Private Tales What Remains

[Avros]

He followed after her, the trail within the wood obvious. She moved not towards the Riverbank where her things still lay, but instead deeper into the forest. It was obvious she wasn't running away, not completely at least.

Avros just had to find her before she froze to death.

Though winter was still a month away, the nights were starting to grow cold. Wet hair and the clothes that she had been wearing would not be good for her, not in the weather they were due for. So the Prince searched, following her tracks through the forest.

Eventually, the echo of her voice catching his ears once more. The desperate tinge to the story she wove hanging in the air even as he approached.

Gently, he reached out, fingers drawing across her shoulder. "Fae."

The Prince said softly, interrupting her tale.

"I don't know...I..." He frowned. "Come back to Camp, it'll be cold soon, the story...if that's..."

Avros swallowed. "It's okay."

The Prince lied. "It'll be okay."

 

[Faelynwë]

"One upon a time there was a Princess who lost her family to an evil King... But don't worry children, such things only happen in story books..." it was something a woman who might have been her mother in another life had said to her when she was little and scared of some of the darker tales in her books.

"Nothing like that happens in real li--" she had not heard Avros catching up with her and she whirled about. The haze that covered her eyes cleared as she realised who he was, where she was... who she was. Or at least, who she pretended to be. Wanted to be. She glanced around at the forest realising she hadn't ended up where she had wanted to.

"I... must have taken a wrong turn..."

 

[Avros]

Was this the root?

No.

He knew those symptoms well, and although he could see them within her, it was not the drug which had brought her here. The frown on Avros' lips deepened even more, and he felt his stomach turn in pity and guilt. It was a sad thing, to see something beautiful broken.

"Yes." The Prince agreed. There was a softness to his voice now, though he did not allow pity to touch it.

He already knew that she did not do well with pity.

"Come on." Avros offered her hand. "It's getting late, we should get back to camp."

 

[Faelynwë]

Fae let him take her hand and guide her back the way she had come.

Her whole body shook as though she had been dumped in cold water even though she felt no chill, her woollen cloak having kept it at bay. As they walked she glanced at the landscape and felt a sickening despair over the fact she didn't remember any of her walk this way. There was a worrying gap in her memory of the last fifteen minutes, as though her mind had simply wiped it from existence. She gently prodded at the gap and tried to remember what had triggered it. But every time she got close to the words Avros had said to trigger the blackout they were swallowed up in a white roar.

Back at the camp she gathered up her meagre items and slumped down beside the fire with them. It felt as though she had run a mile. The elf stared into the flames wordlessly as Avros set up their sleep rolls.

 

[Avros]

Avros didn't say a single thing as he walked Fae back towards camp. Far too troubled by what he had seen.

A thousands questions circled within his mind. Wondering just how far she had gone, how far the loss of her family...no, her whole people had pushed her.

He couldn't help but question if...if it was even right to bring her into all of this. He knew what he had to do, knew what he would do. There wasn't any chance, any possibility that he would not run straight into the arms of rebellion. He couldn't.

The weight of his memories, of his father's words, of his mother's love was...was too much. He could not abandon his people. He could not leave them to the Usurper. There was not a second of his life where he thought he could just...walk away.

But he realized in that moment that Faelynwë needed to.

She was not whole.

Perhaps, with time, he could have pieced her back together. He could have seen her take up the mantle of Princess and even-The Prince's lips pressed to a thin line, cutting off the thought. A long breath drew into his lungs as he pressed the last of Fae's sleeping roll into the earth. Drawing back to look at the elf.

For a moment he stayed quiet, his mind full of worrying, pitiful thoughts before he forced himself to turn away. Seizing his eyes shut, and forcing a deep breath. "Have you ever seen a Sunlapse?"

Avros asked, speaking not of the moment, not about what had happened, but only of the beautiful birds that had once been so rare in Astoria."[/color]

 

[Faelynwë]

An image flickered through her mind of a beautiful red bird, its wings fading to a deep purple along its primaries, and a crest upon its head. Of such a bird hopping onto the hand of a woman that looked very much like Fae in the eyes and mouth. Of her turning to show a daughter---

Her mind shut it down.

Fae shook her head.

 

[Avros]

He saw it again, that look, slowly draw into her eyes, but Avros continued. "I hadn't either."

The Prince said softly.

"My Aunt promised me that I would, when we visited." For a brief moment he seemed to pause, think, and then slowly he reached out. His fingers curled around Fae's touch gentle as he almost seemed to gently demand her attention. "I was disappointed of course, and resigned myself."

A rueful smile touched his lips as he went on. "I'd thought I'd never see one. Especially once the Usurper had caught me. In comparison to everything it seemed a minor thing, of course. I'd lost so much. My family. My country. Everyone and everything I had ever loved."

