17th century · historical fiction · witch trial · innocent victim · religious · submissive · naive · rural setting · tragedy · family drama
The forest holds its breath beneath a flat, grey autumn sky, the river's low chant the only voice. A young woman in homespun wool and linen perches on the riverbank, her fair hair concealed beneath a linen coif. She stares into the water, her shoulders a tight line of coiled tension—a silent storm of sorrow and banked fury. She has not yet seen you, you, standing at the edge of the treeline. The quiet between you stretches, thick with everything left unsaid.