Chapter 7
Family
Lasinna stared at the woods before her, wondering what lay hidden in the shadows of the great trees. She’d played in these woods when she was younger; she and Owen had explored as far as the foothills to the South. But those days of youthful innocence were definitely behind her at this point. Were they ever ahead of me?
A week had passed since she’d decided to run away from home because Mage Warnett had told her she wouldn’t be accepted into his advanced studies of Magick. But after seven days, this was as far as she’d gotten, to the edge of the woods at the edge of her family’s farm. Lasinna knew if she turned around she would see the farmhouse she’d grown up in, but Lasinna had already decided she wasn’t going to turn around. Not now.
It was early in the morning, and her family still slept soundly in their beds, unaware that she was on the verge of leaving them forever. Lasinna knew this was a big moment in her life, and she was making it before the sun was even up yet. Am I crazy?
Lasinna had asked herself that question more than once over the last week, and now she wondered if she was asking herself it too often. Maybe I’m making myself crazy by asking that question. Or maybe I’m already crazy and that’s why I’m asking it.
These kind of doubts were one of the reasons she hadn’t left sooner. She’d planned on taking one day to pack, one day to plan her trip and where she’d stay along the way, and on the third day, she’d be out the door. But four extra days later and she was just getting on the road.
That wasn’t entirely her fault though. A few things had happened that were beyond her control. For one, she’d had a talk with her parents, which hadn’t gone so well.
“We heard from Mage Warnett that he spoke to you about your future,” her father had started. He was sitting next to Lasinna on her bed, while her mother watched from the doorway.
Lasinna had nodded.
“I know you must be disappointed,” her father continued.
Lasinna nodded again.
“But you must understand that we are just thinking about what’s best for you, and what’s best for this family.”
Lasinna tried to nod again, but her body refused.
“Sometimes you have to be practical, Lasinna. Life isn’t always what you want it to be. I know that’s not what you want to hear, but believe us when we tell you, this is the best path for you.”
Lasinna felt her hands clinch in her lap.
“We both know how smart you are, and Mage Warnett told us of your talent. But you could spend the next ten years of your life chasing a dream and wind up stocking books in some archives up in Dunafel instead of here with your family where you’ll be happy.”
That was all Lasinna could take. She finally turned her head and looked at her father. “If that’s what you think, father, then you don’t know me from a piece of cow dung.”
Obviously, her parents had not been happy. Her father had started yelling, and her mother had just stood there with a face full of disappointment. Lasinna hadn’t kept quiet herself, but that didn’t help matters. After it was all done and her parents had stormed out, Lasinna was sentenced to confinement in her room for the next month, except to do chores. That made it a bit harder to prepare for her departure. But if her sixteen years had taught her one thing, it was how to sneak out of her room after dark. She’d had to learn while sharing a room with her sister, but she didn’t have to worry about that any longer. Now it’s just a walk on the wind.
Her sister, in fact, had been the other thing to delay her departure. Lasinna actually had two sisters, one older and one younger, but the older had already married and moved away. She was her parents’ favorite by far. Beautiful Maria. She was always doing the right thing, always following the rules. She’d married the son of a prominent farmer from the next town over, and every month she’d send money to help with the farm as well as dresses for Lasinna and her other sister. Lasinna wouldn’t have worn dresses if she wasn’t forced to, so having her sister send her more was just irritating. Does no one understand me?
She knew one person did at least. Actually, there were two if she counted Owen, but she hadn’t spoken to him, or even seen him, since behind the library that day, so now she was down to one. And that one was her younger sister, Delphina.
Lasinna loved her younger sister more than anyone else, but Delphi wasn’t well. She’d never been well. Lasinna could only remember a few days her whole life when Delphi had been able to go outside and play, when she’d been able to have a normal life, a normal childhood. Now Delphi was practically resigned to her bed day and night. But Lasinna could still see a spirit in her sister’s eyes that she hardly saw in most healthy people.
