9
Fern
After the castle dream, I could not stop the visions anymore. They came unbidden, haunting my days. I dared not look into the water in my cup, or the caldron of broth, or stare at the fire. The younger girls grew used to me falling into a trance and made a joke of it. Juliet watched me more closely, worry written on her face. Of all my friends, she was the only one who guessed what was happening. She helped me hide it from our Berserker guard. It was easy, because the weather had turned bad and we no longer left the lodge.
“How long have you had visions?” Juliet asked me quietly one afternoon. We sat in the corner. I’d been tending the fire when the trance come over me. It lasted but a moment, but I’d slipped and burned my hand.
I watched Juliet’s fine, white fingers dab salve o
