"Droman! You're back." Daezin ran towards her aging brother expecting the usual hug and smirk when he caught her. Instead, he stepped to the side and seemed to be actively avoiding looking at her. And his smirk? Why, it was so out of sight it might as well be on the other side of the forest. The forest that took nearly a week or more to cross depending on which way you went.
Daezin fell into step. "What's wrong?" When Droman flinched away from her hand and kept marching towards the cottage, she slowed to a stop. In the shadows of the trees, just beyond the rays of the setting sun, a shadow lingered. With a quick glance and a frown, Aetran turned and disappeared into the trees.
Daezin turned back in time to see Aetran performing the ritual touching of the gods-mark above the door--he seemed to be extra careful or deliberate about it today--and disappearing inside. The entrance to her home shut behind him with a strange finality to it; Daezin left outside.
##
The raised voices inside then quick volume drop sent Daezin creeping around the outside of her own home to one of the windows. There, she knelt in her mother's flower bed and listened.
Droman: "Why did you never tell me?"
Father: "We didn't want you burdened with the knowledge."
Mother made some sort of half-cry, half-moan noise that Daezin couldn't quite interpret.
Droman: "Mother. I deserved to know. After all this time, all the time I spent with her, I could have been harmed. Gods, I encouraged her to be around the others. We don't know what the gods will do to the village because we allowed her to be here." A low guttural scream ripped through the open window.
Daezin began to shake.
Father: "We couldn't abandon a child, no matter if they were gods-touched or not. That is unlucky too. When she reaches her eighteenth birthday, we always planned on sending her away from the village. Hopefully, she'll be away before any harm comes to anyone here in the village or our family."
Droman: "Fine. Just keep Daezin away from me. I.. I just can't be around her anymore now that I know what she is." Footsteps beat across the wooden floor.
Daezin, chest tight and eyes stinging, ran into the safety of the woods before anyone could find her.
