Witch was still sleeping.

It was the fifth day. And the sun was starting to set.

Yet she still slept.

“What’s wrong with her…?” I whispered as I hefted the axe.

Bringing the axe down onto the log, I split it cleanly. The large chunks of wood fell off the stump, clattering as they fell onto other pieces of wood in the process.

Grabbing another chunk of wood, I made it stand upward on the stump. Lifting the axe, I repeated the motion and did it again… and again… and again…

Cutting wood was easy. In fact the only difficult thing about it was making sure I didn’t break the axe, or swing it too harshly and cause the stump I used to hold the pieces I wanted to cut in place to split in two. It was annoying to find a good sized stump that wouldn’t wobble when used. Especially right now in the winter.

Snow had begun to fall, though not heavily. Only one snowflake in every so many stuck and stayed as snow. The rest melted immediately. It kept the world from growing white with snow, but it also made it really cold and slick during the night and early morning as the wet melted snow froze over.

And also made it necessary to always keep the fireplaces fed.

I didn’t mind the cold much. Or rather, I could survive it. Before coming here and living with Witch, I had not even known what it was like to be warm during winter. But she was a different story. Witch, for all her magic and abilities, was a frail creature. One who shivered violently if the house wasn’t kept warm enough.

Lately it has taken the kind of heat that made me sweat, even during the cold winter nights such as the one about to arrive.

“Maybe she’s dying,” I whispered as I split another piece of wood.

Humans didn’t live long. Witch, and her many books, had proven that fact to me. Occasionally one could encounter a human who lived a long time, but most barely lived long enough to see their grandchildren’s birth. And although I didn’t know just how old Witch was… I knew she was not young.

The humans in the nearby village, that we always visited to both trade goods and help when needed, have known the Witch for a long time. The elderly there, with white hair and wrinkly skin, had known her since their youth.

Which meant Witch was as old as they. Those who could die from a cold breeze.

“How do I save her?” I asked the world as I split another log. This time I had done so a little too harshly. The axe didn’t break, nor did I cut the stump, but the pieces of wood that I had split flew off a distance away.

I watched one of the pieces bounce off the nearby grass. It flung into the air, spun wildly, and then landed again on the dirt path across the yard from me. The same path we took to the lake nearby, the one where we fished.

Standing still for a moment, I felt as helpless as that chunk of wood. It was about the length of my arm, and as thick. It’d last less than an hour in the fireplace once I tossed it in. It’d burn for a moment, giving a little heat, and then turn to ash… forever forgotten.

Yes. I felt just like that log.

I could help a little… but my help was so tiny, so insignificant, I may as well be no help at all.

With a deep sigh I placed the axe down and went to grab the piece that had flown off. Not because it was important, or I wanted it to be important, but just in case the snow started to really stick. The last thing I needed was for random pieces of wood to be buried in the snow around our footpaths, and have Witch trip and hurt herself on one of them.

She was that frail lately, after all. Where even a small stumble would be the end of her.

It’d be one thing for her to die, but to die from my own hands…?

My eyes watered at the thought as I bent down and picked up the piece of wood.

“Why even think something like that, Renn?” I asked myself.

“Think what…?”

I turned, and nearly dropped the piece of wood I had just picked up.

Standing by the house, a few feet from the open door, was my friend. My teacher. She was wrapped in one of her thick blankets, made of sheep fur, and smiling gently at me.

“You’re awake!” I hurried over to her, glad to see she wasn’t just awake but standing and walking.

“I am. And terribly hungry,” she said with a smile.

Right…! I nodded quickly. “I’ll make you something right now. What would you like?” I asked quickly as I reached out to her. Will she need help being taken back into the house?

Witch let out a deep sigh as she looked around. “It’s started to snow,” she noted.

I nodded. “It’s not sticking yet, but it might start doing so soon,” I said.

“Mhm… do we have enough wood? I’m sorry I’ve not helped,” Witch asked as she looked over to where I’d been chopping wood.

I shyly smiled at her. “We have enough,” I said. I didn’t try to explain why I was cutting out here and not back near the barn where we usually chopped wood.

