Disclaimer: Not mine.
I didn't shout or gasp or faint when they told me the news. I was too numb, too hurt, too shocked to do much of anything. All I could think was: 'But I didn't do it.'
A rose had been plucked from the Tree of Life that was planted by the first Speaker of the Stars and the whole kingdom of elves had been distraught. Eventually the blame had fallen on me, Tarakit, the current Speaker's youngest daughter.
My fascination with the tree and rebellious nature were, I soppose the cause of the suspicion laid on me. No one believed me when I said, truthfully, that I had been meditating in the South Garden at the time so I couldn't possibly have committed the crime.
I was to be cast out. Now no one in the whole kingdom, not even my closest friend would claim to know my name or even recognize me. I was to be erased from the records and escorted from the land. If I was ever seen inside the borders again I was fair game to be killed. I would not be mourned and no one would claim the body.
Despite all this, I remained proud. I left my homeland pretending as though the guard were an escort of honor and the jeering mobs were cheering crowds. Inside I felt alone, fragile, and angry. I hadn't done it.
Once beyond the border the guards left her quickly as though being a Dark Elf was suddenly contagious. A rustling of leaves showed me I was not alone. I tensed, expecting an attack, but the identity of the person I saw coming from between shocked me so much I couldn't have withstood an attack if he had sprung one.
Laenard, Fiyera, and Rahvin, all Dark Elves who committed heinous crimes, stood before her. She saw them and, on instinct, looked away. They were murders and thieves, she was innocent. "You have no right to look away from us now princess," jeered Laenard, "you're just the same as us. A Dark Elf."
He's right, I thought bitterly. I'm a criminal now or at least everyone thinks I am so it amounts to the same thing.
"No," another, softer, voice interrupted her thoughts, "no Laenard," said Fiyera, growing louder. "She isn't like us. I broke the law. I did it willingly. I would do it again if I knew where it would land me. She is innocent. They may call her Dark Elf or whatever they like, but in her heart she is innocent. That's where it matters. Not their minds."
Suddenly I didn't feel worried, or frightened, or guilty. I still didn't know where I would live or I what I would live off of in this strange world of humans. I didn't even know how I would get out of the present situation. But I knew I was innocent and that made all the difference in the world.