Disclaimer: As you all know, I don't own anything that seems familiar.

Author's notes: Thanks a lot to everyone who reviewed, I appreciate your comments very much.

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Chapter Two: Gray

"Salida, you can stop pretending to be unconscious now. They are all gone."

Salida flickered one eye.

"Uh... where am I...?"

Someone sat down on the bed next to her.

"I said: you can stop it now."

Salida sighed and then sat straight up so quickly that her head almost hit her father's, who was bending over her. She gave him a reproachful look.

"You know, you could at least pretend to believe me."

Her father chuckled but tried to stay serious.

"I already did as long as we weren't alone," he said, "And this way spared you lots of trouble... but why do I explain that to you - you were conscious all the time."

He paused for a moment, gazing at the floor. Then he looked back up at his daughter.

"Salida, I know you don't want to marry... but no one is talking about marriage yet."

"But soon you will!" Salida interrupted him, "I don't want to!"

"Shhh..."

Her father pulled her into his arms, stroking her black hair.

"Nothing is decided yet... give this young man a chance. Try to be kind with him, maybe you've got a wrong impression... He is still waiting downstairs. I'd suggest you should have an unprejudiced look at him and talk to him, start with just half an hour if you want to. But give him a chance and do not provoke him... and please, no further fainting." Salida could hear her father suppress another chuckle. The strange thought that he might actually be proud of her acting-talent occurred to her. "Running away is not a solution, Salida... so just try, please." He softly took her shoulders, looked her into the face and smiled. "And if he is really that bad, we will... as you young people would put it... 'kick his dumb little ass outta our house'."

Salida could not help but laugh. It sounded just too odd on her dignified elven father.

"Dad! Mind your language!"

He smirked, obviously happy to have cheered up his daughter, then kissed her on the brow and stood up from the bed.

"I have to go now," he said, "I need to talk to your mother..."

He took some steps towards the door, but then looked back over his shoulder once again.

"Oh, and don't forget to let the cook know that you are very hungry and thus would like a big portion for supper... you don't want to let your guest starve, do you."

"Dad!" Salida shouted, but then quickly lowered her voice, "How... why... Do you spy on me?"

Her father grinned.

"Oh, it's not like I did that on purpose, but elven ears tend to... inform their owner rather precisely what's happening next-doors... well also next to next-doors... and also..."

He saw a silver dash and the next thing he knew he was lying on the floor, giggling and begging for mercy from the heavy tickling-attack he found himself in.

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After he had managed to escape his daughter, Elryn left the house through the back door, which led him into the garden. Thick gray clouds were gathering above the trees ahead of him, but he supposed that it was not going to rain before the early hours of the morning.

Crossing the piece of lawn and approaching the little grove that filled most of the garden, he thought for what seemed like the hundredth time how small this garden was. He knew that it was big compared to normal gardens in cities, but he had still not gotten used to these standards - it looked tiny to him, who had grown up in the middle of a vast forest.

On a flat stone behind the tallest tree, Elryn found his wife. She was sitting with her chin on her knees and her arms wrapped around them, flipping small stones and twigs into the little fountain nearby.

"Is Salida alright?" she asked without turning around.

"You heard me coming?"

"Your people aren't the only ones with good ears."

Elryn smiled and kissed her hair.

"Salida is of perfect health," he told her. His wife finally turned around to look at him, her dark-blue eyes sad.

"I'm not talking about physical well-being in the first place, and you know that. Is she angry with us... me?"

Elryn sighed and sat down next to her on the stone.

"She was. But I think she is alright now."

She just nodded and then turned towards the fountain again.

"How did you know I was here?" she asked after a while. Her voice had lost its usual hard sound. Elryn smiled, put an arm around her shoulders and rested his head against hers.

"Druids seek comfort in nature when they are sad."

She tried to laugh, but it sounded bitter.

"I'm not a druid anymore... and why would I be sad?"

"Cania, it is not a weakness to feel sad sometimes."

His wife shook her head.

"No... It's just... I decided for what's best for Salida, didn't I? Than why does that make me feel so uncomfortable?"

Elryn eyed her lovingly, yet also a little sad, and leaned in to kiss her.

"Because you are not the block of ice that you pretend to be."

She snorted and tried to push him away half-heartedly, but he held her close and rested his head against her shoulder.

"You know... I think maybe we should leave this city for a while," he said, "We could visit my family and some of my old friends..."

His wife gave him a stern glance, but she could not completely banish the longing from her eyes. "If you... miss your family, we can invite them," she said slowly, keeping her voice calm with some obvious difficulty, "But we shouldn't leave this city for the woods again... it's not what would be... appropriate."

Elryn, his head still on Cania's shoulder, closed his eyes in resignation.

"I see..."

Both of them sat still for a while, just listening to the other's breathing and the birds; most of them were sea-gulls as Elryn noticed with little interest. Then he heard a door being slammed inside of the house, and only seconds later his daughter's demanding voice.

"DAD!", Salida shouted as she came running out of the house, "DAD, WHERE ARE YOU?"

Cania had heard her by now, too, and quickly stood up. Her husband kept sitting on the stone and called, "I am here, honey. Near the fountain."

He heard dry twigs breaking under his daughter's quick steps, and then Salida came around the trunk of the big tree.

"There's no way I'm gonna marry that walking sleeping potion, dad!" she shouted, then realized her mother standing next to her father and stoped short. Cania was looking at her only daughter with her usual severe expression, and all the softness had vanished from her voice again when she spoke.

"Salida Aerin, we have long thought about what would be the best for you. Olan is a young man of gentle mind--"

"Of SIMPLE mind, in the first place," Salida interrupted her heatedly. Elryn feared that his wife was going to slap their daughter in the face for a moment. But luckily, her immense self-control did not permit her to do so. Yet, her voice was trembling with anger when she said, "Don't you interrupt me, young lady. When I speak, you listen."

Salida's face looked hard, as if it was made out of stone.

"Yes, mother."

Salida's voice had taken an unusual sharp tone. Cania took a deep breath before she continued. "So, as I just said, Olan is a friendly, well-bred person from a good and respectable family. According to tradition and good behavior, you will have to marry in a few years. And even if you are not thrilled by every word Olan says, you are still better off than hundreds and thousands of other women who have to marry brutal egoists for whom a wife counts no more than cattle... And I'd like to remind you, by the way, that I should not have to explain all this to you. As my daughter, you will obey me."

Salida's lower lip started trembling, and her father could tell only by the unnatural shimmer in the bluish-purple eyes that it was not only because of anger but also because of sadness and humilitaion.

"Yes, mother," she repeated, then turned around and left slowly, as if to keep at least a shred of dignity, or as if she simply lacked any motivation for further hurry. Though, Elryn could hear that she started running when she reached the piece of lawn.