He paused, swallowed.

"A decade, I think, or close enough, I spent in those dungeons. I thought I was dead. That I'd never see feel the sun on my skin again. That all color had left my world." The cell had been so drab and gray. "And then...then one morning."

The smile on his lips seemed to change. "Just a week ago, I think...it's hard to tell the days. I saw it."

Avros said to Fae.

"Golden, like the sun." His eyes seemed to shine as he recounted the memory. "I thought it wasn't real, at first, but then it chirped, and jumped down..."

His smile grew a little wider. "I felt the wind on my face. I felt it's feathers against my fingers."

A slow breath drew into his lungs. "And suddenly, something I thought would never happen...happened anyway."

 

[Faelynwë]

Fae stared at the Prince with that blank, fathomless look. She knew he was trying to help, to try and bring her out of the pit he could see she had fallen into, but the elf knew it was too deep to climb out of. She might as well curl up at the bottom and wait for death for that was the only way she saw out. There was a tiny shred of her right at the core that was still that little girl, full of good and hope, and she didn't want to hurt the boy who was trying to help her. But the rest of her was tired. Sick and tired of people thinking they could fix her with a few nice words.

She pulled her hand out of his and stood, stalking over to her roll mat where she flopped down with her back to him.

Someone had once told her if you had nothing nice to say it was better to say nothing at all. That was all she could offer him.

 

[Avros]

Avros watched her for a moment, lips pressing to a thin line as he took in a breath.

He realized it didn't matter what he said.

It didn't matter what anyone said in fact. Fae was too far gone. The Prince had lost his nation, his people, but they were still...here. Present. Some of them had lived, some of them had even fought with him. He couldn't pretend to know what it was like for Fae.

He felt loss.

She felt...an abyss.

Avros slowly turned away from Fae, settling by the fire and keeping some sort of small watch over their Camp. Wondering wha tit would take for the elf to come back. Wondering what her own sunlapse would be.

Wondering, if she wasn't worse off for having met him.

 

[Faelynwë]

The Gleemaiden wasn't sure when she fell asleep or even how. She never did when Root was in her system which was a mercy in some small way for at least it meant she did sleep. Without the drug for the last few days she had barely managed an hour or two here and there, memories and nightmares merging into one and driving her from her sleep. But when she awoke this time it was morning and judging by the height of the sun. at least half way through it too.

Groggily she sat up, wiping at the wetness on her cheeks. It was best not to think about why she had cried in her sleep.

"You shouldn't have let me sleep so night," she said, voice thick with sleep, to the figure sat over the fire cooking. She rubbed at her eyes. "I'm sure we're being tracked."

 

[Avros]

Dawn had come too quickly for his liking, but he had let her sleep.

It had been partially to ensure that the root was gone by the time she woke up, but also because he needed time to plan, think. They were headed north towards the wood, but...she was right, they were probably being tracked.

There was something to the idea that they could double back, go another way and let the enemy follow a trail that did not exist at all...but that had it's own risks. "We're fine."

He said softly.

"I put up a net." Rune Magic was all but dead in these lands, pressed down and snuffed by the Usurper, but Avros would never forget. The lessons had been part of his life since he'd been a child, and after the Tyrant had taken power he'd been one of the first to learn and create new runes to hide from his magics. "He himself could walk through these woods and not find us."

Which was why he still wondered how they had found him in the first place. The magic worked, that much he knew. He'd confirmed it.

 

[Faelynwë]

The elf maiden looked unconvinced as she ran a hand through her matted her then reached drowsily for her satchel and - more importantly - the Root within. She did it without thinking, the actions so second nature that it was as though Avros did not exist. She carefully rolled herself another slim cylinder of the mind dampening drug and then put it between her lips and lit it up.

The first drag she let out with an audible contented sigh, shoulders sagging in relief. Sleep had always been her greatest enemy when fighting to keep her thoughts from getting through the thick barricade. The first moments of wakefulness was when the pesky memories liked to try and break through. When the books whispered the loudest. She took another drag and peeked into the satchel next to check on them, for whilst she did not want to listen to their tales and remind herself of the magic that made her kind a hunted species, she could not bare to part with them.

 

[Avros]

As Fae lifted the small roll of root, Avros raised his hand. For a brief moment he parted his lips, as if moving to object, but before he could the root was brought to her lips and she drew deep upon the drug.

The Prince's eyes squeezed shut almost immediately, palm falling away before she could ever notice it. The chance at stopping her trance falling away, and a pang of regret spiking through his chest. A thousand questions ran through his mind, chief among them...how could he help her?

She was shattered, broken, and it seemed beyond repair.

