by Melina Grace
She had managed to cover a fair distance and knew she would have to head back soon. Tonight was her last with the elves. Colden had declared Crispin ready to ride. Caris regretted she had squandered her last day with the elves on her own and wished Jeniel were with her for the return walk. She had enjoyed her time with Jeniel immensely and thought that she would like to come back one day to visit her again. She couldn’t imagine saying goodbye to her for good.
As Caris walked back, she spent the afternoon drinking in the sights, sounds, and smells of Telvendor. She was surprised how attached she had grown to the place in such a short time. It truly is beautiful, though. Who could not love it?
Caris sat, dressed in one of the new riding outfits Amarin had given her. Crispin, Jeniel, Amarin, and Anuka were with her, enjoying their share of the feast prepared for Crispin’s and her last night with the elves. Eppet, taro, kumera, and green bananas had been roasting in earth ovens all day, leaving the food with a beautiful smoked flavour and succulently tender.
Colden paced back and forwards in front of them, excitedly reciting one of his epic tales to the elves who were crowded around to hear him. Caris was enthralled by the tale she had never heard before, despite Amarin sitting beside her shaking her head and quietly laughing at Colden in fond amusement.
Caris had thoroughly enjoyed every night she had spent with the elves around their fires listening to their stories and song but for their last night there, the elves took the celebrating nature of their communal meal up another level. Caris revelled in the company of the healers.
She had found a place where she felt she truly belonged, a place where she was accepted for whom she was, not for how she looked. And a place where she could contribute something. She knew she had to move on but the thought of leaving her new friends behind saddened her and she wondered whether she would ever again feel as at home as she had with the elves.
The laughter and music lasted long into the night. Eventually a young elf who had sat by Caris on her first night around the evening fires, listening to her tale as she retold it for the many elves who questioned her, positioned himself on the small platform. He stood quietly as elves left other fires and crowded in to see him. Caris raised herself up to look around and saw elves stretching out into the surrounding trees. Even with the hush that now fell over the gathering, Caris thought there were many elves too far away to hear him talk.
Jeniel gave Caris an expectant smile and the young elf began to speak, his voice was deep and melodious, loud without being overly so for those seated close to him. It had an almost magical quality to it that carried clearly to those sitting farthest away and drew every listener under its spell. Caris was drawn into his tale of a young woman who joined The King’s Horse on their urgent journey back to The King.
She had been listening for a while before she realised he was telling her story. She looked around embarrassed but every eye was on the young elf. The beauty of his voice drew her eyes back to him, he is only telling what I was willing to relate to everyone the first night I met them, she realised as he repeated whole sentences from her own story. But, he does it so much better, she thought, as she again submerged into his tale.
There was a hushed silence when he finished as he stood quietly for a long moment. When he stepped down from the small platform, the elves burst into applause. Caris joined them; his story had been so remarkable she had forgotten to be embarrassed.
One of the few old elves, Caris had noticed during her stay, now climbed onto the platform and the crowd quietened. His voice, though deep and well projected, sounded weak and insubstantial after the young storyteller but everyone afforded him a listening reverence. Caris was used to the elves carrying on their own conversations and entertainments around their fires and only stopping to listen to a new or favourite story or song. It was obvious by their continued silence, this older elf was held in high esteem.
“Thank you Kilew for sharing some of Caris and Crispin’s story with us. We have been honoured to have you both stay with us. I have learnt much in my conversations with Crispin over the last week, and Colden has told me of the pleasure Caris has brought to the healers during her stay here. We have been very impressed with the abilities you both have and your humble attitude of spending yourselves in service to others.
Soon you must leave us and continue on your journey to The King. You will not leave us alone; some of our best will accompany you. Our hearts go with you all; we honour you. Serve The King on behalf of us all, until we join you in battle or you return to us!” He shouted the last and all the elves echoed him ─
“Until we join you in battle or you return to us!” The forest resounded with their yell, and then Anuka was pulling Jeniel to her feet and swinging her around the fire in dance as elves everywhere began to sing, play instruments, and dance. Caris glanced at Amarin, wondering what her reaction would be to Anuka’s dancing with Jeniel. Amarin was watching them and wiping a tear from her eye.
The party continued late until gradually parents began to pick children up from the foot of trees, where they had fallen asleep, and carry them up to their beds. The healers followed; tired and subdued, they climbed the stairs without talking. Anuka assisted Crispin, until towards the end when he was almost carrying him.
Caris woke late in the morning and made her way to Amarin’s workrooms to make herself some tea. “Amarin?” she called as she approached the door.
“I’m within.”
Caris entered and found Amarin and Jeniel sitting together having a cup of tea. She had the feeling she had walked in on a private conversation but they smiled at her warmly. Jeniel was her usual happy self but Caris thought that Amarin looked slightly strained.
“Crispin asked if you would breakfast with him this morning,” Amarin said to Caris.
