Solstice Children~Episode 3, Season 1

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Episode Three

Tears filled Eve’s saddened eyes as the she stared down at the bag.

She didn’t want to open it,  but she knew she should have.

She dumped the contents onto the dirty forest floor.

meat?  fruit?  He had to have stolen this…. Or saved it all up!

She knew that this was certainly not a single ration the nobility provided everyone with.  But something else caught her eye…

A necklace was what she assumed it was. I was made of pure bronze and had strange gems strung within each circlet.

If this was what he meant, she thought, then I will wear it ALWAYS, for I will always remember Atticus.  

The forest was alive with the sounds of insects and animals, and as she slung the backpack over her shoulders, she listened to the familiar chirps and whistles that surrounded her.

As she listened to the rhythm of the woods, she lay on the uneven ground and absentmindedly fell to her sleep.

…..

The girl in the bright floral dress tended to her as the morning fog cleared.

That necklace she has is rather strange…she thought aloud.

She needed to focus, she couldn’t loose this one.

There was extreme power within the blood that flowed from the wound.  There was a feeling that came from the strange girl with the strange clothes and the strange necklace that puzzled her.

There was no way that she was a citizen of Equinox, but she was afraid that she had realized that too late.  The wound was her doing, and she would undo it.  Quickly was her preference.

There was nothing she could do now… except wait to begin her process.  Unfortunately, the girl needed to be awake.  She couldn’t lose this strange girl, she would never live with herself without finding out who she is.

And then…

She opened her chestnut brown eyes, sat up, and winced.

She reached out her hand to ease her back down, “No, you must stay down!”

Naturally, the strange girl didn’t listen.

She nearly fell off her makeshift bed as she backed away with a wild look in her eyes, “Who are you?  What have you done to me?  Don’t touch me!” she screeched for the whole forest to hear, and with a cold, trembling voice, she added, “and where is my bag?”

She decided to deal with the wild girl calmly, ” My name is Iris, and I come from Eclipsys.  I am a Solstice Child, and..” she knew it would be best not to tell her suspicions about the girl’s past aloud, “I didn’t know you had a bag with you, but I can go look for it!  And I did that to you, but it was an accident, I swear on the queen!”

“YOU did this to me?”  She winced once more from her leg wound.

“But I can undo it!  I can heal you, in just a few minutes!  You just need to stay here, with me!  I won’t hurt you, I promise,”

“And why should I trust you?”

“Because I thought you were one of those evil people from the Equinox, and I know you aren’t!”

“But what if I am?  What if-”

“What is your name?”

Without thinking, Eve said it out loud, as if this girl, this Iris, deserved to know, “Eve,”

A sinking thought crept across Iris’ mind, “They sent you here, I know it.  And most importantly, I know why…”

 

Iris slid a platter of steaming food across Eve’s lap, “Here’s the deal,” she began, as she continued to soak up the blood from the wound on Eve’s leg, “I need you to tell me everything you know about your experience, your whole story, all the things you’ve experienced up to this moment,”

“And what will you do for me?” Eve asked with a sinister tone,

“I will heal you, and you will no longer feel the pain of the wounds, and you will also no longer feel the pain of keeping the wounds of your life bottled inside of you.”

Eve’s mind spun.  How could this girl manage to sum up her life so far in a few words?  How could this girl hurt her?  In her floral dress and gentle words and actions, what could she even do?  She had food, she had fire to keep her warm, and best of all she could give Eve the gift of company, something that Eve had not had since…

“Deal,”Eve sighed, “But it’s a long story.”

 

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