Terr Aeternum

Introduction

Dire wolves were not a rare sighting in the forests around our village. Wolves in general were a common sight around these parts, which adds to them being overlooked. Sometimes, farmers would kidnap wolf pups from their dens so they could raise and train them to guard their cattle, not knowing until it was too late whether the Pup they stole was a gray or a dire wolf. Dire wolves cannot be trained. The Wild runs deep in their blood, calling them home. Few understood that. Most believed it was the work of the devil, how the Dire Pup could love them and be loyal just to turn around and kill everything they were trained to protect. The villagers have forbidden the animals, in fear of angering any of the Gods with their presence. It seems that they forgot that the Goddess of the Moon favors the creatures. Now her patience has run out and she is ready to make the villagers remember her.

Aylin Stormborn did not know of her destiny yet. She was just an outcast in her village, wanting what no other seems to want: freedom. She was the girl who always wanted to be outside, climbing trees, running through hills. Anything. Those outside her family shunned her for it, pushed her down and tried to tame her. She was done with that, for the wild ran deep in her veins.

Kiran Westbrook was different from all his friends. He liked wild things, yes, the same way he liked Aylin Stormborn. She was unique, and she did not hold the standards of everyone else in the Village. She was his ticket out of the boring routines of village life, he just did not know it yet. She will change his life forever.

Nymphaea never had to deal with the life of the human village, but she always saw it. Always watched it. She never understood their need for specific roles or complete order. One day, while wandering about on her own, she ran into two of the villagers. Normally, she wouldn’t have been so surprised, only they were far from their village. She knew if she didn’t follow them, they would surely die in these woods.

Desideres normally minds her own business, but when she sees two villagers deep in the woods being followed by another elf, she decides to join in. Soon, she realizes that not everything is as it seems, and this is more dangerous than she thought it could be. It’s going to test her, and her new friends, and it might actually kill them should they fail.

Chapter One: Some Rather Unfortunate Events

The village was surrounded by woods. At first the trees of the forest were spread out, easy to walk and run through. The deeper into the wood you went, though, the closer they got and the denser the foliage got. It was quite beautiful to look at, though many feared what was lurking in those trees. Not many went into the woods, just the hunters, lumbermen, and healers.

Aylin could not wait to get outside. She never understood how the other girls her age were content with sitting inside during their classes while the boys got to learn outside. Granted, the boys were learning skills like hunting, archery, and fishing; and the girls were inside learning what stitching techniques to use on which type of cloth and how to be good home-wives. She had abandoned her stitching long ago, having grown tired of constantly poking her fingers with the needle. From her spot by the window, she could see both the boys outside and the girls in the room with her. Every now and then she would watch a few girls pause their perfect stitching to glance at her and gossip to each other in hushed tones.

Sighing, she turned back to the cloth in front of her and got to work. Well, she tried to get back to work, but instead yet again stabbed herself with the needle. Throwing it down in frustration, she decided that she had had enough of that for today. The Teller, a small older woman with graying hair and deep wrinkles, walked over to the young girl and took her hand in her own.

“If you were to be softer with the needle, you wouldn’t stab yourself through,” she commented, pushing on Aylins’ poor finger. The girl yanked her hand away, a scowl starting to grace her features. “You are to be a proper lady when you are older, which means you need to learn this-” she paused to lightly smack the girls face, “-and stop scowling.”

Aylin didn’t flinch from the Tellers’ hand like other girls. She had become used to the old crow reprimanding her for not being perfect like the others. She sat there, the neutral expression on her face looking like it was made of stone. The others did not know what startled them more, her calmness or her lack of flinching, but they understood that she was not normal. She was not like them. They were merely twelve years old, but they knew she didn’t fit in with them.

