Winter Wish

7

Nobilis Stella

"How can this be?" Luna asked in horror.

Was she really not dreaming?

She couldn't help grimacing when she pinched her arm and patted her cheek. Would she feel this in a dream? Or would she think she felt it because she was dreaming, but when she woke up it wouldn't hurt? What was the logic of dreams? She could never understand it.

"You summoned me," the sorceress said.

"I summoned you?"

"Tenebrae super te cadent et nubes lunam operiet."

Luna shuddered as the woman read these words in a very different intonation than she had used. The voice seemed to echo inside her. The words too, as if... as if... as if someone was casting a spell.

"I put those words in that book on purpose."

"Did you really write the book?"

"No, I'm too lazy for that."

The sorceress's gaze was now as normal as it had been the day before. Though emerald green in color, they no longer seemed sinister or frightening.

"Many years ago there was a girl, about your age, who dared to enter the forest."

"Really?"

The sorceress nodded as Luna fidgeted excitedly in her seat.

"Yes. Compared to your big family, she was all alone. Her parents had died, the man she had married against her will had left her, and when she was living alone in a remote part of town, she was so fed up with life that she decided to go into the woods, despite all the scary stories told in the legend. When she thought about it, even the possibility of finding me and dying in my hands seemed like a better option than living alone in a hut for the rest of her life."

Luna interrupted her in amazement. "Die?"

"Yes."

"How can that be? Who would want to die?"

Luna had grown up in a loving family, so there was really no way she could understand such a thing.

"I assure you, many people end the day dreaming about it, Luna."

"But-"

"Maybe not all of them are sincere or determined, but people can feel like death is the only option they have, especially when they are very lonely."

"That's terrible," she said in a whisper.

"Maybe..."

"And did you kill her?"

The sorceress answered this question with a bored expression. Apparently the rumors about her being a terrible killer were now overwhelming the sorceress to the point of making her roll her eyes.

"No, why would I take a life for no reason?"

"Because you're evil?" Luna muttered hesitantly as the sorceress suddenly leaned forward and flicked the tip of her nose.

"Ah!"

"Stop this nonsense!"

"You hit me?"

"It's not hitting, it's just a little warning to get your little head on straight..."

"But-"

"I brought you here because you're fun. If you're going to keep talking nonsense, go home."

"Okay, I'm sorry! But everyone has been telling me this for years. It's not like I can forget all the gossip just because we talked twice!"

Luna was back to her brave self now.

"You have a point," the sorceress retorted with a shrug.

"So you didn't kill that girl." She added quickly so that the sorceress wouldn't get angry. "Then what did you do?"

The sorceress studied her in silence for a moment, then sighed. "Of course I kicked her out of my house first, I don't like humans very much."

"Why?"

"Because you are impetuous and rather pessimistic beings who think they know everything. It makes me very tired to have you around."

Luna opened her mouth to protest, but the words wouldn't come out. The sorceress's words were not insulting or mocking, but monotone, as if she were telling a truth. She had to admit that she was not good at controlling people's emotions. Perhaps she could not be as pessimistic as the sorceress, but she was in no position to argue with her. After all, most people make a lot of mistakes when they think they know everything.

"And what did she do when you fired her?"

"She didn't believe me. She was so sure I was going to kill her that she couldn't comprehend what I was saying."

Luna giggled, unable to contain herself. "And?"

The sorceress waved her hand as if bored. "There was a terrible storm outside, the snow was blocking the front of my hut, and the poor woman didn't even have a sweater on."

Suddenly she found herself smiling strangely. She leaned forward and looked intently into the sorceress's emerald green eyes. "You took her with you!"

Of course she did. Everyone did. It had nothing to do with loving people, but for some reason this strange girl was smiling cheerfully at her, her eyes shining with happiness, as if she was very pleased with the situation.

"Yes."

"And then what happened?"

"She was harmless. In the beginning it was hard to put up with her because she was very moody and kept asking me to kill her. She was not in her right mind. But over time she started to pull herself together. I think a warm home, clean clothes and, most importantly, food that filled her stomach started to bring her to her senses."

