Wood Witch and the Bounty Hunter

Flora had never really been adventuring anymore. When she was training under Master Louis, she and Elise both may as well have been chained to their desks. Then she was taken to Lionsdale to set up shop, and she never really left until she ran into the woods. Even that was barely a journey.

Now she was hugging her knees to her chest and watching as Ronan started a fire. She kept her wool shawl wrapped around her shoulders, more for comfort than for warmth. It was still a little difficult to wrap her head around everything that was happening. Ronan sat down across from her with a grunt and a sigh, rubbing his neck.

"Do you know glamour spells?" he asked.

"Kind of," Flora shrugged. "I'm a little out of practice, but the theory is still there."

"When we go into town, you should try to change your hair color or something," he said, breaking some twigs and tossing them into the fire. "There might be a description of you out there. We'll give you a fake name, too."

"Kate," she said. "It was my birth name."

"Your birth name?" he questioned. "Your name isn't Flora?"

"It is," she said. "It was changed when I was taken away for my magic studies. You're supposed to give up all remnants of your previous life."

"Taken?"

"Mhm," she nodded. "Have you ever met a magic user with a family?"

"I haven't met many magic users," he said, "But I guess not."

"We're not allowed to have families," she said. "When a child is born with magic abilities, the skill needs to be refined so it can be used to service the community. They're considered more like tools that need to be used, rather than real people. That's why I was trained, then told to set up shop. And that's why I was never treated very well in Lionsdale. Lots of parents try to hide their childrens' abilities so they aren't taken away, but I guess I wasn't so lucky."

"Kate," Ronan repeated. "It's a nice name."

"It is," she agreed. "I don't respond to it, though. It doesn't feel like it belongs to me."

"Well, we can use it in town," he said. "Any idea how we can find your sister?"

"I guess we could ask around," Flora shrugged. "I can't imagine she was sent too much further than me. More likely than not, she has a shop somewhere, too. My strongest skills were in healing and alchemy, but hers were in enchantment and divination. She was probably set up with selling enchanted goods or fortune telling."

"Then we ask around about where we can find enchanted goods," he concluded. "Hopefully we won't run into trouble, but do you have anything to defend yourself with if we do?"

"Defend myself?" she asked, blinking a few times. "Uh, not really. I mean, I don't want to hurt anyone."

Ronan let out a deep sigh and hung his head. He then stood up and offered her a hand to help her up. She was hesitant to take it, and he surprised her when he put a knife in her hand. He then pointed to a tree in front of them.

"That tree is a bounty hunter and he's trying to kill you," he said. "You have a brief second to act while he reaches for his weapon."

"O-oh," she said, fumbling to get a better grip on the knife.

"Too late," Ronan said. "You took too long, and now you're dead."

"But I didn't even get a hold of the knife yet," she frowned. "How am I supposed to run to the tree and hit it?"

"You don't, you throw it," he instructed. "Hold your wrist straight, aim, throw."

He demonstrated the gesture for her once. She looked at the tree and tried to throw it, but the knife sort of just flopped out of her hand and fell in the dirt.

"I told you to keep your wrist straight," Ronan said. "You went limp."

"I'm not limp," she argued.

She went to pick up the knife and throw it again, this time keeping her wrist in place. Her aim was off, and the knife barely chipped a little bark off the tree trunk.

"You grazed the hunter's arm, barely," Ronan said. "So now he hit back and you're dead."

"I thought it was okay for my first time," Flora pouted as she fetched the knife. "Besides, maybe the hunter was surprised and I got to have a second shot."

"With the knife you already threw?" Ronan questioned.

"I had a second knife," she argued. "Two knives. And then I had a third one hiding in my hair. Also, maybe the hunter has bad aim too. And maybe he missed. He's older and his vision isn't what it used to be."

"Throw it again," Ronan said, ignoring her scenarios. "Wrist straight, firm."

She sighed and tried to throw the knife again, but her hand slipped and the knife went the wrong way. Ronan winced softly, and she gasped when she realized he had grazed his arm.

"Oh no," she said, eyes wide. "I'm so sorry, I was trying to go straight."

"It's fine," he grunted. "That's enough practice for tonight. Get some rest."

"I'm sorry," she repeated. "Let me fix it."

"I told you, it's fine."

She ignored him and moved to her bag, digging around the medical supplies and potions she had brought with her. Thankfully, she was skilled enough to make potent potions that worked in small amounts. The tiny vials were easy to pack.

She picked out one containing a blue liquid, along with some bandages. Ronan insisted he didn't need help, but she rolled up his sleeve to look at the cut anyways. She soaked the bandage in the contents of the vial, and wrapped it tightly around his forearm where the cut was.

"This wasn't necessary," he insisted. "It was a small and shallow cut."

"But it feels better now, doesn't it?" Flora asked him.

"The potion stings."

Flora frowned, then leaned down and placed a kiss on the bandaged wound. When she sat up straight again, Ronan looked like he had been smacked upside the head.

"Does it feel better now?"

"Yeah. Go get some sleep."