The wind ran through her hair, the heat of the fire burned her eyebrows, tears ran down her face, the young woman ran. Behind her, she heard the laughter, these deformed things, these shapeless things, her mind did not understand them, these beings had no reality, to look at them was to look at madness. As the world shattered something grew in her heart, the young woman let it grow, let it rise, the young woman let that desire spring forth, then she ran, she ran so that the horrors at her back would never catch up with her. As the wind blew, the young woman ran towards freedom, her freedom.

Reminiscence

A shiver ran through Leila, adrenaline flooding her veins, two thoughts appeared in her mind, to run or to fight.

Before she could make that decision, the Queen said:

- So help us and if you survive your transgression will be forgotten. We will take you out of our lands and you can continue your journey.

Shocked Leila looked at the Queen, what kind of request for help was this? Leila then saw Lucas who was still on his knees fall to the ground unconscious.

When she saw this the queen frowned and said:

- But I see that you are tired. Lenaël, you accompany them to their lodgings and told them what we expected of them. And in a cold tone, she added to the various people present near her, while waiting for Daelmar to return we have a lot to discuss. Mainly you, Lysande, will explain to me why you disregarded my orders.

As she blanched, two of the guards who had accompanied Leila and her companions approached Lucas and lifted him. Jonah wanted to intervene but a cold look from the guards dissuaded him. Lenaël approached and said softly

- Follow me. Don't worry, you will be treated well. The Eldar tradition of hospitality is renowned throughout Sa. Even the worst of criminals fear nothing once the hospitality of the Eldar is offered.

Well, that was reassuring, Leila thought wryly. And as she and her comrades followed him, she observed that the rest of the assembly, once the Queen had dismissed them, ignored them completely, concentrating on the events on the stage. Only Lenaël, the guards and Zarune seemed ready to accept that they existed. And as they went to leave the throne room, the Queen intervened once again.

- Not you Zarune, I also have to talk to you.

On hearing these words she stopped, looking wistfully at the hall adjoining the throne room. She sighed, clutching the bow she had held in her hands since their first meeting before turning back to the throne.

Strangely enough, from the first time they met, this bow was the first thing that caught Leila's eye. It was like a beacon on a night, it seemed to glow, a song she could hardly describe seemed to emanate from it. And yet... And yet it was a commonplace double-curved bow made of dull, worn wood.

When she had been close to him, Leila had been able to hear that song, that whisper, growing louder. Even now, as he walked away with his owner, she could hear it. It was a song of pain and suffering, a song of what was and what will be no more, of loneliness and abandonment, of destruction and hate.

It was a hand on her shoulder and two light blue eyes that brought her back to reality.

- Is everything all right, Jonah asked in a concerned tone.

With a movement of her shoulder, Leila pulled away before following their guide and growling

- Yes.

The rest of the way was a blur in Leila's mind, as she was led through a maze of corridors to a part of the palace where she was presented with a hall that served several rooms. As the soldiers led Lucas to one of the rooms under Jonah's guard and Lenaël's direction, he said;

- Go and rest, we'll talk when you wake up. Each of the doors here leads to a bedroom.

She obeyed the words of the Eldar with the staff going towards one of the dark wooden doors, once inside the room she noticed only the bed where she fell with a numb mind. Less than five seconds later, she was asleep.

She was with her brother, who, as usual, kept gesticulating at her. No matter what she said to him he wouldn't calm down. Maybe she should have gone to buy the birthday present for her mother by herself after all.

She felt like she was walking around with a big bawling baby. I can't wait for him to finish his teenage years so she can get some peace.

There he was again, making strange noises like a good teenager, she wanted the hormones to cease, we all go through that at one time or another but he could at least behave when he went out with her.

Without being too much, she grabbed him by the shoulder to tell him to calm down when he turned around.

She froze, a scream catching in her throat, her brother was standing there with a bloody face, a crooked nose, a shattered eye and she could see the bone in his skull through the gash in his forehead.

And then she stood up suddenly, taking Aurora sitting by her bedside by surprise.

It was only a dream, she thought, a particularly macabre dream.

Then the situation in which Leila found herself came back to her mind and it was as if the world was collapsing. She lowered her shoulders, ready to give in to discouragement but she remembered her resolution.

She squared her shoulders, gritted her teeth, gave Aurora a cold look and said firmly.

- What is it?

At first, taken aback by her friend's tone, Aurora looked at her with a sad look and said softly;

- I don't think we'll be able to go home, Jonah explained to Lenaël how we got there and he seemed quite surprised and bewildered, I'm not even sure he believed us. If you could have seen the strange look he gave us at that moment... He just said that we should get used to Sa because it's going to be our home now. Then he repeated that we should rest before leaving.

Leila, incredulous, her eyes wide with this avalanche of information and bad news, replied in a muted voice:

- You know a lot. How long have I been unconscious? And where are the others?

- You didn't stay asleep for long, it must have been a little over two hours, it will soon be time to go and eat. Lenaël should then come back and explain a little more about our situation.

