The sun starts rising above the horizon casting an eerie golden-cream colored glow on the surrounding black rocks we've made as our shelter near the tiny, trickling stream. All is silent as I focus on the sounds of that stream, in an effort to focus my mind on something other than my inner turmoil. I hear the occasional sniffle coming from Nehnia or Nona, as Juno is far too young to truly understand what has just happened. Taregan, Nona and Penthea's father, has been awake all night just as I have been. Both of his daughters, despite being young-adults themselves, had curled against him in their sleep with their dark heads resting on the thin linen of his tunic. Merrill is curled along Penthea's back, her head resting on her lover's shoulder. Nehnia and Juno are sleeping with their heads on my thigh, curled together protectively between myself and Nona.
Not long after, everyone has risen with the ever-growing sunlight. I brush the hair out of Juno's face as she looks around as though she's confused where we are. "Mamae!" She pulls on my sleeve, "Where Adda?"
I kiss her forehead and draw her onto my lap, "Do you remember hearing about Fen'Harel from Fellani?"
She scrunches her nose as she tries to remember, "Big bad wolf?" I nod.
I sigh and pat her hair as I continue, "Adda's with Fen'Harel."
Her eyes widen and she frowns, "Why?"
"Your Adda loves you very much da'vhenan," I explain. "But you can't come back when you're with Fen'Harel. Adda can't come back."
Her eyes water, "I want Adda!" I hug her to myself and stroke her hair. She's far too young to understand death. "Adda!" Her pleas are muffled by my tunic as her small hands clutch my vest.
As I'm comforting my daughter, Nehnia starts to get upset again, and Nona attempts to comfort her too. Once the da'len have calmed down, Penthea gets up and crouches before me, "We should move. The Templar have probably stripped our aravels, and may be looking for stragglers now that it's light."
I nod and move to stand as the others too get up. I rub Juno's back as I say, "We should try to find something to eat. At least for the young ones."
We walk slowly but efficiently, all of us weary from yesterday, as we make our way north. It's mid-day by the time we feel safe enough to talk. We come across a pond not long after, and Taregan, being our clan's hearthkeeper charged with the preparation of most of our food, asks Nona to help him show the da'len how to gather cattails and edible aquatic plants. I set Juno down, and take the opportunity to speak to Penthea and Merrill. The two women's arms are linked together, with Penthea helping to keep Merrill steady as her reserves of energy have yet to replenish themselves in her self-injured and exhausted state.
"What happened?" I ask, "How did the shemlen overwhelm us?"
Penthea briefly looks to Merrill, before deciding to speak first, "The Templar caught Yelena, and we tried to stop them, but," she swallowed heavily and looked briefly at her sister's back, "They killed Rem. I had to double-back, and when I got to the aravels the shemlen were standing before our people with Yelena on her knees as they beat her in front of her mate and everyone." She broke her gaze from mine, and turned to look at the ground, "The Keeper tried to reason with them. But... they weren't hearing that. Said we had too many mages for them to turn a blind eye. They... cut off Yelena's ear, before they... killed her. Kemari... He charged, then everyone... The shemlen focused on the mages, though. They mostly ignored everyone else... until..."
Merrill spoke up then, "I had to break my promise, and use blood magic, or... or I would've died too." She started twisting her hands in front of her, "I had to find you and the da'len. If-if it wasn't for you and the Keeper letting me stay, I don't know what would've happened to me two years ago."
We stood in silence as I buried my face in my hands. I couldn't believe what I had just heard. But there was one thing I needed to hear, despite my knowing the truth of the matter, I have to hear it. "How," my voice cracked, "How did Dynarin... die?"
Penthea shook her head, "No, lethallan. No. You don't want to know."
"Please!" I beg, "I must know!"
Penthea steps forward and puts a hand on my shoulder. She's still shaking her head as she says, "Abelas, lethallan. Abelas."
Not long after the children have eaten what they could find at the pond's edge, we begin our north-bound trek once more. We come across a beaten, dirt path, and despite our reservations, we decide to travel along it for a time. We have hopes that we will find a merchant's caravan, and could trade our meager belongings for blankets and provisions.
It's several hours later, when after picking some flowers along the road with Nehnia's encouragement, Juno pulls on my skirts and says, "I hungry Mamae."
