Willow: Thief
“Willow?” Lily emerges from our tent. “You’re up early!” Seems it is about time those sleeping pills wear off for everybody. It seems she didn’t watch me essentially seal two people away in a tree to suffocate to death. Good. I wish I didn’t have to do that, but if Maple would somehow find out, I don’t think it would end well. I need to make sure they don’t see what I did so that I can still be part of the family. I have three wood essences, and now I just need to channel that energy and get grandma back!
“Yeah, Cutlass and Lysander wanted to challenge me to some matches!” I wag my tail, mainly because I can’t contain my excitement.
Lily leans toward me. “Aaaaaaand?”
“And I won both matches!” I jump up and down excitedly, “This means Grandma’s coming back!” Lily jumps with me, cheering me on. I feel like I’m about to cry from the joy I feel building up in my chest. I want to start drawing this circle now! I grab a branch and start drawing the circle on the ground.
Maple emerges from the tent. “Oh? You won against them? Congratulations!” She is not as excited as Lily. As a matter of fact, she looks a bit skeptical. “What happened to them?”
“They went to get some food for breakfast since they only had enough for dinner,” I lie, “Turns out they forgot to bring their breakfast along with them, so it’s still at home…”
“I see…” Maple walks across the hill we are on, her feet contouring around the roots of the newly formed tree. Does she notice? I hope not… “Oh, that reminds me, I have an important question to ask you, Willow!”
I finish the circle, and now the only thing left to do is to stand in the center and offer the essence. I wish she would just wait. “Yes, what is it?”
“What if the elementalists want revenge and attack us with elemental magic? Is there any way to stop it?”
I walk toward the center of the circle. “Oh, that’s not going to happen,” I attempt to assuage her worries. Now really isn’t the time for this.
Maple jumps in front of me and feels for my hands. She’s inconveniently standing in the middle of the circle. “No, you don’t get it, okay? If you do this wish, every elementalist will be after us! You might be able to defend us, but what if they get to me or Lily first? There’s got to be some sort of secret to stop an elemental attack!”
As she mentions this, I spot something out of the corner of my eye. Three figures are walking briskly out of the nearby forest. Two of them are wearing elemental uniforms. If they witness anything about what I’ve done, it could get dangerous. She has a point. “Okay, I’ll tell you. You can’t completely remove an elemental spell, but you can severely weaken it. See, for a spell to be strong, it requires mental focus. If you were to do something like trip someone or something else that makes them feel pain, that would be a surefire way of stopping any attacks from getting out of hand.”
“Thank you,” Maple responds as she lets go of my hands, “That answers my question.”