Lost Memories
As I opened my eyes the next morning, I was sprawled out in my giant cloud bed. Any hesitation at looking through the box of my parent's things was gone. Excitement filled me as I sprung up and threw the covers off of myself. I bounded over to the little table I had set the box on the night before. Picking it up, the stuff inside of it moved around and jingled. I took it back over to my bed and sat down with it between my legs. I took the family portrait off of the top and exposed the contents inside. I reached in, plucking a necklace off of the top of the pile. It was a silver charm on a long piece of twine that was able to be tied around one's neck. The twine was worn out at the end that was to be tied. I took a closer look at the coin and saw that it was a crude, handmade charm. They were made out of silver that had been pounded out by hand into letters. They formed a chain of initials, CAC. My mother's name was Colette, my father's name was Archi, and mine was Clara. This necklace had likely been my mother's and from the looks of it, maybe father had made it for her with his own hands. I smiled at the thought of how much love could have gone into this necklace. Immediately I tied it around my neck so that it hung right at my collarbone. Immediately a wave of calm and peace descended over me as the silver touched my skin and lit up bright green for a few seconds. I sighed as every bit of anxiety and insecurity flooded out of me. She must have enchanted the necklace with a calming enchantment, I had not realized I could enchant jewelry to help the wearer. "Thanks, mother," I said out loud sincerely and a cold breeze blew my hair back a little in response. I sifted through the rest of the items in the box, including a well-worn wooden pipe, a few of my baby clothes my mother had hand-sewn, a portrait of my mother and father together in what looked like wedding clothing, and a set of well-worn wedding bands. I spread all of their belongings around me and marveled at them, trying to imagine the way my parents lived their lives after I came along. I looked into the box to make sure I did not miss anything and then picked up the portrait of my parents together to admire it. The portrait was handmade and in greyscale. My parents were dressed in wedding attire, my mother in a flowing, beautiful light-colored dress, my father in a dapper pair of dress pants and a flowing dark shirt. Mother had a braid wrapped around her head with fresh flowers woven through it like a flower crown around her head. She was smiling wide with father sitting next to her, just as exhilarated. I could feel the love through the picture and that made my heart ache. I made a move to put it back into the box but as soon as my fingers brushed the back of the picture, I felt a weird tingling sensation. Furrowing my brows, I curiously focused my magic on the spot where the tingling originated. Suddenly, I felt a piece of parchment fall into my hand and the tingling stopped. My mouth formed a perfect "O" as I looked at the tied roll of parchment paper in my hand. My name was written across the top of it in beautiful cursive. The way it was enchanted meant that it was from my mother, I was hesitant to open it; afraid of what I would find inside. I was tired of getting bad news over and over again. I set it aside, I would look at it once I was done looking at the rest of the trinkets in the box. I picked up the tobacco pipe, the top of it well-worn and the bottom blackened with soot. The faint smell of smoke and burnt tobacco floated up to me and stirred memories I did not know I had. I closed my eyes, thinking about my father. Memories of riding on his shoulders, running through fields chasing him, and of us making funny faces at each other flooded my mind and I smiled. There was energy suddenly calling me to the note from the portrait. I felt entranced as I picked it up and unrolled it. Beautiful cursive writing jumped out at me but what was most surprising was the voice that started to read the words the letter contained aloud as I finished unrolling it. My mother's voice, loud and clear.
My dearest Clara,
I know that I will be long gone once you have received this. I have seen the future enough to know that it is not favorable for you. I am sorry that the life you have lived thus far has been bleak, just know that the path you are on now is the one you are destined to walk. You must trust John; he is who you are destined to be with and he is who you will rise to the greatest capacity you can become. I am so proud of you, my love. You are a strong, beautiful woman, stronger than anyone could have ever dreamed you would be. By now, you have found that you have powers and abilities beyond what any witch has ever been blessed with. You are part of a prophecy, one that is important and will keep the balance between good and evil in the world. Do not stray from your path. Beware of those you call friends, few good people in this world would not abuse your power. Wear the necklace that you have found with our belongings, I have enchanted it for you with an enchantment that is impossible to break and will never wear off. It will keep any witch from using enchantments on you and it will warm your skin slightly if there is an enchantment around you. Good luck, my dear. Things will be hard for you for a little while longer and then you will live a delightful life.
Ps. Do not engage in indecent activity with John until AFTER the prophecy has been fulfilled or you will fall pregnant and will not be able to do what you are destined to do. Keep your hands to yourself, no matter how hard you may find it to be. I mean it, girl!
