The cold breeze made Vanya shiver. Her heart was slowing down back to its normal pace with each step she took. She was breathing in for three, holding for three, and exhaling for three, just as Rhohaz had asked her to, which she surprisingly understood amidst the chaos in her mind.
Rhohaz looked to see her not as disheveled as before. It was as if a storm blew through her a moment ago. Her lips had turned back to their light pink color and her eyes were not as rounded and frightened. He watched his step and guided them across a path more comfortable for Vanya’s feet while he let her hold his arm close ever since she gripped it tightly and refused to let it go. Her broom was on his other hand with remnants of the herb paste that he managed to wipe off of his face before deciding to take Vanya with him, lingering between his fingers.
Soon they saw people gathered at a building similar to the brick houses with thatched roofs, but a tad larger in size. It was the school building. There were about a dozen gathered in a circle looking to the sky with heavily puzzled faces as if they were seeing something of odd nature circling above the clouds.
Nobody really noticed Rhohaz and Vanya enter the area until Timmie, with his whispy blond hair sticking out like a sore thumb from the crowd, looked around absent-mindedly, spotted Rhohaz, and immediately walked over seeing the leader standing behind everyone.
“Rhohaz…oh!” Timmie stopped for a moment seeing Vanya next to the leader.
He quickly introduced himself, “I’m Timmie. We have met before at the infirmary, only briefly,”
Vanya gave a quick nod back to say, “I’m…Va–Jade.”
“I know. Everyone in Shalom knows your name by now,” Timmie replied with a sly grin gazing at her hand.
Vanya had not realized she was holding on to Rhohaz’s arm so tight until Timmie looked at her fingers choking Rhohaz’s arm as if to drain it from all its blood.
“Well, I take it you two are well acquainted then,” Timmie commented with a smirk to which both Rhohaz and Vanya moved away in a beat taking their own arms to themselves.
“What’s the commotion? We heard someone scream,” Rhohaz quickly asked hoping to divert the conversation that was about to unfold. He knew Timmie well enough to know that if he did not nip it in the bud Timmie would run with it and make up some story to entertain the crowd gathered here today.
“Oh well, it's Betsy…again,” Timmie said rolling his eyes and pointing at the roof.
They all followed Timmie’s gaze to see nothing obvious sticking out. The sun shone on the thatched roof and the empty sky with spots of clouds in the back with nothing out of the ordinary.
“Betsy? I don’t see her,” Rhohaz said taking his hand to his brows and squinting harder. Vanya followed him to equally see nothing.
“Oh, she’ll come around soon. She’s been circling the roof ever since this morning and Tarin only spotted her moments ago. Some of us have been here for hours and no one saw her,” Timmie spoke, sounding relaxed and bored compared to the alerting screams Vanya and Rhohaz heard earlier implying there was something more of an urgent nature happening.
“Is she…” Vanya started, regardless of Timmie’s relaxed nature, to go ahead and ask anyway, “...trying to kill herself or something?”
Vanya held her breath waiting for Timmie’s reply for she thought the only plausible reason a woman could be up on a roof was probably to jump off of it.
“Hmmm maybe. I wouldn’t really know,” Timmie replied scratching the end of his chin making Vanya surprised to see him so disinterested in the matter of someone’s life.
At that moment, a woman at the front let out a gut-wrenching cry sending Vanya to tremble hearing it. It was the same shrieking cries they had heard earlier, only this time they were closer and louder.
“Tarin! For Gods’ sake stop it!” another man shouted from afar but Tarin did not seem it care for she belted out another cry, “Betsy, no! Don’t do it!”
Vanya held her breath again this time following the woman’s, Tarin’s, gaze to see a head poke out of the roof. She waited a moment to suddenly let her jaw hang.
“A cow? Betsy is a cow?...” Vanya huffed in disbelief. All the commotion for a small cow covered in locks of light brown hair standing confidently on the roof of the school building, “...All this time I thought it was a girl.”
Timmie burst out laughing listening to Vanya and shook his head, “Don’t let Tarin hear you. She, in fact, considers Betsy to be her very own offspring. That cow has been pampered more than anyone I’ve ever seen.”
Rhohaz set the broom he had been carrying all this while down beside Vanya and stepped ahead leaving Vanya with Timmie. He got to Tarin who had started sobbing seeing her cow Betsy at the edge of the roof.
“Rhohaz, help her, please! She’s never like this. I am not sure how she got up there and what she’s doing. She’s been missing for a day. And…and…she’s been cursed. Someone is playing with me,” Tarin went onto word vomit as soon as Rhohaz held her arms.
He listened to every word she repeated over and over while asking others for more information. Vanya watched him be patient even while Tarin sobbed loudly and straight in Rhohaz’s ear, snot gliding down her face and onto his shoulder. Vanya wondered how he had not moved away from the woman already.
Listening to Tarin start repeating everything all over again Vanya looked towards Betsy, now nearing the edge. The cow’s eyes were staring at the sky and its body was as steady as a rock even on the uneven roof.