Stunned by this avalanche of information as she woke up, she only noticed at that moment what should have jumped out at her.

- Where did you get those clothes?

At these words, her friend stood up with a smile on her face and turned around to show her her outfit. It consisted of a green and gold tunic that left her arms free and reached down to her buttocks. A pair of tight trousers of the same colour completed the ensemble.

The whole thing was finely decorated with embroidery that highlighted both the garment and the wearer. An unexpected twinge of jealousy troubled Leila.

- You saw, the Eldar gave us all clothes," her friend said, showing her some clothes on the desk in the room. You should wear the ones they made for you, you'll see how soft they are! But I advise you to go and take a good bath first, there's a bathroom right there," she added, wrinkling her nose and pointing to one of the two doors that made up her new home.

After a glance at her clothes, still soaked with the blood of her comrades, Leila immediately got up and went to change.

*

Jonah was completely lost. He didn't know what to do, he was in some kind of common room inside a sylvan palace itself inside a crazy looking tree.

So insane that he could hardly picture it in his mind, and yet after what had happened to them he thought he was somewhat jaded.

In reality, he had just realised that he was still in shock. Everything was going too fast...

First the accident, then the forest and their strange inhabitant in their enchanted city, now Lucas. His situation worried him, the Eldar, that's what the locals called themselves, had healed these wounds as well as all those of his companions and himself, but although Lucas' body was healing his mind seemed irreparably affected.

He was apathetic and unresponsive to anything. He was lying on the bed in the room he had been given. Jonah didn't know how to help his friend. After what had happened to Ronan.

His brain froze at the mere mention of it. He still refused to think about what he had seen in the rest of the car, he didn't want to lose his last best friend. Maybe he should ask the others for advice, or even their hosts.

Aurora was with Leila in the room she'd been assigned. When he had wanted to see how she was doing Jonah had been thrown out of the room by Aurora, so he preferred not to disturb them again.

Marie and Mustapha were in their room resting before dinner and he hesitated to go and see them, as for Mat he wasn't sure, he had disappeared again without a word. Jonah hoped he wouldn't get them into trouble, the Eldar seemed rather understanding for the moment despite their initial death threat. But one of them to do something they shouldn't and they'd have arrows in his body.

He had not forgotten the welcome the silver-haired girl and her friends had given them.

Well, since he had become somewhat friendly with Mustapha during their student trip, which seemed so long ago now, he decided to check on him.

Jonah got up and headed for his room. When he entered Mustapha was lying on his bed with his arms behind his head, his legs crossed and his eyes probing the hardwood ceiling. In short, the typical position of the comfortable guy waiting for time to pass.

- Mousse? I'm not disturbing you? Jonah asked.

Mustapha jumped, surprised by this interruption of his thoughts. Like him, he had dressed in the clothes they had been given, which consisted of a green and black tunic that was tight around the arms and trousers, also green and black, that went down to the thin, hard-soled but strangely light shoes. These new clothes were strangely soft, Jonah felt like he was wearing one of the silk shirts his father used to wear for special occasions.

- You surprised me, Jonah! No, don't worry, you can come in, it's crazy what's happening to us, isn't it?

His room was just like the others, a low, finely carved bed with a strange, surprisingly fluffy mattress with sheets and fabrics as soft as silk.

It was against the back wall opposite the door, from the door to the bed the floor was covered with a carpet that drew strange arabesques that were very pleasant to look at and very soft.

To the right was a desk with a chair in the same style as the bed, as was the coffee table next to the window, which was surrounded by wooden benches covered with a thick mattress that was very pleasant to sit on. He had already tried the one in his room, so it was natural that he chose it to sit on.

On the opposite side of the room was a door that led to a bathroom, which as he had discovered had a small basin with hot water running through it. As well as, and here he was pleasantly surprised, a surprisingly modern-looking toilet.

While he had assumed that the level of technology would put him in a much more rudimentary situation for basic body care, he had to revise his assumptions. Well, after all, they had been threatened with knives, so he couldn't be blamed for making those assumptions.

The whole bathroom was fed by roots that sprang up from the walls like an organic plumbing system.

- And yet I feel like it's just beginning," he said with a sigh.

After joining him Mustapha replied:

- Do you think what the other guy with the stick said is true? That there is no way to go home.

- Frankly, I don't know. So many unlikely things have happened since yesterday that I wouldn't bet on it.

- Yeah well, as far as I'm concerned, I'm not going to let myself be tossed around by events, so at least I agree with Mat on that one. I can't beat the guy, but sometimes he's right.

- Yeah, sure, but let's not get our hosts in trouble until we at least know how this thing is going to turn out.

- It's working, at least I know I can count on you, that's something, but we'll have to be careful with Marie, she seems to be holding up well but I think she's taking what's happening to us pretty hard.

- Who's going to feel sorry for her? Because frankly, if you had told me two days ago that I would be in another world, in a city built in huge trees inhabited by a race other than ours and able to use some kind of magic, I would have called you crazy.