I love you my sweet Clara, more than there are stars in the sky. I will always be with you no matter where you are.
Love,
Mother.
As her voice faded away, I sat there in disbelief. What powerful magic that must have taken to pull off. I had not noticed the tears falling down my face until one of them hit the parchment in front of me. I gently wiped it away to keep it intact, I planned on keeping it for the rest of my life. To know I was so loved lifted my heart and made me feel happy. Folding the parchment up and hiding it under the mattress for me to read again later, I then set the box aside and jumped up from my bed to get ready for the day in a spectacular mood. There was no more fear in my body at all, just calm and strength. Since moving to this new palace, I had a closet full of simple dresses that I could wear. I got washed up and pulled one of them on then I pulled my long hair to the side and braided it. Looking in the body-length mirror I smiled at my reflection, my eyes running over every inch of my appearance as my eyes filled with prideful tears. I resembled my mother. Picking up the portrait of my parents, I compared our looks. I had my mother's whole face except for her nose, my father's nose was prominent on my face. "Are you alright?" John's voice came from out of nowhere, startling me and causing me to jump. Turning around and looking down at the ground bashfully, I nodded. He walked up to me and put his finger under my chin and gently raised my head until my eyes met his which were shining with pride for me. "You look beautiful. Way healthier than the girl I met the first time," he said before he pressed his lips to mine. It was a quick kiss, like a nice greeting. When he pulled away, I was blushing and he chuckled at me. "Is there ever going to be a time when I am around you that you don't look like a tomato?" He poked my nose with his pointer finger and I laughed sharply in response. He grabbed my hand and started to lead me from the room with the promise of a good breakfast together before the day of training started with Mabel.
After I was full of food, I said goodbye to John and I made my way to the kitchen. Weaving my way through the cooks to Mabel and I's special potion station, excitement was winding its way through my chest. I walked up to the giant stone cauldron to see if the potion we had worked on yesterday had been proofed the way it was supposed to. It was a potion to put on plants that made them produce ten times the amount of fruit that they normally do. We were brewing a giant batch of it for the farmers that were growing produce for our territory/land. It takes twelve hours to proof and it will turn a bright blue color when it is done, then you stir and bottle it carefully. Looking around, it was then that I noticed Mabel was running late. She was always punctual, so I was surprised I was here first. "Have any of you seen Mabel today yet?" I called to the cooks bustling about the room. A few of them stopped and shook their heads, muttering apologies as they got back to their work. I sighed and pulled a rickety chair up next to the cauldron and prepared to wait for her.
About an hour later, Mabel came running into the room cursing. She stopped in front of the cauldron on the other side and apologized to me. I giggled in response and she shot an annoyed look my way. Her hair looked as though she had just crawled out of bed, sticking out every which way. You could not blame me for laughing at her. "Why are you so late? You are never late." I inquired. She brushed me off, "This potion looks great! You did a great job. Let's get to bottling it up." she said, out of breath. I gave her a quizzical look, wondering why she did not answer my question. She took a few steps around the cauldron to grab the glass bottles under our work table. As she got closer to me, the necklace started to vibrate and warm up against my skin. Confused but intrigued, I decided to keep it to myself since I did not want anyone to know about the powers my mother bestowed upon the necklace. We spent the next couple of hours bottling up the mass amount of potion we had brewed. As I was finishing ladling the last bit into a bottle in my hand Mabel stood up, "That will be it for the session today. I am tired. Clean the cauldron out and put the supplies away." she ordered. I furrowed my eyebrows at her, "I thought the goal of our sessions was to learn as much as we could due to everything that is about to happen?" I asked her. Waving me off, she practically growled at me, "We will be fine. Quit being so bothersome." She walked briskly out of the kitchen before I could respond. Hurt laced its way through my stomach and tears threatened to fall from my eyes. What had happened to the Mabel I knew? She had never been so standoffish before. I noticed just then, that the necklace had stopped vibrating and was no longer warm. Confused, I stood there for a moment trying to regain my ability to think. What kind of enchantment did Mabel have on her? I made a mental note to ask her the next time I saw her if she was not in such a bad mood still. As I started to clean the cauldron out, one of the cooks came over and offered to take over the task for me. I shook my head, smiling warmly and thanking her. She went back to her original job as I tried to keep myself busy so I did not have to deal with the overwhelming thoughts swirling in my head.