Vanya found it odd seeing a cow so nonchalant even with the loud outbursts of Tarin. She saw Betsy’s eyes rounded not even blinking once. It’s jaw-fixed and breath-light. Something was not sitting right with Vanya. She thought for a second, giving the benefit of the doubt, that Tarin might be right.
“What does she mean when she says Betsy’s been cursed? Like someone cast a spell on a cow?” Vanya asked Timmie, almost on a whim, and watched Timmie look at her with a proud smile.
“Ah! Well, Rhohaz would bury me alive for saying this to you but yes, you're absolutely right.”
“A spell like…like magic?” Vanya jumped on her words. A rush of curiosity flooded her brain.
But Timmie only nodded holding his tongue.
She thought for a moment then rolled her eyes and punched Timmie in the arm, “Stop playing with me.”
“I’m not!” Timmie looked to her disgusted holding on to his arm in pain.
“Yes, you are. There’s no such thing as magic. And if there is, no one’s allowed to use it,” Vanya spoke, confident in her answer for she, like all the children in Esmeth, grew up with teachings that magic has been proven time and time again as just a label that was used to mask things that were unexplainable. And once the mystery behind it was solved it was no longer magic.
Her father and his court made it a part of the law in the Northern Kingdom that magic was merely occult sciences that were usually used for illegal activities, and anyone claiming to use magic should be handed into the authorities by any lawful resident and would be rewarded handsomely. The so-called magicians were in turn burnt at the stakes in display to what would come upon anyone engaging in deceiving the residents of the Northern Kingdom. It had been close to two decades since the last execution had occurred. Magic was no longer a word used by any of the residents of the Northern Kingdom. It was merely a distant memory.
“Oh how confident you are that no one’s going to break any rules,” Timmie rolled his eyes looking away from Vanya rubbing his arm that was throbbing from Vanya’s unexpected punch.
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“Rules?...” Vanya started, “It’s the law–”
“BetSY!” Tarin burst out in cries again seeing her precious cow moving to the edge of the roof once more this time looking like it would jump off with no care in the world.
The men gathered around and quickly moved about getting a ladder and some rope. Vanya watched everyone shuffle around.
“Need a few around the back,” she watched Rhohaz direct some men around. He looked different from who he was at the council hall. He was up on his feet, confident in his decisions, and clear and concise in his directions. Vanya was slightly surprised to see a new side to Rhohaz, a side she did not know he possessed or was capable of.
Everyone moved away making space seeing the men at work. Soon, Tarin’s precious cow, Betsy was lassoed and hauled down the roof and onto the ground where its little hooves wobbled before it became stable and its eyes blinked for the first time since Vanya first saw it.
Tarin ran to her cow and hugged her. The rest of the men climbed down the roof ready to be showered with thanks only to get bombarded by Tarin about how someone had hurt her cow while lassoing it. A loud argument started bubbling up. One man lashed out at ungrateful Tarin and the rest followed. Rhohaz quickly got involved trying to simmer everyone down. However, it was not Rhohaz who finally got everyone to stop shouting at each other.
“You are alive!” a little boy shouted excitedly, leaving the crowd to fall silent in confusion.
The boy ran across the crowd and into Vanya, hugging her legs and wrapping his small hands around her. She looked up in shock to see the entire crowd, who had failed to notice her before, staring at her. Even with having hundreds of guests devour her as she walked down the stairs to ballrooms while being announced as the princess of the Northern Kingdom, she had never felt such terror as having the residents of Shalom staring at her so intensely as if she had grabbed the little kid and made him hug her by force.
She gulped not knowing what to say and looked to the kid. He was smiling at her gleefully. She gave an uncomfortable smile back at him.
“Jac! What are you doing? Come here, boy!” a man scurried past the crowd and grabbed the boy away from Vanya.
“I’m sorry,” the man quickly apologized to her and walked Jac to a corner and away from everyone’s gaze.
Vanya watched the crowd observe her a bit longer as if she was barged on them unannounced, before turning to Rhohaz. They all huddled around the leader and started speaking in whispers.
“I love it when they make it this obvious,” Timmie commented while still standing next to Vanya. His frustration over the behavior of the adults of Shalom did not go unnoticed by Vanya. At least someone justified her feelings. She definitely knew they were speaking about her, possibly asking about her intentions again, and deciding whether to treat her like a normal person or not.
Vanya shook her head trying to ignore it and instead turned to Timmie and asked, “The boy, Jac…how– he knows me?”
She did not know what to ask. She was so stunned that the first words the little boy told her were ‘You are alive’. It was not really a greeting anyone usually expected.
She watched Timmie’s eyes light up and turn to her, “I guess no one told you, huh? He’s the one who found you and your sister. He’s your savior, in a way.”
Vanya took a heavy breath. She never really knew who found her and Joan in the chest, what they saw, or what even happened. Seeing that it was little Jac that had found them she feared for what he might have seen then, if he was frightened after seeing them, if he was able to sleep that night.
“Jac's a smart kid. You should go thank him. He will adore you if you play with him, even for a bit,” Timmie gave a quick wink and walked over to Rhohaz and the crowd.
