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Seventeen
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2024-10-29 19:42:56Action speaks, when words cannot.
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We reach the vicinity of the town just as the sky turns dark. It would probably take us just a few more hours before we reach the area. Yohan had shifted back into his human form, with me turning my back to respect his privacy, and told me that it would be wiser to make our presence known in the morning.
“Not a lot of wolves are welcoming of fresh meat during the night,” He says, while arranging the rocks and wood so that we could start a fire. “You’re lucky you ended up at the Torrids, people there are way too tired to be angry.”
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Happiness is not to be expected; be delighted when it does.✾When morning came, so did our arrival to the broken down village.“I didn’t notice before,” Yohan says, his sight locked on one of the houses near the trees. “This area’s called the Savanna. I didn’t know this was close to the Torrids.”I did. I just didn’t know this was the Savanna. In my books back at the palace, the pictures had images of wide open areas of grass, where animals can graze. There were trees that served shade for townsfolk, bearing a wide variety of fruits.The place I’m currently at is nothing like that.
Rules and Roses Nineteen
Salt sometimes look like sugar. Be wary who you trust.✾ I see the trail of blood before I notice the smell. Yohan tried to stop me from going further, but I ignore him. Strength was never my greatest forte but right now, I was the one pulling him. The smile I had a while ago was long gone. The happiness I felt for helping someone and looking forward to helping someone was change by a heavy feeling inside my heart. Every step I take was heavier than the first. I didn’t know what I was expecting and I hate whatever it was my mind was conjuring.
Rules and Roses Twenty
Life is made by the death of others.✾ We found it wrong to just bury the body without letting his family know about what happened to him first. And so we tried our best to find the place where his family resided. It wasn’t that hard. His house was just a few steps away from where he was murdered. When I found that out, it made my anger come back tenfold. He could have survived if only I gave him the bread faster. If only I didn’t waste time, thinking if I should give it to him or not. His house was small, not much bigger than the hut back home at the Torrids. Once we reached the house, w
Rules and Roses Twenty-One
First, say to yourself what you would be. Then be it.✾ The moment Yohan returns to check up on me, I assume he’d ask why my eyes were bloodshot and there were traces of tears on my cheeks. He doesn’t. Instead, he thanks me for cleaning the rabbit and takes the pelt. The deer he just took down awhile ago didn’t look as if it was just mangled by him. It was, Yohan just has a talent on cleaning his kills. I don’t know what to do with that information, but so far, it has helped us. I don’t think I should question something that obviously works.&nbs
Rules and Roses Twenty-Two
Give a man a fish and you'll feed him for a day, teach a man to fish and you'll feed him for the rest of his life.✾ When the man’s little girl, whose name I found out was Georgia, saw the deer and the rabbit, a smile immediately filled her face. Slowly, she stands up from the bed and goes near us. She was so tiny. I knew she was older than Kofi, you could tell by her knowing eyes, and yet, she looks so small due to malnutrition. Again, it makes me think of all the food that’s usually left to rot in the palace.
Rules and Roses Twenty-Three
Something saved, is something earned.✾I don’t know how long we were staring at one another. Suzanne looked different. To me, she was still Suzanne, but here beyond the walls, she was Annie. Her ash grey hair that used to be tied into her signature two knotted rings with ribbons entwined in them was now falling freely on her back. Her cheeks that used to be full and pudgy were now hollow and sticking out. I don’t know how long she was here but it certainly did something to her. Annie was very different from Suzanne.
Rules and Roses Twenty-Four
Nothing defines you more than the mistakes you choose to correct.✾ “You what?!” She sniffs louder now, approaching me and holding on to my hands. She starts looking down, almost begging me to understand where she’s coming from. I don’t. I will never understand. Even in hunger I don’t think it justifies stealing from someone who also doesn’t have enough. She’s much like the people who murdered Clancy to beg
Rules and Roses Twenty-Five
People are all the same, all they care about is their own.✾ Making sure that all of our things were back in the rucksack, we said our goodbyes. Annie was wishing us luck, and I wished her well. Reminding her that one of these days, she should tell the family of what really happened, of what she did. She can’t always live in guilt. Things happened, and it did had it’s dire consequences. What we do after is entirely up to us, I just hope Annie doesn’t lose the faith to be honest. Whatever happens, I hope the family forgives her, and I hope that after this, nothing as tragic as this would happen again.
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Here's to alcohol, the rose-colored glasses of life.✾The place behind the counter looked very much like it really belongs to Verdant.There were various shelves full of jars that had different colored liquids inside. Some had roots, leaves, as well as some things that I didn’t bother identifying. For some reason, my wolf had told me it was better that I didn’t know. There were barrels on either side of the counter, their spigot dripping a sticky brown liquid whose stench made me crinkle my nose. Furrowing my brows, I tried leaning over the counter, checking if there was something that I could at least give Auster, maybe even some water.