The sound of the Town Hall bell echoed in the distance, signaling the end of the workday, and the end of class. Sighing in relief, Aylin cleaned up her ‘work’ and grabbed her belongings, placing them safely in her satchel. It was required that all girls be walked home by one of the boys, but somehow she always ended up left behind, (or ‘forgotten’ as the other girls laughingly put it). The fact she also lived farther from town than everyone else also had some cause to it, too. So, she took her time getting everything put away, like she normally did.

“Aylin, your escort is waiting for you,” the Teller commented, not looking up from the needle work she was currently inspecting. Aylin looked up in surprise, her gaze meeting that of a boy named Kiran. He was basically the opposite of her, and for some reason he was the unlucky one to have to walk her home today. He gave her a small smile, which caused the girl to be surprised yet again, since it appeared to be real and not forced. He offered her his arm, which she hesitantly took, unsure of the boy beside her. The other boys kept their distance or ignored her.

“You do not need to walk me all the way home,” she commented after a bit. “It is a long way, and you probably don’t want to be anywhere near me.” He turned toward her, his eyes searching her face before they stopped on hers. She held his gaze, unsure whether this was a challenge from the boy. If it was, she was not going to back down. He smiled at her again and continued to walk towards her house pulling her along since her arm was still around his. The people of the Village looked at the pair in confusion, taking in the fair lad and the dark lass as they walked through the streets towards her home, commenting on the opposites quietly to each other.

She was short, shorter than most of the other girls; with long, curly, sable hair and tan skin. What unnerved people the most, though, were her crystal eyes. They were not quite white, but they were bright and seemed to see right through everyone. She was beautiful, not that she or anyone else would admit it, and she mostly hid herself on her parents’ farm outside of the village. People would often whisper about how unfortunate her family was, since she was attacked at the edge of the woods and were frightened of how she survived it.

On the other hand, Kiran was tall with blond hair, fair skin, and brown eyes so dark they almost seemed black. He was always either outside with the other boys or with his family in town. Aylin knew what they were saying, talking about how he should be escorting someone else. Someone they think would not corrupt him like they believe she would. She had yet to realize that he was ignoring all of them. He was intrigued by the girl and could not comprehend why everyone else would shun her just because she was different. The more he thought about it, the more he realized how everyone in the Village tried desperately to act alike. They did not want to be different. It frightened them.

They walked in silence, each lost in their own thoughts. As they neared her property, she slowed down, not wanting to force the poor boy to walk any further. He looked down at her in confusion, not quite understanding her reluctance to walk with him.

“You don’t have to walk me any further, I won’t force you too,” she mumbled. Looking towards her house. The boy surprised her again by shaking his head and pulling her along, yet again, as he continued to the house. He did not stop until they were on the porch right in front of the door, where he smiled down at her as he finally released her arm. She was completely and utterly confused by his actions, her mind not quite being able to form a coherent thought. The silence was interrupted by her mother opening the door and jumping in surprise.

“Well, hello!” She exclaimed, throwing the door open the rest of the way. Her words must have caught the attention of her father, who appeared at the door seconds later. They looked back and forth between the two, waiting for their daughter to say something about the boy on their porch.

“Oh,” she commented, her brain finally working. “Momma, Da, this is Kiran. He escorted me home today,” She mumbled the last part, finding it hard to believe as her mother’s smile got even bigger.

“Come in, come in,” her mother said enthusiastically, ushering the boy inside as her daughter groaned and followed them as her father closed the door. “It’s so nice to meet you! Usually, the boys leave her at the edge of town, so we never get to meet them, it has been rather-”

“Momma, that’s enough,” Aylin interrupted her, the mood in the room having dampened a bit with her mothers.

“Oh, where are my manners?” her mother asked as she stood up from the dining table. “Would you like anything to eat or drink, dear?”

“Momma I’m sure he has to be-” Aylin started, only for Kiran to interrupt her.

