Private Tales The Lost Princess and The Exiled Prince

[Maeve]

Mae blew out a relieved breath.

He still comes little redbird, he still comes...

The Wind whispered through the trees before petering out into a musical laugh which filled the area like birdsong. Mae tried to ignore it and instead ran a still trembling hand through her hair. Everything was fine, she was fine, they would be on their way soon and once she had iron... well then the bastard could try to take her all he wanted.

"That is a relief, I do like sleep," she attempted a crooked smile but it didn't quite reach her eyes; the dream had really shaken her. "So... elk hunting today was it?"

 

[Arun]

"Yes." Arun remembered her chastising him for making her feel small the last time he had corrected her language.

He assumed that she knew there would be no actual "hunting" of Elk.

"They will be in the glades to the east." Arun said with a smile, trying to impart some level of joy to her. They had been around one another now that he could read her...somewhat. Humans were still strange, but even he could see that the smile had not reached her eyes. "Quite a walk."

Especially given her wounds. "But you should only have to do one way."

If they could make her a friend.

"If we don't get you an elk..." He considered. "I'll just carry you back."

 

[Maeve]

"I think I could do with a walk," she felt jittery and unsettled after the dream and then the spell. Walking along the forest floor was something normal that she could cling to and that would take her mind off of things.

"If they are like horses... then I think I will be fine," Mae sunk her teeth into her bottom lip as she thought upon the matter for a moment more, then nodded and glanced towards where he usually made the stairs appear. "Animals and I tend to get along," this time her smile did touch her eyes.

 

[Arun]

"Well, then we shall see." Arun said with a smile as he picked up the book and motioned towards the house. "I'll be right back."

There was not really much ceremony to where Arun hid the book, and he did not try to keep it a secret from Mae either. He placed it within the tree itself, singing for just long enough for a pocket to open and then to close it once more.

When he was done, it appeared as though the tree had not moved at all.

A few moments later Arun stepped back out onto the porch. "I am ready, if you are."

 

[Maeve]

Maeve wasn't even the slightest bit curious about the book nor where he kept it; magic, she had decided, was not for her. She would much rather be human. So she turned her back to the door and let her eyes drift over the landscape before her quietly. The Wind whipped through her hair once more and played with it and quietly the two spoke with one another.

It died abruptly when Arun returned.

Mae glanced to where it had been and then shook her head.

"It's still not sure about you," her lips twitched a little and then she followed him down the stairs he once more sung into existence. She was a little less tense this time but there was still a hesitancy to every step and she kept as close to him as possible.

"What do elks like?"

 

[Arun]

The Elf and his human companion once again began to descend the stairs, Arun keeping an eye on Maeve to ensure that she did not randomly trip and fall.

"Hmm." The noise echoed from Arun's throat as he considered for a few moments. The Elks weren't exactly something he'd dealt with a lot. Saen did not have mounted cavalry unlike Fal'Addas or some of the other Elven Cities.

They just used the eagles.

"Apples." He said with a frown. "And most of them enjoy being scratched at the base of their antlers."

Arun had heard one of his kin from Tel'Vallas say that once. "They can't reach it themselves apparently."

 

[Maeve]

"Horses are the same with their ears, though I once saw one scratch it like a dog might," Maeve laughed. She was relaxing with every step she took and the idea she was going to be able to ride - even if it was an elk - thrilled her. Her people were not used to using their own two feet so much, they were a mounted tribe. They lived and died by the saddle.

"Are these elks... magical?" she turned her green gaze up towards him as they strolled. "In some stories I have read there are creatures who can do things like spit fire or talk into your mind?"

 

[Arun]

Arun let out a small laugh at the image of an Elk breathing fire. He wasn't trying to mock her of course, but the thought was quite a hilarious one. "No, I'm afraid not."

The Elf said with a smile still lingering on his lips.

"They are..." How did he put this. "They are of the Falwood. So perhaps a bit more...special than one would find out in the ordinary world, but not mystical. "Well, they are like many other things here."

Arun said as they reached the forest floor. "Different, but not out of the ordinary."

He smiled at her.

"I'm afraid I'm not great at explaining." Something he'd learned over the last few days with her.

 

[Maeve]

"It's okay, I think it's cute," Maeve smiled and bent to pick up a pine cone as they walked, tossing it up and catching it from the air to toss it up again. She didn't mind at all that he couldn't explain things for she didn't have a long attention span anyway. She enjoyed learning of course but she preferred to do it in a hands on manner rather than a lecture manner.

