When Aziza and Ward offered for Haze and Nova on an out of castle hike, Haze was excited. She couldn’t help but jump for joy at the chance to be out in real nature. The air fresh and grass green.

If there’s anything that witches thrive on it is trust and nature. Witches are so attuned to the natural world, so being cooped up in the castle has not been great for Haze.

But what they didn’t tell her was that the hike included hunting.

The whole point of this hike was to hunt.

The second they found out the intention of the trip, Nova began to berate both of them, not fearing any consequences in insulting the princess and her royal guard.

“How could you think this was a good idea?” Nova hisses to Ward. Haze wonders if she knows that she can hear them, they aren’t that far ahead of her and Aziza. Or she just doesn’t care.

“I thought you were learning about witches!” Her sister is a lion. Ward looks to be cowering slightly, like prey in front of a predator. It’s the first time she’s seen him be like that. Normally he seems to almost enjoy her sister’s strong personality. Not right now though. Probably because he feels bad. While Nova obviously isn’t scary to Haze, she understands the intimidating figure she is, especially when fired up.

“No one told me that witches don’t hunt,” he whispers, much more aware of his volume than her sister.

Aziza bumps her shoulder, breaking her from her easy eavesdropping. “I’m sorry.” Her cheeks redden a pretty pink like hydrangeas. Bashful is a cute look on her.

“I didn’t know about witches being tied to nature.”

Haze shrugs. It isn’t like she is oblivious to people hunting. People have to eat somehow. She just doesn’t want to be around it. It feels like a claw in her heart, just thinking about a living creature losing that light in their eyes.

“It’s ok. You’re learning,” Haze smiles and continues to skip along.

Aziza matches her expression, but the joy didn’t reach her eyes. There’s guilt. “I still should’ve asked.”

Her eyebrows raised in surprise. She’s not used to people apologizing and feeling guilty about something they did to her. Aziza appears sincere. It’s just something about her demeanor.

She reminds her of an elephant. Kind, regal, and wise. They are quite beautiful creatures.

“It’s not your responsibility to accommodate me.” It only makes the sadness in Aziza’s gaze deepen. She takes Haze’s hand in her in a tight grip. This causes her to stop. “But I truly want to know these things about you—witches, I mean,” Aziza stumbles in her words but corrects it. She’s being a bit skiddish about it.

“Well this is a good start. Better than most,” Haze reassures, squeezing her hand. Nova always told her that her positivity and her smile are her best qualities. So she tries to exude that as much as she can.

Aziza beams at her.

A warm feeling rushes to Haze’s face. She tries to claw a hole and put those feelings in it, but they come to the surface whenever she grins like that at her. Nova may be unaware of romantic feelings, but Haze isn’t. She just never thought she would have something like this. That she would be like this with someone. A smitten kitten.

Though it’s unlikely to work. With Aziza being a freaking princess. A regal tiger to Haze’s wild bobcat.

Where Aziza is calm and polite, Haze is feral and untamed.

It wouldn’t work.

But she really does yearn for it to.

With joined hands, they walk to catch up to the group of knights on this hunting trip. Haze just a bit sunnier than before.

Ward must have challenged Nova to a race because they take off running ahead of the group. There’s no way Ward beats Nova, she is a monkey in the trees. Agile and crafty. This may not be the Wild Thicket, but the woods are their habitat.

With the distance between her and her sister growing, the nerves increase in Haze. If something were to go wrong, she needs Nova nearby for her to use her magic. She’s the only one that trusts Haze afterall.

“What do you think of those two?” Aziza questions, interrupting Haze’s internal panic, gesturing to the absent space where they used to occupy. Somewhere in between a curious cat and a nosey dog.

“Ward likes Nova. He is practically a puppy when she’s around,” she answers in a matter of fact manner. Because it is. It is so obvious that they like one another. Red roses practically grow in their presence.

“What about her? I have such a hard time reading Nova,” Aziza continues. Haze gets where she’s coming from. Nova is a daisy at night. Petals curled up, hiding from the world. But in the right light, will blossom.

Hearing the faint sounds of Nova taunting Ward, Haze can’t help but smile. “That’s on purpose. She is as closed off as a turtle in its shell.” Thankfully, it seems that Ward is a strong tree, rooted in place. Nothing Nova does scares him off.

“Does she like him?” While Haze has no issue in talking about herself or witches, her sister on the other hand is a bit different.

Biting her lip, she has to ward off the question, “I think she would not appreciate me telling you that.” Having only grown up together, they confide in each other. Haze won’t betray that trust. Not even for those pretty eyes.

“I understand. It was quite thoughtless and intrusive of me.”

Just as Haze was about to assure her that it’s ok, a guard in their group hushes everyone. He has his spear in his hand, raised above his shoulder. That sends roars of warning in her brain.

That’s when she hears it. A tiny rustle of the leaves. A living animal.

Her heart races, pounding like a horse galloping, as she only has seconds to help the poor creature from an awful end. She feels the tug of her powers.

Immediately with the hand that isn’t holding Aziza’s, she flings her arm out and a purple trail hurdles towards the weapon just as the knight throws it.

A purple haze encases the object and it morphs into several flowers. Pink hydrangeas to be exact.

The knights all look shocked, slackjawed. They whip their heads to scare at her. Frightened, angry, and maybe impressed.

She only lets out a breath when she hears the scurry of the animal. They are safe.

Aziza picks up one of the flowers that rained down and twirls in between her fingers. “They are magnificent,” she utters, gazing directly at Haze, and she can’t help but feel like she isn’t talking about the flowers.

With a squeeze of her hand, she remembers that their fingers are interlocked.

Haze realizes something as they stand there, holding hands in the remainder of the flowers with all the guards gawking.

Nova wasn’t here. She used her magic without someone’s trust.

As Aziza puts the stem behind her own ear, Haze thinks, maybe just maybe, that it was Aziza’s pure, genuine trust that fueled her powers.