The Green Witch

Chapter 3 - The Stranger

Two years have passed, and now Raul not only walks with Flora (now 16 years old), but is her partner and a great help to her. One day on their daily walk, Raul and Flora come across a young buck. He’s got a very long gash on his hind leg, probably from running and getting caught from a random branch sticking out. But this was no ordinary cut, because she can see that whatever gave him that gash had something in it that spread infection, and irritation in the surrounding area. She knew what to do, but she knew that she was out of the oil she needed to help this poor creature. She needed to go on the outskirts of the forest, where the stream is, to collect the lavender flowers that possess the healing properties to cure this type of infection.

Looking at Raul, and then back to the buck, Flora says, “Raul, let’s get him to the cottage where he’ll be safe.” Raul wears a harness now that is attached to a small cart that Flora holds herbs that she collects, as well as her supplies.

Raul is a couple years older, and very strong. He is gray with blue eyes. He’s very large, the size of a small horse, or a large bear, built with muscle, but gentle. He has a wiseness in his eyes and follows Flora along their walks in the forest, protecting her and helping her with her duties. He and Flora have a way of communicating and he always understands her. Raul doesn’t always like the other animals that Flora brings home. Some time ago, Flora brought home a little squirrel that was orphaned in the forest, so they decided to keep him, and they named Tick. The squirrel pesters Raul very much, he often grabs handfuls of Raul’s fur to make nests. He also steals food from Raul’s bowl, and throws nuts at him from high above. Raul growls, but would never hurt him, he’s often agitated with the lack of peace, but together with Gertrude and Gunther, they became quite an odd family.

So on this day, Raul pulled the cart that took the young buck back to the cottage. They made his space by the chopped firewood next to the garden. Quickly, she and Raul took off again to find the Lavender by the stream.

While walking, Raul got more and more hesitant, and kept giving her dirty looks. “Oh, come off it Raul, we have to go, or he’ll die.” Flora says adamantly. She gently nudges the cart from the side before going into a brisk walk ahead. Raul hesitates, but follows anyway, looking grim from behind. She comes to the edge of the forest, and walks to the flowers growing by the stream. Excitedly, Flora runs up to the flowers and exclaims “these are perfect!” She fills her sack with as many as she can pick. With these lavender flowers, she can make an oil that will help that young buck that is injured. Lavender was known for it’s antibiotic and disinfecting properties.

Tired, she sits by the edge of the stream next to Raul - who is keeping a close eye on the surrounding area. He gives her cheek a lick, and turns his eyes back on the horizon. Flora smiles at him, and says “Oh Raul, you silly wolf, I love you too. The stream is quite peaceful, isn’t it?” They both take a drink of water from the stream and sit for a while, just taking in the scenery.

A few minutes later, Raul suddenly gives out a low, menacing growl. Flora asks “ What is it Raul?” Behind her, she could hear the whinny of a horse, and a young man jumps off, coming toward them. His name is Reed Stone, and his family owns the land and the castle in the surrounding village. He lived in Dilston Castle, and was the only apparent heir. He’s also quite handsome, but Flora doesn’t care. Her distrustful nature makes her jump up to run - but in doing so, she drops all her flowers.

Anger and irritation prove to be a stronger emotion than fear, she yells at him “Oh for Christ’s sake, look what you made me do!?” She turns to him, letting him see her displeasure.

Reed stares back at her “My apologies, miss, I didn’t mean to startle you, my name is Reed Stone.”

Annoyingly, Flora turns to look at him and says “Don’t come any closer, the wolf bites.” But, to her horror, she sees Raul approach the handsome stranger, curiously, but still lets him pet his head, ever so slightly.

Laughing, Reed casts a disbelieving look at Flora, “Really? He seems nice enough to me.” says Reed.

Flora scoffs and turns - shouting for Raul - the traitor, “Raul, Come!” Flora yelled out.

Reed shouts out “Hey! Where are you from, who are you, what’s your name?”

These are questions she would rather avoid, so she quickly dismisses him and disappears with Raul into the forest. Reed jumps on his horse to follow them, and he reasons that she must live by a body of water. There were stories of an enchanted lake with the powers to heal in the middle of the forest, so he follows the stream to the lake, but no house can be seen. Not to be deterred, he continues on. Reed was the kind of person that curiosity always got the better of, and until he can figure something out, he will try again and again. So with his true nature and curiosity taking over, he takes a daily horse ride into the forest to find this mysterious woman. But her cottage is hidden so well from the naked eye, that he always went home with no luck. At the time, he wasn’t aware that it was also protected by magic.