"So the Falwood is a pretty big deal, like a magic hot spot?" he had spoken of the forest in such a way over the last few days that had made her feel that way at least. Like it was alive or a mythical being in and of itself.

 

[Arun]

"It is." The Elf could freely admit that.

His mother had had an explanation for it, though Arun was not sure if it had been her own theory or the agreed upon fact that everyone had just sort of landed on.

"It is the life here." Arun tried to explain. "It is...connected. The trees are older, the ground ancient, and all of it is part of one great big web. All woven into itself. All interconnected."

He looked up at one of the trees. "That bond allows magic to flow more freely than other places, almost like water through a trough."

 

[Maeve]

"That makes sense," Mae nodded slowly as she considered his words. The Wind felt it, even Mae could, like a prickle on the back of her neck as they walked. Something was just... different here. It hung in the air liked a muggy night before the storm, though perhaps it stood out more to her not because she was so in tune with magic but because it was so alien to her.

"Is it the only one on the main land?" that was what her people had called the smudge on the horizon they could see from their shores. "Or are there more... or do all the magical beings and people live here?" she threw the pinecone up and down again

 

[Arun]

The questions were naive ones, but Arun knew where they came from. Maeve had never seen a map, had never seen the world. How could she possibly know.

"Remind me to show you a map when we return." The Elf said with an absent mind.

He had one of Arethil that had come from the Allirian Cartographers guild. A small trinket that he had collected from a merchant that had made it all the way to Saen. The man had been a bit sleazy, but Arun had bargained him down.

"The Falwood is massive, but there are many other forests separate from it." He told her. "There are also other magical beings all over the world, and places."

A frown touched his lips. "Many that even I do not know of, truthfully."

He considered a moment.

"It is said that in the north there is a vast desert with scorpions the size of buildings." Though he'd never seen such a thing.

 

[Maeve]

"What's a sc.... never mind," Mae bit her bottom lip when she sensed his eyes on her. Clearly it was another silly childish question and she resolved to take a better look at his bookshelves when they got back. The world seemed so much bigger when he described it, which she was sure it was really, but it was still hard to properly reference in her mind.

"I guess I will learn a lot living here," she rubbed at her forearm awkwardly over the marks on her arm. It wasn't a bad thing but it was a little daunting.

"It is a little comforting even you do not know everything though, you're quite intimidating," her smile wasn't a nasty one but shy and sweet, like it was a compliment rather than an insult.

 

[Arun]

"Am I?" Arun said with a raised eyebrow as he looked at her, pursing his lips for a few seconds.

"I don't mean to be." The last thing he wanted to do was intimidate anyone, though there were probably dozens who had seen him a century past that would readily agree with everything Mae had just said. "I have lived longer than most other species, knowledge just...comes with that."

Plus, he'd spent a lot of time alone and that helped. "But be assured, Mae. There are many things in this world I do not know."

He considered a moment.

"There is another continent, across a great range of mountains." Epressa. "I know next to nothing about that place."

 

[Maeve]

"As you said, it comes with time," and Maeve was only 18 years old. She wondered whether elves viewed time a little differently - did 50 years mean something more like 10? Did it seem faster to them? She wanted to ask and at the same time she was too nervous too. For some reason she didn't want Arun to view her in that way - like a child, or ignorant. She pushed a lock of hair behind her ear.

"A whole other continent..." she sighed. It seemed like she was going to always just begin to learn to about one place only to learn there were two or three more of them. Would she ever know enough about the world she now found herself living in?

"I guess I will need to figure out where in this world is the best place to live afterwards... maybe find other humans, see what they are like here."

 

[Arun]

Arun nodded his head, though there was an odd...feeling in his chest at the thought of her leaving. A frown touched his lips, though it was replaced with a smile as he tried not to let the emotion show for too long.

"There are many human cities." He told her. "Elbion, Alliria, Vel Anir."

There was a clear frown at the mention of the last one. "They are all different in their own ways, though I found Alliria to be the most...human."

He had only visited once, but it had been quite the experience.

"There are also towns, villages, dozens of settlements." A laugh escaped him. "Humanity is...quite spread out across this world."

She had a lot of options if that was the path she chose.

 

[Maeve]

Maeve threw the pinecone and this time the Wind caught it like a faithful hound might. It carried it quite some way, clearly wanting Mae to give chase and play like she used to do when she was younger.

"Well maybe you can show me some of them when we are travelling," she wasn't sure where they would be able to find iron weapons strong enough to kill a Fae, it might take them a while. The Wind waited patiently further ahead of her, swirling the cone just out of reach even when the walked under it and Mae had to jump to try and get it from its clasp. There was a trill laugh and it rushed the cone higher into the air then shot off.

