Chapter 11 - Taking Leave

~ Eight cycles of the seasons - 15 Years earlier ~

Lia slowly walked around the dark space, the endless room of midnight with no walls or ceiling. She looked up, a knowing smile slowly coming to her face as she heard the faint shuffling behind her.

“Why are you here speaking to me?” asked Doubt, walking close behind Lia, heel to toe with her arms out and balancing on an imaginary line, “I thought I was no longer necessary after I led you astray and almost got us eaten by wolves.”

Lia smiled, her amber eyes flashing in the strange light, “You forced uncertainty onto me where there was none to be had. You tore down my belief and undermined my trust, dear Doubt.”

“Aye, I did get carried away.” Doubt said, balancing in place as she waited for Lia to continue walking.

“I find it interesting that you have not grown since that occasion.” Lia said before starting to walk again.

“You had no need of me, Lia.” Doubt looked up at Lia, almost losing her balance, “Are you suggesting that I can be a part of you again?”

Lia smiled to herself, not looking back.

Doubt shrugged, “A little doubt can be healthy.” she suddenly laughed, “A ‘little’ Doubt.”

She closed her eyes and continued to balance, “Is that why you are taking me on a journey through our past? Because I don’t remember anything from after you trapped me in here.”

Doubt yelped slightly, bumping into Lia, she looked up at her in an accusatory fashion as her elder self turned and looked her in the eyes.

“I need you just as you are. I need you to look at something in our past, something that could benefit from your unique view. Suspicion has a blind spot without the uncertainty you bring.”

Doubt stared at her, “You need me? Is it to do with why you are unconscious? Or that mark of destiny on your chest? You don’t really think that Eira is that old? Maybe…” she slowed as Lia put a finger to her lips and shook her head.

“Nothing of the kind, I want you to see what matters. I can feel him close, so close that it burns. I need you ready, something important is drawing close and a little uncertainty will be of use.”

Doubt’s eyes lit up, “Is it his love for you? Could it be…” she looked at Lia, “It is not that, but something else.”

Lia nodded.

Doubt looked Lia in the eyes, “Did you share that memory with Eira?”

Lia sat in the saddle, lead in hand as the horse steadily trotted along the worn stone roadway. To the left, the lower mountain pass rose up at a steep angle, the slope of sheet rock that looked as if it had been carved by giants before the start of time itself. They were in the shade of the mountain, morning having not yet met its midpoint. To her right, Eira sat comfortably, her horse without the bit-less reigns that Lia was grasping onto. She was looking out and over the valley as the sun slowly crept along it, gradually shortening the shadow. Her face pinked with the still cool morning air.

Lia twisted in the saddle, looking up at the road as it doubled back in the crook of the valley and toward the village. She could still see it in the distance, bathed in sunlight like a lone beacon of civilisation on the high slopes of the mountains. She frowned slightly, one steadying hand tightening on the pommel as she imagined that she could see Rietta and Orlwen, or the boys, or anyone else she knew waving to them. She could still feel the dampness from Rietta’s tears soaked into her collar against her neck. The elven woman had been beside herself when she and Orlwen had returned in the moments before dawn, despite dining with them the night before.

She had insisted on walking with them through the village, quietly holding Lia’s hand in silence until they reached Orlwen’s forge.

“Lia, please take care. Harks will guide you. Promise me that you will come back to visit, promise me, Lia.” Rietta said to her quietly as she held Lia in a tight embrace.

Lia struggled to hold back her tears, “Aye, I promise, Rietta. I will come every year for a week or two and show you the things I have learned.” hugging Rietta back firmly.

“You promise me, Harks. You bring her back to me every year.” Rietta said over Lia’s shoulder.

“Rietta, I will be back for a short while before the snows to find how the team is settling in, we spoke of this last night.” he said.

“Aye, I will visit too, Rietta. I will bring you something special.” Lia said.

Rietta pulled away, looking Lia in the eyes and kissed her cheek before hugging her again, “Don’t lose yourself, Lia. Please.” she said before abruptly standing and staring at Eira.

“You promise me, Chancellor of the Spyres. This girl has been like a daughter to me, you will not allow anything untoward happen to her.”

Eira met her gaze, any weakness of the day before gone, her appearance of a wilderelf in her late twenties returned, her features cool and composed, her voice strong and without a flicker of grief, soft yet commanding. No hint of the distraught child and once again the Chancellor and Commander of the Spyres.

“Rietta, I assure you, she will be safe from harm. I will treat her as my own, she will receive the status and benefits that accompany it. In Odessia’s memory and honour that it be so, it is a promise I made to the Hero of the Spyres and now to you, Rietta of Heimlan’s Pass.” Eira said, the seriousness of her station in full display.

