The Elves of Loth

Chapter Twenty

With her dragon at the healers, Aspenleaf paced back and forth in the clearing, trying to pass the time. That was when she caught sight of Icewing watching her from the window of the cabin they now shared. Crossing the clearing and scaling her tree, Aspenleaf pushed open the door to her cabin. Icewing was sitting on the bed, already wearing her shoes and one of Aspenleaf's sweaters, ready to leave.

"Come on." She waved her hand towards the door, "There's something I have to show you." With that she slipped out of the door, not waiting for Aspenleaf to follow. There was a disturbing, serene elegance to the way she walked, even the way she climbed out of the tree, as if she were floating rather than walking like Aspenleaf was.

Her sister led her through the woods to a sunny spot on the bank of a stream. Aspenleaf's head filled with mixed emotions. It was the place she and Icewing used to play when they were young, before either of them really understood what was going to happen to Icewing, but it was also the place she and Birchwhisperer went to get away from the world. Often, when Aspenleaf was old enough to know what was going on, she would sit here and cry into Birchwhisperer's shoulder while he told her all the things he wished the three of them could do together, things that Icewing would never live long enough to do.

"Why are we here?" Aspenleaf managed to ask, "What did you want to show me?" Icewing grabbed her hand, pulling her down onto her knees in the grass. For a moment they just stared into each other's eyes, Aspenleaf wondering if it was really still her sister inside there. Finally, Icewing spoke.

"I told you I had the whispering talent." Aspenleaf nodded, encouraging her sister to continue, "Well, the dark elves had me practicing a lot, and I've managed to accomplish some extraordinary things." She paused, "I was wondering if you wanted speak to your brother?"

The first thing Aspenleaf noticed was how Icewing had said 'your brother' rather than 'our brother', and she wondered just how distant her sister had become, but all those thoughts were swept away by the realisation that Icewing had just offered to communicate with the dead. "Can you really do that?" Aspenleaf could barely contain the excitement in her voice, and when Icewing nodded she smiled so wide that her face hurt, "Can we talk to mom and dad too?" she asked, the excitement building.

"No." Icewing said, "Only Birchwhisperer. Our parents are too deep." Disappointed, Aspenleaf reminded herself that five minutes ago she was content to speak to no one. Birchwhisperer was who she missed the most anyway, a much as it pained her to admit it. Realising that Icewing wasn't finished, she turned her attention back to her sister who continued, "We can talk to your friend, Frostraven, though, if you want. She's not very deep." As well as being happy that she could see her friend again, Aspenleaf was exited that she and Icewing finally had something to talk about besides the terrible things that had happened to them during the war. 'Deep' was a term she understood, it was the way she felt about entering into bubbles in her mind, or opening them up, it was the level of energy she had to put into finding something.

"So," Icewing began once more, "who would you like to speak to first?" As much as she liked Frostraven, the answer to this question was obvious, there was a difference between losing a friend and losing a brother, the only person in the whole world who really seemed to understand her.

"Birchwhisperer." She answered as calmly as possible. Offering her hand to Aspenleaf, the young girl closed her eyes. Aspenleaf hesitated for a moment before closing her own eyes too. The moment her eyelids shut, she felt herself being pulled into another realm – a realm inside her sister's head. She felt her grip on Icewing's hand tighten as she slipped out of reality.

Immediately, she notice the difference between the two worlds they'd constructed. Instead of an infinite expanse of openness, Icewing's world was surrounded by towering walls that stretched up as far as the eye could see, and instead of bubbles, her sister had metal crates, sealed with heavy locks.

"I had to protect my mind for the dark elves." Once again, Icewing seemed to know what her sister was thinking. "Come on, Birchwhisperer's this way." She led an overly excited Aspenleaf over to one of the boxes, opened the lock with a key that Aspenleaf hadn't seen her pick up, and lifted the lid.

In that instant the world exploded with the full power of Icewing's mind. Hidden inside the box was an entire imaginary world, identical to the one they'd just left, and Aspenleaf felt herself drifting into it, to their spot by the stream, only this one wasn't real. Part of her wanted to believe it was but when she saw her brother on the opposite side of the stream it was impossible to keep telling herself that.

She shook her head, "This isn't real. Icewing, it isn't real, that isn't him!" She almost screamed at her sister, angry that she'd created something to tantalisingly real, but something that Aspenleaf knew was only a fantasy.

"Remember what I told you, Aspenleaf. I said I could find him for you and I did. This place I created bridges the gap between our worlds, between his realm of energy and ours of matter. It's him, Aspenleaf." As Icewing finished explaining, Birchwhisperer seemed to notice them.

"Aspenleaf?" He cried, "Is that you?" Her mind barely registered her little sister sitting behind her, tucked away in the shade of a tree, seeming uninterested in her brother. Instead, she focused only on him. Without a second thought, she leaped up from where she sat and splashed through the water to her brother, feeling as if every step, slowed by the current, was too long, wanting desperately to be on the other side. Finally, she hauled herself out of the stream, immerging next to Birchwhisperer.

"Yes." She said, looking into his eyes for the first time in over a year, "It's me."