Chương 26: XXVI. Black Hart Event

CONGRATULATIONS! YOU ARE NOW A LEVEL 3 [COOK]!

"That is some of the worst egg pottage I've ever seen, Ashy. How on Loam are you alive?" Melissa said, fanning the smoke away from the pot. The eggs bobbed in the gruel-like stew, and I think some of the potatoes still had skin on them – ignoring the whole issue with nothing being cut evenly, let alone properly. At least it was fragrant, though it was because of the six cloves of garlic I used and the cayenne pepper that masked the ingredients bobbing together.

"Are ya goin' to eat any of that?" Melissa said. She put on her thermal mitts and began pushing me to the side. I was about to shake my head, but Melissa had already grabbed the pot and disposed of the pottage in the bin. The egg and potatoes crushed the peony's petal, and the burning liquid singed against the stem. The steam wafted up, and Melissa had already turned around. She pulled out some carrots and onions, and slowly began to cut them into proper, equal portions.

"Flora's Piss, Melissa, what is your problem?" I said.

"Where do I even begin, 'Ashy'. You don' show up for your parents' sickness and have Addy deal with it. You assault him in the tavern and throw a mug at his face – and the only reason you ain' in a Gaol somewhere is because he's soft on ya," Melissa said, her knife work on the carrots sped up, each strike becoming louder and louder as it hit the cutting board.

"You mock his outfit design and try to show everyone up – and that's not including this Moovia nonsense. And that's if I was only concerned with Addy." She turned around and waved the knife at me. The tip dripped carrot juice, and the point glistened under the gaslight.

"Yer first day back, and you ignore the people here. You come into my shop and wish it burned down and then get into a fight with me – and ya still haven' ever apologized. And now Addy gets a Tulip that looks like ya cared halfway and I get… what on Loam is that abomination? What exactly does Addy see in ya? Torment, what does Jasmine see in ya?" I stepped back, fingers clamping down against the kitchen table.

"Put that knife down, Missy." Melissa's hand stopped waving the blade about and flipped it into the air. She caught it by the hilt and the knife pointed backwards. She raised it to the sky and slammed it down against the cutting block, lodging it firmly into the wood. She then opened the drawer underneath and pulled out a small little box, flicking it open and pulling out a cigarette.

"You'se lucky that I can' stab ya myself, Addy would suspect me first of all people," she said, raising her hand to her lips. Melissa casts [Spark]! A Magician's Flint and Tinder I waved the smoke away from my face and coughed, but Melissa took another hit.

"Trust me, I'd get rid of ya too – ""Good Protector, Ashy. This is the reason I'm not even sure if I'm jokin'. You take everything as a tick for tack. What's yer excuse? I 'bullied' you in school? I was eight years old, an' ya constantly fought. I am so tired of pretendin' that you didn' have it comin'. Ya ignored everyone who wasn't Addy, didn't participate in anythin' that wasn't a book or farmin', and even now.

Flora's Piss, it's like ya can' even win any amount of grace with ya if you happen to be in that 'ledger' nonsense." She took another long drag. The embers against the paper burned until the stick was eaten halfway. Melissa inhaled and closed her eyes, exhaling the smoke into my face. So I reached up and slapped her face. The cigarette dropped on the ground, and her cheek was swollen red. Her blue eyes watered and she glared at me.

"Piss off ya cunt. Everyone in school liked ya. Your mom's a [Weaver], you had all the friends, and Rhyvesta's sake, you're marrying a [Paladin]. My Parents are dead, and you're right, I missed the funeral – but that had nothin' to do with ya. You bullied me for not wantin' to hang out wi–""No, you daft cunt!" Melissa said, stepping on the burning cigarette and balling her fist. Her shoulders were squared up with mine.

"I was tryin' to leave it behind! I extended my hand to you three frikkin times, and I even apologized for that! YOU ARE THE ONE WHO WONT LET IT GO. And Ashy, you might be friends with Addy, but if ya keep actin' like such a Rhyvesta-Sworn Bitch, I will tell him to cut you off or I will make him." I inhaled this time.

"Missy, I don' even like him–""Good Protector, Ashy. You an' Addy keep swappin' to this 'hick accent' as that cunt in the tax-house calls it to talk to us. You know how degradin' it is? I ain' talkin like this to be a 'local', it's how I learned Empyrean. And ya CLEARLY like him enough to bother him to make me join yer damn [Guild], have him [Bind] your damn [Familiar], and ya can' even pretend to be nice to me?"

"Missy – " I tried, but she pushed into me. Her cheek was red, and her eyes furrowed.

"My Ma is sick with [Dragonpox]. Addy can' heal it, and there ain' no healer in Oakheart that can. She was also a single mother in this hell-hole of a town. We wasn't thin since I was dietin' or somethin' Ashy. Jazzy's mom is a [Whore]. The only people in this town that did well was Addy's family – an' you won a Rhyvesta-DAMNED scholarship." She inhaled.

"Fine, since no one else will tell ya to yer face – when I heard ya was back, I had figured you at least did right and became a [Doctor]. But Nah, ya wasted yer chance to go back to fucking farmin' of all things. And now the GODS themselves bless ya as Nyla's chosen?! And you're still pretending to be a [Farm Girl]? Yer a selfish cunt that wasted her life and is so angry at everyone else for yer own mistakes – ya would have been better as a [Doctor].

I wouldn't have liked ya, but ya'd at least be useful to everyone in some way. And ya ain' even trying to do Nyla–""Addy is bindin' – I mean, Adrian is binding my [Familiar] so I can advance on my quest, Melissa. You also joined my guild to advance my quest. I… haven't been doing my [Farm Girl] stuff in awhile," I said. If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it. Melissa stared at me. My chest was heavy and I lowered my head.

