Was it the weather that had turned her mind fuzzy which was why she wasn’t able to understand but then his words didn’t make sense to her.
“You are a white witch, Penelope.”
“I think you have mistaken me for someone else, Sir,” she said with a frown. The last thing she needed was someone calling her to be any kind of witch. Witches were never taken well here or anywhere for their activities which were always vile. If any villagers heard this, they wouldn’t want to throw her out of the village with her mother but burn them until they would not be alive, “You should go from here,” she said, her voice firm. She started to pull the bedsheet from the rope, almost halfway until she heard the man say,
“Don’t fear for who you are. You belong to the good one,” the man said from where he stood. The wind only increased in the atmosphere which had her hair falling on her face.
“You got the wrong person. I am a human,” she said, clearing his thoughts about her, “My parents aren’t witches. They are humans just like I am.”
“Are you sure about it?” he asked her, his eyes staring down at her as he was a tall man.
“I have been living with my mother for seventeen years now. I think I should know it better than you do, don’t you think?” She kept her tone to be polite. Trying to get her point across and at the same time not wanting to offend the man.
“I cannot be wrong, Penelope. I am an elemental bearer, I know if the person is a white witch or not. Don’t believe everything that you see, sometimes even a person with good sight has a cloth around his eyes and sometimes it is the blind who can see better.”
“You are blind?” she asked him.
“Yes, but I can hear you well. The wind guides me,” he said. How strange, thought Penny to herself. Somewhere she felt an ounce of pity for him after hearing that he couldn’t see her, “I need no eyes to see or sense in what I believe. Do you believe in yourself, Penelope?” he questioned her.
“We all would like to believe in ourselves.”
“I don’t care about others. Elemental bearers never come looking for the witch unless they are summoned but as I said, I have been noticing you. I will make an exception for you and for that you need to believe in yourself.”
“What do you mean by elemental bearer?” she asked him as he had brought it up many times in their conversation now.
“Every white witch has the ability to open their mind and welcome what has been bestowed and gifted to the person. It equals and balances the nature of the black witch who makes use of the forbidden magic, where darkness resides. The four elements- water, wind, fire, and land are what constitute the circle that is part of the white witches. I am the wind bearer.”
Penny didn’t know why she was humoring the man. She was no white witch or any kind of witch at least with what she knew she was a hundred percent human, “Okay…” she trailed wondering where he was going with this.
“I will give you what is needed to activate so that you can accept it and make use of it when you are in need of it but for that, I need you to believe,” he raised his hand, his finger pointing up and she looked up to see some of the clouds clashing more than before that had the lands shaking because of them, “But I don’t think you bear just one element. With what I see you might be a water element as I have been summoned here right now in this weather.”
“I will come tomorrow, meet me in the forest before it rains again,” he said, his eyes still looking at her even though he was blind. With the hand that he had raised, he lowered it down near his head and snapped his fingers that had the man suddenly disappear in thin air.
Surprised, she looked around left and right where there was no one in the backyard of the house but her. Blinking her eyes, she took the sheet with her and walked back inside the house. As she stepped in, her mother asked,
“Was it too windy outside?”
“Ah, yes. I think it would be best to stay here due to the strong wind,” Penny replied to her mother, beginning to fold the bedsheet which she had brought in along with the other clothes. Placing it on top of each other. Her head felt heavier, and she brought her hand up to rub the side of her temple.
“Are you alright, Penny?” her mother asked who hadn’t moved from her seat for hours now.
“I think I am falling sick because of the cold air,” she smiled, not wanting her mother to worry about her.
“You should make use of wood, heat them up,” her mother suggested and she shook her head.
“I will be okay,” there were barely four logs of wood right now that they could use to heat the room and if they exhausted it, they wouldn’t have the fire of heat for God knows how long as the forest and other trees were wet with the continuous rain.
She took a woolen scarf which her mother had knitted, putting it around her neck so that she wouldn’t feel too cold. When the time of dinner arrived where Penny and her mother ate the meal with a lantern that was always running on a low flame so that they could save the oil that was used for it, her mother said,
“How has the work in the theater been going on?”
“It has been okay. They haven’t received any recent recruits which should be okay for now,” she answered taking a bite from the food.
