She slowly takes a few steps, unsure of what to do.
"Thank you Amberle" an eerie female voice echoes through the small place.
Suddenly she feels a burning ache in her heart, like it burst into flames. She falls on her hands and knees, heavily panting from the pain.
"What's…going…on ?" She chokes out through her ragged breathing.
A calm, twenty something looking elf answers her. "The Ellcrys is feeding on your love. That's how its magic gets its power to imprison the demons."
She jumps back despite her throbbing chest. She didn't really expect an answer from the Ellcrys, let alone one from a magically appearing elf.
"I thought…I was…alone." She manages through the increasing pain, looking up to meet the dark-haired man's green eyes. She's about to ask him who he was when her vision blurs before refocusing.
She's in her bedroom, looking at herself in the mirror. She's wearing a silk navy dress, and her hair is tied up into an intricate bun. She sighs at her reflection. She should feel pretty, like every other 12 year old girl who dresses up for their birthday. But she just feels sad, like every other year.
"May I put on your makeup, Princess Amberle ?" a timid voice calls from behind her.
She turns around and manages a warm smile to her new handmaiden.
"Please call me Amberle, Catania."
The blond smiles sheepishly and gathers her things while Amberle sits on the edge of her bed.
"What color would you like for your eyes ?" She asks, clearly excited.
Amberle sighs, not really caring for this fancy party.
"Something discreet please, there'll already be too much attention on me tonight."
"But this Ball is in your honor. Don't you want to be the center of the attention ?" The girl asks, feeling bold all of a sudden.
Amberle smiles sadly at her. "Not this one, no. Not tonight."
The blondes' eyes go wide with realization.
"I forgot. I'm so sorry. Please forgive me Princess Amberle." She begs, half kneeling already.
Amberle gently chuckles.
"Hey, it's ok" She lifts the smaller girl back up by her arms. "Everybody forgets". She sadly states.
" I guess I should get ready. It will start soon, and I can't be late at my own Ball." She adds with a small sigh as she settles on the bed again.
But Catania doesn't move. Instead she looks at the princess with a huge grin.
"What ?" Amberle questions, a little bit worried by the girl's change in demeanor.
"I can get you out of going if you want." She smugly suggests.
"Really ? How ?" Amberle asks, jumping up with excitement.
"There's this boy who works in the kitchens. He makes this horrible stew that looks like vomit."
Amberle makes a face at that but gets where her handmaiden is going with this.
"If you get in bed and we put a bit on your pillow and in a bucket beside your bed, everybody will think you're sick and you won't have to go !" Catania finishes with a triumphant grin.
Amberle thinks for a few seconds before smiling herself. "Let's do this."
So she changes into her nightwear and slips under her covers while Catania went to get the stew. She comes back with a bowl of it and a bucket and starts spreading it on the pillow and sheets before dumping the rest in the bucket.
When Amberles' uncle Arion arrives, he seems to buy into it and gives her permission to stay in bed.
The girls exchange a mischievous smile, before Catania moves to leave.
"Wait. Would you mind staying with me for a bit ?" Amberle asks her timidly.
"Of course. Happy birthday, Princess."
The vision ended, and after another blur, she comes back to reality. The pain in her chest stopped but now her head feels fuzzy.
"What happened ?" She asks the elf pleadingly. She's too lost to mistrust him right now.
" What do you remember ?" He crouches down to her level.
"My chest burned and you appeared. Then my vision went blurry, and then… and then…" She looks at him with squinty eyes, racking her brain for what happened.
"You can't remember." He sighed. It wasn't a question and Amberle's eyes went wide. Not with surprise but anger this time.
"What is going on here ?" She demands, having found her royal authority again.
"We don't have much time. My name is Darren, we met in the Flames at Safehold. I'm the Seed that came before you."
"But, you looked like me. And you said you were dying." She argues.
"I am. And I thought it would be easier for you to trust me if I looked like you. But now, I don't have access to the Ellcrys and its magic anymore. Soon I'll be gone." He says matter-of-factly.
She nods for him to continue but soon the burning in her chest starts again. It's increasing faster and her vision blurs once more.
This time she's in the throne room in Arborlon. She tried to convince her people of the real threat ahead with Allanon but they refused to listen to her. She feels like a failure, for the first time in her life. That's when Will enters and, after a bit of convincing, makes a speech.
"Look, I know what you're all thinking. That the things you're hearing are too incredible to be true. But magic and demons are real. I have seen them with my own eyes. Quite frankly, all I want to do is run away.
Then I met Amberle.
She might have been frightened, but she's also incredibly brave. She didn't have to come back, but she did, for all of you, the people she loves. And if I had to put my faith in anyone to save the Four Lands, it would be her."
Amberle is overwhelmed by this guy she just met. He has faith in her. More than she ever had in herself apparently. She feels a new confidence to face what's ahead.
She looks gratefully at him, feeling a connection there, like for the first time since her father died, someone has her back.
Amberle's head is throbbing when her vision clears again.
"What… Happened ?" Again the pain in her chest is gone but her head is a mess.
"The Ellcrys is feeding on your memories of your loved ones. It's already two gone." Darren provides.
"You're telling me I just forgot two important people from my life ?" He nods at her. "How much time do I have before I forget everyone ? And what then ?" She adds, suddenly scared.
"Once you forget everyone you love, you'll become completely part of the Ellcrys. You'll still think for yourself but you won't feel anything except pure devotion for it. You won't remember your past anymore. I'm sorry." He pauses there, letting what he said sink in as he puts his hand on the tree beside him.