“I would love some water, if it would be no trouble,” he answered, then smiled sheepishly at Aylin. “My apologies for interrupting you.” She sat there with her mouth opening and closing, much like that of a fish. Her mother and father found it hilarious that the boy kept doing that to her, and it made them smile that someone was behaving in such a respectful way around their daughter. They too noticed the physical differences between the two, but they had yet to learn the personality of the boy, so they were not judging anything. They quite liked him as of right now.

They all sat around the table, Aylin’s mother and father asking him questions and talking about random small things. Eventually, he did excuse himself to head home, since it was almost dinner time, and he did not want to intrude on their meal and had to get home to his. As soon as he was out the door though, her mother turned to her and squealed like a child as she ran up to her daughter. Aylin let out a yell as her mother squeezed her, having not expected the woman to act in such a way. After she had all but crushed her daughters’ ribs, the older woman went to the kitchen to make dinner. She turned her head to her father as he chuckled at his wife's antics.

“I like him,” he mumbled, walking after the love of his life, leaving Aylin standing in the doorway too stunned to speak. She was knocked out of her daze by her younger brother knocking her over in his efforts to get to their parents. He let out a laugh as he landed on top of her and jumped up before continuing his adventure to the kitchen. She groaned as she sat up, only to be ran into by a smaller body- her younger sister. She was still new to walking and running and often ran into people or other objects. She decided to just stay laying on the floor, not bothering to risk getting up and being knocked over again.

She loved her siblings, but sometimes she wished she could strangle them. Only a little, though. Just enough to get them to calm down. Any time she voiced this out loud, her parents would laugh at her and pretend to strangle each other before tickling her until she begged to be let go.

~~~~~

It went that way for the next week, leaving Aylin more and more confused with the boys’ actions. He seemed to enjoy walking her home, which was a surprise to everyone in the Village, including Aylin, and refused to let her walk by herself. Whether she would admit it or not, she was starting to like these walks after a week, and now she found herself looking forward to them. The small smile that had shown on her face disappeared when she looked at the dish in front of her.

Bread was not supposed to look like that. Aylin was completely sure that someone had sabotaged the dough while she was not looking, and now she was staring at the lump in front of her in complete disappointment. She was good at cooking, since she would cook with her mother most nights of the week. She enjoyed it, really, and now someone has ruined her bread. Frowning, she threw away that batch and started a new one, making sure not to take her eyes off it the entire time. Once she was satisfied with the dough and it had risen, she put it over the fire to cook. She watched it then, too, not trusting the people around her. After a while, she had the Teller help her get it off, so that the woman could inspect her work.

“Beautiful bread, Ms. Aylin,” she commented, smiling at the girl. She was happy the child was not a complete outcast, and cooking was more important than stitching anyways. What she failed to notice while she was praising Aylin, was one of the other girls knocking over a log from the fire straight onto the wooden floor. Aylin did notice it, however, and quickly grabbed the water bucket, dousing the log as girls started screaming and running every which way. In their chaos one of the younger girls was shoved into Aylin, knocking the girl into the fire.

At this point, the boys had rushed into the building to see the chaos unfold. The Teller was ushering girls outside as the smoke from the fire made their eyes water. No one seemed to notice Aylin on the floor by the fire, where she had fallen after pushing the younger girl off her and away from the flames. She stood up, trying to make her way to the door, only to fall to her knees. A pair of arms helped her up, and she turned to see Kiran there, holding her as he forced her towards the door. Once they were outside she promptly collapsed on the grass, taking deep breaths, and curling on her uninjured side. All the commotion caught the attention of the villagers, who came running to see if their children were okay. The boys brushed off their concerned mothers while the girls clung to their fathers desperately.

Kiran let his mother inspect him, knowing it was the only way for her to believe he was okay. After she let go he turned to look for Aylins parents, his eyes widening as he saw them crouched over the girl on the grass. He made his way over to them, shocking both his parents and them. His eyes roamed the burns on the side of the girls’ body, shocked that she was still awake.

“Ma!” he called out, gaining the woman’s attention. She rushed over and gasped at the sight of the girl. She motioned for her father to pick Aylin up and follow her, while Kiran helped her mother up and followed closely behind.

“Can you help her, Emma?” Aylins mother asked, only for her to be ignored.

“Kiran, I need you to go to the well and get a bucket of water,” she instructed, turning to her son. “You need to be quick; I need that water as cold as it can be.” He left right after that, the bucket in his hand. She rushed around the room, grabbing various herbs and oils from the shelves, and setting them on the table next to the one Aylin was laying on. She had her father leave the room with his wife, the woman crying hysterically because of her daughter’s wound. Kiran rushed back in, the now full bucket in his arms. He quickly grabbed the cloth strips, knowing that they would need them later. Emma had quickly removed the clothing from around the wounds, making it easier to access them.

After that she did not really speak, just gestured at things she needed as she worked. Her focus was solely on the girl in front of her and trying to make sure she got all pieces of wood out of her burns before she bandaged them with the salve she had prepared. Once she was sure of her work, Kiran helped her by holding Aylin still while she applied the salve and dressed the burns. He had to use more force than he initially thought he would, the girl being a lot stronger than he would have guessed with her tiny frame. After a couple hours she was finally done, and had Kiran carry the now sleeping girl over to a soft cot in the next room, meant for this very reason. Kiran sat with the girl for a bit, a confused look gracing his features as he thought about the events of the day. He had seen Aylin push the younger girl away from the fire, putting herself in it instead. He was not sure whether the girl knew Aylin saved her from it or not, nor was he sure that Aylin even knew who she was. Because of this he yet again could not fathom why no one else likes her. He had failed to realize that both his and her parents were watching him as all this went through his head. They decided to leave them be, Aylins parents comforted with the thought that their daughter was no longer alone.