I scoop her up, and smooth back her hair, "We'll find food soon da'len."
Roughly a half an hour later, there's what sounds like an animal's whines and muffled speech below the hill we've walked up on the path. "I... think I hear people ahead." I stop walking and so does everyone else.
Nehnia cups her ears, "Really?" She strains to hear, "I can't hear anything!" She pouts, then giggles, "You hear so good you could hear a mouse fart, I bet!"
Penthea hushes her, "What should we do, Sadie?"
I look at the huntress critically, "You watch everyone, and I'll go take a look."
She shakes her head, but before she can say anything, her father interrupts, "I'll go with you. If anything," he pauses, "A woman shouldn't go by herself, especially if they're shemlen."
I nod, "Penthea, your skills are needed here. With everyone." I motion towards the line of trees, "Now go. Watch everyone." I point at her pale blue vallaslin, "Protect them, like Mythal."
She nods respectfully, but before she moves off, she hands her father a slim knife from her boot. Taregan and I head down the hill, to see two male shem and a female attempting to right a cart, as one of its wheels lay next to their feet. Their donkey is off to the side, tied to a tree and baying in distress.
I pull on Taregan's elbow and whisper, "Perhaps if we help them, they may give us supplies in return."
He nods, and I step forward towards the female. Taregan is just behind me as I reach out to touch her shoulder, "Excuse me messe-" I'm cut off as she turns and pushes me back.
"Who're blighted flames are you?" she yells.
The two men stop what they're doing to stare at us angrily. One of them say, "Look at 'em tattoos! They them Dalish! They bandits, they are!"
I hold up my hands, "No, we're-" I don't get a single word out more, as the two men charge us. I'm punched in the jaw by one with a dagger in his hand, and he cuts my forearm twice as I block his next attack. I can hear Taregan in a scuffle with the other shem, but I can't offer him aid as I struggle to remove my longsword.
I get it free and put my other hand out, "Stop!" I try to say, "We're not bandits!"
He snorts and charges me again. He's larger than the Templar from yesterday, and I have more difficulty with him, especially as I'm not trying to kill him. Just thinking about my first kill makes bile rise in my throat. I don't want to kill these ignorant fools.
As I dodge the shem's next charge, I turn in time to see an arrow pierce his eye, and his momentum lurch him forward as he falls to the ground dead. I look for Taregan, and see the other shem crouched above him, punching him in the face relentlessly. That shem receives two arrows. One to the chest, and one in the shoulder.
I hear Penthea's voice boom down the hill as she calls her father's name, and turn to see her bow pulled taught and an arrow pointed at the female shem. The female falls on her knees, "Please! Maker please!"
Penthea reluctantly relaxes her bow, and makes her way down the hill and towards her father. We silently lift Taregan onto our shoulders, and make our way up the hill, with female shemlen's cries at our backs.
Penthea leads us through the trees to an area with many smaller hills, and a cave at the foot of one. We set her father down, and Nona rushes over.
"Adda!" She calls to him, "What happened sister?"
"Shemlen," Penthea snarls.
Merrill manages to put Taregan to sleep with one of her spells, and Nehnia is able to also stop his bleeding. His face is bloody, his nose broken, and several ribs are cracked and broken as well. His right arm is useless, dislocated and cracked at the shoulder. Nehnia offers to heal my forearm as much as she can too, and afterwards she falls into a fitful sleep from all the mana she's spent.
Nona is watching Juno as I lead Penthea and Merrill to the lip of the small cave. "He needs real healing," I say concerned.
Penthea frowns, "The shemlen might have elfroot or a healing potion." She nods to herself, "Yes. I'll go check." The huntress bounds off before either myself or Merrill can say anything of her plan.
Penthea returns some moments later with a bundle of fabric in her arms. "The shemlen asha has fled and striped the cart and took the donkey. I was able to find some bread and cheese, blankets and cloaks."
I sigh and rub at my forehead, "Since the shem were here, there must be a town or village nearby. Perhaps we can trade for a healing poultice."
"We can't go anywhere," Penthea says, "But I can go."
"Emma vhenan," Merrill starts, but I interrupt.
