This takes place during the patrol talked about in the last one.
"Bird, rock, mushroom, more rocks... Oh, look!" Sky said sarcastically, bending to pick something up. "A stick! Wow, we're finding all sorts of things on this patrol, aren't we?"
Felrion came up beside her and patted her on the shoulder. "It's only a few more hours, Sky."
"A few more hours of walking along the perimeter of the forest, looking at sticks," Sky sighed. "I'd do a lot more good on my own."
"Well, maybe you can change the way patrols work once you're a princess," Kilvara told her.
Sky rolled her eyes and leapt into a tree. "Anyone seen anything interesting?" she called.
A series of amused "No"s came back at her.
"Of course not," she sighed—but then she caught some movement in the distance. Her eyes focused on the spot immediately, but whatever it was, it was just over the hill and she couldn't quite see it from where she stood.
Finally, a chance for excitement. "Oh, patrol leader," she called to Kilvara, "there's something out there—probably harmless, but I'm going to go see. Want to come?"
"Sky and I are going out to look at something," Kilvara told the others. "Stay here unless we call you." The two she-elves ran out into the open.
Sky slowed as she neared the top of the hill and cocked her head to listen, but she didn't hear anything—wait. Was that...? "Oh, no," she whispered, sprinting up over the top. Kilvara followed.
Sky almost stepped on it—the dirty pile of rags on the ground—but she spotted it at the last moment and crouched for a closer look, then gave a choked cry and fell to her knees. "It" was a child—a human girl—but so emaciated she looked like a skeleton. Her brown eyes flickered open when Sky touched her, but they were unfocused. Sky couldn't get her voice to work, but Kilvara took one look at the girl and started screaming for Felrion.
. . . . . .
Back in the safety of the trees, Sky and Kilvara waited anxiously as Felrion examined the girl; Kilvara tapped her fingers on the trunk of a young tree, while Sky paced restlessly. Finally, Felrion turned away from the child, and the she-elves watched him anxiously, their hearts in their throats.
Felrion shook his head.
Sky felt like the ground had fallen out from under her. She was barely conscious of Kilvara saying, "Come on, Sky. Let's go run for a while, okay?" She pushed her friend away and knelt over the little girl. Her eyes were clear now—Felrion must have given her some sort of medicine—and she looked at Sky curiously. Sky picked her up—she weighed almost nothing!—and looked around, then went over to one of the trees and started climbing, holding the girl with one arm. She kept going until she was far, far above the sounds of the patrol, and then finally settled on a branch. It was just starting to get dark, but she thought it was warm enough for the human child.
The girl was watching her with a look of awe. "Hi," Sky said in the Common tongue.
"Are you an elf?" the girl asked sleepily.
Sky smiled. "Yes, I am. My name's Sky; what's yours?"
"Mira."
"Hi, Mira. Where are you from?" Sky asked.
"The river," the girl said shyly.
Sky doubted Greenwood's river could have washed her in from anywhere; she must have meant she had grown up by a river. "The river? Are you a fish?"
Mira giggled. "Yes."
"Wow," Sky said. "I've always wanted to talk to a fish. What do fishes do?"
"They swim." Elves don't know much, do they? Mira's tone said.
"Oh. And why are you so far from your river, fish?"
"I got lost."
Very, very lost, Sky thought. "Your mommy and daddy fishes must be looking for you."
"No," Mira disagreed. "They told me to go away."
Sky fought back her horror—how could someone have done this to any child, let alone their own?—and held the girl more tightly. "That's not good. You're only a little fish."
"Can I be an elf now?" Mira wanted to know.
"No," Sky told her. "You're going to go somewhere really special, where there's lots and lots of food and no one will ever tell you to go away ever again."
"But I want to stay with you," Mira complained.
"I know. I want you to stay with me, too, but I can't keep you." Sky forced a smile. "Does anything hurt, little fish?"
"No."
That was one small mercy, Sky thought. If Felrion had not been there... "That's good." She wrapped the little one in her cloak and gazed up at the stars.
. . . . . .
"I see them," Coryn called, jumping down from his perch on a branch. "Can you make it another minute without seeing Sky, prince?"
Thranduil rolled his eyes and leaned back against the tree, making a point of looking as relaxed as he could.
Storm chuckled. "Still not talking to me, I take it?"
Thranduil gave him a look, then turned his head away. He wondered if Eithryn would get revenge on Coryn for him if he told her what he had done to him, and if he would be willing to admit he had lost to her brother anyway.
"Fine, then," Coryn said as the patrol came into sight. "Hey, Kilvara..." He trailed off, seeing the looks on their faces.
Thranduil only noticed Eithryn. She was looking down, so he could not see her expression, but it was obvious something was wrong. He ran over. "What is it?" he asked, kneeling in front of her.
She said nothing, just fell to her knees and threw herself into his arms.
Thranduil held her against his chest and gave Kilvara a panicky look, but she and Felrion were talking to Storm, all of them looking very upset. Felrion had something in his arms—something small and very, very still.
Sky doesn't feel the same way about mortals as Thranduil does.