Maple: Come back for them later and hurry back.
From Create Your Own Story
You decide to get them later. There's something off in the air today and you dont want to leave Erybelle alone for too long.
As you walk back along the path you reminisce over memories of your parents. You try not to think about them too much but sometimes when you're alone memories tend to resurface. It also probably doesn't help that your nightmares had been getting worse. When you were younger you used to tell Erybelle about your nightmares. She would always assure you that there was nothing to worry about and that you were safe... but she didn't understand. Then again, how could she? Erybelle has been an orphan her whole life. You shudder to think what your life would be like now if your parents were still alive, with your mother always screaming at you and your father coming home drunk every night and getting violent over the tiniest things. Tears come to your eyes and you fiercely wipe them away. You refuse to cry over a problem you already dealt with long ago. As far as anyone else knows, including Erybelle, the fire that claimed your family but somehow spared you was an accident. You suppose it could've been but somehow you knew that wasn't the case.
You, and perhaps Erybelle too, have certain talents. They're mostly in matchmaking and fairly harmless, at least Erybelle's certainly are (she won't even step on a beetle!), but yours have acted up in the past. It's only ever happened twice when you were incredibly enraged but both times the results have been terrifying. The first time it occurred you were only a year or two old, you were outside after church with your mother and you remember wanting to play with the other children your age, but they wouldn't let you. They laughed and threw rocks at you instead, making fun of your shabby dress and scuffed shoes. Not two minutes after them refusing you, a shrub that several of them were hiding in burst into flame. All of the children survived and the villagers blamed it upon the drought but you distinctly remember wishing they would burn. You tried to tell your mother this and she screamed at you, calling you a demon changeling, and a spawn of Satan. After that you didn't talk to her much. You became more and more withdrawn until you didn't talk to anyone, or make any noise eventually. This only angered your parents more and your mother would hit you with her bible or refuse to feed you for weeks, sometimes your father would pull your hair to try to get you to scream but you remained stubbornly silent. Until one particularly bad day when you just couldn't take it anymore. In the middle of the night something inside you snapped. Hysterically you ran all about the house in nothing but your nightgown shrieking "BURN, DAMN YOU! BURN!" You don't remember much after that other than an angry heat building up inside of you. The next thing you remember is waking up at Lady Lavendale's Home for Girls and being told that your house had burned down in the middle of the night, killing your parents. You knew it was your fault but whenever you tried to tell an adult they dismissed you as "in shock", but the other children believed you. You terrified them and soon you were in control of the entire herd. No one at the orphanage dared oppose you for fear of invoking your wrath.
Until Erybelle came.
The two of you became friends nearly instantly and the rest is history.
You hadn't had an incident since then but you'd come dangerously close just earlier today. There was a new priest in town and he came to your booth and slammed his bible down on your table, ranting on about witchcraft and God's will. It wouldn't have upset you that much, but all of his yelling and insults made Erybelle distressed to the point of tears. Needless to say you lost your temper fairly quickly. Luckily for him he left when you started cursing at him, vowing to be back. You hoped for his sake that you wouldn't.
You awake from your thoughts to find Erybelle at the booth organizing different herbs into piles. You run to her and embrace her, not saying one word. She returns the gesture without question and gives you an understanding smile and you grin back because you know how lucky you are to have her. Without her you have no doubt that your incidents would be more frequent.
What will you do next?
