Chapter 10 - Eira Lin

~ Eight cycles of the seasons - 15 Years earlier ~

The clear glow of late morning shone through the opened windows, giving everything in their home a warm touch. Emphasising the rich tones of wooden furniture, the books on shelves, the rustic fabric of the cushioned chairs. Lia walked into the living area, with a touch of apprehension that this would be one of the last times she would be doing so, in this place she called home. She turned, feeling Harks’s hand on her shoulder. Before the dark fireplace with its back to them stood a cloaked figure, quietly waiting and looking at the collection of keepsakes on the mantle.

Lia heard a soft sigh, “She is gone, isn’t she Harks?” came a woman’s gentle voice to her ears, “I can’t feel her here, she is missing.” the woman said, slowly picking up a small carving of the hare, turning it over, marvelling at its delicacy.

“Her presence, that scent and thread of magic that was hers, it’s gone.” she said, her voice just above a whisper, “How long, Harks?”

Lia squeezed Harks’s hand, her eyes glued to the cloaked figure and her mesmerising voice.

“Early Winter, a year past.” he said, his voice gentle.

Lia watched as the cloaked woman nodded, her hand rising to replace the carving on the mantle, she heard her take a shaky breath.

“Harks, no matter how many times I experience this, it hurts like the first. Tell me, was it peaceful? Please tell me it was peaceful…” she said, her voice catching.

“It was peaceful, Eira. Lia eased her passing.”

“The girl…eased her passing?” the woman breathed out, placing both hands on the mantle, trying to keep her composure, “That is good.”

Lia looked up at Harks, getting his attention and nodded toward Eira, she saw his raised eyebrows, the slight nod and the proud look in his eyes. She let go of his hand and quietly walked over to Eira, her footsteps silent. Her head at Eira’s shoulder height, she embraced the woman from behind, resting her face on her back. She could feel the trembling breaths Eira took, before she slowly turned and faced Lia. Lia let go, still close as Eira lifted her hands and dropped the hood back over her shoulders before placing her hands on Lia’s arms, looking into her eyes for a moment.

Lia almost gasped, Eira’s thick, silken, snow-white hair was up in a bun, her expressive, strangely beautiful and youthful face puffy from quietly crying. Her eyes of pale sky-blue that had been frosted over with a fine layer of ice were reddened with tears and her white tapered brows were pinched in grief. Lia’s rich amber eyes met Eira’s ice blue as they searched hers.

“Thank you.” Eira whispered to her.

She felt Eira’s arms draw her in close and slide around her, pressing Lia to her chest in a warm embrace. Lia could feel each quivering breath that Eira took as she swallowed her grief in Odessia’s passing. In response, Lia concentrated, her eyes flickering to life, her ethereal flames slowly growing from embers to gentle flame; she slowly let it spread, feeling it creep through her arms. She let it flow, its flame-like tendrils slowly reaching out and over, ensconcing them both in gentle azure flames.

Lia heard Eira’s surprised intake of breath, her body stiffening momentarily.

“Is this your thread, Lia?” Eira asked quietly, “Is this how…?”

She slowly pulled back and looked into Lia’s flaming eyes, her own ice-blue shimmering in the light of the ethereal fire. Eira brought her hand up and watched the play of flames as they danced over her fingers, leaving a warmth and stillness in their wake.

“Oh…” she touched her face, the puffiness receding and the redness in her eyes vanishing.

“Lia?” she whispered, the weight in her chest lightening with every moment as the heavy hand of grief was quietly lifted until it became but a soft breath of sorrow.

Eira looked up over to Harks, he was quietly talking to a fyrelf woman, his arm still out and barring the way. Her hair of dark ochre and tied back tightly.

“Jaina, calm.” was all Eira said before looking back down to Lia.

Again she looked into Lia’s amber eyes, tilting her head slightly. She watched the flames in the amber depths, drawn in. Her ice-blue shimmering before growing clear. A crystalline and fragile silence descended within the house. The space expanding as the golden morning light turned white.

“More Lia, show me.” Eira whispered.

Lia looked up into those eyes and nodded slightly, the silence in the room almost deafening. Eira’s youthful appearance had shifted subtly, becoming more mature, from a late teen to an elf in her late twenties and no longer innocent of the whiles of the world. Her smile and eyes were kindly and genuine as she gently let a finger trace over Lia’s eyebrow.

“Lia, can you show me? I will think no differently if you choose not to.”

Lia frowned, “How can I show you?” she whispered as not to disturb the silence.

“Just remember those moments for me, as they happened.” Eira said, her voice cracking slightly, “I will feel them as you did, if you wish, we can together.”

“I only need to remember?” Lia asked, her eyes still awash with her ethereal flame.

Eira nodded before starting to frown, “No, I shouldn’t be asking this of you. I am sorry Lia, I-I let my sentiment get the better of me.”

Eira blinked, her white lashes flickering. The space within the house started to slowly return to normal, the white light once again becoming warm. Lia kept her eyes on Eira’s, confused.

“I am sorry, Lia. I can not ask this of you.” Eira whispered.

Lia’s flames slowly died away, until they flickered out. Finally Eira broke eye contact and looked at Harks with a guilty expression.

“I am sorry, Harks. I shouldn’t have.”

Harks glared at Eira, “Lia, come to me please.” keeping his eyes on Eira as she released Lia, letting her return to him.

He quickly embraced Lia, checking her eyes before holding her close, “She is a child Eira, you know better than to ask it of her.”

“Papa…Odessia was her mother too.” Lia said.

