Chapter Sixty-two

Family

I had to wait a little bit before either Kalos or Tiriana got off duty. I was thinking I'd talk to Kalos first, since I was more obviously related to him, but Tiriana got off duty before him. She found me as soon as she returned to the camp. "I'm Tiriana Lussanen, one of the druids here on the White Guard. You look so familiar, you remind me of someone. Who are you?"

"Funny, because you remind me of someone too. You look like the spitting image of my mother, Meldalós."

Her eyes got so wide I thought they'd pop out of her head. "She— You're her daughter?"

I smiled. "I am."

"How?" she stammered.

"Obviously you know that she disappeared or left. She left with a high elf and went to Lystran, and—"

"It was years, many, many years ago, there was talk of when— I guess it would be your father then who left, and we of the Lussanen family had no idea. She just disappeared one day. I would gather out of fear from her father. I guess I should—" She took a breath. "I'm your mother's cousin. My mother and her mother are sisters.

"When it happened, I had just started my training and was coming to take my place as a White Guard. I didn't ever get all the details, but shortly after it happened, things started to change in Dolanaar. After she disappeared there was an uprising against your grandmother."

I cocked my head in confusion. "My grandmother?"

"Yes, the wood elves are—well, were—predominantly ruled by a matriarchy. Men of course were still involved, but the women are the main decision-makers. But after your mother went missing, there were a lot of questions and rumors about what happened to her. Some said she was murdered, or that there was a conspiracy going on, all sorts of things. A group decided that the Lussanens were no longer fit to rule and overthrew them."

Her lip started to quiver. "I was allowed to stay on the White Guard because I was already here, but I haven't heard from anyone in the family in years. They seem to have been taken, captured, or something. They are no longer in a position of prominence, and no one knows where they are. Or if they do, they aren't talking."

It was silent for a moment. It seemed as though we both didn't know much about what was going on, didn't know where to find our family members. Had they been killed? Would that put my mother next in line? What had she done before she left?

Tiriana came out of her thoughts first. "But tell me about yourself. Your mother went to Lystran with your father, when were you born? How old are you?"

"I'm nearing my eightieth year."

"I could tell you were young, but that young? What have you been doing? How did you grow up?"

I told her of life growing up in Raishan as part of a woodcarving family. About exploring the forest, and then the grasslands. How I became a ranger, though I didn't yet mention who I thought Shadow really was. I was almost certain, but it could have been an uncanny coincidence.

I told her about how we came to Fenraas and the Tree. I asked about what time my mother disappeared, which she said was almost twenty years before I was born. That was about the same time that E'ran had told me that my father had disappeared.

I asked more questions about how the wood elves were now ruled. There was a council consisting of a member of each of the noble families, with the exception of the Lussanens. The council members had just put themselves there, there was no election or anything. She didn't know which family had started the coup.

"So, my mother was the daughter of the queen?"

"Yes, though she had older sisters that were in line for the throne before her. We didn't use the title of queen, the title we used was Erael O'Si, which means Heart Mother. We've used that term as far as our history goes, probably since the division between the wood and the high elves."

She told me that there were many theories about the reason the elves split. There was the disagreement about pursuing knowledge or maintaining the balance of nature that most everyone knew about, but some thought that the manner of how to govern was part of the reason, a matriarchy or a patriarchy.

If that was part of the reason for the split, and now the wood elves didn't even have a matriarchy, what would happen to them? Would they divide even further? "What might happen if I show up with information about my mother?"

She bit her lip. "I wouldn't necessarily worry for your life, but I know there are those on the council who want to keep it that way. The members of the council, though they are mostly women, there are a few men on the council of the wood elves that still don't like the matriarchy idea, though I don't know who might be a problem or a threat.

"Though, if you and your friends were able to fix whatever is going on, it would certainly go a long way to helping the cause and getting the Lussanens on the throne again."

