Kiri raced into the forest, Taylan close on her heels. At 12, she wasn't quite as fast as her older brother, but she used her head start to her advantage. Although Taylan lived with Asha now, the two still spent a lot of time together. "Beat you!" She exclaimed, touching the rough bark of the oak tree that was always their destination.
Taylan merely shook his head in exasperation. He may have been old enough to care for a fiancée, but at 15 he was embarrassed to lose to his little sister. "You had a head start."
"I always get a head start." She smiled with her entire body. Her black eyes seemed to light up as she contradicted him. "That's the rules because I'm the youngest."
Taylan couldn't stay frustrated at her, and ruffled her equally black hair. "The rules may have to change soon. Besides, you're not that little anymore. Rumor has it that Father has been talking to some suitors for you."
Kiri refused to become serious. "You're just lovestruck with Asha; Father would never consider betrothing me yet. Especially to a commoner!"
"Did I say he was a commoner?" Taylan hinted.
Kiri looked at him knowingly. "No. But there are no young lords in camp asides from you, and you're my brother." She laughed. "And we've had no visitors since Aganir Thalion brought his court last winter. It's impossible that Father's had any proposals."
"You know too much." Taylan said fondly. "Let's race back to camp fairly, no head start for you. I'd expect Asha wants to eat her morning meal."
Always game for a challenge, Kiri counted off. At three they sprinted back towards camp. Taylan had pointed out a different route than they normally took, one that involved jumping a small stream. Kiri fell a bit behind, and tried to catch up valiantly. As a result she mistimed her jump, fell onto the far bank, and cracked her skull on a rock. Taylan was far enough ahead that he didn't hear her fall, and when she didn't find him in camp, assumed she was sulking.
Kiri came to with a gasp. The stream had carried her away from where she had fallen, and had deposited her on a sandy bank. Standing over her was a willow sapling. Its long finger-like branches touched her bruises, and they healed. She swore she saw it blink with mismatched green and amber eyes; however she had suffered a head wound. The sun started to rise, and she shut her eyes against the light. She buried her face into one of the two roots that poked out of the sand, and fell asleep.
At twilight the willow was nowhere to be seen, although she was still on the sandy shore. She assumed it was a hallucination, but she drew the characters for thank you on the ground where the tree had been. Kiri knew that she had been incredibly lucky, but quickly forgot the incident after she got back to camp.
1
Kiri looked into her fiancé's dark eyes, and felt nothing but trapped. She needed to run, but no one let her leave camp unattended since her return five years ago. Lotus treated her like some delicate flower. They'd been engaged the night she came back, and he never let her out of his sight. Even when it was his turn to hunt, he made sure she was suitably engaged with some activity and to make things worse, he had a friend of his watch her. Sure, Kiri liked him, she also respected him and trusted him, but she had no desire to see him all the time. She wanted just one more night running. Her marriage moon was so close, just a week away, and she wasn't ready for that.
"Lotus?" she asked guiltily. Boldly she continued, "do you mind if I go for a walk to gather my thoughts? I've been feeling very distracted recently."
Lotus sat up on his pallet, "let me get my shoes on." He said.
"I meant by myself." Kiri clarified. "We'll be married so soon, I need some alone time to get ready."
Her fiancé looked slightly perplexed. "But I want to keep you safe."
"I won't go far from camp. No further than earshot, I promise." Kiri crossed her fingers behind her back.
"Be back in time for the midnight meal," he agreed. "And no further than earshot. I don't want to lose you so close to our marriage moon."
"There hasn't been goblin activity in this area forever!" She exclaimed, in her excitement she reclaimed a little bit of the childish spirit that Lotus had fallen in love with.
He squeezed her hand. "All the more reason to be careful. Have a lovely walk."
Kiri nearly danced out of the tent in excitement. A whole half night to herself, Lotus was practically being generous. She retraced the old route to the oak tree. Taylan was too busy being responsible for his infant son to even come out of camp. Asha hadn't survived childbirth, leaving the devastated Taylan to be a single parent. Although he had plenty of help, Kiri noted, many of the unattached girls flocked to Taylan. His status as future camp lord was desirable, and his noble black hair and eyes made him very attractive. Kiri thought her brother was more handsome than the elf King, however she knew she was biased.
Unconsciously she found herself walking along the stream bed. There hadn't been much rain over the summer, and now there was barely a trickle in the center. A little child could have stepped over it without a problem. Eventually, she reached a sandy bank that had an etching in it. "Thank you." She read, and she noticed a willow tree pointing one branch to her. Its leaves rustled in the early autumn wind, and Kiri felt a chill unrelated to the changing seasons. She glanced at the sky. She was going to be late, recklessly she darted back town the streambed away from the willow, and the faint tugging at her memory.
