Page 6 of A Soul to Guide

When her fingertips brushed over a smooth wood carving, she crossed the street so she could turn right down a pathway. The area was narrow, but most streets, except the four main veins to each gate, weren’t wide.

The path beneath her shoes became hard-pressed dirt. One more right turn, after which she could smell the scent of a particular flower, and the markets should be right ahead of her. She hoped to leave the town before they withered due to seasonal changes, since they weren’t a reliable landmark.

The softest breeze pushed the wind forward from behind her, but she could still smell thelavender– as she had been told it was called. Someone had placed a pot of it on their windowsill.

Just as chatter became loud, Raewyn turned and ran straight into a solid wall.

“Uck!” she yelped, stumbling backwards onto her arse while supporting her hood so it didn’t fall.

“Watch where you’re going,” a gruff voice demanded, causing her ears to twitch under her hood.

Her brows drew together.I didn’t hear him coming.

Raewyn could always hear people approaching. Whether it be the sound of their feet hitting the ground, the subtle shift of dirt under their shoes, their very breath... Raewyn could always hear who was around.

This person had been silent.

She turned her head up with a pout, her cheeks puffing with annoyance, before waving her hand back and forth centimetres in front of her face.Like hellooooo, can’t see here.Her eyes were literally covered with a cloth!

Raewyn waited for an apology, a gesture to help her to her feet.Something.

The smell of cinnamon and orange, what she’d learned were popular foods here, infiltrated her senses. Except it was different, and the combined scent made her chest warm.

He smells like draflium.Draflium was a rare, highly sought-after flower that glowed bright red at night with a purple pollen centre.

“You should be careful of your footing,” he said, before the shift of material, likely a cloak, brushed over her shoulder as he stepped around her. “Walking down the narrow side streets is dangerous by yourself, even in the daytime.”

Facing forward, Raewyn gaped.How rude!

She stomped her way to her feet with a huff, storming forward to greet the markets. She threw her hands up, exasperated by humans and their behaviour.

An Elysian would never treat another like this.Her steps were hard, wishing to vent her frustration.You knock someone over, the least you could do is offer assistance. It was his fault as much as mine.

“You should watch whereyou’regoing,” she almost growled to herself.

She touched the wall, making sure the brick building was familiar in case she found herself turned around by their kerfuffle.

“There has to be one person in this awful town who would be willing to travel with me.”

For most of the precious night, she’d sat in the tavern of the inn. She’d inquired with two people who were leaving town soon to go to the beach to fish, hoping to bring fresh ocean life for the town to eat.

She’d received the same answer. Both declined allowing her to accompany them. She’d begged and offered to pay them, but apparently, she was too much of a liability.

The man had just flat out refused, but the woman said she didn’t think she could handle the guilt if she accidentally lost Raewyn or was unable to protect her on their journey.

Now that she was deep in the markets, Raewyn’s search for the day began.

It was mostly pointless; she was just an unwanted listener in people’s private conversations. She’d learnt much about the people who lived here, but it was mostly irrelevant to what she needed.

With just the sound of their voices, their tones, the words they spoke, most appeared tired and weary. Although the daytime brought sun and generally brighter moods, there was a weight resting over every single person living here.

It was the Elysians’ fault they were suffering. Would humans have advanced greatly in the last three hundred and forty years if her people hadn’t brought the Demons upon them by accident?

It wasn’t hard to feel guilty about it, despite it not beingherfault personally. Still, she often wore her heart on her sleeve, and she, asa councilwoman, bore the weight of her people’s problems and faults.

There is nothing I can do for them.

One thing that often caught her attention was the warmth-inducing scent of draflium flowers. Periodically throughout the day while she ventured around the markets, the stranger from earlier had been nearby.

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