Great, so I might be accepted when I saved the Tree, but I was pretty sure that to do that I was going to have to somehow unify everyone. Tiriana told me that the members of the royal families who were on the White Guard were not allowed to be in line for the throne, so she would not be allowed to take it, even if she were the last one left. "Whenever I go back to Dolanaar I always stay in animal form, as a druid. I never know what mischief might be going on, or who might be being watched or not."

Hearing that, I was glad we hadn't gone to Dolanaar. If the White Guard from the royal family didn't even feel safe, what might happen to me, as one who would be in line to the throne? I knew there was a reason I had a bad feeling about going there. How was I going to help unify everyone if I was in danger in Dolanaar?

She told me about her training as a druid, it was one of the only trainings a guard did that they were sent somewhere else to complete. She was trained by the Air Ashari druids, high up in the mountains. I recognized the name as the same group that Ari'yasa trained under.

She had only recently come back to the Tree to guard it, cutting her training short because of the threats around the Tree. Both she and the other druid, Rania, came at the same time. The threats hadn't gotten to the Tree, the local guards would be dispatched to take care of them long before they reached the Tree.

They weren't exactly sure where the threats were coming from. The Air Ashari were located in a different part of the mountains than the threats seemed to be coming from. One could only reach the Air Ashari by teleportation circle.

I had a thought come to me. "Wait, if the wood elves are a matriarchal society, why would my mother have been afraid of her father finding out about her love interest?"

She grimaced. "That would be because he was afraid of the other wood elf and high elf White Guard families trying to remove the royal families from the Guard."

"Because of the intermixing?"

"At the root level, yes." Tiriana said.

So instead, the Lussanens were deposed. I guess my mother's plan had backfired.

Neither of us had any more questions for one another, so she went to go get something to eat, having just got off her shift. Kalos got off his shift shortly after I talked to Tiriana. I caught him just after he had finished eating. "Hey! So, I guess we're kinda family."

"I suppose we are. I guess I would be a cousin of sorts to you. My father and your father were brothers. That's why they came— Your father was the older of the two brothers, so when he went missing they went to the next younger, and I guess found the next one who was good with a bow, which I seem to have always been."

I laughed. "Seems to run in the family."

"It must." He looked at my bow. "That is uncanny. Did your father help you make that?"

"Um, I guess so?"

He cocked his head. "What do you mean, you guess so?"

"Well, I had a mentor who helped me as a ranger, and I guess my father disguised himself to do that. I'm not entirely sure why, but—"

"Well, I could understand why, if he wanted to teach you, but not have the barrier there of him being your father, and there being the expectation, I can definitely see why.

"Tell me more— Actually, let me describe your father, and see if it's the same." He described the armor and bow and other equipment he had, and it was uncanny how well the description fit Shadow's belongings. I had known my father had a bow, but it was always kept locked in his room. That cabinet was one I was never to open. He probably kept the rest of his equipment in there as well. Was there anything my mother kept there?

It made sense now why he hadn't revealed himself at the time, but why not later? Did he intend to show up and train me again? No wonder Shadow seemed to get pleasure from teaching me.

I stammered for a minute. "That was, yup, that was Shadow's."

"Your father was more than just a ranger. Our friend over there," he said, pointing to the elf in black, "our friend Vax over there taught him quite a bit once he came onto the rangers. He always seemed to have a knack for being able to hide better than most, even though he was a high elf. He was very good at it, so Vax taught him more."

Evidently, every once in a while some of the Guard would get cross-training into another class to heighten their skills, similar to what I was now doing as a cleric. My father became a rogue by learning from Vax. My father was a rogue too? No wonder we were both so stealthy.

Kalos knew my father, but didn't do a lot with him. He was just coming to adulthood when my father disappeared. He was one of the younger members of the White Guard, barely coming up on two-hundred. Most of the others were much older, I guessed that Nieven was captain because he had been there the longest.

