I'll Do Anything For You

-o-

The day Sophie and her friends had been reported to have disappeared, Oralie smiled to herself. If the other Councillors discovered that Oralie had came across them escaping and let them go - besides handing over Kenric's cache - they would be horrified. Luckily, all the Councillors suspected nothing about Oralie. To them, she was just like her appearance, an innocent, angelic councillor who was devastated about Kenric's death.

"This is a most troubling discovery." Emery's voice echoed around the meeting room. Goblins were stationed at the door, and each of the twelve councillors had a bodyguard standing behind their seat. "Especially in the midst of all this chaos."

"Emery, why can't we remove Alden's title as Emissary? He obviously had a hand in their escape," Alina said sharply. Oralie frowned. Alina was known for specifically favoring Alden. For her to accuse Alden openly, as well as suggest his removal from a high-ranking job was very much unlike her. Oralie wondered if the two had had a disagreement.

"Because we have no proof he had a hand in it," Emery sighed. "I, as well as you all, do not want to order a memory break on him. Without a memory break, we cannot probe his memories. He is too skilled a Telepath. Besides, the children are harmless. They will not bother us for now. Anyhow, we need Alden. Like I said before, he is a skilled Telepath that we need. He has never done anything to harm the Lost Cities, and he only believes that helping the children will help the community. He has no harmful thoughts in his mind. With this plague we have going on, we need all the help we can get."

There were murmurs of agreement around the room.

"Harmless?" Noland demanded incredulously. "The girl, Sophie Foster, almost had us at war with the ogres!"

"She did not mean to probe Dimitar's mind." Bronte, who had originally despised Sophie from at the start, now defended the elf, which surprised all. "She deeply felt Kenric's loss. We all did. And grief does strange things to us all, does it not? Besides, Dimitar showing up at the planting was unexpected. And, only understanding that we and the ogres had a tense relationship, Sophie did what her instincts told her to do. She wanted to know what Dimitar was up to."

Oralie gave a start at the mention of Kenric's name. Breath, Oralie, she told herself. You can get over his death. All around her, the elves did the same, their faces hardening at the thought of their late friend.

"Dimitar showing up was not unexpected," Noland argued. "Not for a Councillor's planting."

"We must stop pretending that our relationship with the ogres had been peaceful from the start." Emery moderated the argument, silencing both elves. "We all know that our relationship with the ogres has not been very smooth, as it has been with the dwarves and gnomes."

"I agree," Oralie spoke up, her voice softly floating across the room. "The only thing that kept us from going to war against them is the treaty. And I'm afraid our relationship with them may never be entirely mended, with the direction we are going right now."

"How are you, Kenric?" Oralie knelt by Kenric's thriving sapling. It was the middle of the night, and a crescent moon gleamed overhead, surrounded by thousands of stars, like the jewels sown onto her dark purple cape. Oralie couldn't fall asleep, so she had decided to pay the Wanderling Woods a surprise visit.

Her two bodyguards remained behind at a respectful distance, enough to keep her in sight, but far enough away so that they could not hear what she was saying. They scanned the landscape around them, keeping a lookout for any potential danger. Their hands remained grasping the hilt of the gleaming swords strapped to their belts, ready to attack if needed.

"I did what you asked. I gave Sophie your cache as she was about to leave. She has my full support, as it was your wish." Oralie's tone was wistful and sorrowful. She thought about the life Kenric and she could have had together. They might have resigned in order to wed each other. They might have started a life with one another. Or they could have just spent day after day working side by side as Councillors, pretending to feel nothing for one another, as they had done up to Kenric's death. "Why did you go?" Oralie couldn't stop a tear from slipping down her cheek. "Why? I can say it, now that you are gone. I loved you." She was sobbing then, her tears pouring onto the dirt like rain. She bent her head down, staring at the ground. "I want you to come back. I'll do anything for you to come back to me. Come back. Please. I-I'll resign for you." Oralie looked up at the sapling, hoping for a sign that Kenric had heard, even though she knew it would never happen.

When nothing happened, Oralie buried her face in her hands, wanting to punish something for her loss. She spilled out her anger in her mind, unraveling her feelings, not knowing how to feel. Should she move on already? Was it wrong to want to punish Fintan for Kenric's death? How did humans bear this grief so well, with loved ones passing away so often? Suddenly, she had felt a newfound respect for humans.

Finally, Oralie stood up, wiping her eyes. "I will see you soon, Kenric," she whispered to the tree. She turned and walked towards her bodyguards. She held her pathfinder up to the sky, creating a beam of light. Her bodyguards walked into it first, and Oralie followed, but not before giving a second glance at Kenric's sapling, which seemingly had not changed.

But unbeknownst to her, a single red flower bloomed on the tree, like a bright light of hope in the midst of the despair of darkness.