Enjoy! I'd appreciate any feedback. Also, I just figured out you can justify the content, which is awesome! It's been bothering me.

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There was an apothecary at Halfwind and she already had an apprentice, but more rabbits came from the Great Wood every day, many of which were injured, so there was plenty of work for me to do. Sometimes I combined herbs to form medicinal compounds, like those that would take away pain for a while or prevent swelling or infection. Sometimes I would venture into the woods to find more ingredients, but they would send a couple soldiers with me for protection. I always brought my bow just in case.

It was on one of these occasions, a couple of days after we had arrived at the citadel, that we heard them.

Heavy footfalls sounded several yards away, branches cracking, and then a single scream split the summer air. The two soldiers that had been wandering around me rushed toward the sound. I jumped up to go after them, then hesitated. Hadn’t Reese warned me not to use my weapon? Even Lord Benedict had approached and advised me to be cautious. Apparently Reese had told him about it. But I followed the soldiers anyway.

By the time I reached them, one wolf was dead on the ground and the soldiers were desperately trying to hold off two more. A doe clutching a bundle was laying on the ground, her face drawn in pain and her eyes closed. One of the wolves lurched toward her, a nasty grin on his face at the thought of finishing her off.

I didn’t think about it. I just knew I had to intervene.

I dropped the knife I had been using to gather roots and leaves and pulled my bow off my back, then drew out an arrow and nocked it. Unlike last time I had tried to shoot a wolf, I was calm and sure. The ever-present voice in my head was silent for once. A burst of adrenaline ran through me, but I channeled the energy into preparing as fast as I could. The world seemed to slow as I drew the string to my cheek, aimed for where the wolf’s head would be when the arrow reached it, and fired.

The arrow sped through the few yards between us, through the wolf’s head, and out the other side, sticking in a tree trunk, perpendicular to it. The wolf’s face was frozen, but its momentum carried it forward, falling face down on the ground just before the fallen doe. I rushed over.

Bending down besides the doe, who had blood staining the front of her dress, I held up her head. Her eyes fluttered open, though they only opened halfway, and she struggled to focus on my face.

“Ma’am, can you hear me?” I asked.

She grunted, trying to get words out. “Take – her – please.”

I wrinkled my forehead, trying to figure out what she meant. “Who?”

She looked down at her bundle, her face twisted in anguish, and I saw the face. There was a youngling wrapped in the cloth. Her eyes were wide open, watching us, and one finger was clamped in her mouth.

“Misty—” the doe said, then her head fell back and her eyes closed. A faint sigh escaped her lips.

I looked up at the two soldiers, standing over us, and back down at the mother. I put my head to her chest, but there was no pulse. Gently I laid her body down.

“What about the youngling?” one of the soldiers asked.

“I’ll take her,” I responded instinctively. Her mother had asked me to take her, so why not? When I looked up at the bucks, they were staring at me skeptically, and then I realized what I had just said. Did I really think I was able to take care of a little girl? I had enough on my plate already!

But the more I thought about it, the more I couldn’t imagine giving her up to someone else’s care. Those things on my plate – I was only trying to keep busy so I could forget, for a time, the heartbreak of the past. There was nothing really that important, not more important than this youngling. Misty. That was her name, Misty. And I loved her.

“I’ll take her,” I repeated, louder and more forcefully.

They looked at each other, then nodded. “You’ll have to report to Lord Benedict,” one said.

I agreed, suddenly willing to do anything for this girl.

Misty climbed out of the blanket and over her mother to her face. “Mama?” she said, in a small voice, and cupped her mother’s cheek with her tiny hand.

Tears came to my eyes. How hard it would be for her to understand at this age! I put a hand on her back and rubbed softly. “Misty, my name is Cassie. I’m going to take care of you, okay?”

She looked up at me, confusion on her face. “What happened to Mama?”

“She’s…” Words failed me, and I struggled to say it. “She’s gone, Misty.”

“Gone away? She’s right here.”

“No…” I pushed away the tears. We had to get out of there – there could be more wolves around.

“Come on, Misty. We have to go now.” I took her hand and tried to pull her with me.

“What about Mama?” She clung to the doe.

One of the soldiers scooped her up and handed her to me, glancing around anxiously. The other buck lifted the body. “Let’s go,” he said.

Misty started to cry, but I held her close. “We have to be quiet, Misty. Can you be quiet? We don’t want them to find us.”

She sniffed and stopped crying. “Like hide-and-seek?”

I winced at the comparison. “Yes, like that. Good girl.”

We quietly made our way back to the citadel. I found Lord Benedict and explained the situation as briefly as I could, for Misty’s tears were returning. He was doubtful.

“Are you sure about this?”

I stood taller, my head held high, clutching Misty. “Positively.”

He nodded, and for the first time in a long time, I knew I had done something right.