CHAPTER 1
The air was crisp, snow sprinkling through the tops of the trees and adding onto the few inches that had already accumulated on the forest floor. It was well into winter and the forest was seemingly at its coldest, the wild life either nestled away in hibernation or too content to disturb the area. The snow seemed perfect and undisturbed, the beautiful white reflecting the sunlight in an almost blinding way. Centered deep between the foliage of some large bushes was a small opening, looking almost man made, big enough for the average being to walk through. The opening gave way to a small field, with a tiny cabin at the center of it. Smoke billowed from the crooked chimney as chatter was heard inside. The candles providing light on the window sills could be seen flickering inside as the wind blew outside, the old cabin having little to none insolation.
The front door burst open as a small child flew out, blonde curls bouncing as she leapt over the front steps and down into the snow below. Giggles rang out as an older woman ran out after her, slipping on the fresh snow that dusted the wooden porch. More giggles spilled from the child at the woman's expense.
Eleanor Skutnik stared down at her three year old daughter, Emmeline, noting how the snow seemed to accentuate her Childs piercing green eyes, the very same ones that she had. It was times like these that she lived for, hearing the giggles of her precious sunflower and seeing the crooked smile on her face.
Eleanor hid the surprise on her face as a small pile of snow suddenly lifted into the air by itself and landed on top of her head, Emmeline's giggles ringing out once more. Using her own powers she did the same back, burying the girl under a light mound of snow. Her daughter was freshly three, her birthday having just passed in the fall, and she was already so full of power, she could feel it every second of the day radiating off of her. Her child would be very powerful one day, she knew it since before her daughter was even born.
A few years beforehand Eleanor had found a man near the cabin, half frozen to death in a snow mound after the first big snowstorm of the winter. She had brought him in and healed him back from the brink of death, wary of this unknown man, considering she herself was a product of rape, as her own mother had once allowed an outside man in without knowing the dangers. Eleanor was wary of the past and remained on edge, but she still spent every minute of the day with him for weeks, slowly falling for his charm. She was in love, she'd admit it. She never in her life thought she'd get to experience anything like it before, she truly thought she'd be the last of her lineage. They spent the whole winter together, the man slowly working his way farther into her heart and then into her bed. And then one day, when the sun came back out and the snow started to melt with the first signs of spring, a woman arrived. Looking for her husband.
And he just upped and left with her, no care about what Eleanor and him had created in her quiet little cabin, and the love she had for him. The woman didn't even care when Eleanor had broken down and told her what her husband had been doing with her the whole winter, he apparently had a history and she was too poor to leave him, plus he had children at home to provide for.
She cried, for days, barely able to get out of bed. Then the sickness came, fever and nausea for days on end. And that's when she realized the man had left something behind, a child growing inside her. She was angry, fuming at the thought. She almost pulled out one of her great grandmother's books to find some kind of concoction to get rid of it. The thought of raising a bastard child angered her to the core. Then one day she felt it, the power growing inside her. It was powerful for a barely developed baby to possess something like this. She knew her child would be amazing, something that would change the world. It shed a new light on the situation and made her realize how wonderful it would all be. She had been alone in this cabin since her mother died years ago, and now she would have her own child to be with her. A new excitement filled her, and quickly she started preparing, knitting clothes for her baby and thinking of names. As her belly grew bigger so did her child's strength, Eleanor had to fix things around the house constantly, with a kick of her baby's foot inside her a chair would slam across the room or a glass would shatter.
And then the day came, she could almost foresee it with the power that would burst from inside her throughout the morning. By noon her water had broken and by nightfall she was crouched in her bedroom, sweat on her brow as she pushed her own child out by herself. Animals around the surrounding forest had run and hid, spooked by the screams coming from the cabin walls. With one last cry Eleanor scooped her child up to her naked chest and tears fell from her eyes as she examined her. A small baby girl with a tuft of blonde hair on the top of her head, and the beautiful wide blue eyes all babies have squinting up at her as the infant fussed. She was instantly in love, knowing she would give anything for this baby. Looking into her child's eyes the name instantly came to mind.