Kalos told me that the members of the White Guard only retired if they chose to retire. Some of them would retire so they could have families, but they had to wait for their replacement to be found before they could leave the Guard, unless there was a strange vacancy, like my father. While there had been some gaps at the guard, within the past few months all the positions had been filled, with the coming of Tiriana and Rania.

I asked Kalos if he knew how old my father was. It was just something I'd never asked about growing up, or when I did, my parents just told me elves lived a lot longer than humans, and it didn't really matter. Based on how old his father was, and that my father had been on the guard for a long time, he was guessing in the four to five-hundreds. That was around the same ages as Sephra and Melima.

He explained that wood elves tended to have families earlier, and were brought onto the White Guard younger, while the high elves waited a bit longer, valuing knowledge and academic training before settling down or coming to the Guard, since we live so long anyway.

"How long was there a vacancy between you and my father on the White Guard?" I asked.

"Ah, well, once your father left, they found me. Luckily I had already begun some training, just because I enjoy the longbow. But they had me train for nearly seventy years before they brought me on. It's only been the last thirty years or so that I've been here. The only ones that are newer than me are the two druids that they brought down because of the threats."

"Wow." I paused. "Growing up among humans, it seems so strange to me that that would be the training length, but it makes sense for elves I guess."

"Yes, it is a very methodical process. We will learn all about a bow and how to use it before we ever touch one. The wood elves take a similar amount of time to train, but they go about it a little bit differently. We do get a lot of experience just training with each other, sparring, when it's necessary, going on small missions, though the majority of the Guard are always at the Tree. We never leave the Tree unguarded."

"Of course," I said.

"You look like you're pretty well versed in the bow as well."

"Yeah, well, I guess I learned from one of the best. Not that I realized it at the time." I laughed.

"He was one of the best."

I thought about how I wanted to phrase my thoughts into a question. "What was our grandfather's reaction when my father left? Would he be open to meeting me as a granddaughter, do you think?"

"Ah, grandfather. That is an interesting question. Grandfather was not nearly as open-minded as others. It would take a long while before you would be accepted as part of the Nosgartha family. First off, just because you have wood elf blood in you. Not any offense to that, but that is just the generational gap that there is.

"As I've learned in my years here— The White Guard, race does not matter to them, if they are high elf or wood elf, those do not matter. The only thing that matters is the Tree, and that is what makes us such a good team, is we do not let that division divide us, and there needs to be more of that."

"I wholeheartedly agree. I have a feeling that has something to do with what is going on, but I don't know why, or how."

"Well, if you can figure out what's going on with the Tree, that would certainly go a long way. I mean, if your group was able to help us, being saviors of the White Tree, the Eternity Tree, you would be heroes among both our peoples."

"I could imagine so."

"I don't think anyone would be able to say any less of you." Again, how would we unify them, heal the division, in order to save the Tree? Everyone talked about it in the other order.

We sat there for a moment, then Kalos slapped his hands on the table. "Well, would you like to get some practice in?"

"Sure! I would love to see how I compare!"

Before we made it over to the range, a crowd gathered around the arena. Keothi and Thuria were squaring off, each holding their own warhammer. Thuria, the High Elven fighter Keothi had been talking to, had a huge grin on her face. She leaned over in a defensive position. "Come on, show me what you've got!"

She waited for Keothi to move first. He rushed forward, giving her a blow to her chest. She stood there like a rock. He connected a second blow to her breastplate, and she stepped back just a little bit. Her armor barely seemed dinged.

Her grin grew even bigger. "My turn!"

She swung her hammer into his side, then continued her swing with one hand, coming back and hitting him again, then repeated the motion again. She slung her hammer over her shoulder and laughed. "You're fun!"

She stepped back several paces, Keothi unable to connect a blow as she stepped away. He rushed forward again, striking her in the side. He hit the head of her hammer, flipping it out of her hands. It landed a few paces away. She looked back. "Well, that one's new!"

