1507 DR

_

Mel sat in front of the water basin, thumb rubbing the back of the stone pendant resting around her collarbones. It was the only thing of her parents she possessed, wrapped in her blankets when Grissana discovered her in the forest as a baby.

The din of the tribe partaking in their evening meal hovered around her, anticipation souring the normally relaxing affair. Tonight, Grissana called for a devotional, and Mel secretly wondered if it was punishment for the earlier argument that transpired between her and the priestess.

Shaking her head, she concentrated on the pendant again. She tried to focus on her parents before devotionals, if only to coax a vision about them from the universe.

For the last 13 years, it hadn’t worked, but she couldn’t give up the hope that perhaps, one day, it might.

Squeezing the stone, she wished to look at it properly, though Grissana forbade her ever remove it, else she may lose it. Ears straining, Mel listened for any movement outside her tent. Surely removing it once, in the privacy of her own tent, wouldn’t hurt.

Lips pressing together nervously, she tugged the leather cord over her head, removing the necklace for the first time in her life.

A thrill of exhilaration bolted through her, defying Grissana like this, but the priestess forbade her from playing with the other girls earlier today and the dejection still stung. She knew Grissana would be disappointed in her behavior, but this was only fair.

Mel dangled the pendant by the cord, letting the fire from her torch shine through the stone. The color was a brilliant amber, golden where the light shone through, and her gaze traced the symbol etched into the surface; it almost looked like a closed eye. She wondered what it meant, wondered if it was something to do with her family name.

The cord slipped through her fingers and dropped to the ground in front of her.

Abruptly, voices and faces erupted into her head, eclipsing her other senses, battling for domination.

“Melrose?? Is that you?!” a woman’s voice yelled, her voice strained and echoing, like it was sieved through the stars of the night sky to reach her.

A glimpse of her face pressed into Mel’s mind. Her hair was silvery white, pulled back into a braid. Her eyes were drops of silver, creased and aged. 

“Melrose!!” cried another woman’s voice, deeper.

“It’s her! It’s her!!” the silver-haired woman cried.

The other woman’s face fought for a spot within this cacophony. Her face was smooth and hard, like marble. “We must away, we must save her from that witch!”

“We’re coming for you, Melrose!!”

Mel lurched forward, panting, her hair falling into her face. The women’s desperate voices echoed in her ears. Her mind couldn’t comprehend what just happened - it wasn’t a vision, it didn’t behave like her normal ones. The expected headache that bloomed after a vision didn’t come. It was almost as if they could...see her.

They said they were coming for her.

Were they going to take her away? What about the tribe, how would they survive without her? Where were they going to take her? Why?

Grissana needed to know. The priestess needed to know about all of her visions, as she knew the best ways to interpret them for the good of the tribe.

...but what if she was punished for taking the pendant off? What if she would be in more trouble, especially after their fight today?

The phantom pain of her last punishment spidered over her shoulder blades.

She couldn’t let the women take her. She would keep this secret to herself.

With trembling hands, Mel yanked the pendant back over her head.