In tandem With The Huntsman

One

The rain never ceased to stop in our small village; the sky a perpetual grey that made it difficult to grow crops and harvest at our ease. The endless green of the forest nearby served as a reminder of the various wildlife roaming on and about,  a fair warning not to wander too close nor too far in fear of becoming another missing person.

I watched the dark entrance from the comfort of my home, staring out the window with a look my mother associated with mischief. The endless green, the gorgeous leaves, the mysterious howls emitting from it... it all spoke to me, called out to a hidden adventurous side locked deep within my heart. A side I sadly had to keep hidden for the rest of my life, lest I trouble my family with talks of rebellious phases and bad influence, regardless of my age.

I sighed while leaning into my palm, longingly staring at the gorgeous yet ominous sea of trees. We'd been living here in Grassglow village for about five years now, and our routine became a way of life. As boring as it was, we made a decent living tailoring cloth for the local community, using our skills as weavers to earn enough coin to get by. With all of us four siblings and my parents helping each other, we succeeded to create a family business that could hold us steady until we could move out. Grassglow wasn't exactly our ideal village, but we learned to love it in our own way. Adore it. Bask in its comforting embrace. It was our home.

I twirled a strand of dark hair with my finger and looked from the forest to our neighbor tending to his cows in the barn-- his house a few meters away from ours and a good distance further from the sea of trees. A young calf had fallen ill two days ago and Mr.Colins struggled to take care of it alone. He was in his fifties and rather frail for his age, but that didn't stop him from working hard everyday and earning his own coin. What I found particularly honorable was his devotion to his late wife, Marianne, whom he visited at the local graveyard every end of the week. She passed away two years ago from tuberculosis, and Colins hadn't stopped paying his respects since then.

The fact that they didn't have any children was somehow even more tragic to me, who valued familial bliss above all else.

"Is he still in there?" My brother Amir said while leaning close to the window, squinting his eyes at the sight of the barn. "How long's it been?"

"Maybe twenty minutes, why?" I asked with a frown, watching him wear his thick coat and scarf. He looked regal wearing our traditional garbs, but the villagers tended to eye us warily when he did. So, he settled with a healthy mix of western and eastern attires to balance things out. The pride we had towards our own culture didn't diminish regardless.

"He broke his back yesterday trying to move a barrel, I doubt he'll manage much without help." Amir mentioned while putting on his shoes and wool gloves, his hair falling in waves across his forehead and eyes. I tilted my head at the sight and pushed myself up, looking for one of my loose strings.

"Come here, let me fix up that mess of yours first." I teased before combing his hair with my fingers, admiring the silkiness of it. With the little red string, I managed to create a makeshift hair tie. Amir rolled his shoulders while I loosely styled his hair into a low ponytail, which ended just a bit over his shoulderblades and gave him a look I enjoyed, something my friend Emily liked to call 'elegantly handsome'.

My brother was indeed very handsome.

"You done?" He asked with a glance, his brown eyes a shade lighter than mine. I pinched his cheek and nodded towards the door, happy to see him so intent on helping other people. It was one of his better qualities.

"Come back soon, okay?" I called out as he left, earning myself a casual wave before he closed the door and exposed himself to the rainstorm. I rushed to the window and watched him run to Mr.Colins' barn, knocking on the half-open door before inviting himelf in. It paid to be polite, and I managed to catch a glimpse of Mr.Colins' relieved smile before my brother closed the entrance shut.