The Elves of Loth

Chapter Six

Everything was chaos as the other elves fought to reach the chick, forgetting that Aspen-leaf had a right to see her own egg. Elbowed this way and that, she stumbled forwards until she couldn’t stand it anymore. With a low swipe of her right foot, she tripped several of her comrades, sending them toppling into each other. Those who hadn’t fallen soon found themselves victims of a harsh elbow-jab in the stomach or a painful kick in the shin.  Taken by surprise and with no time to react, they fell to the ground. Once there was enough room for her to get through, Aspen-leaf leapt towards the pile of debris without a backwards glance. Fragments of shell lay scattered across the bare earth, and in the center a small grey creature lay curled up in a ball with its eyes closed.

Soon, Hawk-wing was next her asking if it was alive, apologising for his mistake. It would have been wiser not to approach her at that moment.

“This is all your fault!” she snarled at him, her voice like a raging storm, “You did this! It’s all your fault!” Hawk-wing shrunk away from her, fear in his tearing eyes. If it wasn’t for her poor chick lying on the ground Aspen-leaf would have continued, but instead she turned back to the heartbreaking mess before her. With gentle fingers, she plucked the miniature creature from the ground, brushing remnants of shell and bits of gravel from its meagre lining of scales, which were so tiny that she could barely make them out. Although the other hatchlings had been the size of large rabbits, hers could fit in one hand.

Panic and sorrow shot through Aspen-leaf as she realised it was most likely dead. Holding her breath, she felt for a pulse and when she found one she breathed a heavy sigh of relief. In the background, she could hear Cliff-breeze trying to hold back the other students who seemed most anxious to see what was going on.

Tenderly, she rolled the chick over in her hands so that she could support its neck more easily. A pang of sorrow struck Aspen-leaf and, taken by surprise she raised the tiny creature up to her face and gave it a small kiss on the forehead. Aspen-leaf had to grit her teeth to stop her lower lip from trembling, the last time she’d felt such sympathy for another living creature had been over two years ago when Ice-wing had first gotten sick. Maybe she would have cried then, – for the first time in years – but then Hawk-wing’s voice broke the silence. Having finally worked up the nerve to respond, he cleared his throat and began to apologise once again.

“I really am sorry,” Hawk-wing began. He usually seemed old for his age, like he could be thirteen as well, but now he seemed like a little kid, “Its ok though isn’t it?” he asked, “I mean the chick’s alive and all…” he trailed off and Aspen-leaf wondered if he realised how pathetic that sounded.

“All right?” Aspen-leaf repeated in a demanding voice, “You think this is all right?” she gestured to poor thing in her hands – it obviously hadn’t been ready to hatch, “You think you can just do this to some poor creature and get away with it because the thing’s still alive?” Hawk-wing lowered his gaze and muttered something about making it up to her. All the pain and anger she’d hidden inside herself came rushing back – so many people should have made it up to her, but that never happened. When Ice-wing passed away she had to take care of her mother, when that meant quitting school she didn’t even get to see her friends anymore, when that storm took her parents she and her brother had to move into a smaller cabin that they could actually pay for, and when he was taken from her she was recruited for the hardest training program Loth had to offer. No one made compromises for her; no one gave her special attention. Somehow, at the time, all that seemed like Hawk-wing’s fault and she turned to him in anger and pain and, raising her chin so that she looked down on him, she declared, “You disgust me!”

She knew it sounded mean but he deserved it, really. If only he’d been more careful. Even then, in the heat of the moment, Aspen-leaf knew her grudge would last for a long time – maybe forever.