Chapter 488: Ollie’s Virtues (Part Two)
"I’m not a knight, little brother Ollie," Heila said with a light, musical laugh as she sipped on a watered down mug of warmed cider. After spending months with Ashlynn discussing the future of their little coven, she understood what Ashlynn was hoping to see in Ollie better than anyone except, perhaps, Aunt Amahle.
In Heila’s estimation, Ollie had done even better at growing into the kind of person who could endure the trial of a seed of witchcraft than she had. Of course, he had no idea that the mentoring he’d received to become a knight would help him so much with what was to come, but that hardly mattered.
In a way, she almost envied him. She was certain that he would have an easier time of his trial than she did with hers, but then, she hadn’t had the luxury of time to prepare for months before facing the trial of the Ancient Willow. But, since it was not becoming increasingly certain that Ollie would become the second witch of Ashlynn’s coven, it was her job as the ’big sister’ to make sure he was ready to become part of their intimate little family.
"I’m the Willow Witch now," she said, puffing her chest up with pride. "And Mother Ashlynn’s lady-in-waiting," she added, placing extra emphasis on the word ’mother.’ "But just because I’m not a knight doesn’t mean that little Emmie can’t be my squire," she said, giving her young squire an affectionate tap on the shoulder.
"Oh," Ollie said with a puzzled look on his face. Since when was he ’little brother Ollie?’ But, hearing her refer to Ashlynn as ’mother’ he assumed it must have something to do with the traditions of witches, so he quickly put it out of his mind. After all, even though Lady Ashlynn was a witch herself, the traditions of witches didn’t have very much to do with him. "I see. So, you didn’t have to choose virtues for yourself. Or did you? Do ladies-in-waiting have virtues the way knights do?"
"They don’t," Ashlynn said, setting down her cup of wine before she drank too much of it. As much as she enjoyed the flavor, it was a heady vintage and she couldn’t afford to loose herself to wine when there were still important things to discuss. Besides, if she was going to loose herself to strong drink, she’d prefer to do it when Nyrielle was here to carry her away to somewhere private afterward...
"But we’re wandering off the topic," Ashlynn said, bringing the focus back to Ollie. "Humility, Courage, Strength," she said, counting on three fingers and giving him an evaluating look. "What else have you chosen to form the core of your oath as a knight?"
"Justice," Ollie said, without even a hint of hesitation. "I, I don’t know how I feel about vengeance," he continued with slightly less confidence, giving Milo an apologetic look before he returned his gaze to Ashlynn’s emerald eyes.
"I know people who have lost a great deal," he explained. "And I understand their motivations for revenge. I cant’ give them what they want from vengeance. But, I can hold the people who wronged them accountable," he explained.