Harks stared at Lia then glanced at Eira with a questioning expression.

Jaina coughed quietly, glancing back and forth between Eira and Harks, getting Lia’s attention, “I do not believe we have been introduced, I am Jaina, an old friend of Harks.” she said, extending her hand and gesturing for Lia to come.

She placed a hand on Harks’s shoulder, patting it slightly before letting it slide down his arm, noting his nod, “Play nice, Harks.”

“Should we go outside, or?” Jaina asked.

Lia glanced at Harks, “We will be outside, Papa.” she said, letting herself be guided to the door, she stopped, poking her head back in, “Papa, Eira didn’t mean to.”

Jaina waited on the path, her soft velvet and silk travelling clothes visible as she had left her cloak inside. Lia looked at her in fascination, Jaina’s glossy earthen ochre hair shining in the sunlight, her lithe body supple and stronger than other elves. Jaina looked at her, her eyes bright and almost golden in the light of rapidly approaching midday.

“You are a fyrelf.” Lia remarked in awe.

Jaina smiled, “You are too, Lia. And a special one at that.”

Lia frowned slightly as she fell into step with Jaina, “Did you know Odessia too?”

Jaina nodded, “I was one of her last students, so yes, I knew her. But not like Erann, and certainly not like Harks or Eira.” she looked at Lia, “I am saddened that she is gone. But, I instead celebrate her life, she had her family, she had you here with her and the people of this village that cared for her deeply. Instead I smile and take comfort it that. She was an amazing woman that I respected greatly. A hero of the Spyres.”

Lia looked at Jaina in wonder, “Dessia was a hero?”

Jaina nodded, “She was. But enough of that for now, how about you take one of your teachers for a tour of this gorgeous little village that you call home?”

“Are you going to be one of my…?”

Jaina smiled, “Odessia sent a very detailed letter a while back, she requested that I was to be your mentor, she said that she liked my spark.”

“Spark?” Lia asked, wide eyed.

“I am proficient in two threads of the Arcarna, I am a weaver of eternal fire and of fragile life.” Jaina said, taking Lia’s hand and spreading her fingers, palm up, “Just a touch of that flame of yours.”

Lia looked at her curiously and nodded, allowing her blue ethereal fire to limn her fingers.

Jaina smiled, “I have it, you can release it now.” she said as she twisted and gestured gently in a smooth motion, touching Lia’s palm and bringing the azure flames into the cage of her fingers.

The fyrelf quickly looked around and led Lia into the shade, “Let’s pray for no breeze.” she said with a chuckle.

She spread her hands, keeping the flame caged in her fingers before slowly spreading the space between them. She glanced at Lia as she stood, entranced by the dance of the flames.

“Watch carefully.” she said, slowly starting to move her fingers, as if she were teasing the life between her hands.

The flame started to shift and turn, elongating and forming a stem, then a bud.

Lia gasped, “A flower?”

Jaina nodded, “How about a lily, do you know of the dragon lily?”

Lia shook her head.

“The dragon lily, once thought to be blessed with the grace of the dragon gods of old, a potent ingredient in mage-craft, sought after for its wondrous properties that can be turned to make both spells of destruction and regeneration even more potent. It is a rare beauty that has evaded cultivation until now.” Jaina said as the flower of flame grew and started to blossom, its long wing-like petals unfurling.

Lia stared, fascinated, her breath catching as she recognised the flower.

Jaina smiled, noting the sudden halted breath, “You have seen it before, in the wilds.”

Lia nodded, watching as the lily continued to open, its dotted petals catching her eye.

“Is that why…Papa has been growing these in the forest, the whole mountainside, and Dessia used to…” she met Jaina’s eyes as the fyrelf smiled and stared intently back at the flower.

Suddenly the flower of flame started to twist and turn, its shape changing to a serpentine dragon, writhing and coiling back upon itself, its long claws and mane flaring and spitting sparks. Lia held her breath, her eyes wide, watching the wingless dragon in the short moments before Jaina clapped her hands, snuffing it.

“Was that a-a dragon?”

“Yes, one of the dragon gods, in its mystic form. Or at least what we know of them. They are long gone.”

“They were beautiful.” Lia said, looking up into Jaina’s eyes, “How did you do that with my fire?”

Jaina smiled, “Practice, and a little guidance.”

Lia stared at her, “I want you to teach me how.”

“In time, Lia. Once we get to the academy I am sure Chancellor Eira will insist on you inheriting Odessia’s rooms. Harks’s rooms are nearby, as are mine.”

Lia nodded, glancing back at her and Harks’s home.

“They both need to talk, the Chancellor was caught off-guard by the developments. She is not herself.” Jaina said quietly.

“But, Eira is so young, how can she be…” Lia stopped as she saw Jaina’s expression.

“Don’t let her appearance and demeanor deceive you. She is ancient. Some say almost as old as the gods themselves.”

“She is not older than Dessia.” said Lia blunt disbelief.

Jaina raised an eyebrow, trying to repress a smile, “She is older than she looks, Lia. But in some ways she clings to youth. It is hard when you have to watch those you love die around you.” she looked back at the house with a concerned glint in her eyes, “Sometimes it is better to be who she truly is inside when she is among those she trusts.”

She watched Lia carefully as they continued to walk, “What did she ask of you?”

“She wanted to see.”

“Eira wanted to see your memories?” Jaina nodded in understanding, “That is for you to decide, Lia. If you…”

Lia stopped and met Jaina’s eyes with firm determination, “I want her to see.”