My feet were thirty centimetres apart, and a single step was a change of one or two centimetres. There was grout between each of the tiles of the kitchen, and the dirt had begun to stain them brown.

"Can ya please just say you're sorry and you is gonna try to be a good sister instead? I am so tired of fightin' with ya, an' as Elora says, 'Everyone's Weave is Worthwhile'. Addy and Jazzy must see somethin' in ya, so can ya please extend whatever that is to me too? Otherwise, Ashy, I am gonna have to hurt my husband – " Melissa said, but I raised my hand. There was a lump in my throat, and my body was tensing – and I forced past it. Melissa smelled like stew and carrots, and she was small.

My arms wrapped around her back and pulled her in, and her body tensed. Her shoulders eased and she wrapped her arms around my back. I shivered, and forced myself to remain.

"Sorry, Missy. I will… try … to not let it get to me. But, I uh…" Melissa's grip tightened.

"Fine. Thank you, Ashy. I know it ain' gonna happen in a day, but I need you to stop actin' like such a bitch. You'se a [Hero] after all, an' I can' compete there. I don' wanna compete, since I feel like if we got into a fi–" she said, but then her body shivered.

"Torment, you are so cold." But my eyes were already glazing over. Snow fell around me, and Melissa's Symphony danced around mine. Snips and cuts made the melody, and the pulling and knotting of thread made the harmony. The world was made of thread and linen that connected each of us, and a pink one flowed out of Melissa. Black thread followed my body; my thoughts, my dreams. Some interlinked with Melissa's pink, leaving and reweaving in time and distance. Snow followed a particular branch.

Melissa's words echoed on the string –"I don' wanna compete, since I feel like we got into a fight I ain' gonna survive." A woman with black hair and green eyes slit Melissa's throat, her clawed hands returning to something more human. Melissa's hot blood became threads, and her blue eyes stared at me. The grout and tiles became a field of snow that drank the crimson too deeply. She opened her mouth and agonal breathing ruptured into my ears. The woman lapped the blood off her fingers and smiled at me, her face…

familiar. But my attention was down to the North. Footsteps came before the absence that created them; a suggestion of a person created where the snow parted, not daring to touch. It frailed over the emaciated curve of Her left cheek and the plump showing of the right. It dripped into the hollow of Her left eye, and caught in the void of Her eyelashes on the right. Snow avoided and created Her figure. The void bent down, snow filling where She was not.

From the South-East, branches and twine appeared into the facsimile of scissors, and its words made my ears bleed. She responded in kind. The snips and snow talked to each other in harsh music. I looked at Melissa who continued to breathe – continued to choke.

"Do you want this, my sweetest daughter?" The North asked. I shook my head. I was cold. Adrian would hate it. No – Screw, Addy. I would hate it. The creature made of thread and twine snipped in the air, and the snow became thread. The Void-Of-Snow turned its emptiness towards the Thread-and-Twine and I had learned of their names. Her voice… I had heard it in writing and in absence, but now it came as snow and song.

A Maven young that was yet to be born and has always been born, and a Matron so old that the air became decrepit – she was and will be dead. Their voices were complementary in the same way that a baby's laughter complemented its tears, and the same way a breath exhaled was a breath inhaled. It was Symphony. She was of the Symphony." Come then true bread, Quick'ning the dead, Whose eater shall not, cannot die," My hand seized and my body lurched forward. A goblet of snow and twine weaved together.

The Thread-and-Twine grasped it. ABILITY UNLOCKED THE WEAVERS COVENANT A [ERROR! CLASSNOTCOMPATIBLE] may fill a chalice with [ERROR! CLASSNOTCOMPATIBLE] and extend all buffs to members of her [ERROR! CLASSNOTCOMPATIBLE] who partake in the drink. The Void-Of-Snow touched the goblet of snow and twine. The inscriptions of cuts and lines slowly became circular with hands, and the thread became snow.

ABILITY MODIFIED The Sister's Covenant An [Acolyte] may fill a chalice with [Sanguine Font] and extend all buffs to members of her [Cult] who partake in the drink. My blood pattered into the chalice to make it so, and I knelt down and fed it to Melissa. She stabiliz–"Get off! I like ya, but yer freezin!" Melissa said, and my eyes returned to the kitchen. I stumbled back and looked at Melissa. My breathing was heavy, and Melissa was very much alive.

"Missy, I need ya to – " I said, but then… Drink my Blood? I'd have do that discreetly, I had enough sense to figure that out.

"Need me to wha–""As Elora weaves," Adrian's voice interrupted us.

"I heard the yellin' and felt the Symphony change – and I come down to see ya both huggin'!"

"And?" Missy said, turning her entire attention to Adrian. She kept her hand on my wrist.

"There ain' gonna be any indecent thoughts in yer heads, boy?"

"Indecent? Nah, Missy, was just thinkin' my two favourite women was finally becomin' sisters."

"Not even in her dreams, 'Lord Skye'," Missy said, releasing my hand and turning her head to the oven.

"Food's done, Lend me a hand to bring it out… Ashy?" I inhaled, and turned to Adrian.

"Adrian," I said. The tone must have been serious since they both stopped smiling and turned to me.

"I will not be paying you back. Pa said it is bad to charge debts in Family. And Missy, I will get you a better Peony." Addy's smile faltered and he glanced at Melissa.

"So you two are sisters and I wasn' even–""Missy doesn't like the Oakheart Drawl, Addy," I said, and Melissa chuckled. He rolled his eyes though.

"Great, two women to henpeck. Anyways, I'll see you at the table."