~~~~

Aylin was startled when she woke up in an unfamiliar room, and a bed that was not her own. Panicking slightly, she tried to sit up to get a better look at where she was only to let out a cry of pain as her entire left side lit up like it was on fire. The noise startled the sleeping boy that was in a chair by the bed awake, his eyes searching the entire room for danger before resting on her and her half-up position. She watched as he jumped up, his eyes widening as he became slightly frantic.

“No, you need to lay down before you stretch the burns,” he said softly, lightly pushing her right shoulder, so she lay back down. She let out a huff of annoyance as she did so, not wanting to be confined to a bed or even in one room. She wanted to be up walking around and such. Everyone knew of the terror she could be if she was confined to her bed, having heard from her parents about how she acts when she is sick and bedridden. They would catch her sneaking out of her room to go to the horse pens or streams near the house.

It was not as bad as it was when she would get sick, though. She was in a lot of pain, but then again, that did not stop her. One day Kiran had come home to find the girl carrying a bucket of water from the faucet to the house. He immediately grabbed it from her, much to her dismay, and helped her inside while she complained. She wanted to be moving, going to class, being around people even if they did not care for her. She was often found helping Emma as much as she could, since she had some knowledge of bandages and such. She liked Emma’s company and liked to listen to her stories while they were together. If she were not there in the evenings, she was in the kitchen helping Kirans’ father with skinning and preparing any game he caught on hunting trips, most of which would be sold to the rest of the people in the village.

It became common for her parents to come over and have dinner or tea with them. Sometimes they would bring her younger siblings so that Aylin ‘did not forget about the rest of her family.’ She rolled her eyes at that comment but stayed silent and let them come. Kirans’ family seemingly enjoyed her company and her help, though Aylin could not figure out why. It was during one of these dinners that the town bell started to ring fast, meaning there was an attack or an announcement of high importance. Both families hurried to the Village Square, finding everyone there, all equally as confused as them. As far as Aylin could tell, all the hunters and foragers were accounted for, so unless someone went against the Council and went into the forest themselves, no one was attacked. The Council rose on the steps of the Town Hall, their arms crossed and donning their ceremonial robes.

