Chapter 6 - Transition

~ Seven cycles of the seasons - 16 Years earlier ~

Lia stood hesitantly outside the door to what once was Odessia’s room. Her hand slowly traced the carved tree on its panelling. Harks had left for now, as they had returned to the house Lia had remained quiet, though had kept her grasp on Harks’s hand as if it were a lifeline. When they reached the gate Harks had stopped her.

She could still hear her own words echo back to her, “I am ready, Harks.” she told him again, her eyes still puffy from the tears.

He looked at her, at the determination and set of her jaw and had nodded. She could still see his respect for her. The small and kind smile that came to his elven features as he knelt before her.

“You know what you must do.” he had told her.

Right in this moment, her hand on the handle to what was Odessia’s room she felt the nod she gave him less than a half hour earlier, before he promised to return in the early afternoon after going into the village. Taking a deep breath, she twisted the handle and slowly pushed the door open, stepping into the room. After Odessia had been taken, the bed was remade and the door closed. Everything was tidy and kept in order, exactly as Odessia had left it. There was a plain desk against a wall, a chest sat at the base of the bed, a trunk under the bed and the low table of drawers was neatly kept.

Despite Odessia’s time living she maintained only a few keepsakes more than the contents of her chest and the trunk. Lia stepped into the room, her fingertips trailing on the top of the bed. She turned and sat, barely denting the hard mattress. Slowly looking around, she felt strangely empty, it was only a room. Nothing made it Odessia’s, the old elf’s sense of spartan living and readiness to leave at a moment’s notice marked it as just a room in which she would sleep.

Lia rose from the bed, her fingertips sliding over the covers until she stood in front of the chest. Resting her hand on it, she knelt before it feeling the warmth in the polished iron-wood and the etched silvered bindings that strengthened it. She looked at the large clasps that held it shut; there was no key or lock. Lia wrapped her fingers around the first clasp and a sudden thrum built in the air, her fingers starting to tingle. She quickly snatched her hands back and stood, eyeing the chest suspiciously as the crackling hum died back down.

“Dessia?” she whispered, backing away until she bumped into the desk, a hand out behind her to steady herself.

Lia frowned, feeling paper slide under her hand. Glancing over her shoulder, she turned. A small stack of sealed parchment letters lay partially scattered on the desk, each with a name carefully written in Odessia’s flowing hand. To the side, a wooden box that Lia immediately recognised as where Odessia stored letters that she had received. The threatening hum of the chest was immediately forgotten as she saw her name on the topmost. Quickly flicking through them, she was distracted as she heard a knock at the door.

“Lia? Are you at home?” Rietta’s voice carried from the entryway.

Lia’s eyes widened, quickly glancing through the door back to the living area.

“I’m coming!” she called out, quickly scooping up the short pile of letters, pulling the door shut and running out to the entry, sliding the shot-bolt back and opening the door for Rietta.

“Lia, are you fine? We all heard the sound of your playing and it has been so…long.” Rietta stopped, looking at Lia, her eyes drawn to the letters in the girl’s hand.

Rietta nodded slowly, “It is time, isn’t it? You are ready?”

Lia nodded, closing the door behind her.

“I saw them there when I made her bed… I…” Rietta said with a frown as Lia took her hand and pulled her toward the kitchen.

“Lia. Please…” Rietta said as they stopped in the kitchen.

Lia quickly pulled out two chairs and stared at her before sitting, placing the letters on the table, “There is also one for you and Orlwen, Harks, Chancellor Eira Lin and two others, I don’t know how to read them, they are just crests.”

Rietta took the letters and looked at the last, her eyes widening in surprise.

“I know of this crest, but surely. Surely she would not have. She would have been old enough, but this other one I am not familiar with.” Rietta looked at Lia and smiled tentatively, “I am not sure of who it should be given to. I think it is best you read the one that she left for you, before any of these are opened.”

Lia nodded, her eyes fixed on her written name.

Rietta reached out and touched Lia’s arm, “Lia, I can stay right here with you.”

Lia met her eyes and nodded, hesitantly sliding her finger under the flap of the letter and breaking the wax seal. She sat quietly for a moment, looking at the seal before unfolding and laying the two sheets flat. Immediately she began to read the flowing script, tears in her eyes. Rietta held out her hand and took Lia’s nearest in her own.

She did not react when the front door opened and a few moments later Harks entered the kitchen. He shared a look with Rietta before changing his angle, his eyes immediately landing on the letters. He placed a hand on Lia shoulder and squeezed gently.

Lia looked up at him with wide eyes, “Harks?” she said, her voice trembling.

He nodded slightly, glancing at Rietta quickly, “Keep reading, dear Lia.”

Lia nodded and continued before finally folding the two sheets of parchment, glancing at Harks as he tended the stew that still simmered.