"Not fair!" she shouted and more laughter echoed all about them.

 

[Arun]

Arun watched the wind and Maeve...play, his eyes narrowing for a few moments as he tried to trace the path of the mysterious entity.

He did not fully understand what it was. Mae had said it was an extension of herself in a way, almost like a Hound or something close. Arun wondered what his mother would have made of it, whether she could have offered an explanation.

The Elf himself was simply not well enough studied. "I wonder..."

Arun mused as he followed along with a wondering look on his face.

 

[Maeve]

Maeve and the Wind played for quite a bit of their journey. Sometimes she would slow when her wounds began to protest and she would walk with Arun for a time until she caught her breath and was off again. Her questions were about things that they passed - the trees and flowers she didn't recognise, once or twice seeking an assurance the trees in particular didn't mind her and the Wind playing with one of the cones.

Other times she passed the cone to him trying to coax him in to the little game of catch, testing how far he could throw it as well as her own reflexes and ability to catch.

He looked bemused by the whole thing and after a while when she was on one of her breaks she asked.

"Do elves not play?"

 

[Arun]

Arun shook his head. "Generally not, no."

A frown touched his face for a moment.

"Well..." How did he put this without sounding like a complete ponce to her? "Maybe. I'm not entirely sure if I'm honest."

For a moment he hesitated, and then Arun continued. "Remember, I am not exactly a...regular Elf."

He felt silly, like he was bragging to her.

"I'm a Prince, The Prince." The one who was to inherit the throne. "There had not been much time for play."

 

[Maeve]

"And I'm the Princess, I was still allowed to play," Maeve raised a brow at him. He seemed to keep forgetting she was the same rank as him and knew what it was to be a royal. At least, a royal amongst her people. It sounded like the royalty amongst elves were even more pompous than the elves themselves.

Maeve threw the pinecone to him and then jogged ahead, walking backwards as she waited for him to throw it back to her.

"I used to play with all the nobles children or when other royals visited - our parents would leave us to our own devices when they were in meetings. We used to get up to all kinds of mischief," it was basically encouraged.

 

[Arun]

He frowned. "That is a good point, Mae."

She was a Princess too, but perhaps that was another difference in their respective societies. She got to play, and he was stuck in his little palace. His brother had been there of course, but...things hadn't always been easy with him. Especially later on.

A smile touched his lips as she mentioned mischief.

"Well we got into a little of that as well." At least that was similar. "The Princess of Fal'Addas once showed us how to make a Draugr-Bunny jump thirty seven feet."

 

[Maeve]

Maeve raised an eyebrow. She didn't know what a Drau-r-wassit Bunny was but that didn't sound like a lot of mischief. Unless it breathed fire and accidentally set half their palace on fire too. Though from what she knew about this place it was entirely possible; she wasn't convinced that the elk wouldn't start breathing fire yet.

When he threw the pinecone back she toyed with it in her hands and continued to walk backwards with no mind to where she was going. Even so she avoided every root and branch as though she had walked the route a thousand times before.

"I once accidentally set my fathers cloak on fire when we were flicking nuts at this very old Maester, mine hit a candle and sent it falling off the table and the whole fur just went whoosh - he was so mad," Mae grinned.

 

[Arun]

"Oh dear." Arun said, not even capable of imagining what his father would have done had he and his brother burnt his cloak. Such a thing would have been a great affront to the King, though he suspected most of the anger would have come from him and his sibling acting 'human'.

His head shook and he smiled slightly.

"It seems of the two of us." Arun almost looked wistful . "You've lead the more exciting life."

The thought was a rather ironic one, given that she was two hundred years his junior.

Yet it also seemed true. While Arun had been alive longer, he had not truly lived.

 

[Maeve]

"I guess it depends what you class as exciting," she couldn't help a little bubble of laughter as she shook her head. "I mean, you got to ride an eagle. I would say that was way more exciting than scuffles in the yard and getting into trouble," Maeve turned to face the way she was going, back to him, whilst she continued to laugh. However, as she did so she came to a very sudden stop.

They had clearly reached their destination. At least, Mae was assuming what Arun called elks were the great monstrosities in front of her now. She backed up several feet until her back bumped against his chest with her eyes wide. They were nothing like she had ever seen before and far, far more terrifying than the image she had had in her mind after his description.

"You want me to make friends with one of those?! It's gonna eat me!"