest tightened and his eyes burned with tears. She had made the quilt? It was beautiful. He looked at Kaizma. The pup licked his hand, then his face and wagged his tail. Julian smiled and scratched him behind the ears. Petting Kaizma, Julian made a decision. He wouldn't disappoint Isis. He would stay and be the village's healer. However…he wouldn't stay in his mothers house.

He stepped back and slapped his leg. "Come on, Kaizma. Lets go get my stuff. I'm moving back in." Kaizma yipped his approval.