Chapter 18:

Rina's memory

Maki


As the hunter drew nearer, Maki and Rina felt their hearts racing in panic. They were convinced that the potion had failed and that they were about to be caught. The hunter was now only a few steps away from the bush when suddenly, a loud noise caught his attention. A nearby fox had caused the commotion, and the hunter muttered to himself, thinking that he must have misread the footprints. He turned to investigate, but to his surprise, the footprints were gone. With a shrug, he returned to the forest, leaving Maki and Rina to breathe a huge sigh of relief.
As they calmed down, Maki noticed something familiar about the fox that had caused the distraction. She recognized it as the same one that had frightened them two nights ago. As Maki wondered about the strange fox, she couldn't help but wonder if they were being tested, however, the idea seemed too absurd to believe. Maki glanced over at Rina, but she seemed to be preoccupied with a fox, speaking to it in a way that Maki couldn't understand. When Rina noticed Maki's gaze, she panicked, realizing that she had been caught using her secret power. *rina's memory* Rina had the unique ability to communicate with animals, a power she had kept hidden since childhood. It all started when she was just six years old and a wolf attacked her. But when she told the wolf to stop, it did, and to her amazement, it spoke back to her, asking if she could understand it.
Confused and frightened, Rina nodded her head, and the wolf went on to explain that she might have the blessing of Sylvanasia, the goddess of the forest. Wolf warned Rina to keep her powers a secret, or she could be hunted by the witch hunters because talking to animals was a rare ability, only possessed by high-level witches.
The wolf then asked Rina where she had come from, but she was an orphan who knew nothing of her parents. She had grown up in the village orphanage, where the rich children from the village often bullied the orphanage kids for their lack of family. After time she couldnt resist and she had decided to run away. She had run for hours, until her legs gave out and the wolf attacked her.
When the wolf asked where she was from, Rina lied about being from nowhere, but the wolf understood, it was really obvious. And Wolf said "i know you're from that village" surprising Rina. She had never expected for the wolf to catch up to the lie. And then Wolf said "My name is Silverpelt, whats yours" Rina didn't had a Name, everyone in the orphanage called him lithia but she was sure her Name was different and she refused to use that Name. She responded to the wolf that she had no Name, "is that so? Than it would be an Honour to Name a kid that was blessed by Sylvanasia. I will give you the Name Rina, it means keeper of secrets." Rina smiled with joy and accepted the name since it sounded really natural for her. Silverpelt turned his back. "You should return to the village," he said, bidding her farewell. But then Rina said, "I want to come with you." Silverpelt was surprised and stopped walking. "You can't come with me; the forest is too dangerous for a kid," he responded. Rina replied, "But I can talk to animals. I can tell them to stop if they attack me." Silverpelt said, "Talking to animals doesn't mean you can control them. Don't follow me." With that, Silverpelt ran so fast that Rina couldn't catch up with him even if she wanted to follow him. She decided to return to the village because it was getting darker and she was scared. After she came back to the orphanage, Isolde (the oldest kid in the orphanage) hugged her and said, "I was so worried about you. Where were you?" Rina responded, "I went to the forest." The memory ended with that.

Maki


Cleembus
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