Under the palm tree of the Ainsley's, a young woman in her mid-thirties and her two young girls sat on a mat at the front of their hut, making hats while chattering away. Until the youngest child had to remind them why she was the youngest.
"Don't say that, Olive", her mother laughed off her ten-year-old daughter's frustration while making the hats. Olive wondered why Rams didn't fall from the sky and became upset about it, because why not? They would make lots of profit from selling them, and they were going to be rich!
With those hopeful, glassy eyes of hers shining with brilliance, she looked at her older sister, who was four years older than her, Elowyn, asking," Don't you agree with me, sister? Aren't I wonderful?"
. "Um...Of course, Liv", said Elowyn. "Now, before we wait for the rams to appear miraculously, why don't we make these hats ready for Mr. Gael so we don't give him a reason to complain".
The Ainsley household was just a simple nuclear family of milliners. Edith Ainsley, married to Morrison Ainsley, bore two girls to him—Elowyn and Olive. This seemingly penniless little family of four was quite content with what they had. But underneath this facade, Elowyn couldn't understand the indifferent attitude her parents had towards her. They often neglected her in some things, and at times, they indulged her. Sometimes, she felt it was because she was the first child, and her younger sister had been sick and frail since birth, causing a toll on her struggling parents, or rather, she was just overthinking things. Nevertheless, she loved and cherished them dearly.
In this little town, consisting of a few families and a chief governing them, it wasn't hard to understand that it was a peaceful village. These peaceful villagers lived in seclusion because of their rare characteristics; they had dark and light brown skin, acquired rare hair colors, and colorful irises, making them stand out if any of them were ever spotted outside of the village. Due to this, it became an offense to leave the outskirts of the town without permission, as there was news in the past about missing villagers, who were later found to be antiques at their captor's house.
Even though the people of this little town had rare hair colors, Elowyn happened to have curly silver hair, silver irises, and toned melanin skin. Having silver hair and silver eyes, she was considered an 'alien' or more correctly to say, an 'elderly alien', as they understood that white hair was for the elderly alone. So, Elowyn was a rare occurrence. But above all this, her beauty couldn't be denied—her deer-like eyes, her little straight nose, and her plum light pink lips. There was no doubt that she was a sight to behold.
Amidst all this, this little girl was busy making hats for a customer, while Olive packed them into a sack.
"Winnie, it's almost sunset. As soon as you deliver this to Mr.Gael, make sure to collect the herbs from the forest for Olive so that I can boil them for her to take.", Mrs. Edith said as she dropped the finished hat she made into the sack. "And don't forget to come home with your father, he should be wrapping up by now."
"Yes, mother", said Elowyn.
Suddenly, Liv became enthusiastic about the journey and persistently urged Winnie to take her along. "Winnie, you have to take me along. I would make the journey less lonely for you. Tell me what you could do without me? Hmm?"
"Well, I could do without a chatterbox," said Winnie. Seeing dramatic tears about to spill from her little sister's eyes, she twitched her lips and hurriedly said, "You know the forest grounds are muddy, and it won't be easy to walk on them, and besides, it will be stressful for me if I were to carry you on my back. Won't it?"
Seeing her little sister about to give a suggestion, she laid her hand on her curly ginger hair, rubbing it smoothly and looking into her amber eyes to convince her more, saying, "Liv, I promise to read you a story tonight and take you out next time. How about it?"
Hmph! Winnie is so good at emotional blackmail!, Liv thought to herself. "Okay, don't forget you promised me!"
Mrs. Edith stood after watching her children play their emotional acts, heading to the kitchen to warm the leftover food from this morning. She said, "Winnie, hurry up. Olive, come inside and help me."
"Yes, mother!" the two girls said in unison.
After some time, Winnie finished with the last hat and put it into the sack. She headed straight to the house of Mr. Gael, which was on the right side of the road with eight huts before Mr. Gael's.
Actually, Mr. Gael wasn't an all-time customer. In fact, this was the first time he purchased their hand-made hat, and Winnie felt proud about it. Not only was he a first-timer, but he was also the most sought-after bachelor in their village and skilled in the craft of cordwaining.
Though Mr. Gael, being the heartthrob of the young spinsters in their little town, Winnie couldn't understand what they saw in him, maybe she was too young to understand, as her mother would often say,
'What an adult sees miles away, even when he sits it would still be visible to him, a child wouldn't see it even when he climbs the longest tree'.
'The sun is setting, and it's going to be hard to find the herbs.' Winnie thought as she whistled on her way. She greeted some passerby villagers. Some acknowledged her while some didn't.
*sighs*, she really wished she could stop greeting them. It was annoying enough that they were all townspeople.
On reaching his house, she could hear hard metals clanking together in full force. This showed he was around.
"Mr. Gael, I brought your hats!" Winnie shouted amidst the loud surrounding.
"Ah…So fast?" he said somewhat surprised as he requested four hats last evening and didn't expect to be delivered the next day. Winnie was sure if it were some lady, their heart would be bursting with joy from Gael's compliment.
To be honest Mr.Gael deserved the title of the most handsome and eligible bachelor. Having a rich brown skin, with brown hair and blueish-gray eyes. He really was an attractive man and had a cool personality.
"Well, you don't frequent our products, so it's normal you don't know how we work," said Winnie with pride. There was this certain joy and fulfillment if you love what you are doing and meet the expectations of your customer.
"So how much would they cost?" Gael asked.
"That would be twelve copper coins, sir", Winnie replied.
Bringing out his leather pouch, attached to the waist band of his trouser. He counted out fifteen and handed them over to Winnie. "Here, thank you for your hard work and send my regards to your family."
"Okay! Goodbye sir. I hope you enjoy them well," Winnie was all smiles as she waved at him. She didn't even bother to count the coins and hurried on her way to the forest.
Just as she took two steps out of his compound, she heard a scream.
A piercing one.
Immediately, she looked over to see where the sound came from. An ominous feeling washed over her, and she thought about going over to check on her mother and sister, to know if they were alright.
As she decided on delaying the herbs, she made her way to her house, when a slender rough palm grabbed onto her wrist. Elowyn glanced at it and looked over at the owner.
With a surprised and impatient gaze, she asked, "Why are you holding me, Mr. Gael?"
"You can't go over there", Mr. Gael looked serious as he said it.
"And why is that? Okay you don't have to bother, I'm in a hurry, sir."
She tried to wriggle her arm out of his grasp. And then… she heard an agonizing scream. This one sounded so painful.
"Mr. Gael!"
Elowyn was almost on the verge of tears. She couldn't understand why this was happening and this…Mr. Gael's hold was too frightening.
"If you want to be safe, then you have to be quiet," Mr. Gael seemed impatient. "Follow me, I'll take you to see your family."
Even though Elowyn didn't want to trust this abnormal man. She decided to follow him and act normal for now. She saw him going into his hut and coming out immediately with his flintlock firearm.
Heading straight to the source of the scream on tiptoes, they stumbled across the gathering of the townspeople. It was unbelievable that not a sound could be heard from their lips, no movement at all. It was as if the scream was an illusion.
The villagers were gathered at the intersection between the roads leading to Ainsley's and they hid behind a tree.
Looking around for clues to understand what was really happening. She saw her father,Morrison Ainsley walking up to five unfamiliar men she hadn't noticed before. Those men wore black cloaks with their faces hidden beneath.
As she saw him whispering something to one of them. Elowyn saw her gentle father,Mr. Morrison nodding to what he was being told, and without further ado, he severed the head of a crying woman next to him with an indifferent expression, because he believed she was too noisy.
Elowyn gasped.
At that moment, Winnie felt like she was having a terrible nightmare.