Broken Souls

A Place

Kiera grumbled as she stared out the window of her room, tired of sitting there, locked inside. It was late afternoon, three days after she had arrived and she wanted to get out after having spent all day in her chambers. She wanted to move. Experience. Explore. She didn't know if she was allowed to though. So far, the elves had been kind to her - save for Castien who had nearly humiliated her to death - but she wasn't sure if it was sincere or simply a facade.

She still felt at unease of being in Mirkwood. She wasn't sure what to think. She felt safe, but the thought of something dangerous lurking behind every corner she turned kept tingling in the back of her mind, poking at her anxiety like a demon. It was nerve wracking to sit there, feeling like something was right before her eyes and she couldn't see it. As if it was just waiting for her to take the wrong step.

As she watched the wind blow around yet another tree in the forest, the leaves wavering violently by the force, she got up and walked to the door, settled on a task. She knocked on the door once with a fist rather than a knuckle, and it quickly got opened to reveal a surprised Castien. "My lady?" He said hesitantly.

"Evening, Castien, how's it going with you? Care to accompany me for a stroll?" Kiera asked bluntly and leaned against the doorframe. "I'm bored to death in here and I'd like to know if you'd allow me to see this beautiful place you call home."

Castien raised his eyebrows at her bluntness but nodded. "Why of course, my lady. Where would you like to go?" He asked and stood at attention, looking at her with curious eyes.

"Wherever your elven mind finds interesting." She answered and Castien smirked.

"Let us go then." He said, and Kiera nodded, walking out to follow beside him.

On, Castien went, to show her the Woodland Realm. As she had already seen the Throne Room two days prior, he thought to skip that and instead started in the kitchens where he let her speak with the chefs of how they made the variety of foods and meals in their stock, along with some information on whatever ingredients they used. Kiera was happy to find out that elves weren't vegetarians as a species but was by simple personal preference, just like humans. That meant that she indeed could eat meats while she was here. She didn't know how to survive without, so this was a great discovery.

Most elves were hesitant to talk with her, eyeing her suspiciously and unsettled by the thought of this strange woman that the rumors had said were from a different world. They seemed just as nice as everyone else when they found the courage to approach her or answer the questions she had, but when they weren't in a situation of confrontation, they stayed further away and settled with simply watching her.

Castien was quick to tell her that the kitchens were only one of his many beloved places in the realm and urged her to let him show her the rest before dusk would creep upon them. He led her through many corridors that all seemed the same in design yet different altogether. Kiera thought that perhaps they were similar in architecture but different in their context, which explained the answer to her slight awe.

She was soon followed to what Castien revealed to be the Barracks, showing her the rows of doors that closed off the soldiers' rooms. He then led her to the guards' Common Room, a place where most of them either dozed off or played games and talked in between watches.

After Castien had said hello to a few of the guards that appeared to be his good friends, only introducing Kiera as they had glanced at her and she had nodded in return without a word, Castien dragged her along to the next place he wanted her to see: The Training Grounds.

This was a place that certainly interested Kiera.

She watched every soldier pull back the strings on their bows at the archery plains further away from the rest of the grounds, studying how they held the bow and let the arrow fly, hitting the targets rather close to the center. Turning her eyes to the guards closer to her, she observed the many groups of two that sparred with one another. In one of them, one guard lashed out at the other with a dagger, determined to bury it in his lung, but he quickly got pushed to the ground with a shield to the chest and a sword to the throat. Having yelped in surprise, the guard looked at the blade pressed to his skin and slowly showed his hands in surrender. The victor helped him up and they both bowed to each other, peace reformed between them.