Moth Ch. 001

'Moth' is a completed story and I will, until the end of it, be submitting one chapter a day to literotica. I hope they will appear on the site at about the same interval, and in the same order.

Please forgive the redundant copyright messages, I've found that sometimes my stories are copypasted in part and used elsewhere.

Copyright of Nanna Marker 2010.

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"Altwar forest," said the crone, "that is where your chance at great love awaits."

"Altwar," whispered Lei, her eyes widening with surprise. Not merely far away, but an entirely different forest. It was almost beyond her imagination. Although she had been told differently, she had always felt that her forest, Aribo forest, was infinite.

"Altwar," repeated the crone with a sour tone and, if possible, wrinkled her nose with even more displeasure. The crone was always cranky.

"Is he a handsome man?" asked Lei, already past her former surprise. If a seer said her lover was to be found in another forest, then there was no doubt: other forests really did exist.

The crone made a disgusted, dismissing sound, then said:

"No."

Lei furrowed her brows, trying to digest that. She had always imagined her lover would be very handsome.

"It..." Lei hesitated. "It's not a... woman. Is it?"

"No," said the crone, turned her back to the young moth, and grabbed a large hunk of dry root, from a shelve.

"So... An ugly man," concluded Lei, to herself. Lost in thought she didn't notice the shiver running through the crone's body.

"I guess there are worse things than being ugly," added Lei.

"There are worse things than being ugly," said the crone.

Lei turned her attention back to her. The seer, being an ugly old crone, should know better than anyone.

"What else can you tell me?" asked Lei.

"Your mother will be putting up a whole strawberry for dessert tomorrow," said the crone, sounding more sour than ever. "Despite my forewarning, you will eat so much of it, that you won't be able to sleep all night for having to run out and piss."

"I meant about my lover," insisted Lei, with a whining tone. The seer never gave anyone much time to ask questions; having hers wasted on trivialities was pure agony.

The crone grabbed a knife the size of a small sword and started chopping away at the hunk of root.

"Please." Lei almost yelled her plea to be heard over the incessant sounds of metal cutting into dry, hard, sinewy root.

"Go away. I'm busy," yelled the crone, also to be heard over her work.

"Just say one more thing, please, just one," pleaded Lei.

The crone stopped chopping but kept her back to the young moth.

"Children always want one more thing, just one, and then another, and then another after that. It never ends," she claimed, her voice more sour than ever.

"Just one," insisted Lei. "I promise I'll leave if you tell me just one more thing."

"Just one then," said the crone and snorted as if she didn't believe Lei's promise.

Lei opened her mouth only to realise she had no clue what to ask.

"Hah." The sound from the crone was more like a word than a laugh.

Submitted to literotica.com by the author.

"Is he strong and brave," blurted Lei, rushing to the first question she could think up.

"That's two questions," complained the crone.

Lei bit her lower lip, trying to choose which one of the two she wanted to know most but then changed her mind entirely.

"Will he think I am pretty?"

"He," said the crone and chopped her knife down hard on the root, "will think you are beautiful."

Lei made a delighted sound. A childish whine so high-pitched it almost hurt the crone's ears. Then she remembered her promise and swiftly turned and dashed out the crone's home.

The crone looked down at the root she had been chopping at. The hand, with which she was holding it was shaking. She laid down the knife but kept staring at the root for no other reason than to clear the images she had seen.

"I should have warned her, shouldn't I?" she asked.

"You told her no lies," said Death, his voice was friendly.

The crone sighed and turned to face him.

"I wish I had handled it better," she said. "But I won't be getting another chance now, will I?" The crone glanced at her bed. "It's strange. I don't feel tired at all."

"Yours is a sudden departure," said Death with a gentle smile and raised his hand.

The crone widened her eyes but had only the slightest moment to register fear before Death touched her.

"I think he is beautiful," said Death but there was no reproach in his voice.

The crone was no more.

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