Chapter 55

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The Green King's residence was a glitter with lights and festive decorations made of colourful leaves and woven dried wheat stalks. The moon was bright, casting a magical glow over all those who danced in the gardens beneath the palace and the sunset forest beyond. The celebration to honour the foreign guests was in full swing, but Leyla did not feel like celebrating.

Her last chance to find her father was gone.

"Don't look so down, Lieutenant. Weren't you the one who was always telling Michael not to let the past get in his way?"

Leyla narrowed her eyes on Raphael, who looked as relaxed as ever as he watched the Greenlanders dance. "I should have burned those notebooks while we were still on Asch."

The Prorex laughed so suddenly he almost spilled his wine. His golden eyes settled on her face in amusement. "Those notebooks are Michael's babies, you care too much about his feelings to destroy them. In any case, my point holds. Why should it matter who your father was?"

"You don't understand," Leyla frowned, looking out over the dancers. "You don't know what it's like not to understand yourself. Not to know why you look different from your people and why you were left on your own. If I found my father, I might have found a place to belong to, but now it is impossible."

"How can you be so sure? Just what did that old Greenlander say to you?"

Torus, the forty-seven year old retired soldier who had served as point of contact to the Warrior outposts around the time Leyla should have been conceived, was a courteous man. His bushy moustache had stretched with his wholesome smile as he invited Leyla into his home when she called on him that afternoon. Torus's wife, Melly, offered her home-made pastries filled with Greenland jam. They were a sweet couple who had never had children. They couldn't, due to an accident Torus had when he was just seven-years old, that had left him impotent for life.

As much as she would have wished it to be so, Torus was not her father. And as far as the older man knew, the Warriors residing in the outposts will not have been in contact other Greenlanders. They certainly would not have had time alone, Torus had explained, as the few Greenlanders who did make deliveries to the outposts always went in groups of at least three; it was for their protection.

Torus believed there was little to no chance of an affair between a Greenlander and a Warrior from the outposts; both the Greenland and Warrior rules forbid it and the opportunity just was not there.

"My father is not from the Giant Forest and it turns out he is not from the Greenlands either." Leyla muttered, feeling defeated. The only logical option that remained was that her father was a No-Lander. The thought was a depressing one. If he really was a No-Lander, either he was taken prisoner, interrogated and killed or he was somewhere out there and Leyla had no way of finding him. "I'll never find him now."

She took a sip from the cup that had been handed to her during the toast to the King and grimaced at the bitter taste. Why anyone enjoyed this kind of drink was beyond her.

"If it's true that there is no way to find out who he is," Raphael spoke looking into his own empty up. "Then you have to accept it and move on."

"Move on," her laugh was hollow. Why did it feel so hard to do? She hadn't felt this conflicted even when she realised she would have to spend several years in Asch. Was it because she had someone to protect then? A mission that kept her from thinking of herself? "Even if I am not a full Warrior, it is the only thing I know how to be. Now that the Warriors know me as Lady Alessa, how will I go back?"

The question was not directed at Raphael, but he replied nevertheless, "Tomorrow we will go back to the Land of Light. You will have time to think things through then, do not rush yourself, it will only make you feel troubled."

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