Rietta stepped forward, her eyes on Eira’s and took her hand, shaking it firmly as an equal, “I’ll hold you to your word, Chancellor.”

Lia remembered the look of admiration on Jaina’s face as Rietta stood tall, unbending in the face of the Chancellor. She looked back down from the village above on the mountainside to see Erann smiling at her knowingly.

“We can stop for a moment if you wish, Lia. Once we are around the next bend you will not see it until you return with Harks next Autumn.”

She shook her head and resettled herself in the saddle, meeting Eira’s ice-blue eyes momentarily before looking ahead. She slipped a hand into a pocket, feeling for the pouch that Orlwen had handed her after he had lifted her up onto the horse. Lia smiled to herself before glancing across to see Eira watching her calmly.

“Is this the furthest you have been from your home?” Eira asked.

Lia nodded, “Back at the last bend, every little bit is one step further than I have been before.”

Eira smiled, her expression warm, “Are you afraid?”

“No,” Lia looked forward to Harks riding ahead with Jaina, then back to Eira, “Papa is here with me. And… I know who you really are.” she said, meeting Eira’s eyes.

Eira nodded, a small smile playing out on her lips before she raised a finger to them and winking conspiratorially. Lia quickly glanced back at Erann who chuckled and shook his head in amusement.

“Does Erann know?” asked Lia.

“Yes, he is my champion and attendant. Apart from Jaina and Harks, there are only two more at the Spyres that have seen what you have. You will meet them when we arrive.”

Lia frowned, “But won’t I be going to the Academy?”

Eira’s smile grew even further, “The Academy is not just classrooms, Lia. Many of the students are matched to specific Mages, Arcarnists, Sorcerers, or in your case those with the thread. You will be spending most of your time with Jaina, Harks and myself.”

“You?”

Eira nodded, “Yes, whenever I can be spared.”

“But, what will you be teaching me?”

Eira laughed, a chuckle that came from deep within, “You will find out soon enough, young one.”

She looked back at the village, her ice-blue eyes catching the light, “It is beautiful out here, it reminds me of home.” she said, turning back and glancing at Lia.

“The Spyres?”

Eira chuckled again, shaking her head, “No, my real home is not the Spyres, or even anywhere in this land. But, that was a long time ago.” she said with a small smile.

“But how…?” Lia said, her brows raised in surprise.

Eira smiled, shaking her head, “In time, Lia.” she quickly stole a glance at Harks as he rode ahead of them, “Last night you saw more than you should have, but not more than I allowed.”

She glanced at Harks again, her eyes narrowing slightly as she noticed that his head was casually turned and listening.

“Harks, you can stop pretending you didn’t hear me.”

“Hear what, Eira? I was looking out across the valley. Whatever it is you are talking about, I don’t approve.” Harks called back.

She gave his back a playful glare, drawing a small giggle from Lia before she looked at Eira. She found it hard to believe that the wilderelf riding beside her was the ruler of a city. Her strange eyes and white hair, not from age or the passing of time, glinted in the growing light. Quite differently from the night before and the shine of moonlight in the clearing of the cemetery

Lia had excused herself after eating and had left the house as dusk settled in deeply among the heights of the mountains. The stars showing above the peaks as the final glow of the setting sun left a blush on the opposing horizon. On her back she had her guqin in its case, its broad straps hugging her shoulders as she walked silently back up along the road. A walk she could almost complete with her eyes closed. She looked up at the night sky, tasting the clean mountain air, the first hints of crisp chill caressing her breath gently.

This would be her last night on the mountain and she needed to visit before she left. Coming up to the small forest of pine, she turned off the road and followed the cobbled path that wound through the trees. The lanterns flaring to life as she approached, lighting the way and guiding her safely to the resting place of many, including her family. Pushing open the gate, she smiled as she saw the first glow of the moon rising amid the mountains, its cold light already hitting the slopes above and making the remainder of the snow-caps shine white.

The lush, grassy clearing of the village cemetery was spread out before her. She bowed in respect to the many generations that lay around the perimeter before walking out to the headstones of her parents and Odessia. Pulling out the thick cloth that she had rolled and hooked into the strap of the case, she snapped it out and let it fall before slipping the case off her shoulders and laying it atop the cloth.

Lia walked up to the headstones, gently running her hands over the tops.

“Mother, Father, Odessia… I have come to say goodbye for now. In the morning I will be leaving for a time, but you already know that Dessia.”

She crouched, tracing the characters of their names with a fingertip as she had countless times before.

Lia laughed quietly, “I promise I am not afraid Dessia. Eira is a little strange, but in your own way you were her mother too. She had that connection to you somehow.”

“Does that make us sisters in a way? Harks is Papa now, he takes care of me like I am his, does that mean you treated Eira like a daughter? Or did she see you as a mother?” she said quietly, her eyes straying to her parents’ names and the flame emblem under them.

