* * * * *
El and Merial had, despite the beautiful weather, moved from their position. It would be easy to relax the entire day away, bathing in the sun; but they thought it best to move on before the urge to do so became too overwhelming. When she returned, Elryia felt slightly guilty, as by the time she walked back everyone was already packed and ready to go. Her bedroll was still sprawled out on the ground, random things strewn about. Merial laughed when they saw everyone waiting. She had the luxury of a fiancé to pack their things. All she had to do was mount her horse. Elryia was not so lucky and tired her best to avoid the glares coming from Gort while she gathered her things.
She had crumpled all of it into a ball, placing her few items in the blanket and rolling it up in order to shove it into her bag; leaving it to tend to later when she didn’t have a grumpy dwarf staring down his big nose at her. She grabbed her satchel and opened the top, pushing the bedroll in, one corner at a time, doing all that she could to make it fit. After an amazing effort, all but one corner remained. Her fingers poked at it several times, forcing it all the way to the bottom when her hand brushed against a piece of paper that she didn’t know she had. Curious, Elryia removed it. It was an envelope—though much too heavy to contain only a letter—with El written on it. She was about to break the seal when a very impatient dwarf cleared his throat…loudly.
Elryia groaned, turning her eyes towards him as she stood, pushed the letter into her pocket and slung the bag over her shoulder. Pouting, first, at Gort as she walked past him then jumped on her horse, prepared to lead the way. Everyone followed, now glad to be moving while Elryia let one final look linger to make sure that any sign of their campsite had been removed. At peace, she faced front and focused on the road ahead. Twenty feet now separated her and the rest of the companions before she pulled the envelope out of her pocket and broke the seal. The bottom of the letter dropped down from the weight of a tiny, silver object that glinted in the sun as it fell and Elryia held out her hand to catch it.
The thin chain slipped between her fingers, brilliantly reflecting the light. Her hand crept open slowly as she stared at the pendant on her palm. It was silver and molded in the outline of a heart. At the top of the heart, in the V-shaped intersection of the two halves, lay a tiny glimmering diamond at the point. Elryia’s eyes lit up and welled with tears as she fumbled the letter open, still gaze at the pendant. A tear rolled down her heightened cheek, she held it up one last time to admire it before sliding the chain over her head and pulling her blonde hair out from underneath it, tracing her fingers idly over it while looking down to the letter.
Even though we are away from each other,
My heart is with you.
Grahamas
Her fingers continued their relaxed inspection, curiosity and surprise racing through her mind.
In A Time Of Darkness Page 30