Chapter Twenty-five: Broken Hearts
The next hour or so was spent going through the motions of self-care. Rayla volunteered to wash first under the logic that, if the child awoke later, she'd probably be more receptive to a fellow elf than a human, if that other elf's words had been true. Meanwhile, Callum would take a quick look around the village for anymore survivors. All it was was a quick rinse of dirt and sweat. All the same, she was clean enough within ten minutes that getting back into her dirty cloths felt gross. Callum's turn in the washroom was much the same, though Rayla spent that time raiding the kitchen for something to eat. She found a loaf of bread as well as the source of that luxurious smell. It was one of those soups that stayed hot for hours after being taken off the stove. It was still warm.
When Callum emerged from the washroom, he was practically giddy at the smell of the food, though Rayla demanded that he allow her to check on his arm first. She removed the filthy old bandage to wash his upper arm for him, paying attention to the wound which was already closing up nicely. His arm would probably be good as new in a couple of days, which she told him as she dried the now clean arm and rewrapped a new, clean bandage over it. Finally, they entered the kitchen. There were three bowls of soup with sides of the bread, three seats set for both of them, and for the child when she awoke.
Hunger hit the pair like a boulder. In all the trouble today had brought, Callum and Rayla hadn't noticed until the smell of the soup had entered their noses; they had gone the full day without any food. The first bowls and pieces of bread were eaten in silence because they were focusing so much on filling their stomachs. The second bowls and last of the bread were eaten slower; savored. The bread was sprinkled with flavorful seeds and the soup included carrots, potatoes and some kind of soft, green stalk. The meal was delicious, though they dutifully left the third bowl and last bit of bread for the child.
"Any change?" Callum asked.
"She hasn't woken up." Rayla told him. "She started stirring after the first few minutes, so she'll probably be okay. What about you, any luck?"
"No. There are no others who survived the attack." Callum reported. While Rayla had been washing, he had checked around and it was true; this little girl was the last of this village. They had also undertaken the gruesome task of taking her mother's body and moving it to the room Callum had been exploring when Rayla had found the child - which they presumed to be her and her husband's - just to have her out of the kitchen. "What do we do?"
"We can't just keep her with us while you master the rest of the arcanums." Rayla said. "Maybe we should take a little break from it. We can take her back to Novus, find a home for her there."
"It would have to be quick." Callum said. He looked at his bag, which now also held a large pinkish-purple dragon egg, also apparently the last of its kind. "Looks like the trip'll be for both of them."
"It's been a long day." Rayla said. "Wanna stay here tonight and we can start fresh for tomorrow?"
"Sounds good." Callum said and the pair finished their food. Indeed, between their full stomachs and how busy the day had been, Callum and Rayla were both feeling tired. They rose and went to go find a place to sleep.
The homes of these elves were subterranean houses. The large burrow-like holes behind the doors opened up to furnished foyers, kitchens, sitting rooms and the like. An unsettling thing about them was how weapons were available to be grabbed from every room, especially in this particular house which seemed bare-bones for comfort but had walls of weapons. Even going into the little girl's room; instead of the toys, drawings and games one would expect to be piled up in her room, there were smaller, blunt versions of weapons. That didn't seem right at all.
Eventually, Callum and Rayla snuggled up together on a hard couch. Not exactly the peak of comfort, but better then another freezing night outside. After gathering some blankets and snuggling up, they drifted off quickly, thinking how much warmer this place was than outside.
It must have been the middle of the night when she awoke, her mind blurry except for her growling stomach and that it was cold. She got out of bed and made her way to the kitchen, remembering nothing of the day before in her foggy, half-asleep mind. Strange, her parents never just left dinner on the table for her. The bread was still soft, the soup now cold, but she ate anyway; wasting food carried a steep penalty in this house. Maybe she'd ask her parents in the morning, but her stomach was full, and she trudged back to her room, where she happily slipped under her covers and returned to sleep.
The next morning, Callum awoke slowly. Aside from a small kiss to her forehead, he was sure to untangled himself from Rayla carefully. He tried to ignore the rush of chilled air that met him as he left the warmth of the blanket. This place had no windows, the rooms were lite by magic, so Callum went to the door and opened it. He immediately regretted this, as icy wind shocked him. The sun was just rising and there had been a frost in the night. He quickly closed the door, sealing the cold out.
Callum poked his head into the smallest bedroom to check on the child, who was still sleeping. She was a small thing, maybe four or five years old, with dusty brown hair and pale skin with green swirling patterns along the edges of her eyes. He couldn't help but smile when he saw how stubby and stick-like her horns were and they had yet to develop the branches he'd seen on others of her kind. It seemed she had tossed and turned in her sleep because her blanket was thrown off her and she was now trembling in the cold. Callum gently took the blanket and covered her back up, which quelled her trembling and had her press deeper into the warmth. When she awoke, all she heard was someone closing her door.
Callum returned to Rayla, who was braving the chilly air to stretch. "Morning."
"Morning." Callum returned as he sat beside her. "We're probably staying here for a little while longer. There was a frost last night, it's freezing out there."
