Nina's Observations, Entry 3: The Arrow Family

Part 3 of the ever-growing Nina's Observations Series.

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Journal Entry 15

I have continued to linger near the Arrow-Wood Farm after I finished observing the Wood Family. I remained to observe the Arrow Family next since I’d only have to come back at a later time to observe them if I moved on to somewhere else.

Master stops by on occasion, to check on me. He says it is to make sure I am alright, but I think he does it to make sure I’m doing the Observation Project, and not just hiding out in the forest during the day.

I understand his reasoning for all of this, of course. He wants me to be able to interact with people; I won’t be able to get very far if I can’t. And he won’t be around forever; one day, I’m going to be on my own, whether because my apprenticeship is over, or because Master has passed away.

But while I think that getting to know the people of the town a little before I try and actually enter the town is a good thing for me, and gets me out of the Tower and the forest, I do not think it is going to be as simple as Master believes.

Still, I shall keep at it. Because I want to make Master proud, and I will do whatever I have to in order to make that happen.

Villager Observation 3 - The Arrow Family

The Arrow Family of the Arrow-Wood Farm focuses on farming. They grow fruits and vegetables in the fields around their house, and they even tend to an Orchard not too far from the property.

There are four members of the Arrow Family. The eldest is Marian Arrow. She is the mother of Sandra Arrow, who is an adult woman with two children - Scott Arrow and Jenna Arrow. Marian’s husband, Gunnar, passed away some time ago. Sandra’s husband Andrew, on the other hand, just up and left without saying anything - no one knows where he went, or why he left.

It left Sandra and Marian to raise the little ones. They seem to have managed quite well, though as the only boy in the family, Scott seems to think he can get away with more, which is not true; his grandmother appears to be quite strict, while his mother appears a little more lenient - though she still doesn’t let him get away with things.

Still, both children help out on the farm and do their share of the daily chores. They know better than to try and run off without doing their share - Scott attempted to do that one day, and one of the farm hands that help with the fields was sent off to fetch him back. I do not know what his mother or grandmother did to punish him for trying to leave his sister to do his share of the chores, but judging from the miserable expression on his face, and the way he kept rubbing his backside, I feel it safe to assume that one of them gave him a hiding.

The only day, it appears, that either of the children can get away with not doing some of their chores is their birthdays. Jenna’s fourteenth birthday fell during my Observation of the Arrow Family, and I noticed that Jenna only did about half of her normal chores before her grandmother came and took over, letting her go off early to play with her cousin, Erik, and some of the other children. Her brother, on the other hand, had to remain until he’d completed all of his chores before he could go and join his sister, cousin, and friends.

The children of the Arrow Family are quite difficult to observe during the daytime, as they tend to play inside of the town, where I do not feel comfortable going. Their mother and Grandmother remain of the farm most of the time, though, so I have been able to observe them with relative ease.

Their grandmother is an older woman, getting on in her years. She is still quite active, though, and keeps the farm hands on their toes. She is a bit set in her ways, though, and I do not think she is someone I feel safe talking to, in case she realises I am a Witch.

Sandra, on the other hand, seems a little more lenient than her mother. I am still not entirely sure she’s safe to approach either, but she seems a little more of an open-minded, accepting person - at least when compared to her mother and her cousins.

It is Jenna, though, that intrigues me. There is something about the fourteen-year-old - something that reminds me of myself when I was her age. I would not mind the opportunity to observe her a little more closely, to confirm if my suspicions are true, or if I am just being overly hopeful. But that will have to wait until I feel a little more comfortable entering the town. That is the only way I can get the opportunity.

Nina's Observations, Entry 2: The Wood Family

Part 2 of Nina's Observations

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Journal Entry 7

Master shooed me out of the Tower today. He has noticed that, while I have indeed been doing the Observation Project he told me to do, I have only been doing it in one place; done by the road out of town that passes near the Tower. Very few of the townspeople themselves actually use that particular road, as they don’t like passing by the Tower if they can avoid it. The road is mostly used by travellers and merchant caravans - No one, he says, I am likely to see again.

He ordered me to start my Observation Project properly. He told me I don’t have to go down into the town proper, not yet; there are plenty of places on the outskirts where I can sit and observe from a distance.

I have settled on observing at the Farm by the edge of town. It is small, and I don’t have to get very close to observe, as the place I have settled it on the top of a hill just off the borders of the Farm itself, next to a tree I can easily hide behind if I think someone might see me.

Master called the Farm the Arrow-Wood Farm when he was telling me about the town. It is the home of two families - the Arrow Family, and the Wood Family. The land originally belonged to just the Arrow Family, but it was split between the two sons of one of the farmers in the past, rather than going to the eldest. They built a second house on the property when their respective families got too big to manage in the one house, but their families still tend the land together.

Villager Observation 2 - The Wood Family

The two families of the Arrow-Wood Farm split the responsibilities of the land between them. The Wood Family focuses on the animals. They have pigs, sheep, cows, horses, and chickens. They also have two dogs and a cat. I have had a couple of close calls with the dogs - I have been chased away from the Farm a few times by them over the course of my Observation - but the cat is alright. I don’t move around a whole lot while I’m observing, so it is quite content to settle in my lap and sleep.

There are five members of the Wood family; three men, and two women - though one of those men is actually still only a boy. It took me a while, but I learned the names of each member.

