My Next Life as a Heroine – Chapter 4

Two years have passed since I awoke to my memories of a past life. I was now seven years old. Tomorrow was the first day of thes school year, and the beginning of my school ife – a school life that would continue through the years, eventually leading me straight to Katarina Claes. And yet… And yet… “Why can’t I climb it, Master!?”

“Because you’re not ready.”

That’s right. Even though I was already seven, I still wasn’t allowed to call myself a true master of tree climbing. That’s because my teacher, Rachel, refused to let me climb the tallest tree in the village!

“I’ve been practicing, though! Once you see my newest tree climbing technique, you’ll understand how ready I am!” I spoke with pride in my voice, but for some reason Rachel let out a pained sigh, and pinched the bridge of her nose.

“She’s going to try swinging like a monkey again, isn’t she…” My master muttered something I didn’t fully understand under her breath, then turned to glare at me. “Learn to tell what branches can support your weight, and what can’t. Then we’ll talk about you climbing the tallest tree.”

“I told you, I keep growing, so it’s hard to know how heavy I am. That problem should sort itself, anyway, once my hands are big enough to grip the thicker branches.”

“Then climb the big tree when you’re bigger! If I catch you near it, I’ll tell your parents how many scratches and bruises I’ve seen you heal with light magic!”

I  flinched back, and reluctantly nodded my head. The conversation always ended like this. I’d hoped for some leniency, with my first day of school being tomorrow, but apparently I wouldn’t be allowed to brag to the other children about climbing the tallest tree in the village…. Not that it mattered, anyway. My real goal, as always, was simply to be good enough at tree climbing that I could keep up with Katarina Claes! As long as I mastered the art by my fifteenth birthday, the timeline didn’t matter! Except maybe to my pride.

“Don’t forget, I’m picking you up for school tomorrow.” Rachel broke through my self pity with a harsh poke to my shoulder. “It’s a pretty easy walk, but I know you’ll still get lost if I don’t take you…”

“I would not.” I was mentally sixteen plus seven, after all. There was no way I’d get lost just taking a walk through town.

Rachel didn’t know about my past life, though, which was surely the only reason she didn’t look convinced. “No way. You’ll end up lost, then you’ll climb a tree to find your way, and it’ll probably just so happen that the tallest tree in the village is right there, so-”

“What do you think I am!? An evil mastermind!?” I crossed my arms, sullen. “I would ask for directions, first, then look for a smaller tree if I had to. There’s no way I’d cross my tree climbing master, though. Not when she’s gone so far as to blackmail me…”

“Well, lucky for you, you won’t have to climb any trees. Because i’ll be there to guide you.” Rachel jammed a thumb against her chest, proudly, as she spoke. Now it was my turn to sigh.

“I really don’t need a guide…” But I knew the complaint was worthless. Just as I knew I wouldn’t be sneaking in any tree climbing practice – on the smaller subjects, of course – before clases. I knew I was lucky, though, to have a friend who’d guide me.

“And they’ll teach me to read, first thing?” I asked, effortlessly switching gears now that I’d hit a dead end.

My friend looked at me askance, but then nodded. “You’ll need to be able to read to use the textbooks they lend you, so. Yeah. You’re really excited about reading, huh?”

“Of course! I haven’t been able to read anything in two – er. Seven years you know. My whole life! I want to be able to.” I rubbed the back of my head, nervously, but my tree climbing master just shook her head at my slip up, used to my abnormalities.

“Well, I guess you’ll get a lot less bruises reading then tree climbing, at least…” She sounded almost dejected, for some reason.

“If you think I’m letting this cut into tree climbing, you’re sorely mistaken,” I informed her. “If anything, I want to master reading books while sitting in the tree tops.”

“…Has anyone ever told you you’re incorrigible?” Rachel sighed, as she spoke, but I thought she seemed just a touch happier, for some reason. She must have really been worried about losing her tree climbing friend.

In which case…

“You know, if you let me climb the big tree, we could probably spend all day tog-”

“No!” She mercilessly crossed her arms in an X, shooting my idea down.

~~~

Author’s Notes

Short chapter is short, I know – I was struggling with some pretty bad depression back when I wrote it (at least according to the author’s note DX)