'Heheheheheh hahahaha!!'
Laughter echoed throughout the woods that originated from a certain 4 year old.
Meanwhile;
The woods were quiet—too quiet. Only the soft crackle of twigs beneath feet and the rustle of leaves in the wind broke the stillness. A young woman of seventeen, her hair tucked back under a scarf, bent to gather a bundle of firewood. Her arms were already straining with the weight, but she wanted just a little more.
That was when it came.
'Heheheheheh hahahaha!!'
Not the laugh of a man around a hearth fire. Not the warm, throaty laugh of her neighbors when they drank too much mead. This laugh was sharp, jagged, wild—it carried like creepy demon laugh.
She froze. Every hair on her arms prickled upright. Her heart fluttered in her chest.
"What was that?"
The woods held their silence again, mocking her.
She hugged the wood tighter against her chest and muttered, "Probably just my imagination." A quick prayer escaped her lips, half-whispered in her mother tongue, before she forced herself to move. Her steps quickened , skirts swishing against her ankles.
Just she entered the periphery of village huts escaping the woods,
her eyes darted back once—just once. Shadows stretched long between the trunks, swallowing anything that might have been there.
Then - Smack
"Careful!" Ayana steadied her with a smile.
Ayana:"Oh! Tatia,What's got you rushing like the devil's on your heels?"
She stammered "I heard something creepy! In the woods."
The girl bit her lip, then leaned in closer, lowering her voice. "Ayana, I swear, I heard something in the woods. It was like—like this." She awkwardly puffed out her chest, threw her head back, and let out a ridiculously overdone, wobbly "Mwahaha!" that cracked halfway through.
Ayana blinked at her for a moment—then burst out laughing. "That's what scared you? That sounded more like a sick goat than a demon."
Flustered, Tatia huffed. "It was creepier than that when I heard it!"
"Uh-huh. Or maybe it was just the wind playing tricks on your ears and it's the middle of the day not full moon".
Ayana teased, giving her a playful nudge. "Next time you hear it, don't run straight into me, alright?"
The girl muttered something about Ayana not taking her seriously, but Ayana only chuckled again and carried on toward Esther's house, leaving the girl to hurry off home.
The woods behind them fell quiet once more.
Ayana walked along the pathway to a secluded house as she entered the house calling "Esther!".
Klaus: "Aunt Ayana are you here to meet mother?".
Ayana: "Yes Dear, where is she?"
"Mother just went out looking for Finn I am alone keeping an eye on house."Klaus replied like he was showing off his bravery staying alone in house guarding it.
"And what are you doing here alone, didn't you go out to play with kol and that boy Adrian" Ayana asked back making small talk as she can't just wait here staring at each other without talking can they.
"That his Grandma called him away for a chore and .... and Father arrived teaching sword to Elijah and Finn. "
"So I came back " his voice got a lot fainter mentioning his father.
As Ayana was about to say something a voice came from the entrance.
"You are here, Ayana!" Esther exclaimed as she arrived bringing another figure with her Finn.
"Yes what did you wanted to talk about that." Ayana asked voice tinged with curiousity of why did her friend call her at this time.
Esther not answering looked at Klaus "Nicklaus, go outside and play with kol and Rebekah are alone go look after them."
Klaus just around 7 year old didn't notice anything wrong and ran out to play as he just heard kol and Rebekah are alone meaning Father is not present there.
"Now that he is gone what is it that you wanted to talk about. Is it related to little Finn here."Ayana asked looking at Finn for a moment.
Finn hearing all this didn't say anything to disturb the conversation between elders just got a little worried 'is something wrong with me' and got a little closer to his mother like a mama's boy.
"Yes, it's about finn but not only him, he has passed 15 winters but yet has to awaken his magic, help me check him i want to make sure of something."Esther answered.
"Is that so, but you know right Esther awakening age of magic differs from person to person, maybe you don't know as both you awakened your magic at 13 and your sister much earlier but most of the witches awaken magic after 14 even I only awakened at 15 , only exceptionally talented one get to connect with magic as their soul and body is more conductive to magic awaken much earlier most of others get atune to magic as they mature maybe little Finn is a late bloomer. " Ayana replied.
"That I know, but I have a bad feeling nowadays just to make sure help me check Finn here I got all the ingredients ready" Esther urged.
After a quarter an hour if grounding herbs and incantation a transparent liquid was in the bowl, turns out she needed Ayana isn't because she didn't know the spell nor it's strong enough it's a basic concotion doesn't have much demand on magical aspect but one needs to be quick or has to have 4 hands this has high demand on timing on timeframe and precision so one needs a helper the only helper she could find who wouldn't mess it up is Ayana.
After it was done Esther came to Finnwho was curiously looking at the two doing magic, he has begun gaining knowledge in herbs and other aspect of magic which doesn't require active magic casting but this one is confusing.
"Finn" Esther called for him as the concotion was completed as he approached he looked at the transparent concotion which looks exactly like water.
Esther: "Finn we are going to test your magic ok dear, so that I need a drop of your blood."
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