After her parents came to talk to her, Lasinna had, of course, gone to see her sister; she always did whenever her parents were being hard on her. Delphi’s room was right next to Lasinna’s, so it wasn’t hard to slip inside without her parents knowing. Lasinna had actually liked it more when they used to share a room, but since Maria had moved out, Delphi had been able to get her own room. Lasinna knew it was for the best because Delphi needed her rest, constantly. That’s why Lasinna had become an expert on sneaking out at night. It wasn’t that Delphi would ever tell on her; Lasinna just didn’t want to wake her.
Sneaking silently into her sister’s room, Lasinna hoped Delphi wasn’t asleep, for she needed someone to talk to. The room was dark, as usual, except for a single ray of light streaming in through the open drapes of the only window. Delphi had insisted that her bed be positioned near the window, so she could look out at the world, even if she couldn’t go out and enjoy it.
As Lasinna came into the room, she stopped just inside the door and watched her sister laying there with her head turned towards the window. It bothered Lasinna that her sister was in such condition. There was so much life in Delphi, but it was trapped behind this wall that no one could break through. The previous Mage of the town had tried when Delphi had first started showing signs that there was something wrong with her, but he hadn’t been able to do anything except prescribe a few remedies that he thought would help. They hadn’t. Then Mage Warnett had come along, and for the first couple years, he really had done all he could. He’d even managed to bring in an actual Mystic, who had been traveling through Roaf at the time. The Mystic spent a whole day studying Delphi, but even though this Mystic was a specialist in Healing, she couldn’t find the source of Delphi’s ailment. Like all Mystics, if they don’t know what’s wrong or if they’ve never studied how to Heal a particular problem, then all their powers are for not. So Delphi remained sick.
Lasinna was still standing by the door when Delphi turned her head away from the window and looked at her.
“You don’t seem happy to see me,” she started.
Lasinna gave a small smile. “I never will be until I see you get out of that bed.”
“Well, that’s why you’re going off to Isolan, right? To find a cure, so we can travel the world together.”
Lasinna had to drop her eyes. “Delphi, there’s something I should tell you.”
“What? That our parents won’t let you become a Mystic because of me.” Lasinna glanced up at her sister. “Just because I’m stuck in this bed doesn’t mean I don’t know what’s going on,” Delphi continued. “But in this case, I think even the people in town heard the three of you just now.”
“Oh, sorry,” Lasinna said quietly.
“Don’t be. I’m glad you did. You should stand up for yourself. And anyways, you’re not going to listen to them, right?”
“I should,” Lasinna answered walking over to her sister’s bed. “You need me here.”
“I don’t need anything,” Delphi said, sitting up. “All I do is lay around here all day. And soon I probably won’t even be doing that.”
Lasinna sat down next to Delphi and took her hand. “Don’t say that. You’re going to be around for a long time.”
“I will. But only if you l
eave. You have to go to Isolan and study Magick. That’s you’re path.”
Lasinna nodded reluctantly, knowing her sister was right. “I wish you could come with me.”
“One day, Lasinna. When you come back as a Mystic, you’ll Heal me, and then we’ll go together.”
Lasinna could picture it so clearly as she sat there with her sister. She saw herself traveling to Isolan. She saw herself passing the acceptance test and being the top of her class. She saw herself riding back to her family and saving her sister and showing her parents that they had been wrong. It was all so clear.
But now, however, as Lasinna stood at the edge of the woods looking into the dark shadows of the trees, she had trouble picturing any of those things. They seemed far away, out of reach for a small farm girl from some tiny village in the middle of nowhere. But she felt this was the right path; she could almost see it stretching out before her. Whatever happened, she knew she was making the right choice.
Lasinna started walking. She walked forward into the woods and didn’t look back. She couldn’t. She couldn’t look back because she knew if she did, she’d see her sister’s face looking out the window. I can’t look back. Not yet.