Rise of the Warrior of Everfen

Chapter 19: You Are A Warrior

"Sheobulf," she had run from the tent and towards the nearest quiet place she could find, which happened to be the rocks on Weeping Woman's Rock. Everywhere else was surrounded by man or orc and she didn't want either. She'd cried, she'd angrily slammed her fist into the rocks, and then she'd sat in silence, listening to the sounds of the people chattering in their separate groups.

At the sound of her name, she turned to see Lohke. His expression softened and he sat down on the edge of the rock. She envied him that, she'd had to climb up here. "I'm sorry, Lohke."

He set his hand on her shoulder. "Nothing to apologize for. I might have reacted the same had I been in your shoes." He was quiet a minute before he asked, "May I know your true name?"

She sighed heavily, more tears in her eyes. "That's just the thing. I no longer know who I am. I am happy with you, I do not know how to be human anymore."

He gave her a sad smile. "Be whoever you wish to be. Be what your heart wants."

She cocked her head to the side before looking at him quizzically. "I thought you would tell me that I am human, that my place is with them."

"Your place is with them. Your home is where your heart is. You can still be loyal to your king and be with us. What do you suppose ambassadors do? They're sent to other nations to live amongst them, deliver political messages. There is a human ambassador that lives with the elves right now, he has two half elf children with the elven female he chose to stay with. What does your heart want, Sheobulf?"

She considered his words for a long moment before she sighed, "I don't know what it wants."

He laughed, "One day it will hit you and you will know, siba." She frowned at the words he chose. Siba, he was calling her sister? He offered her more respect that even Cold Hammer had when he'd saluted her.

She turned to face him. "Erinne."

He smiled. "A beautiful name. What does it mean?"

"I don't...I don't know." They both laughed and then she fell silent, laying her hand on top of his which still rested on her shoulder. "You may call me Sheobulf. It is who I am with the orcs."

"And with the humans?"

"I do not know if I am Lady Erinne, anymore, but I will discover who she is. Who I am deep down."

"I already know the answer to that." He stated and tipped her chin back so her head was higher. "You are a warrior, whether you are human or orc."

. . . .

They resumed their attempt to negotiate a peace treaty when she'd finally pulled herself back together. Wren politely kept his questions about her to himself this time and got to business. Both leaders had decided that mapping out their borders would be the best place to start, but it had unfortunately presented more trouble than not.

They disagreed on almost every border point. Wren had marked on a map as he'd asked Lohke to do, where he thought the border should go. Their borders were almost completely different. She sat to the side of them as each pointed at their own maps and she translated back and forth. She was thankful for the diplomacy both showed as neither began arguing, but simply counter negotiating, supplying each other with reasons why they wanted their borders a certain way.

Lohke won on a few points for having families located in an area and Wren conceded the territory to Lohke so the families wouldn't be forced to move their home and everything they worked for. Likewise, Wren won a large portion of land surrounding a human town and the farmland they'd already planted to go with it.