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"But can I decide what kind of witch I want to become without knowing what kind of tree Lady Ashlynn has chosen for me?

" Heila asked. Her winged companion had explained that Ashlynn would need to choose a seed for her and that it would pair Heila with a tree that suited her nature but the young lady-in-waiting had no idea what kind of tree Ashlynn would choose.

Would Ashlynn choose an Oak like the Ancient Oaks in the Vale of Mists?

Or cedar like the forest of their home? Heila had never thought about what kind of tree suited her before.

It seemed like such a strange question if not for her current circumstances.

Now that it had become relevant, she didn’t know what she would choose for herself, much less what Ashlynn might choose.

"Does Auntie Ashlynn know you well?" Talauia asked, cocking her head to the side and pausing her pepper picking. "If she knows you well, she’ll know to pick the right thing, as easy as picking ripe vegetables. You just have to think about what you’ll do once she picks it because it will naturally fit. "

"I, I think she knows me well," Heila said. Her fingers hesitated, hovering above a pepper as she thought carefully about the conversations she’d had in the carriage with Ashlynn while they traveled.

Talauia made it sound simple and saying things was often simple, but was it really that easy to know a person well enough to choose something for them that would completely change their life? Heila didn’t think so and she didn’t think that Ashlynn would find it easy to make the decision either.

Heila had spoken a great deal about her family and her life growing up as one of the youngest with a large group of older siblings. She’d talked about how happy she was to be able to serve in the ancient fortress and the many important friendships she’d made among the other servants in the keep.

But had she ever spoken about what she wanted? Her ears heated behind her horns as she realized how often she’d spoken wistfully about the handsome men who caught her eye or the idea of having children of her own one day.

She’d even suggested that, when the time came, perhaps one of her daughters could take over as Ashlynn’s next lady-in-waiting the same way that Georg had taken over as Nyrielle’s personal cook after his father retired.

"I just want ordinary things," Heila said, resuming her picking. "Maybe I’ll find a man one day and raise a family. But now that I’m joining Lady Ashlynn’s coven, maybe I won’t. If I spent the rest of my life at her side, making sure that she was happy, that wouldn’t be a bad life."

"Not bad, not bad?" Talauia said, her wings vibrating with a low-pitched hum.

"Not bad isn’t good," she pronounced, folding her arms over her pert bust. "You can’t be passive like this," she added fiercely, turning to fix her multifaceted eyes on the diminutive horned woman.

"You have to want something, really want something, or the seed will consume you. "

"A witch uses her desires to shape the energy of the world," the Thistle Witch said pointedly. "You have to have strong desires. It doesn’t matter what they are, but if you’re passive, too passive, like Sister Holly, you’ll end up like Sister Holly and that," she said, her throat seizing up as tears formed in her eyes. "That would be too sad!"

It wasn’t often that someone was presented with the opportunity to become a witch.

There were, perhaps, fewer than a hundred witches on the entire continent.

From the moment they had met, when she saw Heilla stubbornly slogging through the soft, muddy, and silty ground of the Briar, she knew that this diminutive young woman had the heart to become a great witch.

But if things turned out like Sister Holly again... if it was her fault for not preparing her well enough again. That would be too much to bear, even for her.

"But, I don’t know what I want!" Heila said, dropping the basket of vegetables in a moment of panic. "I have more than I ever wanted. I have so much because Lady Ashlynn has been so generous that I’ve never thought of what I could want that I don’t already have," she said, her lower lip trembling.

"I used to do the laundry, make the beds, and tend the curtains," she said softly. "When Madame Zedya asked me to tend to Lady Ashlynn, I didn’t know it would turn into this. Now, now I have fine dresses and I go wherever Lady Ashlynn goes and even Captain Lennart acts like I’m above him now and... and I didn’t get this because I ’desired’ it, it just happened because I was the one who Madame Zedya picked," she said, looking down at the soft soil beneath her cloven feet.

"I’m nothing special," Heila said in a small voice. "I just got lucky to come this far. Now, I just want to prove that I can be useful. That I can help Lady Ashlynn when she needs me and that she didn’t make a mistake when she chose me," she said, her voice growing determined.

"That’s not enough, not enough," Talauia said, her words slicing deep into Heila’s heart even though she said them gently. "You should talk to Mother. Maybe, maybe Mother can tell you which tree Lady Ashlynn picked. Then, then we can find the best way to build up your desires to fit that tree."

"That would be good," Heila said, picking up her basket of vegetables with an embarrassed look as she collected the few peppers and okra pods that had fallen from the basket. "I know I’m no one special but..."

"No, that’s not right, not right at all," Talauia said, placing her hands on Heila’s shoulders and staring directly into Heila’s eyes with her own amethyst multi-faceted gaze.

"I heard what you did for Auntie Ashlynn, how brave you’ve been.

Even little brother Jacques said that you’re not an ordinary woman. "

"You have all the courage you need," the witch said. "You’re just scared of the unknown. So, we’ll turn the unknown into the known and then you won’t need to be afraid. I promise!"