2
Over the course of the week, Kiri grew even more preoccupied. She couldn't shake a nagging feeling that she was being watched. She begged her fiancé to let her walk in the woods alone, but he felt he had been more than generous and refused. She had told him what she had seen on the river bank, and he had no interest in allowing her to be foolish. Lotus did not tell Kiri because he was deeply in love with her, but there had been news that the old goblin King had died. No elf knew what the new King looked like, but the men were all aware that he'd be searching for a new bride. Lotus had come from a camp closer to the border, and they had posted sentries. Here elves lived in a false sense of security.
The moon was nearly full, and Kiri slipped out of camp at twilight. She took off at a run in a direction unknown, and eventually she ended up at the stream bank. The willow was watching her.
"You're nervous for your marriage, little elf?" The tree spoke in a quiet voice, not the gravelly one that Kiri would have expected. That's it, she thought, I've finally gone crazy.
As if in a dream, she responded "Lotus is a good man; however, he cares more for his artwork than he cares for me. If he loved me, I wouldn't have to run away." Her heart cleared upon saying that, because she recognized it was truth. A large portion of Lotus's magic, and therefore his heart, was invested in artistic ability.
"Are you really running away? Or running to something?" The tree asked.
Kiri thought about it. "I suppose I'm running to this place. I'm not sure how, but recently my mind has been wandering here a lot. And I don't really remember what happened here." She laughed. "It's funny, but I don't even know how to get here really."
The tree could have smiled, had it a discernable face. "You aren't running to any place in particular, you're running to me. You've been running to me ever since the day we met."
"How could I be running to a tree that is in more than one place?"
"But Kiri, I'm not a tree." And the tree opened its eyes. Mismatched amber and green eyes stared at her. She could see a protrusion in the bark that was roughly equivalent to a nose. And a hollow that was a mouth. The tree lowered its two large branches to its side. "My name is Marak."
Despite being sheltered, Kiri recognized the name. She was face to face with the goblin King: the goblin King that no elf had ever seen before. She considered running for a moment, but the tree's roots were wrapped around her feet. Although she knew it was a goblin, the thought of hurting a tree was despicable to her.
"I'm glad you don't deeply love your fiancé. It will make this much easier on you." Marak said, taking her smooth hands in one of his leafy ones.
Kiri looked at him desperately. "No it won't!" She shouted. "I am about to lose everything. How dare you tell me otherwise! And I do love Lotus!" Kiri hoped that her fiancé had heard and would come rescue her, but she doubted it. Elves had keen hearing, but she assumed she was very far away.
"Now my dear," Marak said, "you realize that nothing can get inside the border spell without being brought in by an elf. That includes noise."
"Let me go. I want to go home." Kiri demanded, panic edging her voice.
"You will go home," he said soothingly. "Very soon in fact." Marak glanced at the moon. Kiri followed his gaze, but saw nothing. She felt herself sinking, and within a minute she no longer saw the moon, it was covered by a think dirt ceiling. She was trapped underground.
3.
Kiri was always an active elf, with magic relating to physicality. She was faster and stronger than normal elves. She had sharpened senses. With these gifts came limitations: a shorter attention span, a disinterest in normal elvish entertainment, and underground a heightened sense of claustrophobia. She paced the small bridal chamber, banging the iron door with her fists. Normally an elf abhorred metal, but desperate times called for desperate measures.
"Stop Kiri." The command was enforced with magic, but Kiri ignored it. Marak tried another tactic. "The sooner you stop fighting, the sooner you'll get out of this room."
Kiri paused with consideration. The chamber she was in was perhaps 12x12, with an eight foot ceiling. The branches extending from Marak's head nearly scraped against it. She couldn't feel any airflow. It couldn't get any worse. She nodded.
"Drink this." He held out a goblet. The thin fingers were strong enough to support the weight of the golden cup. When she didn't immediately cooperate, one finger pulled her forward, another opened her jaw, and a third poured the contents down her throat. It didn't matter that the potion was to take away her words, because she was speechless.
She was passed into the room with the woman. They stripped her completely, an unknown indignity to the girl. Kiri had never bathed in warm water before, or without her under-dress. She blushed, making her even prettier. The hideous woman with shark teeth and soulless eyes, and the woman with the moose antlers nodded their approval. Horrible creatures the size of mothballs used their many tentacles to make final adjustments on a floor length red dress. Kiri was uncomfortable as they laced her in. The shiny material constricted her breathing and movement in general.
