Heart's Finding: Part One, A Story of the Past



Disclaimer: I do NOT own ElfQuest. Wendy and Richard Pini own it, as well as the concepts of Recogntion, Holts, and Chieftess'. However, I own these characters, the Holt they are in, and the plot of this story. Please enjoy, it's only Fanfiction!^_^

Serinya laughed teasingly as she raced through the Holt at her fastest speed. She was a pretty elfess, with long, raven-dark hair and a dark brown complexion the color of milk chocolate. Behind her, a handsome, darker elfin man with hair the color of a blackbird's wing chased her, holding a multi-colored, flimsy scarf in his hand that, apparently, was hers. Suddenly, she stopped short, with rounded golden eyes, as her stern Chieftess mother came out right ahead of her. Teythia, with a slightly muscled yet lovely figure, had darker than ink hair and a complexion that her daughter had inherited. The handsome male vanished at the sight of his Chieftess, leaving his teenaged 'playmate' to face her mother alone.
Teythia sighed and sent softly to her daughter. **You can't go on being a wild flirt forever, Serinya. Someday, you will be Chieftess, and I expect people to respect you. They won't do that if you go on acting like an air-headed floozy. **
Her mother's words shocked the young elfess, and she hung her head in shame. **I don't mean to...but who here is worthy of my ultimate devotion? I have met none...and the 'games' I play are fun, mother! ** The last was sent in a pleading voice.
Her mother frowned, but as she was about to reply, and urgent send broke through her concentration. ** Yes, Irian, what is it? ** She asked, sending to the head hunter of the Holt at that time.
He responded loudly and shrilly, as was his wont. ** It-It's Dreamstare, my Chieftess! He...he got HURT on a hunt...please come. **
Sighing and mumbling something about 'never should have sent that dreamy-eyed, wolf-blooded elf along...Too much high one and not enough wolf OR sun elf...** She took off, with a look at her daughter that told Serinya that she would continue the discussion later.
Serinya sighed with relief. She then thought for a moment about the sending. She barely knew Dreamstare. He was terribly old, older than her mother, older than any other elf in the Holt. Many said he was half High One, half wolf-elf, but no one knew for sure. All they knew was his head kept up in the clouds way to often for him to be much of a hunter, yet he always wanted to hunt with the others. Serinya felt vaguely curious, but she instead simply smiled at her 'playmate' who had been hiding in the bushes. He winked back, and she walked over to where he was and let him carry her into a nearby empty hut...

300 years later...

Serinya was in the unused hot springs that were so far from the Holt that none of the others even remembered they existed. Or so she thought, anyway. Of course, a couple of her 'playmates' were with her- Irian and Reyn, this time. They were all laughing and enjoying themselves greatly when all of a sudden, a figure appeared at the pool's edge. Tall, slender, and paler than a normal desert elf, the fire-haired Dreamstare sat, shirtless, by the hot springs. As Serinya looked up, startled, he grinned. **Your mother wants to see you. ** He sent quietly, after which he stood, and walked away. She stared after him with mixed feelings for a moment, then, with apologetic smiles to the two males, climbed out of the springs, toweled off, and got dressed quickly.
Slightly disheveled but otherwise lovely, she came into the Holt only to find her mother lying in her hut, apparently dying. **But...Mother...I...** She didn't know what to say, and was so stunned that she could barely speak, tears coming to her luminescent golden eyes.
Teythia's deep azure eyes sparkled with tears, but before she could respond, she was thrown into a violent series of coughs. Finally, they subsided, and she sent softly, weakly, to her daughter. **You...are going to be Chieftess, and I hope you'll act it. Please...for my sake...I can't be helped...the Healers here aren't strong enough, they have never encountered this disease. I am dying, my daughter, and you must find the strength in you to go on and become a great Chieftess...and...you...must...learn...to...accept...** but here, she trailed away. Desperately, Serinya checked her mother for a pulse. The little girl who had never grown up was now Chieftess- Teythia was dead. Holding her mother tightly, she let out a howl- a sign of the wolf blood in her veins, the solemn mourners outside the hut supposed. In reverence, all, even full sun-elves, raised their heads and howled, long and loud. Yet only Dreamstare howled as loudly and as sorrowfully as the new Chieftess...

350 years later...

At 670, Serinya was much wiser. Now, she had no 'playmates', no love in her life whatsoever, though, and that worried tribesmates. If she had no children, who would lead in the event of her death? Sighing, Serinya heard the rumors. Early one morning, before the hot sun had risen, she crept quietly out of the Holt to a large rock overlying the springs that were now an enclosed part of the ever-growing tribe. Recently, however, several elves had died from snakebites. She sighed, and lay on her stomach, supporting her head with her hands, and stared at the stars. Suddenly, a soft, gentle sending surprised her.
** You like it out here, too, my Chieftess? **
She looked. It was Dreamstare. A slight smile came across her lovely features. ** Yes, I do... It brings me peace when I can find none... What about you? **
He looked deep in her eyes with his large green ones. She felt a slight emotional thrill, a shock of sorts, and felt odd, as if she knew something else about him...and as if he knew something about her. Haltingly, he sent, not sounding very sure of himself. **Me? I...like...the view I suppose...all those stars...And, this early morn, YOU, Tyia...** His eyes widened with surprise at the thing he had called her.
She gulped, air seemed hard to find, all of a sudden. ** Ruie, I...NO! I CAN'T be Recognizing YOU! You-you are at least 5 times my age, and-and you are a DREAMER! I can't...I just CAN'T! ** She leapt up, and though he tried to grab her arm, she ran too quickly, escaping to the privacy of her hut. He whispered softly after her. "It will get worse, I fear, before it gets better...I think I have known your soul before you were born...only now did I realize it was you."
Alone in her hut, Serinya sobbed. Why had the High Ones done this to her? WHY? She didn't WANT to be Dreamstare's mate...of course, something in her was saying, 'Yes you did. You liked him long ago, you were just too proud to admit it.' This made her cry even more, until she heard a soft tapping on her window, and looked up with teary, bleary golden eyes edged in red from all the tears.
Dreamstare stood there. One of the desert's rare rains had begun earlier, and his long red hair was soaked. He was shivering, but still smiling in through the window at her.
She gasped as he began to cough, and, despite herself, she ran outside and pulled him into her hut.
**Here, drink this...** She had heated up some water and made an herbal tea- her mother had taught her the merits of herbs long, long ago. She handed him the cup, which he accepted gratefully. Then she sighed and sent softly as he sipped the tea. ** I should not have run away like that...it was a childish thing to do, wasn't it? I...should have realized that it is all for the best...I...Oh, what was I thinking, Ruie? ** She hugged him fiercely, perhaps a bit TOO fiercely-he began to cough again. She released him quickly and made another cup of tea for him, this one with more peppermint and chamomile. She handed him the cup with a sheer determination in her eyes. After he drank it, he stood up. He was so tall...She thought.
He smiled softly. ** Tyia...you are more like your mother than I ever imagined...yet so different...you know...once, long, long ago...before she Recognized your father, I was one of her...I believe the word would be 'playmate's. ** He grinned and took one of Serinya's slender hands. **I do not think we should fight this...I think we can learn to love each other...I think I already love YOU, my dear Tyia...**
She smiled nervously, then fell into his arms in an embrace of warmth and acceptance like none she had ever felt...she had at last found one worthy of her deeper feelings...



End of Part One