“Tonight, the Council has made a decision,” the Eldest started, projecting his voice across the Square. He looked to the one on his right, the only woman on the council, and motioned for her to continue. She stepped forward very slowly.

“Tonight, we all agreed to stop waiting in fear of the next attack. To stop fearing what is in the forest around us. We decided to forsake the Goddess of the Moon, and her creatures,”

A collective gasp rose from the crowd, breaking off into whispers and shouts of fear and anger. Many people supported the Goddess of the Moon, the women especially. They believed that the full moon on the night they gave birth was her blessing for the child, and the wolves in the woods around us were our protectors from the beasts that lurk there. To forsake any God or Goddess, not only risks the wrath of that being, but the others as well. Aylin and her family fiercely worshiped the Goddess, and all the other deities, like many of the others. She did not know what she would do without her Goddess and feared what was to come, she turned in circles, searching for the priest that interprets the will of the Gods, and could not find him. He was always present in matters dealing with this, but this time he was nowhere to be seen. The Council waited for the villagers to quiet down before continuing.

“Now, we know you all fear the Gods and Goddesses, rightfully so, but this one has brought us nothing but pain, grief, and fear! To show you we have no reason to fear her wrath, a select few of the hunters were chosen to go into the forest and hunt down the Goddesses dogs, and on that they were successful! We have not seen her wrath…” The woman’s voice along with all other sounds faded from Aylins ears and was replaced by a painful ringing. Her mother moved in front of her, saying things that fell upon deaf ears. Aylin could not breathe, her heart racing as her family crowded around her. She felt like she was pulled backwards before she could only see black.

She was standing at the far edge of her family’s field, gazing at the trees in wonder. They were so tall! She was so carried away by their beauty that she did not realize the danger that was coming towards her. A beast lunged out of the woods, right onto the little girl. She let out an ear-piercing scream that caused her parents to come running towards their daughter, her mother crying out at the sight of her baby girl standing still, covered in deep gashes and blood.

They did not know how or why the beast left, but they did not waste any time taking the girl to Emma. Aylin remembered the whole thing. She remembered the paws on her chest, the breath on her neck, the claws in her legs. She also remembered the wolf, one larger than she has ever seen, ripping the beast off her before it could harm her more. She remembered the animal licking her face, helping her stand. She remembered the eyes that looked like fire. The fur that was darker than the night. She never forgot her kind wolf.

Days turned into weeks. Since the hunters started taking down wolves, there had been more beasts coming into the village. Each night they brought forward the wolves that had been slain that day, and each night Aylin prayed that the kind wolf was not one of them. She soon realized that none of these wolves were as big as her kind wolf, a thought which made her both uneasy and relieved.

Slowly, people stopped being on edge about the wrath of the Goddess of the Moon and pretended that everything was normal. Aylin was finally released from Emma’s care, though she had to promise to stop by every few days for dinner. At school she was still an outcast, still the topic of gossip, and yet Kiran still made sure to walk her home every day. They talked about their classes, their hopes, and sometimes even love interests. Whenever the last topic would come up, Aylin could never think of any boy that she would want to marry. Instead of ridiculing her like she thought he would, Kiran just nodded, before poking her side and asking, with a sly smirk, if there were any girls she would marry instead. She always turned red at this and shoved him, before asking him that same question.

“I don’t understand how they could just decide to stop worshiping her,” Aylin mumbled, her eyes staring at the sky above them. Kiran glanced up from the piece of wood he was carving, concerned at where she was going with this. “I mean, the Priest wasn’t even there when it was announced, and no one has seen him since,” she turned on her side to face him. “Isn’t that at least a little bit strange to you?”

“Sean said it would be better not to question it, though he doesn’t agree with them, either.”

“Well, I didn’t ask what ‘Sean’ thought, I asked what you think, Kir” Aylin quipped, flopping onto her back in the grass. Kiran set down the half-finished carving of a bear he was working on and rolled down next to her, chuckling as she scrunched her nose at him.

