Sons of Ironstorm - Book 1: Griffon's Rise

Chapter 31: The Journey's End

"They did look upon the city, fair and wonderful

And felt their hearts fill with joy and thanksgiving.

They had survived out of the darkness and into the light.

Yet little did they know they were at one journey's end

And the beginning of another, a greater journey still.

A Company of Strangers to fulfill an Utterance of Doom."

- from Cephanon's 'Ruminations', ch.7

At first the Sovun'chul company was dubious of Najthin's offer of hospitality. After all, these were strangers to them, sisters and brothers lost for thousands of cycles beyond the imposing wall of the Ya'tual. Why would they extend the hand of friendship with no reason or cause? It seemed foolhardy and misguided, or scheming and treacherous.

The wood elves of the Hawk clan, however, weren't deterred by the natural suspicions of the Sovun'chul elves. As open and friendly as their king, they gladly welcomed both wood and stone elf to their fires. With warm smiles and glad greetings, they brought Ciradaan, Fenoran, Brax, and their company into their small encampment and swiftly made room for their tents while building new fires to warm their bones on this chill spring night.

And just as quickly as they were welcomed into the Alisairan midst, the elves of the Sovun'chul discovered that their hosts were neither foolhardy or treacherous. Though friendly, the Alisairans proved as vigilant and prepared as they, posting well-armed guards at all access points, each with a keen eye towards the other elves camped in the vale. And the keenest was reserved for the darkness in the direction of Quint's Raven clan Sylvasin.

<<An odd bunch, the Raven clan,>> Najthin commented some time later, after tents were erected, fires built and evening meals taken.

Sitting around his fire were the four leaders of the Sovun'chul contingent, invited to join the Alisairan king in sharing a flask or two of pi'inoss and a bit of conversation. It was good to have something familiar in the heart of this alien place, even if the powerful liquor was touched with strange hints of flavor yielded by the unknown herbs the northern elves used in their distillation. 

And it was equally useful and informative to use the conversation to discover more about their lost brethren of the Torvus'sel, as Najthin had named the heart of the Evanor'ef Sylva'Beledin, much as the southern elves called the Landshawl's heart the Sovun'chul. So the four had answered the invitation with thanks, and joined Najthin around his small, smokeless fire.

<<How so, my lord?>> Brax asked as he raised a beaten silver cup filled with pi'inoss to his lips, its fire already warming his throat and belly from earlier samplings.

The animated Alisairan monarch paused just long enough to take a sip from his own silver cup before answering. They were a suspicious lot, he said with a wry smile, mistrusting even themselves. While distrust wasn't something new in the elven world, the Sylvasin of the Raven clan seemed to take it one step further than it needed to. Kings previous to Quint often engaged in 'cleansings', Najthin went on to explain, wholesale elimination of individuals within the clan that were suspected in one thing or another. The unfortunate were suspected, without evidence, and eliminated at random, just to keep the people themselves wary of not only strangers, but also of each other.

According to the archives in Alisair, it was a practice the Raven clan had been carrying on since the advent of the Crimson Empire, just one of the many scars the Empire left on the elves of the Torvus'sel. While some of the clans had managed to heal themselves and put the oppression of the Empire behind them and into their history, some, like the Raven clan, failed to do so. An industrious and curious people before the Empire, they were now closed and mistrusting of everything. That mistrust eventually led to the state of war that now existed between Miradorn and Alisair.