I hadn’t felt comfortable being too far from the main house for too long. So just in case she had needed me, I had wanted to be close enough to hear her. Even if she had shouted weakly, as she had done before.

“Come on. It’s cold out here, let’s get you fed,” I tried to usher her back into the house, but Witch stood firm. Her glowing eyes kept scanning the area around us, as if seeing her home for the first time in a long time.

What was wrong…?

I glanced around too, wondering if maybe I had not noticed something important. Had I forgotten to do something? I had been handling the wood. I’d already tendered the fish traps, and the coops of chickens. I’d even yesterday checked the other buildings and storerooms, for any problems with their walls or roofs. So that the cold and wet snow wouldn’t ruin the stuff within them. Everything had been well… at least, so I’d thought.

“Someone will be here tomorrow morning. Make sure you’re nice to him,” Witch then said.

Oh. One of her weird future sight things.

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I nodded quickly. “Okay… A human?” I asked.

“I think so. Huh… I think he might be the one,” she said softly as she finally turned and allowed me to guide her back into the house.

“The one?” I asked as we entered the house.

“The man I’ll have a child with,” she said.

I nearly tripped, which made Witch laugh at me. “Oh my! Look at your face!” she didn’t care at all that I had almost made her trip too.

“W-what…?” I stammered, and felt silly. She was laughing at me as if I’d just been the one to proclaim such a wild thing!

“Now, Renn, it isn’t set in stone. The only thing I saw was us flirting. That’s all,” Witch said happily as I took her to the table.

She sat down without my help, and although my face was burning hot I couldn’t help but smile and bask in this strange joy I was feeling.

Witch might just be teasing me, but whether she was or not didn’t matter. If she was acting like this, being serious or not, didn’t matter.

All that mattered was she seemed better all of a sudden.

“So uh… you can see stuff like that?” I asked as I went to close the door. We had left it open since I had been so focused on staying near her, in case she needed help. And she had startled me, too.

“Actually that’s the first time I’ve seen something so simple like that. I wonder why?” Witch wondered as I shut the heavy door.

It was thick, and had a layer of bear skin on the inside. Witch said it both helped insulate the door, and also kept sounds from escaping. Though I wasn’t sure why she’d care if sounds escaped the house, since they still filtered out from the windows and the many chimneys.

Though maybe a human didn’t hear those sounds that well, so she didn’t realize they did.

“Is he handsome?” I asked as I went to add more logs to the main fireplace. I had two fireplaces burning right now, of four, but it wasn’t just yet cold enough for more.

“I’m not sure. I only heard his voice and saw his feet,” she said.

“How’s that work…?” I wondered. She spoke as if she actually saw the stuff she knew would happen. Yet when she spoke of her little prophecies she usually mentioned that she only saw small portions of the scenes.

“I’ve told you before; I see the moments as if I was living them. Through my own eyes,” she told me, again.

Well… yeah… but… “Do you stop seeing the world in front of you when it happens? For instance you saw him just now right? Did you stop seeing me while you did?” I asked.

“No. It’s more like suddenly remembering a memory. But it’s so fresh and vivid it’s as if it’s happening at the same time,” Witch explained.

Weren’t all memories vivid?

The fire popped and crackled as I added a few more smaller logs. As I finished I went to the other fireplace. This one was only half the size of the other one, but it was positioned near the largest window. It was important, since the window always leaked in the cold and this fireplace kept that cold at bay.

“How about some stew? Do we have any ducks?” Witch asked.

“We have two,” I said. I had caught and prepared them the other day, while checking the fishing traps.

“That sounds good,” Witch said lightly.

Then that was what she’d have. I’d go grab them once I finished with this fire and…

“How do you feel, Renn?” Witch then asked.

Pausing a moment, I frowned as I glanced over to my teacher. She sat there by the table, sitting calmly… looking for all the world, healthy and serene.

“I feel fine…? Should I not?” I asked.

“You’re growing a little. Your ears almost brushed the top of the door earlier when we walked in,” she noted with a point to the front door.

Had they…? I glanced at the front door and frowned. It looked like it was far too big for my ears to have touched the top of it, but if she said they had then they likely had.

