A violin plays from a young elven boy sitting by the fire. A serene tune hopeful yet sad. It makes a lump form in my throat. I sit down and stare down at the towel covering my lower region area. How old am I? How old was I? I yearn for my father's Pat upon my head. Was I but a child when he did what he did? Made me take the elixir and suffer the fate he did alone. My eyes water at the thought of him in the dark reaching for my hand as he was being executed. Who am I really? Who was my father? The tears gently fall down my face like raindrops from the sky. I brought the wooden cup to my mouth and allowed the warm tea to flow down my throat. Washing the lump away.
"Orii...are you okay?" Varin asked, sitting beside me, handing a bar of something in his hand. "Here, it is a soap thing. I am still not accustomed to the human things. But it will make you smell better." He informed me. I took it and began to wash. Varin glanced away as I did. After I washed my hair and face. I let out a soft sigh.
"It feels good." I softly said, Varin nodded and chuckled.
"Washing off 10 years of dirt would definitely feel good." He joked.
"Varin...Twilie...will he help me? I have no money. Nor any idea who I am. I don't believe I am from money if I lived in such a poor village. Not one like that." I frowned worried about the strangest thing. Varin rested back against the hot springs rock wall, crossing his arms. He yawned. "I am afraid."
"Of what? I have no money nor family. I have not needed to pay him anything. All I needed was a good head on my shoulders and a will to hunt. Just because they cut my wings doesn't mean they can take away that I am truly a dragon."
"A very loving dragon!" A child shouted teasingly pouring a pail of water over Varin. He splashed the children back and laughed watching them rush away.
"No running!" Jaan's voice echoed, the children mocked him and slowed down. The springs became silent.
"I'm surprised he even looked up from that scroll. He found it in one of the villages and has been trying to decipher the meaning. It is in the air clan language." Varin mumbled, using a hand to push his hair out of his face. That long weightless black hair.
"What happened after the air clan began the war?" I questioned. Varin yawned softly, swiftly pointing towards Jaan making faces at the scroll he had been sitting on a rock trying to decipher all evening. "Jaan is better to ask." I answer myself nodding. Varin stood up and grabbed the clean cloth.
"Are you done? You will turn into a raisin soon. Come. I'll help you stand."
"Okay." I murmured, my legs shaking as I stood up on my own. Varin had looked away and wasn't paying attention. I stepped ahead, tumbling into his chest and yelped in pain. Grasping onto his arms. "My leg..."
"It's ok." He mumbled lowly, picking me up walking towards Jaan. Jaan stared at me and put the scroll aside to a small wooden desk. I sat down beside him and looked down at my leg. "It's your muscles spasming. You could have pulled one too. It has been a very long time since you used them."
"Truly." Jaan agreed, letting out a sigh. "Ari, has not brought the extra clothes yet. So wait while I go look for-"
"No, I will go find Ari." Varin announced, drying off and pulling up his pants hurrying away. The hot springs were quiet as the violin player went to sleep for the night. It must be late. I do not feel tired. The ground was soft from the warm water yet was not slippery.
"I want to know more about the air clan. What happened to them after they started the war? Did they lose?"
"Indeed. They were sentenced to death. If you could wield the power of air and light. Then you were executed in the open, so everyone could see. Elders, adults, women, children. All were put to death. All that were found." Jaan stared up at the sky watching a bright colored rainbow dance in the sky. "They say those dancing lights are the souls of the air clan trying to make amends to the world for their ruthless actions. They dance every night. The ones who gave them aid in the war killing innocents were all killed on sight. Do you see...the two largest stars there with the shimmering rainbow between them?" I nodded watching the two weave the dancing rainbow between each other. Almost like they were waltzing in the sky. "That is Canton and Mulnire. The leader of the guardians, an air clan royal, and his dragonheart royal. They fell after the Vikings from the Shivering Isles and some of the goddesses and gods from Wysteria stormed the castle on a celebration night. They accepted their fates."
"It is said that Canton was the first to lay his head low. Then after Mulnire did the same unable to live his life without his fated love." A new strong commanding voice finished. I tore my eyes from the two lovers in the sky. Warm brown eyes gazed back at me. Tan skin and short silver hair. A young man. Jaan tensed up, standing up suddenly bowing.
"Ari, I sincerely apologize for-"
"It's fine. Uncle Dukem said it was fine to speak of them. Uncle Ujik though...that's where we have a problem." Ari spoke loudly. He indeed had a stern voice. One that caught your attention and held it.
"You are Ari?"
"Aripo. The son of Canton and Mulnire." My heart clenched for him as he gazed up at the two star lovers dancing. "Canton was the one that birthed me from his power. And yet, he was the one that fought for knowledge. Unfortunately... knowledge is a terrible thing to strive for. My uncle Dukem informed me that he found a scroll, and for many months and weeks he tried to decode it. Learn from it. Until he went insane." Ari shook his head and set down the clothes onto my lap. "That's what they like to say about him. But my parents were not stupid. It was not a scroll. There was something much more sinister behind the war. Uncle Ujik and Dukem have been searching ever since. It's a terrible thing, really."
"If you are an air clan..." I wondered.
"Twilie was a teacher of elixirs for the young kids, he took several of the air clan children and fled. Ari was one of them."
"My sister was named Olina....she perished with my parents." Ari informed me, his voice strained slightly almost like he was holding back any emotion. He seemed to lack them. He gave me a cold smirk. "You are thinking how unaffected I am right? You humans are all the same. I believe the clothes are more than welcome. Goodnight." Ari dismissed us, having snubbed me. I held onto the clothes. Glancing to the star lovers.
Was father in the stars too?
YOU ARE READING
Enda: Fallen Grace (BL BXB)
Fantasy"Wake...." A weary worn out voice pleas. "My son...wake...stay...." A voice called out to a young man who then awoke alone in a moss covered shed with no way out. What was he doing there? Why is he covered in dry blood? What happened? Who was he? E...