“Rietta, you must read it with Orlwen, together.” she said with a whisper, sliding one of the letters to Rietta.

“Lia, I could read it,” she stopped, the intensity in Lia’s eyes halting her words, she quickly looked to Harks.

Looking down at the letter in her hands, she then met Lia’s eyes again, “Then I will go now and read it with him. We will both return this evening.” she stood and looked at Harks, “Don’t cook, I will prepare something.”

Harks nodded in thanks as Rietta passed, sitting at the table and waiting until he heard the door close. Lia handed him his.

“You… You are,” she saw his nod, “You are one of us? You have the thread?”

“Yes, Lia. A different clan. But I made my home here. Nearby an old friend.”

“Mother and Father?” she asked.

“No,” he said with a small smile, “Odessia.”

Lia looked at him, his features while unkempt were kind in an introspective way. He tapped his fingertip on the letter before him. Running his thumb softly over his name, then the seal.

He smiled gently, “Her greatest strength was far more than her thread or power.” he looked at Lia, “Her strength was her heart, a willingness to see past the pain.”

Harks frowned, slowly sliding a finger under the seal and breaking it before unfolding the page and laying it flat. His bright blue eyes read the letter, occasionally he made a sound in agreement. As his eyes slipped to the last words, he folded it back up again, his eyes meeting Lia’s thoughtfully.

“Is this what you wan…” he started to say, tapping the folded parchment.

“Yes.” Lia said, cutting him off.

Harks pursed his lips and nodded slowly, reaching out and taking the remaining three. He looked briefly at the two crests, a deep frown creasing his brow as his eyes lingered over the symbol of the trident.

“If you will have me, dear Lia. Then I will not refuse.”

Lia kept her eyes on his, embers starting to flicker in their depths.

The young fyrelf blew some rogue strands of hair from her face as she passed by the desk again. After Harks and her shared a late lunch, he had excused himself only explaining that he would be back before nightfall. She had seen where he lived before. An abandoned, single room hunting cabin that lay on the outskirts of the village. A place where he could sleep, but not grow attached to. More often than not, he was roaming the mountainside, hunting and trapping, keeping an eye on the beasts that walked the wilds.

But since Odessia had passed he had always been within earshot. Every time she had woke during the night screaming, or came rushing out of her room afraid, Harks had been there. She had never come across him sleeping, except once or twice when he was outside, sitting calmly, his feet up on a stool under the eaves of the house. Even then, she was not quite sure if he was really asleep. That was going to change.

While he was out, she had moved her chest of clothing into what was Odessia’s room. She laid out its contents on the bed before going through the drawers, carefully taking Odessia’s clothes and gently storing them in her empty chest and sliding it over to the wall beside the desk. She eyed the ironwood chest at the end of the bed warily, before kneeling and sliding Odessia’s trunk out from under the bed. Lia smiled to herself, slowly unbuckling the leather straps and lifting the lid. Sitting on top of summer clothes to suit a growing girl, a few stacks of letters bound with different coloured ribbons and some assorted memorabilia was a thick leather-bound book penned in Odessia’s distinct hand. A few letters were slipped between the pages.

Lia had watched the old elf write these pages over the last year, and she had already started learning the some of the history of her family. It was everything that Odessia could recall of who they were. She slowly hugged the book to her chest for a moment before placing it carefully on the bed. Within a moment the trunk was away and the book was on the desk. She gave what now was her room one more look as the shadows were lengthening.

“I am ready now, Ma.”

Sudden movement past the window caught her eye, she smiled, “Kelis.”

Slipping out of the room, she quickly checked what was hers, now empty except for a bed and drawers. Hearing movement at the front door, Lia quickly walked through the living area and opened it to see Harks leaning a rucksack against the wall beside an oiled leather wrap that stood almost to his shoulder. She watched him take another bag that was strapped over a shoulder, shrugging it off and laying it down in the entry. Lia reached for it, taking it by the strap and brought it in, laying it along the wall.

She stood in the entry, watching him expectantly as he sorted himself out. Finally he turned, standing before her, standing tall.

“From this moment, I honourably present myself as your guardian and mentor. Dear Lia.” he said, bowing his head.

“From this moment, I humbly recognise yourself as my mentor and guardian. Harks.” she replied, watching as he knelt.

Lia reached out and slid his hood back, exposing his face. Her eyes snapped wide, he was no longer unkempt. Instead his beard was shaved clean exposing a defined jaw and broad cheeks. His clean, jet black hair with occasional silver strands was tied back, no longer obscuring his face. It was then, that she noticed he wore a different cloak and clothing, his attire more discerning and presentable.

Lia leaned forward and kissed his forehead, “I welcome you to my home, my mentor and guardian. My home is now yours.”

Harks nodded, looking into Lia’s eyes as a smile came to his lips, “It is with gratitude that I accept your hospitality.” he said before bowing.