Rules and Roses Hundred + 27
There are two questions a man must ask himself: The first is 'Where am I going?' and the second is 'Who will go with me?'✾The second thing I noticed when we reached Verdant was that everyone had a huge smile on their face.Unlike Azure, almost all the villagers had various colored clothing. Although it is quite apparent that most had pipes with them. Even from a distance, I could hear their laughter, as well as notice how there were some random villagers dancing and running about. It had been a long since I’ve seen an actual place in Cinco where there were wolves laughing and having fun.It smelled like fresh dew and the mist was still pretty thick. Much like the old man who was steering our gondola towards one of the docks, they also had glossy eyes. I’m guessing it probably was because of the
Rules and Roses Hundred + 26
And live like it's heaven on earth.✾The first thing I noticed once we reached Verdant was that it was inexplicably green.Verdant was a district that was abundantly covered by mist. The trees and mountains seemed to be covered by moss and various plants and leaves. And everywhere I went, the only thing I could smell was fresh dew. The kind of thing one might smell at the start of the morning as dawn breaks. Once we have reached the vicinity of Verdant, the sound of one of the largest waterfalls I have ever seen echoed throughout the thick forest.The trees surrounding the whole district seemed as tall as the sky and seemed to disappear within the clouds. I had no choice but to look up. I couldn’t even help but awe loudly.“Woah,” I mut
Rules and Roses Hundred + 25
A boy needs a father to show him how to be in the world. He needs to be given swagger, taught how to read a map so that he can recognize the roads that lead to life and the paths that lead to death, how to know what love requires, and where to find steel in the heart when life makes demands on us that are greater than we think we can endure.✾I closed my mouth and listened.Yohan was quiet right next to me and it was thanks to him that I haven’t jumped Eleanor yet. My mate had just gone through something horrible and almost died back in the underground fighting ring and she wants to put him in the spotlight again? Gritting my teeth, I continued looking down on my lap, my hands clenched.“Amara, I don’t like this idea any more than you do,” Eleanor says. Without meaning to, I scoff. I hear her sighing, and I find myself lifting my head a bit to look at her. She was staring daggers at the map, her jaw clenched.
Rules and Roses Hundred + 24
It is a long-cherished tradition among a certain type of military thinker that huge casualties are the main thing.✾It had been a few days since I had breakfast with Eleanor.Like how I imagined it would be it was a bit awkward. Especially with how every few seconds, she would stare at me and tears would leak out of her eyes. I teased her about it, hoping that she would stop, and her pride would get the best of her. However, when I did tease her, not only did it make her more emotional, but it also made her talk about how we used to be in the past.When I had teased her about her tears, she took me seriously. I had assumed that she would just scoff at me or ignore my teasing, but it seemed like the past few months actually changed her. Instead of just rolling her eyes at me, she took it way too seriously. S
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No person is your friend who demands your silence, or denies your right to grow.✾The first time I ate something that Eleanor had cooked, I instantly regretted it.She was a Sem native, they were great in things like mining and exploring forests but that was it. They were horrible cooks. As much as possible, one would be safer with a Sem native as a guard instead of having them as one of the kitchen staff. Even though they were given a recipe book, or a list of instructions, seeing as they were from Sem, they would end up with a burnt and wasted food. Those from Sem were known for being so full of pride that they rather eat what they had burnt instead of asking for help.Eleanor was one of them. The good thing was that at least she was willing to accept that there were things that she needed to correct. See
Rules and Roses Hundred + 22
Human nature is like water. It takes the shape of its container.✾It was Yohan.Clutching my heart, I narrow my eyes at him, “I didn’t even sense that you were.”“Sorry,” He yawned, stretching his arms up in the air. “Force of habit.”“Habit?”Eleanor coughed behind me. When I turned around though, I realized it wasn’t exactly a cough. From the way her eyes were glittering as she looked at Yohan, I knew it was something different entirely. Her look has been meaningful as if I wasn’t curious enough already. Eleanor was great at lying, which I learned the hard way. With how she was acting, it was like she knew something and desperately wa
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Indifference and neglect often do much more damage than outright dislike.✾“I don’t know if I showed it enough,” Eleanor pulled her knees to her chest, leaning her cheek right by her knees. She wasn’t looking at me, her eyes following the flow of the river. The wind had turned chillier than it had been moments ago. I didn’t know if the goosebumps running up my arm were due to the cold or because we were talking now. “But I’ve always thought of you as my sister.”I wanted to tell her that I know that. That’s why her betrayal hurt so much. But I don’t. I’m not even sure it was a question that she wanted an answer to. It was just a statement she wanted to start with.Eleanor started fiddling with her thumbs, “I know that the things I&rsquo
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The truth is, unless you let go, unless you forgive yourself, unless you forgive the situation, unless you realize that the situation is over, you cannot move forward.✾The cool wind kiss my cheeks and I hug myself, shivering lightly.The nights had gone colder, which meant it really had been long since I’ve gone out of the gates. We were nearing the mountains, nearing the snow-covered lands that I’ve once read in my books. Breathing out through my mouth, I see white smoke right in front of me, as my warm breath mix and mingles with the cool night air.My eye falls on all the campers here. They had been battling the cold far longer than I did. How had they managed to survive? The tents didn’t offer any type of blankets. Had they adapted?
