The Forest of the Forgotten

Amnity sat on the old tree stump. Her face was gentle and fair against the light blue and orange hue that engulfed the early morning hours surrounding her friendly metaphysical shop when I came walking up. Amnity had her nose deep in her white oak magic book with the golden-rimmed sheets of paper, and she was reading from it calmly. Crickets broke the silence, but not her attention as she read.

"Hey, Amnity," I said softly and kind of sleepily. Amnity looked up from her book and smiled, her once light blue hues were now shining a soft gold color as she embraced the space that Ellie's presence began to fill.

"Good morning, Ellie," Amnity said through her smile. I noticed the words on the page were glowing just like her eyes. Amnity's smile grew softer, and her gaze shifted comfortably. Her gold hues flicked and became blue once more as she closed her book. "Did you talk to Eleazar and see what he wanted?" She asked. I nodded comfortably. "Was he upset?"

"About?" I asked.

"About being gone all day?" Amnity asked. I shook my head.

"No more than normal, anyway. What did you want to see me this morning for?" I asked, leaning against a neighboring tree to the stump Amnity had been sitting on.

"Yes. I wanted to tag along with you today, if that's okay? The Midnight Moon festival is coming up, and I wanted to collect Glowing Imp root for a potion," Amnity sang gently.

"I don't see why not," I smiled at her. Amnity stood up from the stump and stuck her book back in her satchel.

"Perfect." Amnity smiled back at me. "Let me go get a few things from the kitchen -"

"- You may want to change into your shoes too." I interrupted her. Amnity was wearing a light brown long-sleeved canvas shirt, tucked into some brown khakis. Her toes were covered in mud, like always. She enjoyed walking around outside barefooot, but of course she did.

The sun was peeking out from the baseline of the highest mountain several hundred miles away when Amnity walked out of her cottage cabin. I don't know how long I had been standing there, waiting - but it took her as long as it was going to take her to get ready.

Amnity emerged from behind the door, she was still wearing her long-sleeved light brown canvas shirt, this time it was tucked into a pair of long khaki-colored canvas pants that she had tucked into a pair of dark brown combat boots. Around her neck sat a stone of some kind tightly placed with a woven rope like cord that sat loose around her neck and fell above her breast. She had with her a dark green canvas backpack. In the backpack, sat a couple of journals, a pen, and her book of shadows that she had been reading when Ellie arrived.

"You ready?" I asked. Amnity looked up from her boots, they looked almost out-of-the-box brand new, which they probably were. I knew Eleazar had a way of getting his hands on things that weren't from Nova - finding these rare items for The Hole always seemed too convenient. I'd learned not to ask too many questions about it.

"Yes, sorry that took me a while, I didn't realize I was holding you up." Amnity said, she was looking at the side through the trees. Her voice sounded melancholic as she admired the orangish-yellow tint that cast itself over Nova.

"Don't do that - it's okay, I want you to be comfortable." I said.