#wss366 06/20 #TimeTravelAuthors
#FanFiction #TearmoonEmpire

The Norns
Chapter 1: The Rainy Season

The rain lashed Mai Tearmoon, soaking through the fluffy riding outfit Anne made her wear. Her horse, spooked by a thunderclap, disappeared around the edge of the forest ahead.

“To think a horse would betray me! What if the rebel army were chasing us?” Mai demanded of the wet grass. Not that any rebels were chasing her—this time. In her previous life, however, things had ended poorly: prison, a guillotine, one very final thud. Anne, her loyal maid, and Ludwig, that obnoxious Four-Eyes, were among her few good memories.

Determined not to repeat that unpleasant ending, she had resolved, among other things, to learn horseback riding. It was time well spent. She was a master of the jellyfish style. Hang tight, be with the horse’s rhythm, and let it make all the decisions. That counted as progress, didn’t it?

Yes, in this timeline, she had avoided the revolution, prepared for the famine, and headed off numerous plots by the Serpents. Still, she couldn’t forget those last moments, the squeal of the blade descending, the sharp sting, and the sight of people spinning as her head rolled by. No amount of time traveling or reality switching could cure the trauma of that moment.

After a furtive glance to confirm no rogue guillotines were giving chase, she rose, dusted herself off, and limped toward the sheltering trees.

“If only I had listened to Anne. She warned me it was the rainy #season,” Mai muttered. But it had been so sunny, and the clouds so far on the horizon. It had just been too good a day not to go riding.

Another thunderclap sounded, and Mai dashed under the trees. “Good thing Anne is not here. She would be so scared.” Mai’s voice shook slightly, but that must have been because of the fall. Simple thunder would never frighten the future ruler of Tearmoon! Yes, of course, it was Anne she was worried about, not herself. How silly to think otherwise.

Once under the trees, the princess gracefully shook off the water dripping from her clothes. No one would ever say she looked like a Saint Bernard shaking itself, not even an elegant papillon. Heaven forbid a shih tzu should come to mind.

The trees kept the worst of the rain off the princess, but her clothes were heavy with cold water. “I suppose they will come looking for me when I miss tea.” The thought cheered her, but also reminded her she was hungry.

“Good thing I've been studying foraging,” she thought. If occasionally asking friends about the edibility of plants on walks counted as studying, she had done plenty of it. Usually, the answer was that they had no idea. Why would young nobles know such things? They also inevitably hustled Mai away before she ate it, especially if the plant in question was a mushroom.

“There is no help for it,” she thought and began looking for likely nuts, berries, or fungus.

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