Bitter-sweet memories by Sheela

Bitter-sweet memories

by Sheela

Disclaimer: You all know what I'm trying to say here: I'm making no money with this (though it would be nice) and the main characters belong to Universal. The characters of Lea, Aruna & Rowan are mine, but you can feel free to use them if you want to, just let me know where they are going to.

English isn't my native language and this wasn't beta read so there might be a lot mistakes in this story, both spelling and grammatical wise.

Prologue

It was a warm day in spring, the sun was shining brightly on the Sanctuary and all its inhabitants who were all enjoying doing their duties in the sun. The children were playing happily, running around between the adults.

Conor and Catlin were walking side by side through the camp, talking about the present situation.

"No Romans seen during the last days?" Conor asked. "I wonder why they're so peaceful at the moment. Longinus must be planning something, something cruel..."

"Yeah surely! But as we don't know what, let's enjoy these days as long as we can. Heaven only knows what's going to come next..." Catlin answered.

Right that second a loud scream reverberated through the camp and little Talia came running along, crying. "Ouch! Ow...ow!" The girl stopped in front of Conor and Catlin holding her left hand. Tears were flowing across her face. Catlin knelt down and embraced her softly.

"Hush...Calm down, dear... And then tell me what happened." she said with a voice full of love that made Conor's heart beat faster. Catlin didn't speak very often in such a soft way. Talia kept crying, however, now she didn't scream anymore.

"It... I... wanted to take a flower... but... the bee... my hand... ouch!" she stuttered with tears running across her cheeks.

"I see. Hush..., it's not that bad. Just let me see if the sting is still stuck." Catlin sat down on a stone with Talia, taking her hand, searching for the sting. "Oh, yes there it is. I'll take it out!" Then she began to suck out the poison of the girl's hand and spat it on the ground. "Put it in cold water for a moment and it won't hurt anymore!" Catlin promised and stood up. Talia had been so busy watching Catlin cure her hand that she had forgotten her pain at all and had stopped crying. Now she nodded and began to walk away. Catlin and Conor watched her leaving slowly when Talia suddenly turned around and came rushing back to give Catlin a big kiss on the cheek. With a "Thank you" she finally ran off laughing again. Catlin grinned and looked at Conor. He was smiling, too.

"Very well done!" he said. "I bet you'd be a great mother! Your kids will be lucky!"

Catlin's happy face fell. Conor suddenly saw an endless pain in her eyes. She tried hard to smile again, but it didn't work. Conor noticed tears welling up in her eyes.

"If you think so..." Catlin whispered, before her voice cracked totally. She turned her back on Conor. "Would you excuse me for a while? I... I...don't feel very well..." with these words she left, running through the camp towards the forest.

Conor stood immovable, staring after her shocked. Fergus stepped behind Conor and tapped on his shoulder. Conor whirled around, still shocked about Catlin's odd behaviour.

"Hey, lad! What did you do to Catlin?" Fergus asked. "I saw her rushing through the camp like a banshee. What's wrong with her?"

"I don't know, really! I only said she would be a great mother someday and then she suddenly ran away. Shall I follow her?"

"No, just give her some time for herself. Maybe it's an awful memory..." Fergus advised him.

Meanwhile Catlin was hurrying through the forest, not caring where she was running to. *Away! Away!* was her only thought. Away from everybody and everything. In the end she stopped breathless and rested her forehead on a tree-trunk. Her heart was pounding fiercely in her chest as if it was going to explode the very next moment. Tears began to flow across Catlin's face and she groaned. She clenched her fist and beat the tree. Bang! Bang! Her hand was bleeding but she didn't mind. In a way she welcomed the pain that showed her that she had still feelings inside of her. Yet, in her mind she had only one desire and she cried it out loud, her shout echoing through the forest: "I want my daughter!"

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