Page 271

That evening, in accordance with Amahle’s traditions, Talauia and Heila joined the Mother of Thorns at her home for a family dinner.

Heila had been delighted to learn that the colorful peppers that Talauia guided her to were sweet rather than spicy.

Each of them was the size of Heila’s diminutive fists which she felt made them perfect for stuffing.

After packing each pepper with soft, fluffy rice and succulent, slightly fatty sausage, Heila carefully set them in an iron pot directly on the coals of the fire for roasting, letting their warm, sharp fragrance fill the air.

"So, Heila, honey, Tala was telling me that you weren’t too sure about what you desire as a witch," Amahle said while stirring a rich, creamy chicken and vegetable soup. "Ain’t that right, sugar?"

"It is, it is," Talauia said as she carefully scrubbed at the tender okra pods she’d picked. "Can you tell her the tree that Auntie Ashlynn picked for her?"

"I can," Amahle said, using a spider-like limb to place a lid on the creamy soup. "But I think that it’s best if little Heila answers a few questions for me first. You just want to do whatever you can to help Ashlynn don’t you, hun?"

"I do," Heila said with a sharp nod of her head. "I hated feeling so useless when the Tuscans attacked us, all I could do was cower behind Hauke while Ashlynn went out with the soldiers to fight. It, it didn’t feel good at all."

"That’s a good place to start," Amahle said, pouring a fresh cup of chilled sweet tea and placing it in front of Heila. "Now sharpen that desire," she said, her crimson eyes growing intense as she looked at Heila. "Helping a person fight comes in many forms. What do you want to do to help?"

"A powerful witch could tend her wounds after the battle, helping her return to the field again and again," Amahle suggested.

"Ain’t no need to get yourself in danger that way.

Just stay in the back and patch people up so they can keep fighting.

No one will look down on you for that. In fact, many people would praise you for patching them up when they might otherwise have died. "

"I want to learn to heal people," Heila said, though her voice held a trace of uncertainty. "Ashlynn gets hurt too often and it would be good if I could help to ease her pains. But I don’t want to hide in the rear while other people are risking their lives. It’s not right when I could be doing more. "

"In that case, are you willing to take lives?

" Amahle asked. "A witch who’s bound to trees can often find ways to channel the power of branches or roots to bludgeon or choke the life out of their enemies.

Would you be willing to watch the light fade from their eyes because you crushed them beneath the power of your witchcraft? "

When Amahle asked the question, the humid air in the open sitting room seemed to become ten times heavier and the heat became twice as oppressive.

Sweat rolled down between Heila’s shoulder blades as she thought about whether or not she was willing to take a life.

It felt easy to say when she thought about thrusting a sword or a dagger into another person.

Right now, an artificer in High Fen City was preparing to turn a Frost Walker horn into a weapon for her that could do just that.

But the way Amahle described killing with the power of trees felt much more... visceral than what she’d imagined before. Could she really make herself do it?

"If you don’t want to get your own hands dirty, you could take a more.

.. passive approach," Amahle suggested. "After all, roots and branches can bind and tangle. You could help Ashlynn by ensnaring her opponents, trapping them for her to deal with one at a time or removing threats from the field for questioning or ransom later. You don’t need to become a killer in order to defeat opponents and help on the battlefield, hun. "

"That," Heila said slowly as she turned the idea over in her mind.

"That doesn’t sound right. I know those things can help, and sometimes, I might want to do them to help," she said. After all, Ashlynn had gone to the Summer Villa to find information and she’d interrogated Sir Kaefin to learn important things.

Capturing people to do the same was surely a valid way to help Ashlynn.

"I want to fight by Lady Ashlynn’s side," Heila said firmly.

"That way, I can be right there to heal her and protect her if she’s injured, but sometimes, the only way to protect someone is to kill the person trying to hurt them," she said, thinking about the attack they endured from the Tuscans. Without killing them, nothing would have stopped the massive men from trying to claim Hauke’s horn.

"So, if it’s the only way," Heila said, her voice growing firmer. "Then I don’t want to be powerless to do it. I, I need to learn how to fight and that means I need to learn how to kill. If the Inquisitors ever come for her, they won’t stop until she’s dead and they’d do the same to me, even if I wasn’t a witch.

If I’m not willing to kill them to stop them then I’m only putting Lady Ashlynn and everyone else in danger. "

"You see, you see?" Talauia said, setting down the batter she’d finished whipping and fluttering over to join Heila and Amahle. "I told you that she had some spikes to her."

"Indeed she does," Amahle said with a smile. "The tree that Ashlynn chose for you, little Heila, is a Willow Tree. It’s a healer’s tree at heart, with its greatest strengths in wood and water."

"Oh," Heila said, sitting down with a heavy thump. "So, I won’t be able to fight at her side after all." After working up the resolve to learn how to fight, to stay by Ashlynn’s side no matter how dangerous things became, the notion that Ashlynn had selected a healer’s tree for her felt somehow. .. bitter.