"No, you will stay, and I'll go." Penthea furrows her eyebrows and makes to speak, but I continue, "You are a huntress. You can feed and ensure the safety of the others as I go."
"Neither of you should go alone," Merrill says.
I shake my head, "You're still weak Merrill, and in no shape to fight. Nona doesn't know how to fight. And Nehnia and Juno are just da'len. Penthea is capable of ensuring all of your safeties, as I am not. I can protect myself enough though."
Merrill frowns, but Penthea nods, "Very well, lethallan. You should leave in the morning, and take advantage of the light. It's too close to dark now."
Merrill sighs, but also nods, "Tonight, before you leave, we should also honor our dead. We can't bury them... but we should do something."
We find a sapling tree, and plant it over an empty grave that Merrill is able to dig with the nature magic she is able to gather from her small mana pool. Taregan is still unconscious, but Nona and Penthea honor their mother's passing with a few small wreaths of wildflowers on the tree's branches. Merrill ties her green scarf around the tree's trunk, and Juno, Nehnia and I surround the tree with small, smooth stones we were able to find nearby. Merrill sings Uthenera for the departed, and we bow our heads as the solemn words wash over us. When Merrill is finished with the eulogy, I feel compelled to sing the song Suledin:
Melava inan enansal
ir su araval tu elvaral
u na emma abelas
in elgar sa vir mana
in tu setheneran din emma na
lath sulevin
lath araval ena
arla ven tu vir mahvir
melana 'nehn
enasal ir sa lethalin
The others join me after I recite the first line, and once we are done, we all fall silent. I'm grasping Juno's hand, silent tears falling down my face, when a memory comes unbidden to my mind.
"There will be a day... Din mahvir. Mana... Where you sing suledin vhenan. Sulahn suledin vhenan. Sulahn suledin vhenan." An old woman with silver hair and ethereal eyes chants. She shakes her head and says, "You will need to search for the Grand Oak then da'len. Only the Oak can tell you how to stop singing. Only the Oak can tell you how to find the answer to your question..."
That woman... She prophesied this! She knew this would happen!
I clutch Juno's hand tighter, but don't say anything of my revelation. I don't know what it means for us, for me. But we are all still grieving. Worry over the elder's words must come later. There are far more pressing issues to attend to now.
I prepare to leave early in the morning at first light. I'm taking one of the smaller cloaks with me and some hard cheese, and the others have promised to look after Juno and Nehnia while I'm gone. I've told then that if I'm not back by the morning of the fifth day, then they must do what they need to to get to the Uaine. I set off after I've kissed Juno's brow, as she lays peacefully sleeping cuddled with Nehnia.
Two days later I'm alone and it is raining fast, icy raindrops. Winter is threatening to come on this dark night, as I'm desperately looking for shelter. I come across yet another person in need of aid, as they struggle with their stuck horse and cart in the rain. I'm cautious as I approach the horse's master, but offer aid all the same. After I help restore the horse and cart to the dirt road with reluctant assistance from the horse's master, the horse's master introduces himself.
And I know him.
He's Zevran Arainai.
…...
Note: Guys! So this update was -a lot- quicker than I thought it would be! All thanks to my awesome philosophy professor changing the due date of our essay! Why use the extra time to work on an essay, when I can write fanfiction? lol. :P Next update though, won't be until after finals. But! We're at the end of the flashback period and back to the time the first chapter started off at! And Zevran has finally entered the picture! :D
Translations:
Mamae: 'Mother'
Adda: Non-canon elvish word for 'Father'
Fen'Harel: the Dread Wolf, Lord of Tricksters, Roamer of the Beyond and bringer of nightmares.
da'vhenan: 'little heart'
Abelas: 'Sorrow'. - Used as an apology.
asha: 'girl'
Emma vhenan: 'My heart'
Uthenera: The elvish eulogy.
Lyrics to Suledin: Very roughly translated as: 'Time was once a blessing. / But long journeys are made longer / When alone within. / Take spirit from the long ago. / But do not dwell in lands no longer yours. / Be certain in need, / And the path will emerge / To a home tomorrow. / And time will again / Be the joy it once was.'
Din mahvir: 'Not tomorrow'
Mana: 'Long amount of time'
Sulahn suledin vhenan: 'Sing the song Suledin for the heart'