Wait… “I’ve grown that much?” I asked.

Witch nodded happily at me.

So… If that was the case, maybe Witch wasn’t shrinking at all! Maybe it was me that was growing!

That made so much sense…! What if she wasn’t sick, and shrinking and growing thinner… but that I was simply growing larger…!

The realization made me feel so much better, and filled me full of hope… even though I knew deep down it wasn’t the full truth.

After all, I’d not changed much. Even if I was a tad taller… I hadn’t changed much in any other ways. My body was nearly exactly as I remembered it, even from years ago before my families deaths.

“It’s likely your eating well and staying healthy. Your growth had likely been stunted all this time, thanks to your mistreatment and poor diet. Between that and your non-human blood it’s not a surprise really,” Witch said as she studied me.

Standing away from the fire, I frowned at her. “Am I getting fatter?” I asked.

Witch giggled at me. “Heavens no! In fact you’re still too skinny. It worries me a little, but I’m not sure how to fix it. You look like a kid still,” she said.

A…

A kid…? I did? Really?

I glanced down at myself, and wondered why she thought so. I was taller than her now, wasn’t I…? So why did she think I looked like a kid?

“One can be taller yet still look young, Renn. You look like a young girl about to enter her teens,” she told me.

“I see…” I wasn’t sure if I was glad or sad to hear such a thing. Not that it really mattered, I guess.

“If you feel otherwise, it’s your mind and ears. Your ears make you seem taller than you are, and you’re wise beyond your years,” she told me as I stepped over to the table.

My ears fluttered at being mentioned, and I wondered what to say. Why was she saying this stuff…? Usually by now she’d be telling me what medicine to make, or what book to read, or whatever kind of puzzle or riddle she had in store for me to ponder through the night.

My teacher did like to tease me, but she wasn’t usually one to make such idle chatter for too long. She liked to have focus. And this wasn’t very focused of her.

Maybe it was the fault of this man she foresaw coming?

“Teacher…” I spoke gently as she blinked her glowing eyes and glanced up at me. She had been lightly lost in thought.

“Yes?”

“Are you feeling well…? Is there anything I can do for you?” I asked.

Witch gave me a warm smile. “All is well, Rennalee. I’m just… growing old, is all,” she said.

“You don’t look old,” I said. Other than her shrinking, she didn’t look any different. She looked as young as ever.

“Yet I am. Remember how I’ve told you humans only last a few generations? Well, I’m a few generations past that point, regrettably,” she said gently.

“But…!”

Witch’s smile turned into a small smirk. “Don’t start crying, Renn. It’s not that bad just yet. I’d not be considering having a child if I was as old and weak as that!” she said with a wave at me.

“Oh…? You meant that then?” I asked. So she hadn’t been joking with those comments.

“I don’t know yet. Should I?” she asked me back.

“I uh… why ask me?” I asked with a frown.

She giggled at me. “Usually disciples are children themselves. So they usually don’t like it,” she said.

Shaking my head softly, I felt my tail coil a little. She had just basically called me one of her children, hadn’t she?

“Personally I’d like to see your child. I bet they’d be cute,” I said.

Witch sighed at me. “Doubt it. Children with glowing eyes are usually rather scary. We don’t cry or suckle like normal babies, so it’s unnerving,” she said.

Oh…? “Why’s that?” I asked.

“Our powers. If they’re strong, they affect us in such ways. Though I’m told I had been quite a pig when a baby,” she said.

I smiled at that. “Then you better rest and eat a lot, then, so you have enough to feed your baby,” I said as I stepped away, to go grab those ducks she had wanted. I’ll make sure to grab a few fish too.

“Please Renn. It doesn’t happen that fast,” Witch said as I went to the door.

Before opening I turned to look at my teacher. She was sitting still and smilingly gently at me.

“I’m glad you’re awake,” I said softly.

“Mhm. Get going already, and don’t you nibble on any of it while you do,” she teased me.

Laughing as I left the house, to go to our storehouse of food, I hurried to shut the door behind me. Not just because the snow had picked up, but also to hide from her my tears.

Even if they were leaking from joy, I didn’t want her to see them all the same.