"Nora. Hurry up. You wanted to be in Crop Plain Vale before the sundial stroke noon." Concordia called upstairs to her sister. She was always the first one up and, today, her sister asked for an alarm. But, like many times before, the brunette slept in. Sighing deeply, the white-haired maiden walked upstairs and towards their bedroom. Peeking in, she saw that her sister was in the middle of a dream.
Walking up towards her, Concordia saw that she must've been deep within the dream to hear her call. Because Nora had the power of empathy, the eldest couldn't tell what she was feeling. And, powers never worked on the brunette while she was sleeping. But, she did know a few ways to wake her up without startling her "fragile" sister.
Placing her hand on top of Nora's forehead, the eldest witch focused her healing power upon the sleeping figure. A few seconds after, the brunette opened her eyes to meet that of her sister's. Rising up, she looked outside.
"It's already morning?" she questioned with mild surprise. Concordia tossed the sheets aside with her telekinesis and helped her sister up from bed. Taking her hands in her own, a bright light surrounded Nora and remained enveloping. Three seconds passed and the brunette was already formally dressed for a walk to their destination for today. Nora wore now, instead of her nightgown, a dark green dress that reached her ankles and brown boots. Concordia wore a similar, but light gray, dress that took on the appearance of a light misty morning. The white-haired smiled.
"It's almost noon. You said you wanted to be in Crop Plain Vale before that time." Concordia stated. Nora lightly gasped.
"Well, we better get going then." the brunette stated while walking past the door, her sister following behind closely. The girl imagined her hair in two ponytails that laid in front of her shoulders. With that image fresh in her mind, her hair weaved itself to the front while two hair bands appeared from thin air and melded themselves with her hair. Sensing her sister's presence, she turned her head to see her smiling in amusement. Smiling back, Nora made her way down the stairs.
Outside the shop, Nora and Concordia looked to see that the village was very much alive at this hour. Their friend, Lily, was already at the shoreside with her family, catching fish for market. Many women escorted their children and themselves to the forest that stood tall behind Aromavale, where they could get a glimpse of a few nymphs within the trees. The Dox sisters just gazed upon their gleeful village.
"Shall we?" Concordia asked. Nora nodded her head in confirmation, and the sisters started walking towards the gateway of Aromavale. The brunette gripped her sister's arm while she followed suit and linked their arms together in a comfortable, walking manner. A few villagers looked their way and waved to the sisters. Some men tipped their straw hats, which made them giggle, and most women curtsied before them. This made them smile as they walked on. They were treated with respect considering they protect their village. The rarest kind of protection that they ever had to perform was against Shadows.
Shadows, as they are called, are demonic creatures who lurk within the shadows of every living thing on this planet. They are one of the seven most dangerous creatures. Shadows represent the Deadly Sin of Envy, which is dangerous for many as you can guess. The only thing to do is to have a witch or wizard perform a vanquishing spell to get rid of them. Shadows never had hearts or souls which made them the embodiment of the sin. Alongside Shadows of Envy, the sisters knew, were Frights of Anger, Pales of Lust, Scars of Greed, Falls of Sloth, Maims of Gluttony, and Dooms of Pride. The sisters rarely encountered any of the Sinned, which made Aromavale more peaceful, even after being marked by war. Still, the eldest worried for her sister.
Ever since she lost her love, Concordia thought that Nora would fall victim to one of the sins. But, the brunette never did, and she dismissed it as being a powerful witch who could stand up against the temptation. Dismissing that thought, once again, from her mind, Concordia kept walking alongside her sister as they came up to the gateway of Crop Plain Vale.
The town was also in a bustle, more than Aromavale, as men made their way towards the fields, and children walked up to the schoolhouse.
"So, where do we go from here?" Concordia asked her sister. Looking at the brunette, she saw the empty expression upon her face. 'She's zoned out again.' she thought. The eldest shook her out of La La Land. Nora looked at her sister.
"Well?" she asked. Not daring to repeat the question verbally, Concordia just placed it in her sister's thought process. Realization struck her instantly.
"Oh. I usually just go to the schoolhouse, at the center of this Vale, and interact with the children. They're really kind and compassionate. So are the teachers." Nora smiled. Her sister just smiled back at the compliments she heard. At first glance, you would think that her old life never existed.
Walking up to the schoolhouse in question, Concordia gave the mental command to open the doors. They beckoned and opened wide enough for the sisters to step through with ease. Giggling at her sister's antics, Nora led her down a small hallway to one of the rooms on the right. The hall was simple, surrounded by a wooden floor and paper doorways. Concordia looked around in simple awe at the simplicity of this building. It was remarkable in her opinion. Simplicity did work wonders many times over the years.
Nora slid open one of the paper doors and stood in the entryway. The teacher instantly recognized her.
"Ah, Ms. Nora. Would you like to come in? Class is just about to start." the female teacher beckoned. The first class Nora visited was the Dance class. She smiled.
"I would love to. Just so you know, today, I brought my sister with me." she replied. Stepping out of the doorway, she made room for her sister to enter. Concordia looked at the simple class that completed the design of the hallway. Instead of wood, there was pure white tile that covered the floor. A few of the students, mostly girls and at least five boys, looked up from stretching to see their favorite person alongside the new guest she brought along.
"Well then, we are happy to invite her in our class." the teacher smiled again. The students also smiled, which, in return, couldn't stop Concordia from smiling.
"Thank you. It's a pleasure to be here." she bowed her head low as she replied.
Four hours had gone by as the Dox sisters observed each of the classrooms that the school had to offer. Basically, Nora gave her sister the grand tour of the entire area. Concordia had never smiled so much in one day, so she was happy that Nora brought her here. Right now, they stood in front of the Literacy class as her younger sister was finishing up a story about a thief of the forest and his men fighting against an evil prince. The classroom applauded and one of the students, a young girl with red-brown hair, raised her hand. The teacher asked her to stand with her question.
"Ms. Nora. Have you ever fallen in love before?" the girl asked. Nora stiffened at the question. Concordia lightly gasped. She knew what was going on in her sister's head without having to use her telepathy. Nora looked down at the ground in sadness. But, she still responded.
"Yes… I have once. But, that was eleven years ago." she said. All the students gasped at the long time lapse. Concordia looked at her sister as she said those words. Her sympathetic look towards her younger sister didn't help much to brighten her mood. A boy stood up.
"What happened? Would you mind telling us?" he asked. Nora looked at the faces of the children. They all bore worried expressions and pleading eyes across their facial features. It was not a topic she wanted to pursue, and she would scold herself, mentally, if she brought it up. But, these children wanted to know. It was the least she could do. After all, she did promise them two stories, yesterday, if they were good. And they practically behaved like angels. She sighed, bringing her hands to her chest.
"Alright… Well, it all started during a sunset under a certain camphor tree." she began.
Author's Note: Hello everyone. I hope you don't mind me saying that I didn't want to end this chapter like this. I do want to write more, but I need to give my hands, and my head, a break. I can understand if some of the things don't really follow the plot line, but they'll be explained more in the future. I took a page off of Kingdom Hearts with that "heartless" remark, but it was too good to pass up. Just to let you know, some of the characters from the actual movie WILL be in here. For example, I'll be involving Haru, Toto and Muta (for obvious reasons), Lune, Yuki, Hiromi, Machida, Tsuge, and of course, Baron. So, hope you can keep reading on while I type Eleanora's beginning story. The story of how this all occurred.