“Oh okay,” Caris replied. She made her way out the other side of the room. Amarin had quickly forgotten her and Caris noticed her reaching out to take Jeniel’s hand in her own. Caris was disappointed, she had hoped to breakfast with Jeniel. She wanted to spend as much time as possible with her and the other healers before they left.
It didn’t take long to get to Crispin’s room. “Crispin?”
“I’m within” he replied. Caris smiled at the familiar elven reply. It hadn’t taken either of them long to adapt to the small customs of the elves. She entered to find Crispin breaking his fast with the older elf who had spoken the previous night.
“Oh, I’m sorry if I’m intruding. Amarin said you wanted to see me.”
“I do, come in, sit down. Eat.” Crispin said eagerly.
Caris approached the table. She dragged her eyes away from Crispin, who she thought was acting very strangely, to smile tentatively at the older elf.
“I am pleased to finally meet you Caris,” he said with a quiet dignity “I am Adanair”.
“Caris! They have found the pendant!” The statement erupted out of Crispin.
Caris stared at him in shock. Finally she managed to form some words, “Who? Where? When?”
“The elves, well no, The King’s Horse, or at least some of them. The elves found the Horse. I mean they haven’t seen the pendant, but they are returning from the west and one of the scouts said he could sense an object of immense power. So?” Crispin said raising his arms in a questioning gesture waiting for her agreement to his assessment.
Caris took a moment to mull over what Crispin had said. She wondered if Janen were with them. “Where are they? We can ask them ourselves.”
“Our scouts didn’t make contact with them.” Adanair replied.
Caris frowned at him in confusion.
“They were outside of Telvendor; it is not our custom to approach humans. Though we welcome guests when they come to us in peace, we are a people who mostly keep to ourselves.”
Caris paused, trying to frame her question politely; finally, she chose to be direct. “Didn’t the scouts think they may be friends of ours and that we might wish to reconnect with them? They are
probably worried about us. If they are our friends, then the last time they saw us, Crispin had been stolen by the grey people.”
Adanair inclined his head, ceding her point. “These scouts were not aware of your presence with us. They have been scouting the farthest areas of our western borders for a moon and have had no word from us in that time. They only learned of you when they had a brief exchange with their relief three days ago; they then hurried back to bring us word.”
“Three days? When did they see The King’s Horse?” asked Caris
“It is five days since they were seen.”
“But then they will be long gone.” Caris said, subdued. She looked at Crispin’s stomach. He was fully clothed but she knew that underneath he was still healing. His wounds had been severe and though Colden had declared Crispin ready to ride, Caris knew he meant carefully, slowly, and for a limited amount each day. There was no way they would be able to catch up with them, even if they did find their trail in such a large area.
“Were they riding?” she asked Adanair.
He nodded in reply. “You forget they were to the west of us, heading south east. If you head south you will meet up with them.”
“But how will we find them?”
“We are elves. Be sure that the scouts, who replaced those returning, have never lost them. They skirt our lands; we can find them with little trouble.”
“But Telvendor is so vast”
“As are our skills,” he replied with a playful smile that seemed at odds with his wise demeanour.
Caris smiled at him. She was beginning to share Crispin’s excitement. Could it really be Janen and the other King’s Horse whose prints she had seen at the top of the fall of water? Had they really managed to retrieve the pendant and return safely? She blocked thoughts of Janen from her mind, scared to become too optimistic before actually seeing him.
“Perhaps the new western scouts will tell The King’s Horse we are here?”
“Perhaps, though it is more likely they will wait to hear from us.”
“Please Adanair; tell me again everything the scouts reported,” Crispin requested.
Adanair looked at Caris with a raised eyebrow, as if to ask permission to take the lead in the conversation. Caris blushed and mumbled, “I’m sorry”.
With a small smile for her discomfiture, he began to speak. “They did not have a lot to report. There were three of them; two were King’s Horse, a female seer and a man, and another man who wore plain hunting clothes. They appeared tired and had minor wounds but were pushing themselves hard to the southeast. The trail they were following would carry them around the southern borders of Telvendor.”
Loathe to interrupt again, Caris waited until she was sure Adanair had finished speaking, then looking at Crispin she said, “Janen and Kalen”. He nodded in reply.
Adanair looked at Caris. “As soon as Crispin expressed his desire to join with these travellers I sent more scouts out, they will waylay them on our southern border and ask them to wait for your arrival.”
A smile lit Caris’ face; she turned to Crispin beaming. “When do we leave?” Caris hadn’t realised how much she missed Janen until now. The prospect of seeing him again soon, made her want to burst with excitement. She tried to rein in her emotions but Crispin’s excitement equalled her own and so, though refraining from jumping around the room, she allowed herself to smile as much as her face desired.
“I must allow, I am unused to visitors being quite so eager to leave us,” Adanair said in amusement at their excitement.
“Oh I will miss the elves so much,” Caris gushed in an atypical show of warmth, “but it will be so good to be reunited with our friends and the pendant!” She said the last to Crispin. He nodded his agreement but smiled knowingly.
“Last preparations are being made as we speak,” said Adanair.