She was shackled, and dragged into the corridor by the guards who simply looked at her with distaste. Kiri gathered the scraps of her dignity and walked. The remainder of the ceremony passed in a painful blur. She was slashed across the hands, and her beautiful hair was cut. At some point tears began falling mixing into the silver cloud that declared her fully elf. When Marak brought out the sword she simply closed her eyes, exhausted from the trials of the day. Marak had to carry his half sleeping bride out of the room, and deposit her on the couch in the receiving room.
4.
Her first night underground, the first thing she noticed was a tree in the corner of the room. Thinking she was still dreaming, she crawled over to it, wrapped her arms around the thin trunk, and fell back asleep. Marak was pleasantly surprised to see his wife by his side already. However when she woke up she was temperamental at best. Kiri refused to leave the room, and refused to let him leave either.
"You brought me here; you had better stay with me." She said furiously. Marak said nothing, merely brushed her hair out of her face. Eventually Kiri broke down and sobbed. "I was supposed to get married now. To Lotus, not to a monster!" She added emphatically. "The other girls would have brought me flowers, and the whole camp would have danced for me. My father would have been so proud; he must be so worried now. And Taylan- aside from the baby, he's lost almost everything he's ever loved. And, and…" she was completely overcome. There was nothing her new husband could do but listen to her cry.
For several days, Kiri forced Marak to stay in the chamber with her. She alternated between running in circles around the small room and collapsing at his feet, stroking his bark. After her initial outburst she held her emotions inside of her. Being an elf, she still was completely beautiful but the stress began to show. She developed large bags-symmetrical of course- under her eyes, and her hair started to lose its curl, but other than that she showed no outward signs of her despair. Occasionally another goblin would come in to conference with the King, at which point she would hide her head under the couch and cover her ears until they left. It was a very trying time.
On the fifth day of her antics, Marak looked at his bride. "We're going upstairs." He decided. "You're going to get sick in this little room; I'm getting sick of it." Not for the first time, he wished there were other elves in his kingdom. His mother, the only elf captured in the last generation had died immediately after his birth.
Kiri closed her eyes in acquiescence, but she refused to open them again until they reached the privacy of the royal level. "I'll leave this room, but I will not see your subjects."
"Our subjects," Marak reminded her as he guided her up a flight of stairs. "You're not going back to the elves; you should accept that these are your people now."
Mulishly, Kiri shook her head. "Tell me when we've reached the rooms."
After awhile Marak signaled that she could open her eyes. They were assaulted by the bright reflections of the lamps against polished gold walls. Everything sparkled with artificial splendor. Kiri hated it. The only thing she appreciated was the space to run, and a small balcony that overlooked the valley. At certain times of the day the sun shone through the water, and she could pretend it was the moon. Immediately after marriage Marak began toying with her sleep schedule making her diurnal like a goblin. Slightly more comfortable in the larger space, she still would not mingle with her subjects or see any other goblins.
5.
Kiri felt no love for her husband, but he was the only thing in that world that made sense. Being a tree, he belonged in her world. She took comfort in him being there, and as time passed she also took comfort in his personality rather than just his form. After about a month of isolation boredom drove her to accept the offer of visiting the artificial grove. They could not compete with real trees, or her husband, for realism but the jeweled trees offered some respite from the shiny rooms she was used to. Finally, she began to accept her fate although she still wasn't integrating.
"Marak," she asked in elvish, interrupting his tale about his father, Marak Horntounge's, visit to the human village and his subsequent humiliation. "Why do you look like a tree?"
"Nobody is sure." He answered. "There has never been a goblin King that has taken on plant characteristics. The closest are Kings who are green, or have craggy skin."
"But there has to be a reason, a hypothesis?" Kiri pressed.
"My mother never adjusted here, my father said. She grew to appreciate my father to an extent, but never really felt strongly about the people. According to his notes, something that she did appreciate is the variation in goblin form, and the beauty of my father's eyes. However, she also was still longed for the elven way of life. They say that her fiancé's name was Willow- which is why they think I look so much like a tree. My father loved my mother's nature, and loved her despite the fact that she was deeply in love with Willow. And that is why I look like a tree."
"So if I decided that I like that you look like a tree…"
"Then when the time comes for us to try, our son may also be treeish. But the magic works in mysterious ways."
"I think," she said, "we'll be waiting awhile to find out."
"We have plenty of time. Our lines say that we will both live a long life." He looked sad. "If my parents' lines were like that, you would have had another elf to talk to."
"I would have liked that." Kiri smiled at him- the first real smile she had given him since she moved into the kingdom.