Vanya smiled almost in a way to thank Timmie for giving her a tip to get through the day. She watched as the crowd dispersed after something Rhohaz said. She stayed in silence as some of them looked back at her a few more times before being on their way.
She did not even notice but Rhohaz had made his way back to her.
“We’re going to start having lunch prepared soon. I can take you back to Grandma Tilly’s if you would like me to.”
“No one’s cleaning the school today then?” she asked, seeing some women bringing in large baskets.
“We’ll start back up after lunch. But you can go if you need to if you are not feeling well.”
Vanya found Rhohaz looking concerned. It caught her by surprise and she quickly brushed it off saying, “I feel fine. I’d like to stay and help. After all, that’s what I agreed to, anyway. To earn my share.”
Rhohaz thought for a moment and then nodded his head, “If you say so.”
He left Vanya to go help one of the men struggling to lift something. She watched them all start setting up the school grounds with straw mats and getting a small fire going in the middle. She stood to the side, all alone and unnoticed. No one approached her for some time until Jac found her again sitting by herself in the soft sand.
“Can I play with you?” he asked, smiling from ear to ear.
Vanya nodded pleased to hear a voice speaking with her. “Sure, I’d love to.”
He jumped up and down excitedly and plopped down on the sand next to her. She watched him draw little squiggles on the sand then erase them and start drawing them again. He moved the sand around to create small mounds and gave them names.
He reached for his pocket and handed her a little wooden carving barely fitting his small hands. She took it and watched him struggle to find the words before finally saying, “A gift for you.”
She thanked him and observed the ornament. It was a little wooden carving of a symbol of a wave. Her heart felt full seeing at least someone be so welcoming of her. She carefully placed it in one of the pockets in her dress, wanting to hold on to it.
“Your name is Jac, right?” Vanya asked watching him create an even larger mound.
“Yes. I’m Jac and I’m eight. I love the sand and the sea. I love it when the sand shows me the way and when the sea hums me a song.”
Vanya smiled listening to him. “Is that how you found me? The sand? Did the sand show you the way?”
She watched his little brows furrow thinking for a moment, “No, it was the waves. The waves showed me where you were.”
Vanya smiled at his innocence yet gulped hoping little Jac was not traumatised by seeing her and Joan cramped in the wooden chest nearing death. But seeing him talking about it so lightly she hoped he was close to forgetting about it entirely.
“I’m going to name you…castle!” he declared pointing at the largest mound he had created. He then turned to Vanya and asked curiously.
“Have you been in a castle before? A real one?” his eyes lit in curiosity.
Vanya opened her mouth to agree but stopped herself before she would spill the beans. She wanted to tell him about her very own castle in the East of the Northern kingdom, the one she grew up in, the one with pristine architecture and the one that filled her childhood memories. She even wanted him to picture the large castle in Esmeth, her father’s favorite, and where she resided ever since she moved to the capital. But she could not even bring herself to come up with a white lie for the sake of entertaining Jac.
She missed home, dearly. She missed her horses in the royal stables. She missed her cozy bed and the sunlight that entered her room in the mornings through the sheer curtains that were usually drawn in by Joan. She missed the delicious and vibrant food. She ate something different every day. She saw something new every day. Her life was more than perfect and she knew very well that it was beyond anyone’s wildest dreams. Yet here she was, unable to fathom how fast her perfect life had crumbled in front of her very eyes.
She took a deeper breath to see Jac still looking at her for an answer. She shook her head to which he withered away with a sweet pout stuck between his lips.
“Would you like to see a real castle one day?” she asked seeing him drawing on the sand.
“Yes, I very much would like to. The ones the sea shows me are old and sad.”
Vanya stopped for a moment finding his comment odd. Her brows furrowed in confusion. She was about to prod further when Jac’s father called out to him.
“Jac, it's time to head home. Come along.”
Little Jac immediately obeyed and thanked Vanya for being his playmate.
She quickly held onto one of his hands before her opportunity was gone, “Thank you, Jac. You’ve saved me and my sister. Thank you for that.”
She watched him scratch his head then smile and chime a sweet welcome before running away to his father’s arms.
She watched his father embrace him and take him away. And almost automatically Vanya’s hand reached for her pocket, wanting to see the little gift her small friend gave her once more.
However, her brows furrowed not being able to feel the wooden carving in her pocket. She stood up worried that she had dropped it elsewhere and looked around hurriedly.
Unable to spot it on the ground she reached back into her pocket to see if she missed it the first time but still couldn’t feel anything but sand. She dug deeper feeling an unusual amount of sand in her pocket. She pulled out her hand to see sand collected on her palm, almost as if the wooden carving had changed its form to end up as mere sand in her pocket.
Her eyes found Jac on his father’s shoulder about to disappear around the corner. She wondered for a moment if what Jac told her earlier was indeed true, that the sand did, in fact, guide him, the sea hummed him songs, and the waves showed him where she was. She wondered if it was Jac that had cast a spell on Betsy. And to Timmie’s point, if it was Jac breaking the rules, the law of the land. If it was little Jac using magic after all.