Luna nodded, rubbing her stomach. "Hunger is hard," she whispered.

"It is..."

"So you made her your servant?"

"Of course not. I don't need such things."

"What did you do then?"

"I made a deal with her."

Luna leaned back as far as she could as the sorceress's eyes changed again, taking on the look of a fox.

There was something strange about those words. She couldn't tell exactly what it was, but there was something secretive about them, somehow challenging or threatening.

"So," she paused to clear her throat. "You made a deal."

"Yes."

"Did she want something from you?"

The sorceress smiled as she raised one of her eyebrows. "You got that right."

Luna wanted to ask her what happened. She really wanted to know, she couldn't help it. But something stopped her. What would she do if her question led to an agreement? Was the sorceress good or bad? One moment she thought she was a compassionate and lonely woman and the next she found herself afraid of her. So even though she didn't want to admit it, she was a little afraid.

"Where is she now?"

The sorceress rose from her seat and began to walk across the room. Her steps were slow and measured. Luna couldn't take her eyes off her, so she hugged herself and tried to calm her body.

"Not in this world," the sorceress said in a whisper.

"What does that mean, that she's dead?"

The woman said nothing. In the far corner of the room was a kitchen. Luna hadn't noticed it before, of course, but now she could see it clearly. She frowned in surprise when she saw the sorceress place a large pumpkin on the counter and begin to clean it. She hadn't answered her. Was she dead?

But wait a minute... What did the sorceress say?

"Many years ago there was a girl, about your age, who dared to enter the forest."

Maybe she had grown old and died? Since she said many years ago, that was quite possible.

She waited in silence for a while. The sorceress was now cutting up the huge pumpkin, carefully cleaning each orange slice and placing it on a board. She wasn't even looking at her. Perhaps she had forgotten Luna was here?

Hesitantly, she got up and approached her.

"What are you doing?" she asked, her voice timid.

Apparently, unlike in the dream, here, of course, she was not as brave as she had hoped. What frightened her most was undoubtedly the sorceress's uncertainty.

"I'm preparing dessert for you."

"For me?"

"Yes."

It might have been the strangest thing she had ever heard in her life.

"Did you prepare dessert for that woman?"

Why had she asked such a thing?

The sorceress seemed to be starting to have fun again, shrugging her shoulders as she laughed lightly.

"I have to tell you, sorceress, you scared me a little."

Her lips curled into a wry smile as she turned her eyes, now emerald green, back to her.

"Just a little?"

"Yes. After all, if you wanted to hurt me, you would have done it by now."

"That's true."

"And if you wanted to hurt that woman, you could have just shut the door in her face."

After all, how long could she have survived in the blizzard, hungry and tired? She would probably have frozen to death before she could move on to the new day. The sorceress wouldn't even need to do anything.

The woman smiled as she placed the seeds in a bowl. "I told you, Luna..."

Luna looked at her intently, swallowed.

"You are an interesting person."

"So are you!" she heard her shout. She didn't really mean to shout. But instead of feeling ashamed of what she had done, she couldn't help frowning. "I don't know your name, so I'll tell you."

The sorceress chuckled and turned her eyes to her. Now Luna's aqua green eyes and her emerald ones were focused on each other. The sorceress didn't even open her mouth, but Luna heard a voice in her head. It sounded like the voice she had heard in the forest. It was a little creepy, very clear but strangely echoey.

"Nobilis Stella..."

That was the sorceress's voice, wasn't it?

"Stella," Luna whispered with a smile. "Is that your name?"

"Yes. At least part of it..."

"Can I call you Stella?"

"If you like," laughed the sorceress.

"Then I will."

Luna was relieved to make the woman laugh again. Surely she would have preferred this happy version of herself to the sly one.

She was smiling herself as she rolled up her sleeves to help the sorceress.

"You are a very interesting person, Nobilis Stella, let me help you!"