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"In the vision the Ancient Oak showed me," she said, staring into her reflection as it danced on the surface of the water in her cup.

"The human savages, they... After they cut it down, it was still alive while they butchered it.

It could still feel every saw and chisel when they carved it into furniture and weapons and.

.. Trophies." Her fur bristled along her neck as she fought to control the fury rising within her again.

Virve looked up at Ashlynn with eyes that were haunted by pain that wasn’t her own.

For a moment, she shuddered as a terrifying thought came unbidden to her mind.

Was this what Hauke had experienced when he interacted with the horns that carried the spirits of his own long departed ancestors?

The notion was enough to stop her cold and leave her wondering if she should accept the tree’s offer.

If it was going to use the seed to control her the way the horns controlled Hauke. ..

"None of what I saw or heard was real," she said after several moments of thought. "And I don’t think the Ancient Oak is trying to control me. But when I think about the memories the Ancient Oak shared with me, I’m certain the visions of the past it shared were true.

" She hesitated, uncertain how to express what she’d felt in that moment of imagined vengeance.

"It also showed me a glimpse of what my future could be. .."

-CRACK-

The sound of a branch snapping high above in the crown of the Ancient Oak startled both women, pulling their attention upward as a hawk nesting in the branches above made it’s way down, clutching a small branch in it’s talons as it did the bidding of the ancient tree, delivering a gift along with the Ancient Oak’s judgment.

The branch the hawk carried was longer and thicker than the one that the Ancient Oak had offered to Ashlynn when she came to ask for a branch to use as a wand, and for a moment, she wondered if the tree intended for Virve to fashion the branch into a club rather than a wand.

More importantly, there was a single acorn attached to the branch, along with five leaves in shades that ranged from brilliant autumn orange to deep crimson.

"Does this mean that the Ancient Oak is willing to let me face its trial to become the Oak Witch?

" Virve asked as she received the branch from the hawk’s talons.

The bird fluttered away without lingering to see what the soldier did with the branch, but Virve barely noticed as she ran the tips of her claws along the twisted and gnarled branch in her hands.

She’d expected some kind of approval. She and the Ancient Oak had too much in common, and even though their meeting had been brief, the depths of the memories it had shared with her had left a deep impression on her heart.

If she were forbidden from facing its trials after the vision it showed her of the chance to claim her vengeance against Owain Lothian, she wouldn’t have known what to do with the rage such a refusal would have provoked in her.

But somehow, the branch in her hands felt far more significant than simply being a carrier for the seed that Ashlynn could use to form her seed of witchcraft.

"No," Ashlynn said, looking from the branch to the tree and back again with eyes that had grown wide in shock. "Is this truly your intention?" Ashlynn asked the Ancient Oak, uncertain whether or not she had correctly understood its message. After a moment of listening to the wind moving through it’s leaves, however, she accepted the tree’s answer, even if it was very different than what she’d expected when she brought Virve here.

"Virve," Ashynn said as she looked at the five different leaves on the branch in Virve’s claws. She would have to check the books she’d brought back from Amahle’s library to be sure, but the choice of five leaves on that branch displayed a clear message of the strengths the Ancient Oak intended to bestow on her soon-to-be Oak Witch, but she wasn’t certain that she understood the meaning of the colors the Ancient Oak had used to express it’s message.

"The Ancient Oak hasn’t just accepted you to take its trial," Ashlynn explained, offering Virve a gentle smile as she met the other woman’s gaze.

"It has agreed that you would be a good Oak Witch. I still need to nurture this seed for a few days," Ashlynn said, reaching out to retrieve the acorn from the branch in Virve’s paws and feeling the dense energy within it as she attempted to further discern the mighty tree’s intentions.

"But I will face no trial in nurturing your seed," Ashlynn said, shaking her head and smiling in wonder at the Ancient Oak’s generosity. Compared to the seed the Ancient Willow had prepared for Heila, this acorn contained incredibly dense energy that would do far more for Virve than simply allowing her to access the energy of the world. If Ashlynn wasn’t wrong, the seed contained not only enough power to transform Virve’s body into one that could channel the power of the elements, but to turn back the clock of time, restoring Virve to the prime of her life and physical prowess.

"And neither will you face a trial to accept the powers of the Oak Witch.

It seems," Ashlynn said, looking closely at the acorn between her fingers.

"It seems that, in the Ancient Oak’s judgment, you are the perfect person to become the Oak Witch of my coven," Ashlynn said, smiling broadly at the wide-eyed soldier.

The seed was remarkable and powerful, but when she thought of everything that Virve had done in her decades of selfless service to Nyrielle, she had a hard time feeling like the Ancient Oak’s decisions was excessive.

Heila, Ollie, and even Ashlynn herself were all young, untested, and though life had begun to prove the strengths of their characters, there was still a great deal of uncertainty about the kind of people they would grow into.

Virve, however, had proven herself countless times over.

She had walked on the knife’s edge between life and death in conflicts, small and large, and she’d put her body between danger and the people she’d sworn to protect more than once.

For the Ancient Oak to reward this service by accepting Virve’s experience instead of subjecting her to an additional trial.

.. perhaps it was something Ashlynn should have expected when she invited someone so many years older than herself to join the coven.

"So, congratulations, Lady Virve," Ashlynn said, setting aside her concerns to celebrate the good news with the woman who was about to join their small and growing family. "In a few days time, you’ll join Ollie and Heila as a full-fledged witch of my coven!"

Virve stared at the acorn in Ashlynn’s fingers, then at the branch still clutched in her paws.

A witch without a trial? Even Lady Ashlynn had faced trials from the Ancient Willow, but she would be exempted from the perilous ritual?

The weight of the honor settled on her shoulders like a heavy cloak, but she couldn’t help but feel slightly uncomfortable at the ease with which this incredible power seemed to have all but literally fallen into her paws.

"I..." she began, her voice uncharacteristically hesitant. "I don’t understand. Heila nearly died in her trial. Ollie is facing his even now. Why would the Ancient Oak judge me worthy without testing me at all?"

Ashlynn’s smile gentled as she placed a hand on Virve’s shoulder. "Perhaps your life has been trial enough. Or perhaps," she added, glancing up at the rustling branches above, "it sees something in you that needs no further tempering."

Virve’s golden eyes gleamed with a sudden moisture as she ran her claws reverently over the branch.

All those decades of service to Lady Nyrielle, the battles fought, the people torn from her life long before their time, her father, her mother, and all too many fellow soldiers like Andrus, all of it had led her to this moment.

The Ancient Oak had judged her not just adequate but ideal to become the next Oak Witch.

"I won’t disappoint either of you," she said finally, straightening her back before bowing toward both Ashlynn and the Ancient Oak. "Whatever power you grant me, I’ll use it to protect you, your coven, and everyone in the Vale," she promised.

She left unspoken the other promise that burned in her heart, the promise of vengeance she’d glimpsed in the Ancient Oak’s vision.

That conversation could wait for another day when the time would come for her to join Ashlynn in the coming war against the savages who slaughtered her people and butchered their sacred trees for reasons as shallow as greed and vanity.

As they turned to leave, Virve cast one last look at the mighty tree that had chosen her.

Its leaves rustled in a breeze that seemed to touch nothing else, and for a moment, she could have sworn she felt the faintest brush of understanding against her mind, a silent acknowledgment of both her spoken and unspoken vows along with a trace of eagerness to see her again as the witch she would soon become.