Resilient

I felt strong. Stronger than I had ever felt in my life. Gone was the old me that feared everything around me. I was happily skipping around the palace now instead of sauntering. My head held high when I passed others instead of staring at the ground. Mabel and I were starting to become close friends since we were together pretty much every day doing training sessions together. She had disabled the enchantment at the gate so that I did not feel like I was coming apart every time I tried to exit the grounds. I stopped at the reflective thing in the hall, I had learned yesterday that it was called a mirror. I looked so much better than I had the first time I encountered this mirror. My ribs were no longer showing, my face was fuller. My dress was no longer threadbare and tight, I was now wearing a lilac-colored, ruffled dress with gold embroidered throughout the skirt. My hair was loose and free like my mothers had been in my awakening. My eyes shone with happiness instead of sadness. I felt free and beautiful instead of held down, trapped, and depressed. Mabel was teaching me how to call upon the power I had and while we had not been successful yet, I could feel that it was coming. I could feel my power pent up inside of me, looking for a release. It made me feel wound up and I could not sit still. I walked out into the courtyard with a smile. My little garden was flourishing though and that brought me great happiness. Mabel had helped me to acquire some inconspicuous herbal seeds that I could use in the future with spell making. Every part of the garden I touched was luscious and healthy, some fruit trees already fruiting abnormally. I heard a door close behind me and the queen slowly walked out toward me. Immediately my hackles raised and I was on guard. She came closer and stopped in front of my garden. "What is all of this?" She asked me curiously. I looked at her dead in her ugly face, "It is my garden. It makes me happy." I squared my shoulders in confidence. She tapped her fingers on her chin, "I do not recall giving you permission to defile my courtyard," she said, thoughtfully. I stared at her, waiting for her to do her worst as I knew she would. "How did all of this grow so quickly? As I recall it has only been a few weeks and fruit takes years to appear on trees." she gestured to the fruit trees. I held my tongue, surprised that she knew anything about gardening. "Answer me, girl." She ordered. I involuntarily flinched at the tone of her voice. "I do not know much about gardening aunt Ethel," I said, trying out her name in my mouth instead of calling her queen. "What did you just call me?" She said, furrowing her eyebrows at me. More confusion than anger in her voice. "I called you aunt Ethel. Are you not my aunt? Why must I call my family queen or king? My mother most definitely would not approve." I sassily said. She did not answer any of my questions, instead, she strode away and through the doors once more silently.

Mabel had come to me a little later and we had gone on our routine "walk" through the forest. We went to our clearing to train. As we approached the clearing Mabel spoke, "Today is the day I can feel it." She said excitedly. I smiled at her; she was ever the enthusiast. She was right though; I could feel it as well. There was a sort of celebration feel in the air. We stopped and started as usual by putting our hands together so she could feed some of her power into me to unlock mine. This time was different however, her hands sparked green when she touched mine and she pulled away. Her eyes were wide and her hair was sticking straight up and floating away from her head like she had been electrocuted. I giggled at her shocked appearance. "What was that?" I managed between giggles. "It seems you do not need me to help you anymore." she quipped, annoyed. "Aw Mab, it will be fine." I consoled her. She crossed her arms and sat down on a stump near us. "Well, show me what you have got." She urged. I closed my eyes and raised my hands with my palms facing the sky. I urged my power to manifest in my palms like Mabel had shown me in the past. The change was instantaneous, I felt a warm sensation in my palms and energy moving through my body. The feeling of restless energy left me as the energy in front of me increased. I opened my eyes and looked in shock at the giant green balls of energy swirling in both of my hands. Mabel's jaw was on the forest floor and she was frozen in astonishment. "What do I do now?" I asked, trying to get her attention back on training me. She blinked a few times and came to. "I have no idea. I have never seen such power outwardly manifested in that way," she said, rubbing her hand on the back of her neck. "Try to focus it on something you would like to happen. You seem exceptionally good at manipulating earth," she suggested. I focused on pushing the green light into a flower bud on the ground in front of me, immediately it flew from my palms to the ground and into the tiny flower. It swirled around and around the flower and then suddenly it sprouted from the ground, growing as tall as I was and sprouting several more flowers from its leaves. "Clara, you do not know what you have just done. You do not know how powerful you truly are." Mabel said to me in wonder. We continued to work on pushing my power into more plants around me. It was endless, I never got tired or needed a break which Mabel had said was strange. By the time we were done every tree and plant near us in the clearing was healthy and had grown a lot bigger than when we had gotten there. I felt like I was floating I was so happy. Nothing could bring me down, or so I thought.

