Making decisions.
Like the voice had told her, the garden was over grown with both weeds and food vegetables. However and in spite of all the thorns and briers that were evading her progress, Havillah was able to make out a path and find something that could satisfy her hunger both for that day and the next several weeks to come. That is, if she decided to survive on just vegetables and fruits.
For water, she found a well that seemed to be supplying the rest of the house hold with piped water. Somehow their advanced crystal technology had managed to keep the well clean and a turn of a tap would have the water flowing out and moving wherever she wanted it to be. Where it was not possible, there was nothing that a little pull of her Virtue could not solve, but the house was also so large and with every little Virtue she infused she found that it exhausted her, much faster than it did on Triberias. With time she began to get used to it and as she found Virtue and especially her Second Virtue reacted much like a muscle and the more she utilized it the more it kept on giving and kept on growing without boundaries. Where she could not siphon her Virtues directly, Havillah learnt that there were other ways of making things work out for her and just like the ancients had done before her, she found that she could manipulate her own hope Crystals and use them to run certain gadgets within the house that had been left dead for years.
Three days went on like that. Havillah cleaned the house, (not that it needed it but she did it anyway as a formality) weeded the garden and got the kitchen and bathrooms operational and every one of those three days ended much the same way, with her passed out, lying on a sofa feeling too exhausted to move her body, even with her virtues, up the wide winding stairway to the floor above and her bedroom.
On the fourth day, when all the work she could think of was done - she was stalling and she knew it - Havillah suddenly found herself with enough time to reflect. She missed home, her parents, her brothers and especially her mum.
'Is she okay?' she wondered aloud remembering the famous elder who had also been absent on the day of her trial and hearing. Havillah was not disillusioned to think that that was a just coincidence. Deep down in her heart she knew that they or rather he must have had something to do it. Her mentor, her teacher, that blasted elder Lionel must have had something to do with it. Had she known that he did not just dislike her, she would have been more careful or at least that is what she kept on telling herself. Deep down she really knew that there was no way she would have ignored another person in need. If put in the same place in the same scenario her actions would have differed very slightly even with the knowledge that she now had. For somehow despite being alone and on the run she still felt a peace that she had never felt before, even on Triberias when she was serving under her mother and that blasted elder.
'No need to think about such things...' she admonished herself.
'Truly. It will only cause you more pain and that can only work to stop you from moving forward.' That voice, the voice that had often irritated her spoke up for the first time in days and Havillah was surprised to find that she had actually missed it. Hearing it assured her that she was actually not alone and despite that other fact that her eyes were too 'natural' to see it, Havillah found reprieve in its presence and in the insights it continually offered her albeit these insights being offered in the most unconventional of methods.
'What do you mean by onwards?' she asked as her back reclined back against a gold baroque sofa, one of the several pieces she had managed to move up the stairs and into her room with the help of her Virtue.
"Serene Barrageway. I think it is about time you did something about that situation. "
"How when I have absolutely no idea what happened? If only I had known that my robes would do that..."
"There is a story behind that but so is there behind every other thing. But now, you have to go over and heal her."
"Heal her?" Havillah sat up with a most bewildered laugh hanging on her lips. "Have you met the lady's daughter? She will kill me!" she all but shouted into the air.
"Probably,but you can't know that for sure." the voice joked back but Havillah was having none of it. "Think about it Havillah, are you the kind of person who leaves other people to suffer when you know that you can do something about it?" she looked down as she seemed to ponder it for a moment. "Even when you saw Killion falling. It had nothing to do with you but you helped him and your detriment, but you still helped.That is what matters. That is what makes you you, that is what makes you special."
"Okay! Okay! Fine. When you put it like that who can resist your charm?" she replied almost sarcastically. "So, what exactly do you want me to do?"
"You are a clever girl Havillah. I am sure you can figure something out."