Emmaline.
She had cut the cord herself and delivered the placenta then, years of her and her mother helping women give birth taught her enough. She wrapped her baby up and laid her in the cot that had been passed down through generations, the baby stilling and closing her small eyes. She quickly set to work cleaning up her room, throwing the now stained blankets she had used into the fire in the main room. As she filled her panties with cotton rags to collect the bleeding, her newborn started to fuss and she quickly gathered her up and put her to her chest to allow her to suckle from her breast, the baby letting out small grunts as she drank. She looked into those beautiful little eyes and a new light filled her. Everything would be different from here on out.
Now her child was three, her hair much fuller and curlier, her once blue eyes now changed to the same emerald green as her own. She was still small, having been a tiny baby, but most of the women in her family were of small stature, so it was nothing to worry about. She was very happy her daughter was a clone of herself, she feared she wouldn't have developed such a bond with her if she had looked like the disgusting man that had fathered her.
She was brought back to present day by another ball of snow hitting her square in the face, a small gasp following. Emmeline scrambled onto her mothers lap, her small chubby hands reaching up to Eleanor's face, the child looking crestfallen.
"I'm so sorry mama, I didn't mean to get your face!" the three year old all but yelled out, looking on the verge of tears. Pride swelled in Eleanor's chest, her daughter truly was the most gentle, thoughtful, and caring child she had ever met.
"I'm fine, my Sunflower, it's just a little snow." she quickly kissed the three year old's forehead, smiling down at her once more. "Let's go back inside, it's far too cold out here for a summer flower such as yourself, perhaps our stew is done."
Her daughter giggled at her joke and leapt off her lap, quickly making her way up the stairs and back in the cabin door. Eleanor got up to follow her but froze in the doorway, suddenly feeling a surge of dark energy in the distance. She looked into the forest and saw nothing, but she couldn't shake the feeling she was being watched. She came inside and unwrapped her cloak from around her body, pulling her knit cap off and sticking on a small hook by the door, smoothing down her blonde curls with her hands. She turned to see Emmeline sitting on a puddle of melted snow as she struggled to pull her moccasins off her feet, her chubby cheeks kissed red from the coldness of the outside. Eleanor crouched down and pulled the shoes off with one tug, kissing her daughter atop her head as she stood once more and walked towards the pot that was cooking in her fireplace.
Lifting the lid steam rose from the pot, the delicious smell of stew wafting through the cabin. She grabbed a thick piece of fabric that was hung nearby and used it to lift the pot from the fire, bringing it to her small wooden dining table and setting it down. Grabbing two small bowls and some spoons from her cabinet she quickly made her and her daughters plates, blowing on Emmeline's to cool it down faster. Grabbing two cups she poured them both a glass of water from the container that sat nearby. Emmeline pulled herself up onto one of the chairs, sitting down to wait for her food to be handed to her. They ate in silence, the occasional noise of her daughter's loud chewing breaking through the air. Once finished Eleanor went outside with a bucket to gather some snow to melt to clean the dishes. In the summer she would travel to a stream nearby but it was far too cold to go with her daughter, so the snow would make do. Coming back in she sat the bucket near the fire and watched as her daughter pulled out her small knit dolls to play with, a smile on her face as she listened to the three year old make them talk to each other. Suddenly she felt someone coming, not far from the cabin, heading straight towards them. She didn't recognize the aura at all, it must be a stranger.
"Emmeline, please go sit in the room for mommy, there's a patient coming and I don't want you getting sick." Her daughter, never one to not listen, quickly gathered her dolls and made her way into their bedroom in the back corner, closing the door quietly behind her. This was a normal protocol for when a stranger was arriving, her daughter knew exactly what to do. She quickly grabbed her daughter's bowl and cup, sitting them down in a nearby basin she used for cleaning, hiding evidence of her being here at all.
A figure came out of the opening in the bushes and approached the home, disturbing the once perfect snow as another smaller figure trailed behind it, making their way up the creaky steps of the cabin and gently knocking on the door. Eleanor cracked the door open to peak out, her green eyes squinting at the figures as the wind and snow blew into her eyes .
