004 - Cassandra - Part 2 -

Cassandra looked at their interlocked pinkies with a fond smile, it reminded her of their first meeting.

 ---

It had been almost ten years since Uriel became a part of their little village on the edge of the Green Wood Forest, it was a pretty isolated part of the world where merchants and travelers would only ever pass through once every season.

So the entire village was abuzz when a couple of adventurers came through, the only time that they called on adventures was when the creatures of the Green Wood Forest got out of hand and started to attack the farmlands.

It was a pretty common occurrence for the village, but these adventurers were different they were the special kind, they could use Eldrin, one of the mystic powers that pervaded the world.

Not the kind that a simple village of farmers could afford to hire, and the other thing that set them apart was that they had a child with them.

It was rare that adventurers had children, even rarer that they took the child with them, the life of adventurers was a dangerous one, not one meant for a little child.

The adventurers stayed for two days and told a number of stories to the village people, and then they suddenly took off in the middle of the night, leaving behind their child.

Like any decent people, the people of Old Meadow took in the boy who was but six years old at the time, at first everyone thought that perhaps it was an accident and the adventurers would return to claim the child but a day passed and no one arrived.

Then the mayor assumed that they must have had a dangerous job and left the boy in the safety of the village, but then weeks and months went by without anyone coming back to claim him.

And so Uriel came to be a part of the village, he played with the children every day, and tried to help out in the village by doing little chores for the villagers.

He'd go out and gather firewood, or he'd make his way to the stream to get water, and he'd try to help out on the farms in whatever way he could.

Seeing how earnest he was, the villagers couldn't find it in themselves to turn him away, Old Meadow people were simple people by nature, if a man worked he deserved to eat food and get a safe place to sleep.

Not to mention that he was the most adorable child that anyone had ever seen, even after his parents abandoned him he didn't let it stop him from smiling as he played with the village children.

And of course, at the time Cassandra was one of the children, she was always drawn to the little boy in the village, he was smaller than all the boys but surprisingly he was just as tough as most of them.

And he was cuter than all of them, she wished she could say that she was the only one drawn to the strange little boy, but seeing how all the other girls were constantly trying to catch his attention she knew that she had to do something.

One night she asked her parents if Uriel could eat with them, and that night they put him up in the barn.

So in the middle of the night, she snuck out to see him, but when she entered the barn she found him snivelling in the hay.

The boy who was always smiling and seemed so tough despite his small stature was actually crying himself to sleep, his cries were so loud that he didn't even hear her enter.

To her surprise it made her come to a realization, and from the moment that she went up to the crying boy in her barn, she knew what she wanted, and that night she made him a promise.

---

Cassandra looked down at their interlocked fingers, "Do ye' not remember our promise?" she asked.

Uriel's eyes widened as he thought back to that day in the barn, it was such an embarrassing memory, he rarely allowed himself to remember that night when he cried so much that the entire sleeve of Cass's night dress was soaked in his tears and snot.

But as he looked at their joined pinkies he allowed himself to recall the final thing she said to him that night.

---

She was hugging him on the hay with one arm while his face was buried in the sleeve of her other arm.

"Uriel, I know ya younger than me, but I want ya to marry me, I'll wait as long as it takes," said Cassandra, her round cheeks turned slightly red but it was hard to make out in the dark.

"But I don't have anything to give you, I can't even afford a dowry," Uriel sniveled, he knew from the beginning that he would never be able to marry anyone.

"It doesn't matter, my mom can't have any more children Granny Morris said so, so everything will be left to me," she muttered softly, it wasn't something that she liked to think about, the thought of her mom, and dad dying, it always left her feeling sad.

"But I'm sure that Mr. Zek and Mrs. Casey already have someone in mind for you to marry, that's the way it works in a village," Uriel replied, he had learned such things from a very young age, people of specific types always had their own types of customs.

"It doesn't matter, I'll convince my mom and dad," Cassandra said with a pout.

"So, will you marry me, or is it that you like the other girls in the village more?" she asked with a haughty attitude.

"No!" Uriel shouted in a panic, then he slapped his hands over his mouth as he realized that he made a mistake, "I-I mean I don't like the other girls," he said quickly correcting himself.

Cassandra smiled at him with a note of pride on her face, "Good then you don't have any reason to turn me down," she said, "Now promise me," she extended her little pinkie finger.

---

Uriel felt his face going red as he recalled extending his finger and making the promise, he was only eight at the time, it was hard to believe that a promise of so long still mattered.

But as he looked into those eyes like green emeralds, he knew that she had every intention of keeping that promise, it was just another thing to admire about the people of Old Meadow, they never went back on their word, not even the little things.

Just as he was about to say something a knock came on Cassandra's door, "Cass dear, Mr. Marsh just stopped by, come and greet him," the voice of their mother sounded from the door.

A second later they heard their mother's footsteps moving further into the house.

Uriel and Cassandra both paused and looked at each other as they realized that she was heading to Uriel's room.

And he wasn't supposed to go out now that he had changed into his good set of clothes.

"Buy me some time," Uriel whispered in a hurry and jumped back from her window.

Cassandra turned around and ran to the door, "Mom!" she called out, "My dress is feeling a little loose can you please check if there's anything wrong?" she asked with a tone of concern.

Uriel heard the first of her words as he fell back through the garden, narrowly avoiding a rose bush, then he ran around as quietly as possible before leaping through his window, the house wasn't very large, so it didn't take him more than a minute.

He rolled onto his bed and started checking his clothes for any dirt, the last thing that he needed was getting his mom mad at him, Mrs. Casey was the most loving woman he knew, but that didn't stop her from being as strict and stubborn as a mule.

After making sure that everything was in order and no mud stain got on to his clothes he got up and no sooner did a knock come on his door.

"Uriel dear, come and greet Mr. Marsh," his mother said.

"Uh what about Cassandra's dress," he said reminding her that he wasn't supposed to see it.

"Not to worry son, she's covered her dress," Casey replied, and the sound of her footsteps echoed as she returned to the kitchen.

Uriel got up and wondered what Mr. Cauthen Marsh, was doing here, he was one of the millers of the village, and his mill was the closest to their farm.

It wasn't unusual for Mr. Marsh to pop by, but they were all going to see each other at the festival in the evening, if he had anything important to say that was as good a place as any.

But as he thought about it he recalled a problem that the entire village was facing, and his eyes narrowed in suspicion.

'There's no way that the soldiers would return so soon,' he thought with doubt creeping into his eyes.

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