A/N Hello again! Like I promised, this is entirely new content! I'd like to thank Auzaraia for reviewing last chapter! I'd also like to thank those who have followed, faved, and just read this far! I love you guys! ^^ I'd also like to add that chapters may be less frequent from this point on.. I've gotta edit and tweak the rest before I can post them. Please read and review, for feedback is my brain food. ^^ Please enjoy and see you next chapter!

~Meerkatgirl13

My breath hitched in a sob as the sounds of Naideth's creaking stride and the smells of the forest, no longer burning, filtered back into my brain. Tears streamed over my tightly shut eyes and down my warm cheeks as I realized that not only am I a Purge survivor, but my own mother stashed me away knowing she would die for her actions. Unbidden, another image surfaced up from the depths of my memory.

The two wolves nuzzled their pup affectionately for a brief moment before the white one looked up and barked a warning. A group of wild cats attacked and killed the two adult wolves after the black one ran to hide the pup.

I gasped as I realized, truly realized, what that smoky image meant. What that vision didn't show was the utter terror and determination on the woman's—no, my mother's-fair face and the sharp smell of trees twisting and blackening under the blaze the humans set. Not the image of the red sky peeking out of the utter black of the wall of smoke. Not the sounds of the war hounds relentlessly tracking and hunting her mad flee to get me to safety. Nothing, absolutely nothing prepared me for the memory of the horror that night was, all residing at the back of my mind.

"Young Thalaela?" Naideth's concerned voice snapped me out of my thoughts.

I took a steadying breath, trying my hardest to compose myself enough to speak clearly. "M-my mother… She's how I s-survived. S-she took me a-and hid me in a t-tree, a tree with w-white bark and a great h-hole high up. S-she told me t-that she l-loved me and l-left…"

My voice cracked as I succumbed to another wave of sorrow and horror. I felt tremors run up and down my body as I gasped for air, trying desperately to regain control of my frayed emotions. A deep tremor completely unrelated to my body's release of emotion ran through me at the same time a deep hum reached my ears. I forced myself to quiet some as I both felt and listened to the hum, eventually recognizing it to be a lullaby that I knew, though from where I had no idea. As I listened to Naideth's song, an effort to comfort me no less, I felt myself calming, finally able to focus on something besides that memory he drug up.

I realized after a while of sitting against Naideth's rough thumb listening that the lullaby must have been one passed down through the ages, from mother to children, and probably the very same my mother sang to me in the brief time she had to keep me. Grief welled up in me again, but I pushed it back down; I'm too tired to weep for the mother I never got the chance to know any more today.

"Naideth?" I asked when he paused to breathe.

"Yes young Thalaela?"

"Was that a song the elves used to sing?"

The Ent hummed in thought and, after a few huge strides, answered, "Yes it was. Passed down from mother to children, and then their children and so on. Why is it that you ask, young Eva?"

I released a shuddering breath at the confirmation, willing myself to stay calm. "I-I think my mother sang it to me. I never realized it until now…"

The Ent hummed and was silent, save for the dull thud of his passing. Feeling a trickle of bravery, I crawled to the edge of his palm and gazed down at my surroundings.

Now that it was about mid-afternoon, the forest didn't seem as gloomy as the night before. Fickle light filtered town from the massive treetops, giving the land below an almost magical feel to it. Birds sang and flittered out of the way accompanying the chatter and warning squeaks of the mice, squirrels and other rodents inhabiting the ground. All around the trees and foliage shook with every step the Ent took, causing a cascade of dead leaves to rain down from the amazingly tall trees.

I gaped at the earthly beauty of it all, feeling moisture gather at the edges of my eyes as pure awe filled me. I let them fall as I took it all in, twisting left and right to try and absorb it all. If the Ent noticed my amazement he never showed it, instead pausing before a pair of younger-looking trees and gently parted them, causing a cacophony of shrieks and chitters as the inhabitants rushed to safety. What came next brought tears to my eyes for an entirely different reason.