"Hurry, come in before any heat escapes" she opened her door wider and ushered in the two, almost struggling against the large gust that came after them. It seemed a storm was suddenly picking up. With a slam the door closed, the lock quickly latching after, there was no doubt these winds were strong enough to bust the door back open if it wanted to. Turning back around, Eleanor quickly made her way to the fire, throwing in a small log that lay nearby to try and warm up the room more.
"What can I help you with today-" she cut short as she turned around and realized who exactly she had let in her home. Standing by the door, now uncloaked, was Mother Miranda, behind her standing a young boy. Her slicked back hair seemingly unbothered by the trip she had just endured, the wrap she wore over it perfectly in place, a few black feathers peaking out of the collar of her gown. The boy she was with had shaggy dark hair, his cheeks bright red from the cold, an angry look on his face showing just how miserable the journey truly must have been. He scoffed as he looked around the cabin, letting his cloak drop to the floor as he folded his arms across his chest, almost as if he was too good to be there.
Eleanor didn't visit the village often but travelers coming to her for help had told her plenty. It was only months ago she had spotted one of her patients carrying a small painting of the very woman standing in front of her, and when questioned they had told her all kinds of stories of the amazing Mother Miranda, a women who had been protecting and helping them all, healing the sick and providing food for the hungry, they had truly viewed this woman as a God amongst men. But with the good came the bad, she had also heard a few stories of people in the village disappearing in the night, and strange creatures appearing soon after to terrorize the hunters in the forests. It didn't take long for Eleanor to piece together what was happening, she didn't know exactly what, but she knew enough to realize the person behind it all was probably the one standing in front of her now. With that knowledge she quickly let out a small cough and put a smile on her face, scurrying to the other side of the room to grab a drink of her water that had been sitting on her dining table and pulling a chair out to sit down.
"As I was saying, how could I help you today?" Eleanor calmly asked the woman as she gestured for them to join her. Miranda smiled back at her, slowly approaching to grab a chair for herself, the boy choosing the stay standing where he was.
"Well," she started, "I was wondering if you'd be interested in a proposition of sorts. I am looking for uh," she paused, as if trying to find the word "an apprentice. To come with me and strengthen their knowledge, learn a few wonders of the world. I understand you come from a long line of what some would consider witches, am I correct?"
Eleanor held in her look of shock, she hadn't been referred to as a witch since she was a child, the village children hearing the stories of her lineage of woman healers and getting the wrong assumption, choosing to be afraid of the unknown and make fun of her when she had met them in the forest as she was collecting plants with her mother. She had cried into her mothers chest that night, never facing the cruelty of children before then. For generations her family helped others from all around, many traveling miles just to see them, all cured of their many sicknesses. Many had called them witches back in the day, but those were the ones afraid of the unknown, and throughout the years her family chose to only help the descendants of the people who did not judge them, knowing they were the stories that were passed around the table and told to children for bedtime, women who could cure anything and where considered a gift to know. It made life much easier to not have the wrong people know where you lived. She took another sip of her water to clear her head, preparing for what to say to Miranda.
"I would prefer not to be referred to as such a childish term, I am merely a healer, a woman who is skilled in herbology and such." she put on a fake smile as she tilted her head, looking into Miranda's eyes. She noticed a darkness behind them, almost as if she was a shell of a woman with something much more sinister inside.
"Oh, well I've heard much more than that, women who can heal anything, and also a few along the grapevine who have ended whole bloodlines with a simple curse." Miranda smirked as she leaned in closer "I know more about you than maybe even you realize."
"Beside all that," Eleanor chose to ignore Miranda's words, starting again "I fear i may be too old to be an apprentice of yours, I'm sure I'm older than you, I've already learned enou-" she was cut off as Miranda let out a laugh.
"I assure you, I know you are far too old," Eleanor's brows furrowed at the woman's words, knowing it was meant to come off as an insult but choosing to ignore it. "I was talking about your daughter."
