Half-Elf

The Risk

As the young half-elven girl ran through the city streets, her dark brown, near black hair flowed behind her. She held in her arms a small coin purse, one she had snatched from a woman passing by. She’d immediately taken off running afterward. Her mother would be proud, she hoped.

    The eleven-year-old halfbreed ducked under boards that kept the door to her home shut off from the rest of the world, looking around. This was a thieves’ guild: A safe haven of sort for thieves. Her mother raised her here.

    “Oni! What were you doing out so late, girl? Your mother know about this?” A very tall, greyish-green man in leather clothing, an orc, asked her. 

    The young girl shook her head. “No. Mama said she’d be out late, so I thought I’d surprise her. Look, I got this all by myself, that lady didn’t even know I was there! It isn’t a myriad of coins, but it is something!” She exclaimed, holding up the coin purse.

    The orc put a heavy hand on her head. “Impressive, but best be careful. You know your mother wants you to stay away from this sort of thing until you’re older.”

    Oni sighed quietly, joyous expression falling. “I know. But maybe if she sees I can… Nevermind it. I’ll see you in the morning, Bakh.” She trudged off tiredly to the steps, going up to the supports for the roof. That’s where she and her mother made themselves at home, since like some other thieves, they didn’t have a home of their own.

    Clambering up the boards to get to the little platform they made out of extra boards so they wouldn’t fall, the little half-elf sat on a little pile of sheets. She dug through them, and found the one picture she had of her father. A wood elf, a druid whom her mother had fallen for some years ago. He’d chosen his forest and its creatures over her, and so she took their daughter and left for the city.

    That was all she knew. Oni didn’t know if she had any other family. She grew up with her mother, and she only knew that her father had remained in the forest. Sometimes she wondered what would have happened if her mother stayed in the forest. Or even if she had left her there with her father. Or-

    “Oni, my flower. Why do you look so grave?” 

    Oni looked up to see the face of her mother. A human with fair skin and black hair, covered with a hood of matching color. Those light blue eyes didn’t seem to fit in. It made Oni wonder where her own green eyes came from- she didn’t see them in her father’s picture.

    “Oh, Mama,” The girl smiled wide, “I, um… I was just looking at my father's photo.. Do-Do you think I have any other family over there?”

    Her mother held her breath. She looked surprised. “I… Didn’t expect to come home to this, love. Why do you ask?”

    “My eyes. They’re green. Yours are blue, his are brown… So did I have a grandmother with green eyes? Or a grandfather? Actually, do I have any other family at all..?” The girl looked up with big eyes.

    Her mother sighed softly. “If it means so much to you…” She hesitated a moment.

“Yes. I know you have a brother, born the same as you. But that’s all I know of. He stayed with your father, and that’s all you need to know.”

    Oni gasped quietly, wonder filling her eyes. She knew if she asked she wouldn’t discover anything else; she had pried about her father for years and had only gotten that short story. She hadn’t even heard how her mother met him.

    “Don’t worry yourself with this too much. Come now, it’s late, flower. Rest,.” hHer mother’s soothing voice said, stroking her hair. 

To that, Oni simply nodded, laying down with her head in her mother’s lap. It never took long for her to drift off to sleep. She knew her mother would always protect her. She knew her mother would always be there.

“FIRE! Oni, Cole, are you both still up there?”

Oni opened her eyes, immediately smelling smoke and burnt wood. Her senses were on fire, and it felt like she couldn’t breathe. “Mama-?” She looked up, seeing that her mother was carrying her under her arm as if she were game from a hunt. Despite being human, she was surprisingly fast and nimble, and she scurried down the boards with ease to the bottom floor.

A crack sounded above them, and both females looked up. The mother gasped, kissing Oni’s head and wrapping her long hooded cloak around her to help protect her from the flames. Then, once the confused girl was wrapped up securely, she threw her, through the flames beginning to grow before her and towards the door.

Crack!

What had once been their home, the wooden palette among the support boards, came crashing down. While the thief still did her best to run for the exit, hoping she’d be able to join her daughter, her hope was crushed along with her body amongst the flames.

People were gathered around the burning building. A child had suddenly come through the doorway, and she slowly stood up on wobbly legs, in a black cloak that was much too big for her and singed with flames at every edge.

Oni slowly turned to look at the building. “Mama..? MAMA!” She began to run back into the building, crying for her mother. A man grabbed her quickly, catching her as she tripped on the much too big cape. She struggled at first, then went limp, accepting her mother wouldn’t be leaving the raging inferno.
 
She pushed the man’s arm off her, rubbing her eyes, and pulled up the hood. She'd stay there for hours, even after the fire was doused, before starting down the dirt road with teary eyes. This wouldn’t have happened if her father had chosen them instead of that stupid forest. So she’d find him and tell him exactly what happened. And she’d find her brother, too.