Stormchild: Emeline and the Forest Mage

19 Aftermath

"Crepuscle (specimen 2G)...A thin flake or compacted platelike structure covers areas on the body surface, though it is evidently not as of cornified epithelial cells due to the scales' malleable, flexible nature. It could be concluded that Crepuscle cell structure is dissimilar to that of humans. It seems to be more gell-like. Scales vary in size, large scales are up to a hand's width. Female body shape, though reproductive organs are absent, as with Specimens 1A – 2F. It is unclear whether hormonal secretions are present or similar to the human female, though body shape suggests a high oestrogen and progesterone count, the absence of ovaries or any similar organ beg the question of the hormone's origin."

~ A study of the Fae, Medical Journal 714 of the 8th Year of Lord Gunsel Stêr's Time, The Season of the Lords

Erdil

    His eyelids fluttered open. Darkness. Färin's mind would not register more than a heavy weight pushing the breath out of his chest, and the utter blackness around him. His eyes fell closed, weakly, shallow breaths becoming erratic and desperate. His consciousness lapsed, and he drifted somewhere between Träumenil and reality.

    Above the surface, Sheyå lay collapsed in the epicentre of an enormous flower of sand, the pattern created by the waves of desert soil she had flung out in every direction, trying to destroy the mysterious army that had attacked them. Färin lay buried beneath layers of sand with a bare few minutes of life left. Time was running out for him, and his only hope was the little desert child who lay motionless and alone on the surface of the Sheia she so loved.

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    Sheyå awoke to the light of the stars, a grand headache, and the feeling that she was forgetting something. Her face was patterned with grains of sand she felt when she lifted her fingers to it. Her cheek had been squished against the surface of the Sheia. Using her exhausted arms, she pushed herself up and groaned as her aches and pains awoke.

    With her legs before her, she sat for a minute, confused and scared. As her exhaustion dissipated, her mind recalled the ordeal she'd just been through. Scary thoughts hit her young mind like bullets. They were shadows! She'd nearly died! They'd wanted to...to eat them! And Färin had fought them.

    'Färin!'

    Panic ensued, her big blue eyes wide with terror. Sheyå had never been away from Färin for long. He kept her safe. She needed him. A solitary tear rolled down her injured cheek, but she mustered her courage and spoke to the sand.

    'Help me,' she whispered, 'find him please. Please don't let him die.'

    Her eyes flickered between icy blue and dark blue as she attempted to call the sand to her. The Sheia loved her. Sand parted a short distance from her, where Färin had fallen. It spouted upwards, like a fountain, and his body floated above it, limbs limp and face slack.

    Sheyå kissed the sand, digging both hands in with relief. She wanted to say thank you, but what came out were choking sobs. She accidentally sucked sand in through her nose, and quickly lifted her head, blowing it back out. What should she do now?

    'Waaa,' she cried, soaking herself with tears and heaving with great sobs. She hadn't let go of the sand. In fact, she gripped it tightly with her tiny fists. Was Färin alive or not? She didn't know, but he wasn't moving.

    Sheyå was too tired to get up and help him. She was too sore to go get water. She snorted, mucous clotted with sand coming out of her nose. The world was unfair.

The Heavens

    The Fathers watched their little daughter, only a few days old, struggle with the new emotions of shock, grief and rejection. The Father of time flinched as she snorted, feeling her pain.