In complete contrast to the living breathing forest behind us, the land reeked of death and destruction. The trees that surely were as magnificent as the ones behind us were reduced to twisted, blackened shells. The earth was littered with their pieces; branches and roots twisted from the heat that had been their death. The sun shone unfiltered here, scorching the already dead landscape with its relentless heat. Things glimmered in the light and, upon further examination, proved to be pieces of swords and armour from a long-ago battle.

My eyes squinted at objects, painfully white against the brown and black landscape near the various bits of armour and weaponry; my brain trying to figure out what they were. It was only when Naideth shifted slightly that one of the objects became clear to me.

I was looking at the remains of what was once my kin.

"Oh dear gods!" I squeezed my eyes shut as a violent mixture of horror and nausea hit me. I curled into myself, holding my stomach as I fought down the bile that rose up into my throat. Taking deep breaths, I opened my eyes only to shut them again as I felt Naideth move.

"I lost many friends here." The sorrow in his voice forcing my eyes open to gaze at him.

He wasn't looking back at me, instead at the wide swath of destruction, pain and grief in his grass eyes.

"I remember this day as if it were yesterday," he continued, "I was tasked in guiding the saplings away from the battle; Most of them were not even into their tenth year. I was called back after I got them to safety. By the time I made it back, the humans had started the fires and were using torches and fiery arrows to set fire to my kin. I remember their screams as they were eaten by the flames. I was one of the few lucky ones, escaping with few burns. I was ordered to flee by one of my dying kin, though doing so would doom the elves in the city beyond…"

He shifted his gaze from the ruins to me, eyes full of regret and self-loathing.

"I turned my back on my duty as guardian to the capital city, Dautrblödh, and fled into the deepest parts of the forest. I left the elves and the city to burn, its king and queen within it…"

Anger and sorrow welled up in me, making tremble like a leaf inside his palm. He was there! And he ran like a coward! Before I could push my fury down enough to speak, Naideth looked back out at the destruction and heaved a sigh.

"If I could alter the flow of time, young Eva, I would. I would've stood and fought to my own death. Whether or not it would've made a difference we will never know," he turned and caught my gaze with his remorseful one, "You have every right to be angry, child. Fleeing my duty is the single thing I regret the most in my long life."

The intensity of his regret, both in his eyes and voice, melted my anger away, leaving only confusion and sorrow.

"W-why?" I managed out of a suddenly too-tight throat, earning his full attention.

"Why what, young elf?"

"Why are you taking me there?" I asked, "Why are you taking me to the capital if you fled it all those years ago?"

Naideth held my gaze then looked ahead as he stepped forward for the first time since we got to the battle site.

"I feel I owe it to the last remaining members of the race I called friends to take them back to where they came from." He glanced down at me for a brief second. "In your case, young Thalaela, you were born in the capital city; Dautrblödh."

The macabre name of the city puzzled me enough to give voice to my question.

"Why is it called 'Daughter's Blood'?"

The question seemed to startle the poor Ent, who paused mid-stride. He heaved another sigh that reminded me of a strong wind whipping through the trees and stared at me.

"You have the most insatiable sense of curiosity," he muttered before continuing his path.

I waited as he gathered his thoughts. It seemed like an eternity before he spoke, a grave tone to his already deep, gravelly voice.

"Before the War the city was named Älfadurna, for it stands on the edge of the vast lake, Brisingata. Before the humans first declared war, they hired a small team of assassins to make the first strike. They snuck their way into the city disguised as one of the trading groups, escorting the messenger that Talbot sent to declare war to the King and Queen. As the herald was seen, some of them snuck into the palace and disposed of the Crown Princess Kätrina, her handmaids, and her fiancé. It was the eve of the Crown Princess's wedding.

"The assassins were struck down by the Queen herself after hearing the declaration and fearing for her family's safety. In the King and Queen's grief, they renamed the city Dautrblödh in honour of Princess Kätrina's death."