She frowned, “Mother, Father, I miss you so much. I will spend some time every night to talk to you before I sleep, and I will play your song, the one that you loved playing for Father. I just won’t be back to play for you here, until next Autumn.”

Lia calmed, her eyes clearing as the characters of the stones came to life, the moonlight streaming into the cemetery, casting a pale glow. Suddenly she burst into tears, kneeling and hugging her parents’ gravestone.

“Mother, Father, I am so sorry…I just, I can’t… Papa says it is normal, because I am getting older now, but it hurts so much.” she pulled back and placed her hands on the stone, “I can’t remember.”

She started to run her fingertips in the characters of their names again. The tears already slowing as she regained control over herself.

“So I will do something that…” Lia stopped as she looked back toward her guqin, standing just inside the gate was a lone figure.

Lia squinted, trying to see before stepping down from the plinth and taking a few steps. She watched as the moonlight stretched further up, and the figure stepped into it.

“Chancellor Eira?” Lia asked in surprise.

Eira stood, her hand touching the moonlight, her skin taking on an almost translucent quality. Her hair hanging long and down her back, brushed and shimmering in the pale light. She slipped off her shoes and walked down the grass toward Lia, dressed in a midnight blue robe. Lia stood, transfixed by the sight, Eira seemed otherworldly with her white hair and those ice-blue eyes softly glowing, like she didn’t truly belong in this world, but from somewhere greater and beyond the confines of this existence.

Eira smiled gently as she reached Lia, her eyes skipping across the headstones momentarily. She reached out a hand, gently touching Lia’s upper arm before wiping a tear away with her thumb. She drew Lia into an embrace, holding her calmly.

“I thought you might need company and to give my respects at her final resting place.” Eira said calmly as she stepped back.

“It was a tragedy, the night your parents were taken.” Eira calmly said, her eyes on their headstone, “It was a night of unrest, rare, but not unheard of.”

Lia looked at Eira curiously as the woman met her eyes, her elven features even more beautiful in the moonlight. The Chancellor took in a breath as she looked into Lia’s eyes, her own widening in surprise.

“I did not see Odessia’s passing, or maybe I did not seek that eventuality out of fear. But now that I am here, the last of Odessia’s line is before me.”

She carefully swept back some stray hairs from Lia’s face, “I am truly sorry about the moment we first met, Lia. But it seems it was destined to be so. You said that Odessia was my mother and in a way, she was. It is a strange thing to outlive even the elder races.”

Lia stared at Eira, “Outlive?”

Eira smiled with a nod, leading Lia over to Odessia’s headstone, “Every race, Dwarves, Elves, Humans, Goblins, Trolls and many more age differently. They experience their time in the world, as a child that grows to an adult and then they gain wisdom and an outlook that only the facing of mortality can obtain.”

She gently touched the headstone, taking a deeper breath, “Odessia was close to me, she shared most of her life with me, as an advisor, friend and more. She came here to Heimlan’s Pass to face fate. She saw it clearer than I ever could.”

Eira looked at Lia, “Odessia asked me to extend the same offer to you that I gave to her. I find it especially fitting that I do this before her and your parents.”

Lia looked from the headstone back to Eira, seeing the seriousness that had not been there before.

“If you wish it, I would like to adopt you as my daughter. I am offering to become your guardian.”

“Your daughter?” asked Lia, her eyes wide.

“Yes. You do not need to answer at this moment, but I would…”

“But, Papa?”

Eira smiled, “I will not separate a child from her father.”

Lia nodded slowly, “But, you do not have the thread in you?”

“Does it matter if I have the thread of your people or not?” Eira said, her strangely luminescent eyes watching Lia.

“You will always have a home and those that care for you. Both here, and in the capital.”

Lia looked at the headstones, “Can I return here to see my parents and Dessia?”

Eira nodded, following Lia’s gaze, “We can return twice a year, if you wish. Odessia’s home is yours and…” she stopped, watching Lia carefully.

“You said I only need to remember as it happened, that I could show you?” Lia said.

Eira nodded slowly, “You do not need to Lia, I was…”

Lia looked at her hard, her eyes flaring to life with blue flames that flickered wildly, “We share, I will give you that memory. But you give me something equal in return.”

Lia stared up Eira, watching as her eyes widened with a measure of surprise then finally a small nod before the light started to shift, a crystalline silence encompassing the clearing.

“Lia?” said Eira in concern, her voice just cutting over the sound of shod hoofs on the stone road, bringing Lia back to the present.

She looked across at the woman who would quickly become like a mother to her, meeting her ice-blue eyes.

With her voice clear and without doubt, Lia answering Eira’s question from the night before, “Yes. My answer is yes.”