“I think that if something did happen to him, it’s because he didn’t agree with what they were doing,” he paused, making sure the small girl next to him was still listening. “Which means that if a couple of kids spoke out against them, the Council would have no problem making something happen, so they would disappear.”

Aylin turned to her only friend and saw how he was scared that she was going to do something drastic. Gently, she took his hand in her own and held it, not knowing how to comfort him. They laid like that for a couple of hours, finding comfort in the presence of the other. If what Kiran said was right, it meant something bigger was going on and the people in charge were leading them down the wrong path.

~~~~

That is how her friendship with Kiran developed over time. The two would walk together every day, and afterwards they would either be at his house, or at her farm. He didn’t truly understand how she could be so at ease near the trees, given what happened to her as a child, but he figured if she could, he could as well. They spent many hours just barely inside the forest, and he listened as she ranted about the Councils’ decision to forsake the Goddess of the Moon. He agreed with her, believing that all Gods and Goddesses should be worshiped for the things they contribute, but what could they do? They were just children.

They weren’t supposed to worry about what the consequences of their leaders’ actions were, they were supposed to play and learn and be stupid and make silly mistakes. They weren’t supposed to feel like the weight of the world was on their shoulders. They weren’t supposed to worry about whether or not people would start dying or their crops would cease to grow. They weren’t concerned about looks or crushes or silly childish nonsense like that, they had each other, and they shared the weight that they felt was on them.

Soon, it had been two years since the fire at the school, her burns had healed, and Aylin just added them to her armor. The Teller, after having enough of Aylins’ “wrath” and attitude in the classroom, along with fearing her behavior would transfer to the other girls, approached the Council with an unusual request. She requested that Aylin be switched to the boys’ teachings, so she did not have to deal with her. After much consideration, the Council decided to agree, only if Aylin still took cooking lessons every other day or so.

That is how it was for three years, and in those three years Aylin excelled far beyond what anyone had thought. She had found something she could be herself while doing, and that made those who cared about her immensely happy. Aylin had grown into a beautiful young woman, her long hair even longer, normally pulled back into tight braids, her skin even more tan from being outside, and her eyes remained bright. The scars never faded from the fire, and while many commented that she should cover them up, she decided to tell them to fuck off and showed them off like the ones from her attack. She was the finest archer, able to shoot the center of the target even from horseback. Her survival skills were excellent, and she could hold her own against all of the boys. All except for one, that is.

Kiran was excelling as well. He matched Aylins’ skills with a bow, and surpassed her in terms of survival skills; he was the only one she had difficulty with when it came to close combat. He had gotten taller, much to Aylins dismay. His body had filled out to match his height, making him seem like a bear. The villagers always had something to say about the odd pair, often seeing Kiran jokingly resting his arm on Aylins’ head, causing her to turn and punch him every time. They caused quite a stir anywhere they went.

What the older adults failed to see was how Aylins eyes would graze over the other young women when they passed by, or how some of those women giggled when she found them attractive enough to wink at them. Kiran would shake his head at her antics, knowing how it would end, and that he would have to cover for her later in the day. He didn’t mind, she would cover for him whenever he wanted to have fun, and he didn’t have to worry about her judging him if he wanted to fool around with a man instead of a woman every now and then. They spent so much time with each other, covering for each other, and were overall just so close that people would often ask them if they were dating.

Their parents found it hilarious, placing bets on how long it would take the two to get together. They even went as far as to talk about grandchildren; guessing gender, number, age range, names, and this last time was looks. They were in the middle of arguing about hair color when Aylin and Kiran came inside, appearing startled at the fact that Emma was holding Tara, Aylins mother, by her hair while their fathers watched with amused expressions.

The two barely glanced at each other before slowly backing out of the doorway, much to the glee of the mothers. After a while, though, they came back due to hunger. They had had a rabbit shooting contest, and after they each got two rabbits they started arguing about who had the best shot. Not being able to decide, Aylin stormed into the cabin, Kiran casually walking in after with an amused smile adorning his features.

Aylin didn’t think of Kiran in the way she knew her mother had hoped she would. He was her best friend, basically family. The idea of kissing him is entirely gross and foreign to her. However, her mind had drifted back to a conversation she had had with one of the young women earlier in the week. The woman had asked her if she had ever thought about hooking up with Kiran and another woman, which caused Aylin to pause in her actions and glance at her. She didn’t particularly think Kiran would be into something like that, but she couldn’t say that she had. She decided to just shrug her shoulders before inching back down the woman’s body, silencing any other questions she could think of.

Aylin wasn’t someone that the young women could really say no to. Most of them were curious about what it would be like to be with another woman, and she had zero problems showing them. At first she was conscious about all of her scars, even though she was proud to wear them. It was one thing to show them off while working out or practicing, but it was an entirely different concept to have them visible during sex. Soon she realized that they were part of her appeal to the others, making her seem strong. Making her seem like she could survive anything and make sure the others did, too.