Was it even safe to take her on this journey?

Avros frowned for a brief moment, letting his thoughts linger there, but he knew they would do him no good. As Fae took another drag of her root, Avros stood. Shifting so that he could move his things quickly into his pack. "We should get going."

The Prince said, swallowing down the words of judgment and advice he might have offered.

They would do no good now. Not yet.

"If I'm right." He said. "Four days should see us to my sword."

If it had been buried in the right place.

 

[Faelynwë]

Four days.

Her eyes drifted to the pack of root. Could she make it last that long? Perhaps if she rationed it right. It would not do to stop at every town on their journey and if someone were to see a pattern of strangers asking for Root, the cleverer amongst the Usurpers men might begin to see a connection. Her addiction had not been a hidden thing when she had been staying at the inn; the landlord would no doubt share the detail. Her fingers twitched on the joint and after a moment of what looked like agony from the expression on her face she took another drag then stubbed it out, stashing it away with great care.

"Perhaps it would be quicker to get you a mount," her kind could keep pace with a horse with ease for days. Fae hadn't done so in a while but she knew her body, knew it was in its prime even without regular training. Her body had never been the problem.

 

[Avros]

A guffaw echoed passed Avros' lips. "And where do you suppose we find that?"

Though the idea wasn't a bad one, they weren't exactly in a place to have such a thing. Most mounts throughout the Kingdom had been taken by the Usurper, and those that were left either held expense enough to bankrupt a farm...or were only fit for working on them.

"Not that I wouldn't mind a Horse." The Prince added. "But from what I've seen we'd practically have to steal one."

Which, from the tone of this voice, was not something the Prince was willing to do. "Four days isn't so bad."

He told her.

"After that we might..." His voice trailed off for a moment, as though he realized that what he was about to say was pointless. A long sigh escaping his lips as he shook his head. "We'll figure it out."

The Prince offered, as though it were actually enough.

 

[Faelynwë]

The gleemaiden rolled her eyes and heaved her bag onto her shoulder once more.

"There are more than just horses in this world," the humans preferred them of course because they were easier to domesticate. Wilder animals like elk, deer, lions and leopards were more alien. Harder for them to connect to and coax into being content with a small patch of grass and the odd carrot. The elves had restricted themselves left. Astoria had been home to a great many animals who had been welcome and cherished in the great halls. It had not been uncommon to see a panther taking shade under courtyard trees, or to see lemures napping atop stacks of books.

She quickly changed the subject.

"And what is your plan after getting this sword."

 

[Avros]

Avros opened his mouth to speak, but then snapped it shut as he realized that she was...of course, right.

He hadn't even considered something besides horses, but mostly because he didn't have the bloody ability to get any of them. There were stories of course, the kinship of the Astorian's and the animals of the wilds. He had seen it for himself, but...well, he was just a man.

The Prince knew the runes of course, but he would not use them to bend another creatures will. It was one of the most sacred laws of their people. Fae, and her people, had not needed to do such thing. Their connection to the touches of nature far stronger.

Biting his tongue, he shook his head. "Well, If it's there, it means some of my men lived."

Avros said.

"If they lived then, they're probably still alive now." He trusted them, he knew them, and all would have survived after his capture. Some would have been hunted, there was no doubt, but they had known the plan. They'd known to disappear. "So we find them, and then..."

Then what? "Then we take whatever steps we need to."

 

[Faelynwë]

"To what?"

Faelynwë wished she hadn't asked. There was a part of her that knew what he was going to say; he had implied as much within the sewers. To fight. To raise a rebellion and try to claim back his lands and his people. She couldn't blame him, he still had something to fight for. Hope. But even knowing that she could summon nothing in her but dismay at the thought.

"Don't tell me you really think things have changed enough that people now agree with you," it had been too long. People had accepted the new yoke across their shoulders, and many people had benefitted from the overhaul of the old ways.

 

[Avros]

Before he could answer, Fae asked another question. Well, not really a question and more of a statement really. "Things have changed."

The Prince started, though realized quickly that he was very likely only digging himself into a hole.

"Do you not see them?" Anger built already within his voice, not because he was mad at her, no. But because he knew already that she was right. What was once an uphill battle was now war on the side of a cliff. "They're...empty. At least they used to laugh, sing, even in despair."

He sounded almost desperate. "We-we used to sing."

Avros said, swallowing something that felt like it was stuck in his throat.

"Even when we knew it was dire. Even when we were fighting a hundred to our ten." The Prince seemed to touch a memory deep within his mind. "When they chased us through the Willows, when they nearly caught us at Harrowsburg."

He shook his head. "I can't just...I can't just let them be like this, Faelynwë."