Introduction

He heard the snap of the twig, before he sensed her. She was very angry and possibly upset. He could not blame her though. He mentally braced himself for the battle. This was not going to be easy. He knew she would come eventually. He was in their sacred place, it was deep in the woods, the townspeople rarely ventured into the woods and if they did, they stayed on the outskirts. Plus, the path to the place was not easy to find, and took a very observant person to find it and follow it. He had found the path, when he was young; she had followed shortly after. No one else had. The place consisted of a small clearing situated on top of a cliff that overlooked a waterfall. The clearing probably use to be bigger but as time went, the forest was swallowing it up and soon there would be no evidence of it left. In the middle of the clearing were a row of large stones, he was sitting on one. He loved being here; the air always seemed to be clearer. A sense of peace always came over him here; he would miss it.

“What is the matter Aislin?” Aislin could very much be considered his best friend; she was the closest thing he had to family. He loved his adoptive family but he always felt like an outsider, because he was an outsider. Aislin made him feel like he belonged somewhere. He loved her dearly.

“You know exactly what the matter is. You are leaving, Ciaran.” Her voice was oddly calm.

“So you have heard” his voice was as sure as always. It held no sense of emotion. It, however, was contrary to what he really felt. He did not want to leave her but he had no choice.

“Of course I have heard, how could I not? Everyone in town is talking about it. Why didn’t you tell me?”

He turned to her then, her hands were placed in front of her and she was staring at him waiting for an answer. “Is this why you are upset? Because I did not tell you, I was leaving. Aislin, you knew I was going to leave. You told me I was going to leave.”

“Yeah I know” she came to kneel down in front of him; she looked out over the cliff. “But you still could have said that you had decided to go. Besides I said that my dream might mean that you should leave, it was unclear just like the rest.” She turned to him then. “Why else would I be upset?”

“Oh I don’t know, maybe because I’m leaving you. You could pretend to miss me. I might not ever see you again.”

In response she leaned up, he thought she was going to hug him instead; she smacked him upside the head. “Oh do shut up Ciaran, of course I am going to see you again.”

“Ouch!” he said as he rubbed his injured head. “How do you know this for sure Lin?”

She smiled at that, it was his nickname for her; he only used it when he was in an extremely good mood. “I had a dream”

“Ah, a dream, and what happened in this dream?”

“Well as usual it was kind of chaotic, but you were there and that means I will see you again. Therefore, you can go on your adventure. You have my permission.”

“Oh well that’s what I was waiting for”

She launched at him then. He caught her quite easily and hugged her tightly. “You will miss me, Lin, admit it.”

“Fine, I’ll miss you” she sighed.

They sat there in their special place overlooking the waterfall. Not knowing it would be the last time.