There are only two reasons anyone from the village seeks the heart of the forest. Either they are afraid of death, or they've come to seek it. There in the darkness is clearing filled with light, no matter the weather of the world beyond. There in the bright clearing is a small hut, its thatched roof laced with flowers in ever bloom.
There in the hut is a girl whose heart-shaped face is streaked with ash. Three harsh lines that run wild down the center of her otherwise delicate demeanor. On the crown of her glossy dark head is a garland of nettle, as if the verdant leaves do not dare to sting her. She wears her hair loose and wild, down past her trim little waist. Her dress is simple and modest, cut from undyed linen.
Barefooted, the girl sits by the hearth, cradling a bright red bean, hard and shining in the palm of her hand. Just yesterday she'd brewed a tea from it for a woman from the village, just this single bean dropped into a cup of fresh boiled water. The woman from the village had said it tasted like a fruit of some kind, something sweet and refreshing and from far away, maybe, maybe something only the likes of nobility had ever tasted before. …show more content…
"Shhh," she says to the bean. "Stop your crying now. You rest here for a spell."
"I am sorry your ma could'na keep you."
"She and your da only had two goats, you see. One must go to their lord come harvest fest. The other is dead. Like you."
"Goats?"
"Goats are very sweet when they are little. But can grow very mean and strong. Like your da."
"Hush now. There'll be company
There in the hut is a girl whose heart-shaped face is streaked with ash. Three harsh lines that run wild down the center of her otherwise delicate demeanor. On the crown of her glossy dark head is a garland of nettle, as if the verdant leaves do not dare to sting her. She wears her hair loose and wild, down past her trim little waist. Her dress is simple and modest, cut from undyed linen.
Barefooted, the girl sits by the hearth, cradling a bright red bean, hard and shining in the palm of her hand. Just yesterday she'd brewed a tea from it for a woman from the village, just this single bean dropped into a cup of fresh boiled water. The woman from the village had said it tasted like a fruit of some kind, something sweet and refreshing and from far away, maybe, maybe something only the likes of nobility had ever tasted before. …show more content…
"Shhh," she says to the bean. "Stop your crying now. You rest here for a spell."
"I am sorry your ma could'na keep you."
"She and your da only had two goats, you see. One must go to their lord come harvest fest. The other is dead. Like you."
"Goats?"
"Goats are very sweet when they are little. But can grow very mean and strong. Like your da."
"Hush now. There'll be company