~~~~

Slowly, a feeling started growing in Aylin. At first it was unnoticeable, a trick of the mind or a dream you can’t quite remember. That soon turned into something more like an itch you couldn’t scratch, and no matter how much you try nothing seems to satisfy it. It was unbeknownst to her that her best friend was experiencing the same thing, same feeling. Some days it pressed down on them both, suffocating them in its weight. Eventually they shared what was happening, and surprised each other. They didn’t realize until then that they weren’t alone. They haven’t been since they met.

It was one of the bad days that Aylin felt she was going to explode, and it showed. She threw hard punches, not even trying to hold back. After the third man yielded, the Instructor sent her inside to cool off. Wasn’t his best idea, but he didn’t know what else to do. The Teller, on the other hand, cursed the man for making her deal with the storm that just walked in.

“Just sit and read something, Aylin, I’m not going to try to make you stitch something,” she sighed, motioning towards the shelves that lined the walls. Aylin only shrugged, not wanting to interact with the older woman more than she had to.

Kiran kept glancing towards the building, waiting for something to happen. He knew his best friend, and he had a feeling that this wasn’t going to end well. His opponent took advantage of his distracted state, and tackled him to the ground. Kiran easily recovered though, muscle memory kicked in and soon the other man was pinned under him, tapping out of the match.

“Miss Aylin.” a voice called, stealing her from her thoughts. “It’s not time to leave yet, you must finish the day with everyone else,” this caught the attention of all the other girls, halting the class.

“I would rather not.” She breathed out, turning from the window to the woman. She knew that she would be in trouble for her actions, having already disrupted class and now speaking out of turn to the Teller, but she really couldn’t stand to continue sitting there and doing nothing.

Whispers broke out among the other girls, along with looks of confusion thrown at her. She found it amusing that her refusal confused them, though she thought that wasn’t a hard thing to do. She made the mistake of showing how it amused her, for the Teller caught her amusement and frowned.

“You must finish your day!” she exclaimed, catching the attention of the boys and their Teller. They all started wandering to the door to see what was happening.

“Why should I? What reason could you possibly think of that would make me want to?” her voice raised, matching the Tellers’ own as she stared the older woman down. The boys had now entered the room, wanting to see the outcome of this. It wasn’t the first time she had refused to do something in class, but it was the first time it had disrupted both groups of young adults. She knew she was going to have to face the consequences of this stunt.

“It is your duty,” the Teller seethed, her face red with anger. Aylin glanced around the room, a sly smirk gracing her face. She met the gaze of Kiran, who gave her a slight nod. He knew what she was thinking, and he was ready for it. He moved to her side, and everyone thought he was going to try to talk her down, calm her.

“I don’t think it is.” She stood, fully facing the Teller, who took a small step back as she did so. “You’ll have to catch me first.”

And they ran for the trees.