Highwater and Glass

The Sacred Crossing, Chapter 1 - Eloise

Just east of Port Shorishal, beyond the walls of the Blue Keep, were the cliffside fields, uncultivated and sprouting wild indigo and columbines. It was a favorite spot of the queen mother before her passing. A statue in her honor carved of stark white marble stood at the edge of the chalky cliff, a beautiful sentry and resting place for the seabirds that called the region home.

Eloise had become fond of the fields as well. Since spring, Sir Revelyn Laurie had taken her there to practice archery; privately, away from the barracks and prying eyes of court busybodies. He set up a wooden target on the bale of peat and even allowed her to use his elegant elf-strung bow. Sir Laurie was patient, kind, and giving. In many ways, the exact opposite of Sir Tristane. However, he could be tough and hard-hitting during a sparring session. Eloise wore the bruises from being bashed with his buckler to prove it.

"Breathe," Sir Laurie would say, his voice in her ear, the heat of his body at her back. "Release your tension. Whatever you're holding onto, let it go."

Although she was embarrassed to admit it, Eloise had candidly come to think of her training sessions as dates with the handsome knight. Even in her dirty trousers and practice jerkin, Eloise endeavored to look attractive for him. She would awaken before the crack of dawn to brush her hair and shade her eyes with kohl and copper like the fashionable ladies of Ravenshade. Sir Laurie never mentioned the effort she put in, but she wasn't sure if she wanted him to. She simply yearned for him to notice her the way she did when he wasn't looking, re-buckling his baldric or counting the arrows in his quiver.

Sometimes, he would even join Eloise in the great hall for breakfast, where she would catch the jealous eyes of adoring noblewomen when they sat together. It felt great. Between bites, he regaled her with stories from his life, growing up among the elves in Alindal.

"I was lonely as a child," he told her once. "Being half-elf, I didn't really fit in with the other elves. There were a few human families, but I didn't really fit in with them either. Don't get me wrong, I wanted any friends that would have me. But I guess the other kids were too preoccupied with the ways we were different to notice how we were the same. I don't know if that makes sense."

"It does," said Eloise. More than he knew.

"So, without a lot of friends, I poured my frustration into training with any weapon I could get my hands on. I learned to ride, I squired for a very difficult man, but I overcame and I was knighted at only eighteen. I don't resent my isolation. I was molded by it."

Under Sir Laurie's guidance, Eloise saw her bow and shield skills improve dramatically, though she never quite got the swing of swordplay. The grip of a sword never felt as natural as that of an axe. Not even Stormfang; that was what Sir Laurie had named the sword created with Oran's magic to slay the rogue mage, Malthus. It was a beautiful blade, with jagged edges like a flamberd on dark speckled iron.

Oran was not well-received in Port Shorishal following his investigation of the Skyward Mountain Canyon trade route. Though he had been successful in snuffing out the Wyvern Rock bandits and restoring safety in the pass, the court was less than thrilled with the defection of Horus Morningshire. He was seen as Oran's responsibility and the outcome was viewed as a reflection of Oran's inexperience and poor judgment of character. Further, there were those that found the report of Malthus's charade as Magister Goodfellow dubious. Disbelief in Oran's story led to conspiracy theories involving Oran himself being responsible for the magister's death.

"People only believe what they can see, or worse what they feel in their gut," Oran said to her one day in his tower. "What they feel in their gut is limited to personal experience. Since they don't know how magic works firsthand, they concoct the only truth that feels possible to them. These people are more than happy to brand me as a villain because it comforts them to believe something different they don't understand must be evil."