Tales From The Emerald Isles: Hope Chest

4

Farrah knelt before Marric, Pike and Clint at her sides. The last time she knelt like this was at her mother's bed on the evening of her death. The death of her mother though expected hurt no less. It sent her reeling, she remembered, unable to move, she spent several hours kneeling beside her mother in tears.

But, no one felt that loss more than her father. Her father was despondent after the death of his wife. King Caelen had always been a fiery man, with a raging temper. He inherited this from his father, and his father's father. So fiery a temperament had the men of the Hylaen line been that their standard bore the flame behind a claymore. Caelen had suffered many loses in his youth and was not always the strongest of men, thus were the seeds of insecurity and mistrust laid in his youth.

When he met Eirin, that all changed. She was strong willed, but kind and tender. She challenged him in a way that strengthened him as a man; never diminished him. She was brave enough to love him completely and always be honest with him. And, he adored her for it. For Caelen, the sun rose and set around Eirin. They had a child together just shortly after their marriage, and they named her Farrah after Eirin's mother. Farrah had her mother's auburn hair and green eyes. She had her same angular jaw line and high cheeks. She looked in everyday to be her mother's daughter. As she grew her father's fiery nature begin to show itself. But, she also had her mother's genuinely kind disposition. Farrah was a good girl. She might have behaved more like a boy than her parents would have liked, but she loved her parents dearly, and it showed.

As Farrah neared her sixteenth birthday her mother began to get sick. Eirin, hid it from Caelen for quite some time with the help of Farrah. She thought it would pass, but it didn't. Caelen came to learn of his wife's illness when she began to cough uncontrollably at a state banquet and eventually coughed up blood all over herself before fainting in his arms. The next day he sent a request to the Emerald Sisters for aid. Upon learning of his wife's deception, even though it was done without malice, it drudged up his old feelings of mistrust and insecurity, little by little. His adoration for Eirin shield her from these feelings, but their daughter was not as lucky. As she was had a hand in the deception. And, so while he loved his daughter, he began to challenge the things she would say, and the authenticity of her feelings toward himself and her mother. He would shower her with love one minute and then treat her like a stranger the next. But, this all began to happen very slowly.

The Emerald Sister arrived one month from the day King Caelen sent his request for aid. According to the letter that accompanied Sister Aislyn, she had been the only one close enough to deal with the symptoms expressed in the King's letter. And, she was already in service to the King of Larutte as Sister-in-waiting to the king, and as such had to be recalled. But, that took some time, because King Alric was not willing to part with such a skilled healer so easily. While Aislyn's arrival was greeted with joy and hope, a bitter taste for King Alric took hold in Caelen's mouth.

Aislyn tried all that she could to save the Queen. Some of her treatments would abate the symptoms for a time, which was probably worse for everyone, because of the false hope it produced in everyone involved. As time drew on King Caelen began to mistrust the sister more and more. He changed her quarters from a spacious one with sunlight in the morning and fresh air, to a small dank room in the lower reaches of the castle. He began see these sudden abatements and reoccurrences of the symptoms as part of a plot constructed by Aislyn and King Alric to attack him at his most vulnerable place. This went on for months and then years. Finally as Farrah neared her eighteenth birthday none of Aislyn's treatments had any effect on the symptoms and Eirin rapidly grew worse.

The morning of Farrah's eighteenth birthday Eirin looked as if she had never been sick. She was bright and vibrant. She was as lovely as the day Caelen had first laid eyes on her. Eirin had spent most of the morning with Farrah. They walked in the garden and spoke of what life would be like for Farrah now that she was eighteen. But mainly they listened to the birds sing and raced stones across the pond when no one was watching. That morning had been the best either had had in quite some time, and the time flew by for them both. Eirin hugged Farrah tightly, kissed her forehand and produced a small box from someplace in her dress.