Marianne slowly returned to reality, that experience had been so strange, she thought that the spirits of ancient queens were cold bloodthirsty entities, incapable of feelings, however, that spirit had tenderly embraced her, why the heck didn't it kill her?
With too many unanswered questions in her head, Marianne tried to push the thoughts away and focus back on reality.
She was still hugging the slave who didn't seem to notice anything.
"What is your name?" Marianne asked.
"Mora," the slave said.
"It's a nice name, my name is Marianne."
"It's an even more beautiful name, Marianne, I'm feeling something strange, it's a feeling that I can't quite understand, my chest is hot but it doesn't hurt..."
"Don't worry about it, it's a natural reaction to pleasant experiences", Marianne whispered with a smile, "You'll get used to it in no time."
"I… don't quite understand it… but I like it, it's so… beautiful, do you feel the same too?"
"Yes, a little. Well, it's time for the next lesson."
Marianne broke the hug and looked into Mora's eyes.
"I think I know why your spirit has never manifested itself before."
"You know? So what should I do? Please tell me!"
"The problem is that you feel too sorry for yourself, you are very chicken-hearted, and you face scary things with little faith in yourself, ancient queens were not afraid of anything, despite being human, the power they had was not the only thing that made them powerful, they were absolutely...fearless. I follow a similar motto: if you're going to die, at least die fighting instead of running away like a puny mouse, for you to have a powerful spirit on your side, your own spirit has to be strong, if you know what I mean."
"Then forget it, that spirit is useless to me," Mora said dryly, she didn't like what Marianne said at all, what good was a spirit if one already had to be strong before having its assistance? It was a stupid thing.
"Well, if you think so, you can tie yourself back to that log, it doesn't matter if it's here or anywhere else, you'll live your whole life tied to one."
"Shut up! I'll never be a slave again, you can be sure of that!" Mora said with daring eyes.
Marianne liked the sparkle in Mora's eyes, after all, there could exist some hope for her.
"Well, I'm satisfied with this lesson, so let's go to the next."
Marianne picked up a sword and threw it at Mora, who caught it clumsily. What happened next was very fast, even before the slave managed to improve her grip, she already had Marianne's sword against her neck.
Startled, Mora staggered back and fell, dropping her sword.
"You hesitated, even for a brief moment, you hesitated and you ended up dead. Never hesitate, ever, always be alert, your death can come from where you least expect it," Marianne said pointing behind Mora.
Mora turned sharply, expecting to see a ferocious creature attacking her or even Marianne who had teleported behind her, instead she saw a piece of steaming meat on a stick.
Mora felt stupid, she hadn't made any progress, and she felt discouraged.
"Eat, you don't need to hold back...I already ate."
Mora picked up the stick and sank her teeth into the hunk of meat without ceremony. She didn't remember the last time she had eaten.
When Mora had finished eating, Marianne covered her with a long sheepskin coat that she had found in the camp.
"Let's leave this place, you wanted to leave, didn't you?"
"Yes, I want out of here..."
Marianne and Mora left the camp and walked together until they came to a fork in the path.
The path on the left led farther south, through pastures surrounded by low hills. The one on the right led straight north, it was quite twisty compared to the other.
"This is the last lesson I have for you: you have to choose a path, take the one on the right, you go with me, you rely on someone else's strength, risking never finding your own. You take the left and you go seek your own strength and your destiny."
"It's not exactly a choice, you already know what I'm going to choose, don't you?"
Mora took the left path, stopped in the middle of it, and without looking back said a few words: "I'm not going to say goodbye, I know that one day we'll meet again."
After that, she ran down the path and Marianne stopped seeing her.
"Good luck, child...oh, I said it again, it's a strange habit indeed," Marianne then took the path to the right.
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