Jonah and Mustapha continued to discuss their situation for about twenty minutes. Mostly to ward off the insidious anxiety that had gripped them since they began their adventure.

They could have gone on like this for a long time if Aurora hadn't come to pick them up to warn them that the Eldar had brought them their dinner.

*

Mat was starting to get a bit annoyed, once they had been escorted through the palace to the place where they could rest, as the Eldar said, he had discreetly slipped away to visit his new environment.

He wasn't the type to dwell on the beauty of things but he had to admit that although the palace had a rather atypical architecture it was magnificent and above all gigantic.

Mat had expected them to be watched, he would not have trusted them if strangers as strange as he must have been to them had come to his home. He would not have been as accommodating to them as he was at the moment with the young humans, and he certainly would not have offered them a place to live. Anyway, the young man was not the type to spit in the soup, and he had every intention of making the most of the hospitality he was given and even a little more.

In the end, this whole story was madly exciting, and above all full of opportunity. According to Lenaël, he was on another world called Sa, and it was unlikely that he and the others would be able to return to their world.

For Mat it wasn't too much of a problem, it's not like anyone was waiting for him there. And so he had every intention of knowing as much as possible about this new world and his situation. But there was no way to get rid of his bodyguard, or rather her bodyguard since it was the silver-haired girl, the very one he seemed to be pissing off.

At another time he wouldn't have minded such a pretty girl sticking to him, but now he wanted to be a bit alone and not be constantly spied on as if she expected him to steal something or commit some heinous crime.

She had joined him with two of his friends as soon as he had left the common room as if she knew he was going to go wandering.

As soon as Mat appeared, the girl pointed to the lounge with her friends without taking her murderous eyes off him. The two soldiers who were present and much more professional, who were guarding their door, looked at this situation with some amusement.

The two young men positioned themselves in such a way that it was easy for them to watch the door. While avoiding the gaze of their elder.

As they said nothing to Mat, he continued on his way, pretending they were not there, and the young girl followed him, not letting him out of her sight, ready to intervene at the slightest deviation he might make, whatever that might be.

It was difficult in these conditions to study the palace, which was stuck to the gigantic tree that supported it, at the top of the large root that looked more like a highway than anything else that linked the palace to the tree.

From the outside one could see three main floors which formed the heart of the building. As Lenaël accompanied them to their flats he had told them that the root that led from the ground to the palace was called the day way. As if they were only interested in the architecture and not in what the Eldar wanted from them.

He had called the towers from left to right the towers of dawn and dusk. For they were the first to receive the sun and the last that its rays touched.

Though one might think that they lacked some imagination in these names, in reality, if Mat's mind transcribed these words thus, at the edge of his mind he could as it tasted a deeper meaning than was possible to transcribe into his language. And that's when he realised that somehow Mat was able to understand them, while the Eldar spoke to him in a foreign language.

Something had poked around in his mind and brought him this knowledge, he was sure. And he didn't like it. The meaning behind such power was terrifying.

He finally arrived at the huge hall that led to the exit of the palace. This hall alone must have been three stories high.

At this point, annoyed by the shadow that never let go of him, Mat stopped and turned to stare at the girl with the same cold look he had received from her.

After a few minutes of a chilling silence that neither of them wanted to give up, Mat said with a cold smile:

- Do you want anything?

For a moment he thought she was just staring at him, or pouncing on him to gouge his eyes out with the dagger strapped to her belt and held carelessly.

For a moment he thought she was just staring at him, or pouncing on him to gouge his eyes out with the dagger strapped to her belt and held carelessly. He added:

- So there are humans here?

Caught off guard by his question, the young Eldar was surprised and said in a tone that she forgot to make aggressive:

- Of course, there are humans on Sa, otherwise, where would you come from?

- You haven't heard what Jonah told Lenael?

- Humans lie all the time, I wasn't going to believe such an absurd story about you coming from another world," she said scornfully.

- I guess I'd be as dubious as you if I didn't, but as absurd as it sounds to you, it's the truth. So have you met many humans?

Suddenly she blushed and answered:

-No. I mean, you're the first ones I've met.

Mat then gave her a small ironic smile, suddenly the girl's eyes flashed and this time Mat was sure he was going to get the stab. Suddenly they noticed a third individual. It was a young child and he seemed frightened, staring at the two, his eyes darting from one to the other.

- What is it, Caem? asked the Eldar in a soothing tone.

- You ... You are expected in the Incarnate Hall for dinner," he stammered.

As soon as he had delivered his message, the boy turned away and ran off. The girl gave the boy an annoyed look and then, looking at Mat for a moment, she said:

- Follow me, let's not be late.

He was taken aback for a moment by this change of heart, but finally, he followed her. Then, as if taken by a sudden idea, he asked:

- What's your name?

She gave him a furtive glance out of the corner of her eye as she walked and answered:

- Zarune.

- I'm Mat, nice to meet you.

And he smiled at her.