Haley Thistle
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Osgood the Mimic: Part One (special preview)
🕑 Added 2022-02-23 22:01:01 +0000 UTCI feel a yearning for my home when I wake up in the mornings. I lay there in bed, missing the feeling of being cradled high up above the ground. I hadn’t seen my family in a few years, not since I left to explore the world.
Before that I had never met another human, which was part of the initial journey. My family didn’t want me to leave the nest, but they thought it would be best for me to spend time around my own kind. They gave me some clothes and treasure from their hoard and sent me on my way, though not without a fight from some.
While it took me time to adjust, I found that flashing the treasure my family had bestowed me with usually got me my way. Though there were some, I had to teach a lesson or two. I was taken in by a lonesome old woman who said it was improper for young women to go around fighting and shredding my clothes.
Lady Blackwood had a similar attitude like my mother, so I took to her in a protective way. She was widowed with no children, and had a lot of treasure as well. This caused her to be hounded by much younger suitors and distant relatives sniffing around her money. I decided to protect her, as I would want someone to do for my mother.
“You look forlorn, Tiecia,” Lady Blackwood tutted as I came from my room. “You’ve been looking rather bleak these last few days.”
“I keep missing my family,” I sighed.
“Then why not invite them?” She asked.
I furrowed my brow at her. “Here? In your home?”
She patted the seat beside her. “Is that a problem?”
“Considering how you met me, aren’t you curious about how I was raised?” I hadn’t told her much about my family, only that it was an unconventional childhood compared to what she knew.
Lady Blackwood smiled at me with that knowing twinkle in her eye. “I am curious, my child, to know your past. You seem to keep it so close to your chest.”
I frowned and nodded. “It’s not something most people would be understanding of. My mother told me some people wouldn’t take kindly to it, let alone believe me.”
“I don’t see why you would lie to me,” she chortled. “Besides, I would like to meet them so I could tell them how I plan to take care of you.”
“I know my mother would appreciate that.” I fiddled with the ends of my long hair, coiling it around and around my fingers until I could no longer close them.
Lady Blackwood smiled. “Then let’s send them an invitation to come to our home.”
I shook my head. “No. I would have to go get them myself. I doubt anyone would deliver a letter to them.”
Lady Blackwood gasped in mild alarm, placing her small hands over her chest. “My goodness, do they live somewhere dangerous?”
I squeezed my face together and hummed. “You could say that.”
“No wonder you’re a fighter! Alright then, I will send you with the carriage, you can go fetch them yourself.” She looked very happy about it.
I took her hand in mine and held it gently. “My lady, I really don’t think you understand. If my family comes here, it could cause quite a stir. I wouldn’t want to take advantage of your hospitality.”
“How bad could they be?”
“They eat people.”
She was silent for a moment. “Well, some people need to be eaten.”
I watched in complete silence. “They live in Tulgey Wood. The deep parts. The parts with really bad creatures.”
Lady Blackwood squeezed my hand back. “But they raised you. They must be better than the fools who abandoned you there.”
I smiled. “My lady, are you nuts?”
She nodded her head with a simple smile.“Years of being hounded by the supposed civil beings around me have led me that way, yes. I would much rather spend the rest of my days watching you bite solicitors and scaring fairweather friends than anything.”