By the third week he was ready to give up. However, as he jumped from his horse to take a break, he caught a glimpse of her walking along in the distance, Raul in tow. She was on her daily walk, collecting herbs, and helping the forest creatures. Smiling,

Reed called out to her “I FOUND YOU!” He runs up to her.

Flora, shocked, but intrigued, asks him “What on God’s green earth? Why are you here?”

Steadying Raul’s cart, she says “You need to leave, Raul is not very fond of you at all.” But again, Raul walks up to Reed and lets him pet his head.

Reed gives Flora a knowing look and says “I think I’ll take my chances.” Flora stares at Reed and Raul, still annoyed, and not really knowing why.

She calmly calls Raul to her, and turns back to address Reed “I think you should know that I don’t like strangers, so go on.”

Reed looks at her and says “Hmmm...I think I’ll stay a little while, you intrigue me.” Flora looks over her shoulder and threatens him again, but accepts that he’s going to be more troublesome if she doesn’t engage this stranger in some kind of conversation.

She turns toward him, “What do you want?” she says.

He walks toward her, and stops to pick up a pebble, ever so gallantly, he struts toward her, seriously, and says “I just want to know you.”

None of his arrogance had any effect on Flora, she looks up annoyed and says, “Fine, follow along, do not interfere, and do not irritate me.”

Reed followed along holding his horse by the reins, taking this as a win.

For days and weeks afterward, she showed him her work, and even took him to her cottage to show him the young buck that was actually healing quite nicely. They had a nice routine, every morning Reed would show up just as Flora was starting her day's work, and they would walk and talk while doing the day's work. Flora would hardly admit it, but she was really getting used to having him around. She was really starting to enjoy his company, which she found hard to admit. Even harder to admit was that before Reed, she was really very lonely. Some days Reed couldn’t come to visit because he had work that he had to tend to in the village. It was on one of these days that Flora realized that she missed his company, and that both surprised and scared her. She realized that her animal friends were her family, but that she wanted more, she wanted real companionship.

One day while visiting, they were working in the garden, Flora smiled, and looking toward Reed, while pointing to the young buck that they had saved, she said “Looks like he’ll be ready to run through the forest again soon.” Reed envied her the freedom that she had to do the work that she did. He had responsibilities, that his sense of obligation and family duty never let him forget. He was not free to pursue his personal interests and passions. He was, quite simply…..trapped.

He genuinely enjoyed spending this time with Flora, learning, and trying new things. He was also getting very close to Raul, and they were quickly becoming partners in crime. They played, and ran through the forest floor, and especially liked wrestling by the lake. They also liked to hide Flora’s tools to irritate her, so that she stops working and comes to play with them. Flora liked having Reed around, because it reminded her of times that she used to follow along with her mom and ask the same kinds of questions that Reed was asking her now.

One day, as she and Reed were walking along the forest, Reed turned and asked her, “why do you do this?” Fondly, she remembered asking her mom that very same question, all those years ago.

She smiled, looking at him, she said “because if I didn’t, no one would.” She winked at him, and explained about the balance that she keeps, and explained the world that they live in. She still had to explain to him the magic of this world, show him the beauty that it contains, and also wanted to warn him of the evil the world holds too.

Reed was very curious, and looked at her intensely, “but why do YOU do it?” He asked.

Incredulously, she looked at him, asking, “what is THAT supposed to mean?”

He looked at her and said, “I’m sure that’s why many generations of your family, including your mother, do what you do, but why do YOU do it?” Reed asked.

Honestly, Flora never really thought about it like that. She’s never asked herself that question. Why did she stay and continue this work? Why didn’t she go off on her own to build her own life?

Intently, she looked at Reed and answered, “After my mother was killed, I didn’t really think about anything else, except her. I guess I just thought continuing in her work would keep her with me longer.” Reed looked pleased with her honesty. He gave her a little hug, and took her basket to hold it for her. She smiled and followed him as they continued their walk through the forest. She looked up at him and said, “but I do love it, in case you were wondering.” She said, while smiling. He smiled back at her and for the first time in his life, experienced true passion and love in someone’s eyes. He never saw that before he met her.