Walking back into the palace I was greeted by a frantic, inconsolable Mary. She was crying so hard she could not even tell me what was wrong. Mabel and I took her into the kitchen to get her a warm cup of tea to help her calm down. Once she had taken a few sips, she recounted a story about her parents fighting in the throne room and her father threatening to kill her mother. She was not supposed to have been listening to it, but she heard yelling and had been drawn toward it. "Your father is capable of many things, but I do not think he is capable of killing anyone directly. Your mother is safe for the moment." I told her, rubbing her back to comfort her. She whipped her head around to face me and grabbed me by my shoulders, "You must get a handle on your powers, Clara. He must be stopped before his plans come to fruition." She said fervently, her nails digging into my shoulders. "Did you hear him recount his plans? I do not know of them." I questioned, trying to get more information. "Yes. He plans to initiate a massive war with many, many casualties. Clara, he knows you are a witch. He plans to publicly execute you. He does not want anyone to have any idea of it happening so you cannot be saved so he is waiting for the perfect moment to surprise you," she said, starting to sob again. Mabel turned sheet white and took off with speed I had never seen before. "You have to be careful. You cannot give him a reason to do it sooner rather than later. You have to stay in the palace. Practice in your room, do not let anyone see you." Mary said as she wiped her eyes on the sleeves of her dress. She hugged me, "I love you. I will listen for you to try to keep you up to date on everything father is doing." She whispered in my ear and then took off as well. Presumably to her room to calm down more. I rubbed my temples and started in the direction of my room as well. Death did not scare me, but I had a lot more to do before it came for me.

While I did not see Mabel for at least a week after her quick exit, I had been practicing my abilities in diverse ways on my own. I could move things across my room now as well as manipulate the power to do things for me. Mabel would be proud when she came back and saw how well I was doing. I was excited to show her and waited for her daily. It was odd not having her here when we had spent so much time together. I had been spending a lot more time in my room to avoid seeing the king and giving him any reason to move his plans forward. That was where I was now, but I was starting to get hungry. I opened my door quietly and made my way to the kitchen for some food. I was moving quite fast and watching my feet when I rammed directly into a hard, warm body. "Fancy meeting you here, my pretty lady." The amused voice of John echoed around me. My heart stopped and restarted at a furious pace as I backed up to make sure he was really there. Excitement took hold of me as I squealed and jumped into his arms. He laughed a deep throaty laugh and caught me, stumbling a little. Admiration shone in his eyes as he pulled me closer in his arms and squeezed tightly. "I was going to say I missed you but it seems as though you missed me enough for the both of us." He joked as he sat me down on my feet. I lightly punched his shoulder at his quip. Self-consciously I noticed him looking me up and down. "You are looking well. A lot better than the last time I was here. It becomes you; you are even more beautiful than I thought." He grabbed my waist and pulled me closer to him, pressing his lips to my forehead. My cheeks heated up at his compliment and his proximity. "How are you?" He asked me. I am scared. Better now that you are here." I admitted. He nodded, "I understand that the king has threatened your life in some way?" He questioned. He was full of questions today as always. "Yes, Mary has told me she overheard his plans." He thought about it for a moment, "I knew about the incoming war, but I did not know about him planning to execute you." He grabbed the wrist of the arm that had been injured the last time he was in the palace and looked it over. "You have healed nicely, barely any scars." He pointed out. I agreed, I was grateful that it did not scar badly. "You are a woman of few words. Few men get that lucky," he said, chuckling to himself. I rolled my eyes at him. "Few women are locked in a room for most of their life and do not know how to read social cues." I snapped at him. He pulled back from hugging me with wide eyes. "I did not mean to offend you. It was only a joke." He gently said, running his fingers through my hair. I ignored his statement, "How long will you be here this time?" I asked, still annoyed. "You will be coming back to my palace with me. You will no longer be staying here where your life is in danger. We will leave in the night so that you cannot be stopped. Once we are within my kingdom lines, there will be nothing the king and queen here can do." He informed me. "Are you still joking?" I asked, incredulous. He smiled at me, "No jokes here pretty lady. Go to your room and gather up anything that may be of value to you that you would like to take. You have no need for clothing so do not bother with that." My heart leaped in my chest; I was finally leaving. I finally had a place to go other than this stupid palace where I had been mistreated for so long. I skipped to my room happily, hearing John bellow with laughter behind me.