He swung at her again, but she dropped into a more defensive stance and ducked out of the way. She turned to grab her weapon, but Keothi swept at her legs, knocking her off balance. She looked back at him and cracked her neck. "Well, that's not my only option."

She curled her hands into fists and punched him in his core several times. He swung to block her strikes, but she worked around him. He finally connected a couple of strikes, one to her thigh, and one to the side of her breastplate. "You really are a pain," she said.

She turned again to grab her weapon, trying to dodge Keothi's swings, but he undercut behind her leg, keeping her from moving again. She looked back at him with a laugh. "You're quicker than I thought! You asked for this!"

She tried to punch him again, but only connected with one blow. Her last punch connected with the head of Keothi's hammer, which she had to shake off. She was huffing as she glanced over her shoulder at her hammer.

Keothi scored a couple more hits to her side, then she shoved him back several paces. Seeing her smaller frame push him back so far was incredible. She scrambled for her weapon, then stepped back several more paces. She was still smiling, but looking worn down. "Don't do that again."

"That sounds like an invitation," Keothi said. He rushed forward with a wide swing. She was waiting for him, and dodged his swings easily. "Alright, let's end this."

She struck his side, then missed a second blow. She scored another hit to his chest, holding firmly to her hammer. "Are we done yet?"

"Not until the end," Keothi said. She blocked his next swing with the handle of her hammer, but couldn't block his next. She swung her hammer into his gut, knocking the wind out of him and making him keel over a bit, then she flipped her hammer around, holding the head, and smacked the handle into the goliath's head.

Keothi slumped over on the ground, unconscious. Thuria stood there for a moment, panting, then looked over at the group that had gathered to watch. "Well, that was interesting. I haven't had a fight like that in a while."

She rolled Keothi over, onto his back, then took her water flask and poured it on his face. She slapped him awake and pulled him to his feet. "That's the best fight I've had in a while."

"Same here," Keothi said. He was panting as well, and wasn't quite moving as fast as he normally did.

"Let's go get a drink," Thuria said.

"Thank you for illuminating the benefit of magical enhancement," Keothi said. She just chuckled as they made their way back to the tents.

Kalos and I finished our way to the archery range. One of the mages explained to me the rules of the contest. Three arrows, three targets. We'd each earn points based on how close to the bullseye we got. Whoever had more points after each target would be declared the winner. Simple enough.

The first target was an open target, about thirty paces away. I took a few moments to steady my aim, then let the arrow fly. I let out a breath of satisfaction to see it land a hair off the center of the bullseye. Kalos landed his arrow right on the border of the bullseye and the first ring. I was one point ahead.

The first target was moved away, and the second target prepared. It was a little farther, behind a board to partially obscure it. My arrow hit just left of dead center. My arrow was removed, and Kalos' arrow planted just as far from the center, but towards the bottom. I was still ahead by one point.

The third target was hanging in a tree and smaller. The mage judging our contest created an ethereal hand that shoved the target to make it swing. My timing was just a little off to hit the moving target and I hit the first ring, just outside the bullseye. Kalos pulled back with almost a lazy draw and hit the target in the bullseye. Obviously, it wasn't his first time shooting the target. We were at a tie.

The mage nodded his approval and held up a finger. "Okay, let's do one more."

The rogue in black, the one Kalos had called Vax, came over and held up a small stone. "Here's the tiebreaker. Whoever hits this after I throw it, wins."

He threw it into the air. I took quick aim and let off my arrow as the stone began to fall, Kalos letting go about the same time as me. It looked for a moment as if our arrows would collide in midair. Kalos had aimed just above where I had, knicking the stone and changing the trajectory. My arrow flew by, right underneath, missing only because the stone had been pushed away in its fall.

Cheers erupted around us. We both laughed at how close our arrows were. I gave him a nudge. "You're a pretty good shot!"

While Kalos had won, I'd given him a good run, and my skill was right up there with his. I'd nearly beat a White Guard in archery, my father had trained me well. It seemed I'd inherited the Nosgartha marksmanship.