A few seconds later he adds. "I fear my time is up. The Ellcrys needs three more loved ones, the most powerful ones in your heart." He grabs her shoulders and looks into her eyes. "Good luck, Amberle. Your journey has just begun."
He gets up and smiles one last time at her before fading away. Amberle gasps in shock but she doesn't have much time to think about anything else. Her chest burns again, but this time it hurts even more than before and she collapses to the ground, her hands pressed to her heart, whimpering in pain.
Finally her vision blurs again, she actually welcomes it this time.
She's in Arborlons' hospital wing. It's white and very bright, and a woman is screaming. It sends a chill down her spine but it also terrifies her, more than any other scream for some reason. She feels the need to find the woman who voiced the terrible sound and she starts rushing through the corridors she knows too well.
Finally she finds what she's looking for in a room on the far end of a corridor. She slowly approaches, not sure what to expect. When she peaks through the open door, screaming starts again. Although this time it's a baby's crying that echoes through the hospital. A brown haired woman is lying in a bed, barely conscious while doctors try to stop her stomach's bleeding. She feels tears filling her eyes at the sight. For some reason, this woman's condition breaks her heart in pieces. Maybe it's because she looks familiar.
She's about to enter when she recognizes the figure that arrives beside the bed with the crying baby in his arms.
It's her father. So the woman in the bed must be her mother.
She bursts into the room, joyful tears in her eyes.
"Mom ! Dad !" She yells at them but they don't seem to hear her.
Her hope flutters when she realizes this is just a vision, they don't know she can see them. She keeps her smile, though, as she watches her mother open her eyes. They share the same shade of blue.
"Amberle…" She weakly calls.
Her father puts the baby in her arms, crouching down to keep his hands under the tiny head.
Her mother starts softly singing to her, a sweet lullaby about the sunshine.
"You are my Sunshine, my only Sunshine,
You make me happy, when times are grey,
You don't know dear, how much I love you,
Please, don't take my Sunshine away…"
She's about to continue when she loses consciousness.
Her father jumps up and takes the now sleeping baby in his arms before she could fall.
"What is going on ?" He demands with authority, although his voice is a little shaken by evident fear.
The doctors keep moving frantically around the room, but Amberle knows it's in vain, she knows the end of the story.
Soon enough the Elvin doctor stop, and announce her mother's death to the Heir.
He falls to his knees, and while still carrying the baby with one arm, he starts stroking his wife's hair.
"I'm so sorry, my love. I swear I'll protect our Daughter the best I can. I love you."
Amberle is sobbing when she comes back to the Ellcrys' chamber, but she can't remember why. Darren is gone now and she feels numb. She remembers his words and understanding washes over her. She forgot everyone she loved. She forgot love.
But still, she feels a bit of fear of losing someone, but she has trouble figuring out who. Her uncle maybe ?
Her interrogations are answered when her chest aches worse than before, making her fall to her knees again. Her vision instantly blurs and she's thrown into another vision, her last one she believes.
Eretria is looking at her, but they're separated by a metal gate. She's going to sacrifice herself, Amberle realizes.
"We have to get back together." She tries to convince the Rover, pleading with her eyes.
"No you have to go back." She answers forcefully, but there's also pain and sadness in her eyes. She approaches the gate and her face ends up inches away from Amberle's one. The girls' breaths catch but they both ignore it.
"Don't you get it ? We all have a part to play. I'm doing mine. Now, you do yours." Eretria is right, but the thought of leaving her behind hurts Amberle way more than she imagined.
The Elvin girl knew what her Rover counterpart meant. Lately the two women understood each other better and Amberle believes Eretria and her really grasp the quest and its consequences. Will still believes this is a fairytale and everyone will get out of here alive, which is both heart-breaking and annoying to Amberle. He is full of qualities but he isn't as grounded as Eretria and Amberle found herself craving for realism and pragmatism on her journey, not blinded optimism.
She doesn't know when she started caring for the other girl, but now, only the thought of those sad hazel eyes make her heart ache. She's about to reach out and touch the other's girl cheek when the smaller brunette retreats, regret written all over her face.
She kisses Will goodbye and Amberle feels something unexpected, jealousy. But she's not jealous of Eretria, she's jealous of Will. She's trying to process her feelings when the Trolls arrive behind Eretria, startling all of them.
Eretria quickly kills them before yelling "Go !" while looking pleadingly into her eyes, and with one lonely tear on her cheek, Amberle turns around, dragging Will with her, abandoning the woman who saved her twice in a day, against her very rover nature.
She wakes up again, her heart feels like it's being torn from her body. She crashes, screaming, to the ground, the pain unbearable. Her body starts convulsing when her thoughts find Eretria, and how she'd give anything to remember her smile in this old human gymnasium when they bonded over their orphan state. She can't think of anything else as she feels her eyes closing and her mind slipping into unconsciousness.
A/N : I'm not exactly on time, sorry crazy week. I'll do better, in the future.
The lullaby Amberle's mom sings her is "You are my sunshine" by Jhonny Cash (check out Elizabeth mitchell's version, it fits better here).
Will's and Eretria's visions are from the show, I just imagined Amberle's thoughts.
Oh and please let me know what you think. I had problems with this chapter (different ideas and I settled on that one) and I'd like to know if it works or not.
The next chapter we'll go back to Eretria, and how prison life is working out for her.
