Destiny

After Luke told his heartbreaking story I felt horrible for blaming him the way I had, so I tried unsuccessfully to get back on his good side. I gave him a giant hug and repeated over and over - probably sounding like a whiney girlfriend - that I was so very sorry. My attempts however were a complete fail. Luke was angry and obviously didn’t want to be touched since he violently threw my arm out of the way and stormed off.
I contemplated on running after him - like I should have - but instead I decided it was probably better that I leave him alone for a while. I guessed that he just wanted some time to think.
I began to feel a little awkward after a while though. You know, when your sitting around a bunch of people who just witnessed your silly attempt to right things with a guy you obviously like. And you can hear them trying to hide their whispers because they don’t want you to find out that they are talking about you? Yeah, so I too - like Luke - got up and walked away form the fire.
I only got five feet away however when I heard my name being called. Hoping it was Luke I spun around with a big smile on my face. My happiness faded when I realized it was only Owen.
“Oh, hey,” I said a little disappointed, Owen must have caught my tone.
“It’s aright, don’t be upset. Luke just needs some time to cool off, he has been through a lot.”
“True,” I agreed. “So, I noticed you have different a different eye colour than the rest of the sorcerers,” I said, trying to switch the topic.
“Yeah, I guess you could call me the ugly duckling,” he laughed.
“Join the club, we have T-shirts,” I joked sadly.
“Count me in, although you’re probably worse off than I am,” Owen said with sincerity.
“What is that supposed to mean?” I eyed him distastefully. If he was trying to be funny then he totally sucked at it, although he was probably right about the whole me being worse off than him thing.
“Well,” he started. “Everyone already knows who you are, or at least has an idea.”
He was right, I could never go anywhere and expect no one to not already know my name, It’s a fame that I never had a choice with, it chose me for some strange reason.
“So what do they think of you then? Since you’re different and all?” I was curious.
“They don’t do much anymore,” he said.
“Anymore?” I asked with confusion and hoped he’d elaborate.
“Well, when I first got here they used to think I was some sort of miracle child that had come to save them; like they think about you, but I wasn’t strong or in any way a leader as they hoped I‘d been. Once they figured out who I really was… they gave up on the brainstorming, I’m kind of a misfit.” He shrugged.
“I know what that feels like,” I said, feeling his pain. Owen stayed silent, and I thought about what he had said before.
“What did you mean by, when you first got here?”
He looked at me and held my gaze wondering if he should tell me. I saw the colour in his eyes grow a shade darker, but hoped he‘d tell me. The silence was beginning to feel very awkward and I almost asked him a different question when he said,
“Like you, in a way, the witches found me, and saw that I was in trouble...” His voice trailed off.
“Oh,” I said. But he just stayed quiet again, unwilling to tell me any more, though of course I was still curious. “So, what’s the deal with you and her then?” I asked hesitantly looking in the direction of the campfire; he shot me a look; raised one eyebrow. “I, mean-” he cut me off,
“Ava?” he asked, with a grin on his face.
I looked at the ground, feeling like an idiot for asking him about her. He wrapped his hand around my waste and led me forward, smiling down at me, I must have looked pathetic. He started laughing, and that had caught me off guard.
“What’s so funny?” I stared, confusion obviously flooding my face.
He looked at me again, with what looked like tears in his eyes, yet he was now laughing to himself, “ You are worried about me liking her?”
“Yes,” I admitted shyly.
“What gave you that idea?” he said, more serious now. For sure I thought he was joking, my eyes widened at the thought.
He paused in front of me making me stop as I fixed my eyes to the ground. He lifted my chin with his soft hand, sending shivers throughout my entire body. As my gaze met his, the wonderful eyes that I had fallen in love with looked almost hurt, making me feel embarrassed and like such a fool, but I couldn’t seem to pull my head away.
“Violet, what’s wrong?” he urged, how could I argue against his tone, it was so, how do you describe… wonderful!
“I-I,” I stuttered but then found my voice, “I just thought, well you two, I thought she…” I guess I hadn’t found my voice. Blushing I finally found the courage to jerk my chin out of his soft fingers, and he didn’t try to stop me.
“Oh, Violet,” he smiled, he obviously knew what I couldn’t say.
“You think I love Ava?”
I nodded, hoping he really didn’t, then again hoping he did because I didn’t even know him.
“She whispered something to you, and then just looked so happy to see you when we came back from visiting Vivian,” I pointed out. “And you basically held her when you waked back to the fire together and-” I was cut off by Owens deep laughter.
“Ava is my sister, Violet. Well half sister,” he said, still smiling to himself. “What she whispered to me was… Well let’s just say she was just worried.”
“About what?” my eyes flashed to his, then back at the ground. I almost felt embarrassed to be asking him. I mean like it was any of my business what him and his sister talked about.
“About me,” he paused. “And about Luke.”
“Luke?” speaking his name made me twinge. Was he still mad at me? I wondered.
“Ava and Luke have been friends since, well, since she had found him in the forest, and she’s just worried about him.”
I still didn’t understand, “Worried about…?”
“Him in general, you saw his eyes tonight, she’s just afraid he might well, turn on us.”
I stared straightforward, but I wasn’t seeing anything, my mind was on Luke and the possibility that he might turn on us. I cringed at the thought of it. No I argued to myself Luke would never… or would he? No, he couldn‘t… could he?
“And you?” I asked, clearing away my thoughts of Luke. “Why would she be worried about you?”
