Blood Memories [Last of Elves book 1] (NaNoWriMo 2014)

Forty-Three: Kuraĝon

Kuraĝon

Alone, her brother having disappeared somewhere, Kuraĝon found herself roaming the temple passageways, hating the feel of the stone pressing down on her. The warriors scared her, the trials of the past few weeks still haunting her dreams, and she pressed to the wall each time one passed her, shaking.

Quite by chance, she found a room that seemed to only be three walled, the fourth open to the sun and sky. She closed the door softly behind her, hoping that no one would interrupt her.

At last feeling the weight of the stone walls lifting, she moved onto the balcony, her hair blowing away from her face. She could smell the spring coming, the last of the snows very, very close, and she couldn't wait. She loved the springtime, when the baby animals were gambolling about on long, uncoordinated legs, and they were trusting enough to let her touch them.

Her childhood had been rambling through the forest, getting to know the creatures who thrived there, and she had become nearly as wild as the animals themselves. Her parents had allowed her that, although she had always cherished the time she'd spent with her mother, learning how to braid her hair in the style of the elves, thin and tiny and threaded with silver thread. It was one thing she could never let go - even if it did mark her as an elf. She refused to let go of her heritage, when her parents had fought so hard for her to live. Her brothers had as well. And they had all paid for it dearly.

They were gone, dead, killed by human hunters. Killed for merely being elves. They had done nothing. All they had done was live peacefully, minding their own business, rarely even meeting the humans that lived around the edge of the forest with them.

Finding a corner to curl up in, she settled down on the ground, tucking her feet underneath the skirt that had mysteriously appeared in the room she'd been given. She had taken it without a word, knowing that her brother would have wheedled it and the shirt for her. He could convince anyone to do anything.

Safe in her hidden spot, she tilted her head up, enjoying the pale sunshine, and soft wind, listening to the roar of the River Sae as it thundered past, just outside the walls surrounding the temple and the town.

Her head rested back against the rough stone wall behind her, and she closed her eyes. She wasn't scared, she wasn't hungry, she wasn't cold.

She was safe, and so was her brother.

She fell asleep.