The oldest man in the family is also the “head” of the family. His name is Jacob Wood. The older of the two women is his wife, Ella Wood. The other three are their children; Joshua Wood, their eldest boy, Andrea Wood, his twin sister and their only daughter, and Erik Wood, their youngest son.

There are several farm hands on the Arrow-Wood farm. Most of them seem to work for the Arrow Family but help out the Wood Family when they need the extra hands. There are a few that work for the Wood Family, though. I do not know their names, unfortunately.

The easiest of the family to observe are Andrea and Erik. Erik doesn’t have many chores to do yet, being still quite young, so he spends a lot of his free time playing in the garden near the house, where his mother can keep an eye on him.

Andrea, on the other hand, has to tend the sheep and keep the wolves away. So she spends most of her time out in the fields with them, watching them with one or both of the family’s dogs. She always looks so bored though; like she’d rather be anywhere but there. Sometimes she practices fighting against invisible enemies with her shepherd’s crook.

It is obvious she has something else she wants to do with her life. I have seen her away from the farm on the odd occasion, standing on the road near the Tower. She usually has a pack over her shoulder and her Crook in hand. It always looks as though she’s about to leave, but she never actually does; she always ends up turning around and heading back home instead.

Maybe when little Erik is older and can take over her chores and shepherding, Andrea will leave, to find whatever it is out there that is pulling on her. For the time being, though, she stays, fighting invisible enemies, and the occasional hungry wolf.

Master said I should decide who amongst the townspeople I think I could talk to, and whom I think I should avoid. For the most part, the Wood Family strikes me as people I should avoid. I cannot tell with Andrea though, and Erik is too young to be as judgemental as everyone else. I shall have to continue observing them.

Nina's Observations, Entry 1: The Great Wizard, Master Edwin Ebonheart.

Today's post is the first in a series, called Nina's Observations. I'm writing these to get a feel for the character of Nina, the Main Character of a novel I'm working on, and to give a little insight to others about who she is, and why.

So, without further ado, here's the first entry in Nina's Observations.

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Journal Entry 1

I have received this journal from my Master as a gift. He has noticed my hesitation to go into town and interact with the people there, despite having lived with him on the edge of town for some time now. He is aware that I do not go because I am afraid they will not like or accept me because I am a Witch.

He says I should watch the people of the town, and write down what I learn about them that way so I can learn which ones might be accepting of me, and which ones might not be. He thinks it might help me feel better about going into the town if I know who I can interact with, and who I should avoid.

It is not the only thing he says I should use this journal for, but it was one of the things he put emphasis on when he gave it to me. I suppose I shall start with Master so I can get the hang of this Observation project he wants me to do.

Villager Observation 1 - The Great Wizard, Master Edwin Ebonheart.

At first glance, Master Ebonheart is a bit intimidating. His dark robes and wide-brimmed hat give him a tall, powerful look, one that many seem to fear. I remember being afraid of him, the first time I met him. Many people are suspicious of those with Magic, and I had experience far too much rejection in my life already to be anything but afraid of this intimidating stranger that caught me playing with magic out in the forest.

But beneath the intimidating look and serious face, he is kind. His eyes are kind, and he beneath his beard, he smiles more often than one would think. He did not yell at me, like my father would, or scream like my mother had. He didn’t throw rocks at me or chase me away, like the villagers in my hometown had. Instead, he extended his hand and offered me the opportunity to learn how to use and control my magic properly.

Master Ebonheart can be a bit strict in his teachings. He has repeatedly told me that magic is not for playing games or putting on light shows, pretty as they may be. But he only gets exasperated when I do it anyway; he doesn’t yell at me to stop, or start throwing things at me from across the room. It took a while for me to get used to; I was too accustomed to the negative reactions that my family and my village had to my magic.

But he is an excellent teacher. He often seemed uncertain about what he was telling me, and how he was instructing me when he first took me in. I have since learned that I am the first apprentice he has ever taken on; in his younger years, he had been too arrogant, too prideful of his power, to want to take on just any apprentice. He had turned away many hopeful, budding Witches and Wizards, seeking the strongest he could so he could one day claim that he had trained one of the most powerful Witches or Wizards in the world.

But he had never found one; no one had ever been good enough for him, back then. And time had a way of creeping up, and he had suddenly realised he was getting old and had nothing to show for it.

He’d been quick to assure me, however, that he was not settling for what he could find in the time he had left when he took me on as his apprentice. He took me on because I didn’t look at him with contempt. He had long given up on finding an apprentice; all his years of rejecting hopefuls had come back on him, and he had long since stopped receiving apprentices as stories and rumours passed from person to person.

He regretted his actions, regretted the sadness of the people he had hurt, that he had turned away. He regretted the lives he had ruined, the dreams he had crushed, with his self-absorbed attitude. But he was working to make up for his mistakes before his age made it impossible for him to.

I have come to the conclusion about Master, as I watch him work in his study, that once upon a time, I may not have liked him. I may not have accepted his offer to take me on as his Apprentice. But my Master is not the same as he once was. He took me in when no one else would, and has made efforts and sacrifices for my sake, that I do not think many others would make for their Apprentices.

I may be his first, and most likely only, Apprentice, but I will do my best to make him proud. I will do my best to make sure that one day in the future if he is still around, he can tell people that he was the Wizard who trained me.

This much, I promise.