Disclaimer: I do not own ElfQuest.
This takes place a few months after Cutter and Leetah join. Also, Rayek did not leave the village.
"blah" means talking. **blah** means Sending.
Elves gather in the village of the Sun Folk. The Daystar is just rising, and the wolf-riders are weary. They go to the caves for sleep during the day.
Meanwhile… **Not much longer brother. We need rest… food. Dustpetal can't take this heat much longer!**
**I know sister. Ruffleroot is losing speed. HighOnes help us if we don't find shelter, food, and water soon!**
The Elves, one maiden, one warrior, race on their wolves through the desert land. Their only comfort is the Sending they share, as they dare not speak and dry out their throats more.
The older one, the male, has long brown hair pulled back in a ponytail, which, tied at the base of his neck, hangs down and brushes his blistered back. His eyes are big and sharp green- much like his mother's. He wears no shirt, his skin is pale, though red from heat. He has but brown leather pants. He is slightly taller than Cutter, blood of ten chiefs, but somehow his face… echoes Cutter's. He rides a worn-out dark brown wolf with sharp yellow eyes- Ruffleroot. Who is the strange Elf that looks like the renowned wolf chief?
Pacing slightly behind him and Ruffleroot is the maiden. She is four turns-of-the-seasons younger than her brother. Her hair, which is long and wavy gold, mimics her late mother's just as her brother's eyes do. Her eyes however, look like the eyes of neither parents- but are the icy cold blue fires that are the same as Cutter's. She, while slightly shorter than her brother, is also paler. She wears but a brown fur-dress that is too small for her. While she has well toned muscles like her brother, she is skinny, like him, underfed for many, many turns-of-the-seasons. She wears a circlet of pale blue stones like a tiara on her head, and they shimmer in the light, making them look like small stars.
She is a beauty to behold, an Elf unlike any of the Sun Folk, and even some wolf-riders have not seen one for many turns-of-the-seasons. Not since the late chieftess to Bearclaw's chief, Joyleaf, died. And to some only a small memory of the poor cub that was, as told by Bearclaw, murdered with another at the age of three turns-of-the-seasons.
She rides a wolf with fur that is tan-gray, with sharp brown eyes, but beautiful. This is Dustpetal. Who is this fair maiden whose eyes are the same as the wolf chief's?
This pair of siblings has been running through the desert for nearly a week. Their death weighs near on them if they do not get water soon. They stumble, nearly by luck, as they are both barely conscious, on the safe haven that the Sun Folk, and now wolfriders, dwells in.
Many of the Sun Folk come out to greet the strange newcomers, including the Sun-toucher and Savah. The mother of memory glances with pity at the two young Elves as brother and sister brace each other with trembling arms as they stand, both swooning with their wolf-friends near their legs to keep them up.
Wrapped in each others' arms Savah hears the musical words float from the maiden's mouth, "Steady my brother." And the replied, "I say the same for you sister." Some wolf-riders gather at the noise.
A fair maiden walks up to them both, and says, "Oh, these poor kitlings! The dears! They are dehydrated and starving, and…" she pauses, "the maiden, her heart… so weak? And her brother, as it seems, his leg, crippled? By birth! I cannot… could never… heal…"
Both Elves look up at her, and the brother says, while supporting himself and his sister, while taking in the view of Sun Folk and wolfriders alike, "You need not pity me and my younger sister. I see those among you… slightly familiar, after all these years. But please, we beg you, spare us!" his voice rasps and he coughs, leaving his sister to pick up, "My brother and I, please forgive us, we need care. Our wolves- Dustpetal and Ruffleroot"
A collective gasp and wary yet delighted glances went up between the older wolfriders, Clearbrook clapped her hand to her mouth, eyes shining with tears, Strongbow's mouth hung open, and Treestump looked as though he could faint, "need nourishment. As do we! Wait, I'm sorry, where are our manners brother?
"I am Starblossom, and my brother is Wolftooth, and we have the blood of ten chiefs of the wolfriders flowing in our veins."