The sound of birds chirping travelled across the winds, with the soft flowing waters of the nearby river a gathering of tents filled the open glade in the great forest. Dawn had arrived but the small embers from the fire pit still glowed like stars in the dark night sky. The tents were muddy in color, its lush colors having lost its former beauty years ago due to use and tear. From the tent closest to the river the soft snoring could be heard by the two awake members of the group sitting as protectors from unknown dangers during the knight. One of the members looked towards her companion.
"Today is the day huh" she voiced, her voice tired from the night shift. Looking over she saw the same tired eyes in her companion. Her twin sister and fellow coven member Amara was so similar to herself but there were notable differences between them. They had the same oak-brown hair, but whilst she usually braided her long straight hair into a thick braid usually strewn across her shoulder her twin sister instead usually had her just flowing. They had the same eye color, a deep golden color, somewhere between honey and amber. But their most notable difference were their personalities. Whilst she was a proper seeker of knowledge and furthering her theoretical knowledge of magic Amara was a lover of physical bouts of strength and training her use of her spear. The weapon in question gently leaning towards the side of Amara, keeping her upright whilst she was fighting her ever more heavy eyelids.
Amara yawned as she looked at Elaine, pausing for a moment to process her statement and shrugging in response. "I guess so. I mean, our ever glorious leader has been nagging us the last three weeks for presents to give our newest member." Elaine softly chuckled at her sister's response, agreeing that even if they love their eldest sister, she can often be a little overbearing. She could understand why Amara had to be reminded a good time in advance, her usual focus mostly placed in training or eating. She herself hadn't forgotten and had already planned the perfect gift for the little witch in question.
Elaine looked over towards the forest, where the gathering of trees thickened as her sight went further. But the gathering of sunlight alarmed her of her duty to wake the other members of their coven.
"Let's go, we have an eventful day ahead, best to wake the others."
"Alright, alright. Let's go sleepyhead" Amara chuckled and rose with leverage from her spear. Elaine rolled her eyes in response as she walked away from the bonfire and headed towards one of the tents surrounding them. Arriving at the flap of the tent she gently rasped her fingers across the tarp as she waited for a response. After a few seconds of waiting she gave up and pushed her head inside the tent and saw the appearance two girls sleeping next to each other, clasped hands together.
"Dany, Maria. It's time to wake up." The girl on the left yawned as Elaine's voice made her wake up from her peaceful sleep. The girl in question, Dany, looked towards the demon in question and saw her sister standing at the opening to their tent, her tired eyes looking at the other pair of twins with fond eyes despite the tired gaze she held. Waving hello she looked down at her twin still sleeping next to her, the quilt discarded from constant turning in her sleep.
"Maria wake up, otherwise Amara will eat all the bacon for breakfast" Dany whispered into her twins ear. This caused Dany's eyes to fly open as she quickly sat up in bed. "Why didn't you say that sooner, we have to hurry!" Dany shouted in mock worry. Seeing that the younger twin pair awake and beginning to make themselves ready for the day she reminded them of the importance of today and seeing them nod in agreement she left the tent and moved towards the last tent in the glade, seeing that Amara had done her morning duty. As she ruminated on the events planned for today she headed over towards the final tent.
As she arrived the soft breathing of one of the occupant's of the lodging she repeated her actions, but instead of the silence from the twins she heard from inside the tent a soft and quiet voice call out "come in". Entering the tent she noticed the subtle differences between the tents and their owners. Whilst she and Amara had a controlled chaos of different tools, whetstones, to books and parchments and scrolls covering nearly every floor space in their shared tent. Dany and Maria instead had a different type of chaos, with Maria's clothes and sewing tools placed in disorganized heaps on the soft grass floor. Dany had managed to get splotches of color everywhere, from the inner walls of the tent to her clothes, her backpack and even her cheek. The last tent she visited this morning had in comparison to the two twin pairs chaos a serene feeling. The was a single, larger bedroll in the center of the tent. With dream catchers hanging from the tarp ceiling, the floor near the walls were covered with different types of glass containers and wooden boxes filled with different types of flora, from flowers, to mushrooms to several types of gemstones and raw metals grounded down into dust.
She saw her eldest sister Laufey gently rasping her fingernails through the other occupant. Elaine smiled softly at the pair as she took in the duo. Laufey looked as beautiful as ever, her ebony-colored hair gently curled down her back, her high cheekbones and small straight nose pictured her as a charming princess from a fairy tale. Her most prominent feature however was her scarlet red eyes, the color of rubies.
The other member however was a complete opposite in features. The youngest member in their group had a head of soft snow-white hair reaching down to her clavicle, her facial features soft with chubby cheeks and a cute button nose. Completing the difference between the eldest and youngest sisters was her bright sky blue eyes, droopy eyelids looking at the eldest sister as she gave her a lazy, endearing smile, having awoken from the ministrations of the elder sister.
"Good morning La-La" the little girl greeted. "Good morning to you my little snow bunny, slept well?" The youngest nodded in response and looked towards the entrance and noticed one of her sisters looking at the pair fondly.
"Good morning Eli! I had a wonderful dream you know, it started with…" she began recounting the dream but was interrupted by Elaine. "Good morning as well little Luna, glad to hear you had a nice dream but you can tell it to everyone whilst we eat breakfast together. Luna pouted, having been interrupted by Elaine but halted her thoughts by the sudden grumbling in her stomach. This caused the young girl to jump up in excitement and began explaining to Laufey what clothes she wanted to wear today. Laufey and Elaine's gaze meet each, giving each other a quick wink, already knowing the plan for the day Elaine left the tent and headed towards the bonfire which had been relit by her twin and the last member of the group, arriving before Dany and Maria. She looked over the last member of their small family, the second oldest sister and the main healer of the group. Her dress had several sewn pouches filled with bandages, healing salves and other herbal remedies. Her long blond hair, the color of wheat on the harvest day, braided together into a thick cord of hair across her back. Her eyes the color emeralds, the greens a deep verdant color that Elaine loved to get lost in. With her soft features and motherly tendencies in the group Elaine usually went to her for help during bad days or when she got lost in her head.
"Good morning Sylvia. How are you?" "Lovely morning, just about to finish breakfast, are the others awake?" "Laufey and Luna where the last ones, they should all arrive in a few moments" just as predicted all members of the group arrived around the bonfire, sharing their morning whilst Luna excitedly told the group about her dream where she fought against dragons with her army of fairies. Amara and Dany laughed gently at the fantastical retelling whilst Laufey and Sylvia, the oldest siblings quietly planned the finishing touches on today's plans. After several minutes of eating and laughing together they cleaned up and sat around the fire, the morning dew still fresh on the grass and the cold morning air began to warm up with the sunlight.
"So little Luna, do you know what day it is?" Sylvia asked softly to the youngest. Luna looked at her second oldest sibling and thought for a moment before shaking her head. "Well today is a very special day, for today is your fifth birthday. And you know what that means?"
Luna's eyes widened in recognition and jumped with excitement, " my magic! I can cast magic finally!"