Caris nodded. She couldn’t think what preparations she needed to make. She just wanted to grab her pack, put Crispin on Indira, and head off.
“Eat something Caris,” Crispin ordered her.
She nodded and quickly stuffed something in her mouth without even noticing what it was. Her mind was abuzz. She needed to gather her things together and saddle Indira. I need to farewell so many people. Perhaps Jeniel will walk some of the way with us this morning. The scouts will have to show us where we are to meet them. Her thoughts continued racing as she shovelled untasted food into her mouth.
Crispin laughed at her, “Caris, you have time to eat, slow down.”
She tried unsuccessfully to do so, but having said her thankyous to Adanair, she gathered her few belongings together, and was hassling elves about the whereabouts of Indira’s tack well before Crispin had left his meal.
Caris finished tying her pack to Indira’s saddle in front of the large bag of grain the elves had given her for Indira and the three horses they were to meet. She promised Indira she would return soon and began to head back to her tree to say her farewells to the healers.
She had only taken a few steps, however, when she noticed them heading toward her with Crispin. Caris’ eyes grew misty at the thought of leaving her new friends. She had so much to thank them for; with many tears and hugs, she tried to express her gratitude to them for healing her and Crispin, for teaching her so much about plants, for the presents they had given them, for housing, feeding, and caring for them, but most of all for their friendship. As she hugged Amarin, Caris tried to find words to show she appreciated Amarin’s efforts to bring understanding to Caris regarding her gifts.
As the scouts joined them, Anuka stepped forward and offered Caris a bow and quiver full of arrows. Caris gaped at the splendour of the gift. She reached out her hands tentatively; barely able to believe they were really for her. Caris was considered an excellent bow and arrow crafter in her own town, but none she had ever seen came close to the quality of the elven weapons.
She said a shy thank you to Anuka and ran her hands appreciatively over the bow. It was smaller than the ones the elves used, for which she was thankful. She tested the tautness of the string and judged it perfect for her strength. “Thank you,” she said again. “They are beautiful”.
Crispin had been saying his own farewells and called Caris over. An elf Caris recognised as a frequent visitor to Crispin placed a small bundle in her arms. “My wife made this for you.”
Caris recognised that the silky material was the same as the blanket the elves had given her during her stay. She knew it to be a remarkably warm material. This one, instead of being the beautiful deep red of the one in her room, was a dark green that would camouflage well at night.
“Thank you,” she said, overwhelmed by the generosity of elves who didn’t even know her. But then, none of them knew me before they rescued us and they have been nothing but generous ever since they saved us.
Caris turned back to say her farewell to Jeniel, and was confused to see her arms wrapped around a teary Amarin, Anuka’s arms wrapped around them both. For the first time Caris noticed the pack on Jeniel’s back. Colden hovered around them until Jeniel was released and then wrapped his own arms around her. He hugged her for a long time until she let go, then, without a word and not making eye contact with anyone, he hurried back to his tree.
As Caris watched the scene, she began to hope that Jeniel was coming with her. One of the elves had helped Crispin onto Indira’s back and a couple of the scouts had already headed out but the rest stood waiting while Jeniel kissed Anuka on the cheek. Amarin took her hands in a wordless goodbye. Jeniel looked into her eyes, then smiled and turning her back on them started heading after the departed scouts. The other four scouts, Crispin, and Caris joined her. Caris was surprised to discover Kilew; the young storyteller was also of their party.
Caris fell in beside Jeniel, “You’re coming with us?”
“I am,” she replied with a bright smile.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“The final decision was only made yesterday, though deep down, we probably
knew before that.” She laughed, “My parents just didn’t want to admit it”.
“I’m surprised I never met your parents.”
Jeniel looked at Caris quizzically. Finally, with a funny smile on her face she said, “Amarin and Anuka are my parents.”
Caris stared back, trying to find some irony in Jeniel’s comment.
“But they’re so young,” Caris replied slowly, “I thought Amarin was your older sister?”
Jeniel merely smiled at Caris’ confusion. Caris thought back to all the elves she had met and seen over the last ten days. She could not think of any who were middle aged. She hadn’t given it much thought at the time, but all the elves seemed to be in the prime of their lives, with only a handful who seemed older.
“Amarin and Anuka are my parents; Colden is my mother’s uncle.”
“No!” Caris exclaimed, “He must’ve been young when your mother was born.”
“My mum is fifty-three, my dad fifty-nine and Colden is eighty-three.”
Caris held back her denial. Jarla had told Caris the elves lived for hundreds of years. She had been astounded but hadn’t given it much thought beyond that. She marvelled at how little she had truly learnt about the elves in her time with them.
“Colden doesn’t look a day over thirty,” said Caris. “How old does that make Adanair?”
“Adanair is two hundred and ninety eight.”
Caris gasped. “How many more years will he live? He still looks so fit and healthy.”
“Adanair nears the end of his time with us. When an elf wrinkles and their hair grows silver, it means their days are ending. His time is now measured in moons, not in years. I do not expect to see him again.” Jeniel said quietly.