He answered quicker than necessary I realized, “Sisters always do.” He looked away, but before I could say anything more Owen asked, “So, why were you in the forest in the first place?”
He was obviously hiding something, but I was too tired of arguing to even care. “Well, you must surely know,” I said.
He gazed at me, hoping I’d give him more than that.
“You’re serious, you don’t know?” I asked him, he stayed quiet.
I rolled my eyes at him.
“That doesn’t help any,” he said, still looking down at me, confusion submerged his perfect features; I slipped around him and started walking again. He quickly caught up.
“I’ll give you a hint,” I teased, “Xavenera.”
“Yeah okay, what about them?” He seriously didn’t know? I was intrigued by how slow he was.
“Are you kidding me?” I asked, which sounded more teasing than it was a question. At first I thought he was only playing with me until I saw that his face showed no emotion. “Doesn’t anyone tell you anything around here?”
“Sometimes,” he admitted. “But I’m really nobody important so-”
“The Xavenera had attacked my village,” I cut him off this time. “And they were after me because well, you know, I am the Golden child,” I air quoted, and was sure he hinted the sarcasm in my voice, but seemed to ignore it.
“So that’s what Ava was talking about,” he mused. It seemed that he was really concentrating on something. He shook his head then smirked at me, looking rather evil.
“What, why are you looking at me like that?”
His face smoothed into a calm smile. “Every time I look at you,” he paused for a moment, looking for the right words to say. “I feel at ease, like I don’t have to be afraid of being myself,” he said.
“Why would you have any reason to be afraid?” I asked, confused at the sudden confession he was making.
“No body ever gives me a chance,” his eyes locked onto something in the distance. “Since well, at first, I mean.” He looked at me again, pain stricken. His eyes wandered my face as if they were searching for the right words again. He lowered his head.
“Owen?” it was my turn to be curious yet again. I gently placed my left hand on his shoulder. He looked at my hand, then at me, biting the corner of his bottom lip deciding on whether or not he should’ve said anything in the first place.
I waited for him to say something, and it seemed like hours had passed of him just looking into my eyes when he suddenly spoke again, “I have a secret,” he choked out.
I smiled a little; we were finally getting somewhere with this. “We all have secrets.”
“No,” he flashed me a look that showed what looked like worry. “I’m lucky to even be alive right now!” He looked away from my scared expression.
“What are you saying?” A million more questions ran through my mind, but I decided to ask the most obvious instead of putting pressure on him.
He finally found the courage to look at me again, and gently squeezed my shoulders, as he came in closer to my face. “I don’t want to scare you,” he lowered his eyes so he couldn’t see the expression that now stained my face.
“Too late,” I smiled. “You had me from hello,” I tried to be funny, you know, to lighten up the mood. It seemed to work because he started to laugh.
“Let me ask you a sincere question,” he looked at me again, his irises more silvery ever yet.
“Shoot.”
“Could you ever love someone, who,” he bit his lip. “Someone who was different from the rest?” He impatiently scanned my face, looking for fear.
I couldn’t believe the sense of direction this conversation had taken us. “Define different,” I shivered, and Owen let go of me and turned abruptly, his back to my face. He raised his fingers to his temples and rubbed them in a circular motion.
“Owen?” I asked, not knowing what just happened, was it something I said? I asked myself.
“I know you like me Violet, maybe even love me. But could you accept me for who I am, ever love something…” he dangled the sentence for a second. “Could you ever love something,” He repeated. “Something like Luke?”
I stood frozen to the spot, finally being able to recognize the pain and frustration in his voice, but what did Luke have to do with anything?
He turned back to me, this time putting his warm solid hands on my cheeks and bringing his face forward once again. His silvery eyes darkened a little; melting through my thoughts.
“Violet,” he whispered my name, but I thought sounded more sweater when he spoke it.
“Don’t be scared,” he continued. “I won’t hurt you.”
My eyes were fixed to his like if I were to shift my gaze I might miss something important. I believed him, that he wouldn’t hurt me, but why would he have any reason to hurt me? His eyes flickered making me flinch, but he didn’t release me from his strong hold on my face.
My eyes widened with fear and shock combined as I felt my entire body tense; I no longer stared into his relaxing awestruck eyes, but into the eyes of a Xavenerian. for every breath I took my adrenaline climbed higher. It had felt like an eternity that he held my face in his hands until he finally let me go and I fell backward, hitting the ground. I clenched my mouth shut and held my gut, trying to calm my nerves; I had never been that close to a Xavenera that long without one of them trying to attack me. Owen knelt down a few feet away to let me collect thoughts; I was afraid to look at him. Afraid to see the pitch-blackness of his coal coloured eyes.
“I’m sorry,” He apologized sincerely, staring at the bewilderment on my face; I gathered the strength to look at him again, and when I did his eyes were back to their calm soothing silver.
I tried to untie the knot that my stomach had formed by clearing my thoughts, and asked the first question that came to my mind.
“I know this is probably not the best time to be asking,” I paused, to look at his expression; Owen looked at me with concern.
“I was wondering if you could tell me about the Plan?”
Owen let out a sigh of happiness, probably because he believed I was not too upset with him. Which I wasn’t. I mean he did give me a real big scare, but who was I to say that he was like all of the other Xavenerians. Well all accept for Luke, but I pushed that thought to the back of my mind. The last thing I needed was to be upset.
“I guess,” he smiled and helped me to my feet.