Anya slept for twenty-six hours upon returning to the village. Her presence had made the residents uncomfortable, to say the least. If they had acted like she was cursed before, she was surely now the devil.

Kot watched over her, keeping onlookers from interrupting her much needed recovery. He tended to her wounds and when she awoke, he answered her questions. So, so many questions.

He told her how after she said goodbye to him, he had rushed out to find the witch first. Cilisy had been more than happy to let him assist her impending guest. She had made her jabs at him of course. Poking fun at how his body wasn't even useful to her. Oddly enough, he had awoken in the village as if he had been carrying on as usual while under her spell.

Suspiciously, none of the neighbors seemed to have noticed anything strange about him during his absence. The lost time concerned him, but that was a problem for a new day.

"Anya, there's something else that concerns me. Something you need to see." She followed him with increasing anxiety to her sister Nadja's room. "Look here," Kot said, pointing to the corner of her window.

Just barely poking out, an eyestalk watched the room unblinking.

"How long has this been here?" she asked.

"No way of knowing. I think we can only see it now because we've been through Cilisy's arch."

Anya nodded, then took her shoe off to grind the eyeball into the window frame. "There," she said. Satisfaction laced her voice but it didn't quite reach her eyes, for those were burdened with worry.

"Let's finish packing," Kot said, heading for the door. When Anya didn't follow, he took her hand and gave her knuckles a kiss. "I'll give you two some time."

Once she was alone, Anya kneeled. "Raven's call, Sestria." She waited in silence and closed her eyes, thinking back to her experience with the mushroom tea. She pictured Nadja's smile and felt herself mirror it. "Nadja, I know I've only just returned, but I must leave you again. Mother seems to have taken fair care of you in my absence and I hope this time will be the last. Soon we will travel together and Kot and I will bring you to a place better than this. A place without witches and curses and creatures." She may not have been trying to right her wrong before, but now that there was a theoretical chance, she had to give it a shot.

"I'm- I'm going to try and save you. Something I should have been doing all this time. I'm so sorry for not being a better sister." She would have let herself cry, but it seemed her body had not recovered the ability after all she had gone through. There just simply weren't any more tears to shed.

Still, she sat with her sister and told her of how she and Kot would travel the land to find the cure for her stasis. The pritsa Cilisy couldn't be the only one to wield magic and now they knew what to look for.

After placing a final kiss atop her sister's head, she returned to Kot to help him gather up their meager belongings.

Kot had sold off his family home and used the funds to buy them two horses and a wagon. Once loaded up, they wasted no time in leaving the village that had cast them aside.

The horizon was full of promise, the light of the sun more fully appreciated now that they had gone without. As they set their sights ahead, Kot urged the horses forward, steering them towards the main road. There they could take their pick of destinations from there. Any of which would lead them far, far away from the Witch's Wood.

Contentedly, Anya leaned her head to gently rest on top of Kot's. She nuzzled her nose in his hair and then they shared a tender kiss. It was just them against the world.

Well, them and the little black cat that had hitched a ride as their stowaway. 

~THE END~

WC 688

Total 20,040