Days Later...
I take a deep breath as I inhale the forest air and with slow movements I quietly arm my bow as I carefully aim at a deer that was feeding on grass.
With a smooth move, I shot an arrow towards the base of its ear, it gave a small bleat of pain and collapsed onto the ground.
I approached it as its breath became faster and shorter with every second passing by. Gently, I caressed its body to give it comfort.
"I'm sorry..."I whispered as it gave me a weak grunt before its pupils dilated and its breathing came to a halt, signaling its death.
I took out my hunting knife and started cutting through the body, taking the meat and putting it in a sack.
After that I began to head out of the forest, taking some herbal plants with me for my sister, Mae. The sky was getting dark, signaling the near end of the day.
It took a while but I managed to get out of there and was soon met by my hometown, Mornfal. I first went to the butcher shop to sell the meat.
"Diana, were you expecting a visitor today?" Robert, the butcher, asked me as he started counting the gold coins before giving them to me.
"No, why?" I asked, there was no reason for anyone to visit me. Other than Mae, I did not have any other family that I did not know of.
"There was a carriage that came by and one of the men asked where your house was." He explained.
"What did it look like?" I asked, giving him the sack of meat.
"Eh, Fancy I guess?" He said going to the back of his shop, leaving me confused.
I hurriedly went back home to see that Robert did not lie at all.
In front of my house stood white and gold carriages, there were some men outside, tending to the horses.
"Excuse me! What is this?" I asked one of the men, he was wearing a white uniform whose hems had fake gold trimmings, had a powdered wig on, and had fairly light skin.
"How is that your concern?" He asked with a hint of humor in his voice.
"It's my house! What are you-!"I started explaining before being rudely interrupted by my front door that swung open.
"Oh! Thank heavens, you're here!" Mae said as she came out of the door and hurriedly made her way towards me, shooting dirty looks at the men.
"What is going on Mae?" I asked as she pulled me inside the house.
"Ask them yourself." She told me, leading me to our living room where 3 men in powdered wigs and fancy clothing were sitting, the middle one had brown hair and a long brown beard with gray streaks.
Well, only 1 man was sitting, the other two were both standing on each side.
"Who are you?" I asked, the man in the middle was sipping on tea and staring quietly at both of us.
"What is this? I asked for Fletcher!" He yelled out. He was staring directly at Mae with a look on his face that pondered whether or not she was stupid, to which I beg to differ.
Mae opened her mouth to say something but quickly closed it and instead looked at me to explain to her. "I am Fletcher." I announced another look of confusion passed through his face before he spoke out.
"Foolish girl, I meant Thomas Fletcher." He explained as if the answer was obvious.
"What is your business with him?" I asked, getting straight to the point.
"I don't have to answer you! I am asking where he is!" He shouted at me as I rolled my eyes.
"He is six feet under the ground." I declared, my voice full of sarcasm.
Only silence was heard as the man processed the information I had just given to him and wondered if I was lying.
"Are you quite sure?" He asks, after a moment of silence. "Yes. He died in his sleep." I told him.
"Who are you?" He asked.
"I told you, I am Fletcher. Diana Fletcher." I stated.
"What are you to him?" He questions as he stood up and began circling me, observing me from head to toe.
"I believe it is fairly obvious," I said, he stopped his movements and instead met my eyes.
"Answer the question." He orders sternly.
"I am his daughter," I announced, gritting my teeth. He comes to my house and orders me around as if he owns it. Unacceptable.
"Does he have a son?" He asks.
"No." I was offended at this point.
"Did he teach you anything?" He asked, now standing in front of me.
"He taught me everything." I answered.
"Are you any good?" He asks.
"Now, what kind of question is that?" I retorted. If I wasn't feeling offended already than I would be at this moment.
"You are a woman. You are only good for the kitchen." He stated, with no shame whatsoever.
"Watch your mouth." Mae warned, anger filling her body. I could not blame her though, Mae hated men mainly because of the way her father treated her growing up.
"Silence." The man sternly said. Only a few minutes worth of conversation and Mae already despised him with every fiber of her being as did I.
"Who are you?" I asked, from the moment I met him he had not introduced himself at all.
"I am Lord Berne, advisor to the king." He announced with a small smirk on his face a raise in his right eyebrow. He looked smug as if he expected us to bow. Which he does not deserve.
"Why have you come here?" Mae sneered, her face full of judgment but she was calming herself down.
"I have come for Fletcher but seeing that he is dead, it seems I will have to rethink the situation..." He said, his voice trailing off as he finished his sentence and ended it with a deep sigh.
"Might there be lodgings near here?" Berne asked after the awkward silence. "Of course there is, with a town this far off, there should be at least one." He said, answering his own question as he left the house while the 2 men followed after him.
Mae and I followed after him as well, just to make sure he left but before he did so, he turned around and spoke yet again.
"There might be a chance I might hire you instead, given you were taught by Thomas himself but I would not hold my breath." He told me as he finally left and ordered a coachman to find him a decent inn.
Mae sighs and closes the door and with utter silence walks away to our kitchen.
"Are you okay?" I asked, following her to the kitchen where she sat on a chair.
"Yeah, I guess I was just...worried?" She answered, looking around our kitchen.
It was not an ordinary kitchen that most usually see, ours was filled with all types of plants, the strangest things inside jars, a recipe book, and a brewing pot. If they had seen our kitchen, they would have burned both of us at the stake.
The folks here in Mornfal couldn't care less about Mae's kitchen experiments, she is a healer despite her young age and she does a good job at it too, she once brought an old man back to life. That was an eventful and shocking day.
"There is nothing we have to be worried about," I assured her, looking into her icy blue eyes. "We will be fine." I continued as a small smile started forming on her face.
"Yeah...now help me clean up the kitchen just in case." She said, breaking the moment as she got up from the chair and started fixing the mess.
It took a while but we managed to make the kitchen as normal looking as it could get. We hid the strange ingredients as well as her book under a trap door that was covered by a big red carpet. We were safe, for now.
Time passed on and soon enough it was dark outside and we were in our rooms trying to sleep. But I couldn't, I was still thinking about the earlier interaction.
If they do decide to hire me in my father's place, it would be the best opportunity to continue his legacy.
I then thought about what Lord Berne had told me just before leaving.
There might be a chance I might hire you instead, given you were taught by Thomas himself but I would not hold my breath.
Maybe he's right or not but the world does not treat women the same as they would a man and that was a sad reality.
Turning my head towards the side, I saw Mae fidgeting in her bed, she was staring up at the ceiling of our shared bedroom while her fingers played with one another, either she was cracking her knuckles or cleaning her nails but it all seemed as if she did it subconsciously, too deep in her thoughts to notice anything.
"Mae?" I softly called out her name to grab her attention.
"Hm?"
"Are you okay?"
She was visibly startled by this question and turned her towards me and looked at me for a moment, "I'm fine, why do you ask?"
"Your fidgeting." I bluntly pointed out and in an instant she stopped and told me that it was all fine and nothing was wrong.
I wanted her to tell me the truth and be honest with what worried her but she kept insisting she's fine and told me to just go back to sleep.
Of course, I didn't want to but she did have boundaries and I decided not to push it further and just go back to sleep.