"Just as well." Rayla said. Before she could continue, a rush of stomps came towards them. They looked to see the little girl, her green eyes wide with shock and fear. Callum and Rayla just stared at the child for a moment before she ran back down the hall to the bedroom. They pursued her into the master bedroom, and she let out a gasp when she saw her mother laying in the bed, not even breathing.
Watching the little one climb up onto the bed and trying to wake her mother with shakes, Callum's heart ached for her; he'd never forget the last time his mother had held him, promising she'd be back in a few days. He hadn't been allowed to see her then, nor King Harrow following his death – this must have been torture for the little girl trying and failing to wake her mother. She was starting to sob. Rayla took Callum's hand and leaned into him; a gesture of comfort which he accepted. He imagined the sorrow must have been plain on his face.
"It's okay." She whispered, giving his cheek a tender kiss. This seemed to break the girl out of her grieving, and she looked at them again with eyes that were wild with fear. She fell back on her butt and attempted to scoot away backwards, not getting far before she fell off of the bed with a thump.
She got back up and ran over to a wall opposite the bed, which held two swords ready to grab. She grabbed one, pulling it down off of the wall where it clattered to the ground. Nevertheless, she grabbed the thing and struggled to drag it behind her; even Callum could plainly see it was ten times too big for her small hands. She looked at them furiously with tears still falling. The elder two just looked at her with pity.
"Careful there." Callum said. "You're going to hurt yourself if you keep dragging that big thing around." Even though she was enraged at the nerve of this human, she let the sword drop, realizing she'd never be able to wield it. Instead she settled for running to the human and pounding her tiny fists on his leg. Being so small, it wasn't long before she ran out of steam, her eyes also running out of tears. She just let her fist drop to her sides, scrambled back onto the bed and continued to watch over her mother's body.
Callum and Rayla looked at each other at this; their hearts breaking for the poor thing. "Wanna just give her a little while?" Rayla asked. Callum nodded and led to her the kitchen for food. Maybe they could find something that they could take with them in their travels. Seeing as it looked like they'd have a third – and possibly forth, at some point – mouth to now feed, it seemed like a good idea.
Ibis had always enjoyed the brisk morning air of late autumn, to the confusion of even his fellow Skywing elves. He himself couldn't really explain it, he just liked the bracing cold giving way to warmth. It was simply invigorating.
He was breathing in the cold air as he flew a fair distance from the Storm Spire. Several miles from the mountain rang, there was a small grove. When he saw three figures, he dove down to the grove, taking rest in a high branch of the largest and sturdiest of the trees, where he was concealed from sight. While they were certainly older, he recognized Viren and Claudia from the Battle of the Storm Spire. That must have made the third figure Aaravos. His heart leapt into his throat and his instinct was to take flight and get away, but he resisted. The one thing that distracted from this horror was enough to dull his brain for a moment. Claudia was holding a pair of familiar butterfly swords.
Ibis had to fight the bile that rose into his throat. It…couldn't be. The only way Rayla would lose her swords would be…and if that happened, than did that mean that Callum was also? But looking at those swords, there was no denying; those were Rayla's, beyond a doubt. Seeing the end of one dark with dried blood only made it worse. It took a moment for Ibis to realize he was terrified. He was a very calm, go-with-the-flow sort of man, and there wasn't much that caught him off guard, but…he had trained several sky mages over his life, and each had become dear to him over the training; in fact his wife, Garlath bless her sweet heart, had been his first apprentice. Callum was no different, a very dear friend who he could take pride in, practically a second son.
It was only by a stroke of luck that Ibis wasn't seen flying as fast as he could back to Novus. For the first time in decades, the mage felt tears pricking at his eyes before being torn away in the wind. If only the same would happen to the heavy feeling in his heart. How was he going to break the news to their families? They had all already lost so much.
They had agreed that the child would react better to Rayla; she had already demonstrated her distrust in humans, which was almost understandable if she was raised by those embittered elves. That would need to be worked on, so before heading to Novus, they had a small detour planned. As Callum gathered up their stuff, Rayla entered the bedroom tentatively with the egg, where the little girl still was, looking like she hadn't moved at all. She sat beside her on the bed.
"I'm sorry that this happened, little one." she tried, and the child made no indication that she heard her. "My name is Rayla, and my friend's name is Callum. What's yours?" Silence. After a moment, Rayla reluctantly continued. "I know what they must have taught you here, but Callum is a very nice human. Most humans are nice. We don't know what happened here, but there is no one left in this village. We've looked everywhere."
Finally, the little girl looked at her in surprise. Her eyes were pleading. At least, Rayla thought, she now knew she could hear her. Part of her wondered if she was being too blunt, but the last time she'd attempted to sugarcoat death to a child, she'd gotten herself yelled at. Of course, this child seemed much younger than Ezran had been when he'd learned of his father's death. The child's eyes widened with wonder as Rayla presented the star dragon egg while she had her attention.
"We found this underground. It's a bit of a long story." The older elf explained. "All in due time, I suppose. What you need to know right now is that we need to get it to a safe place, and we also have that same responsibility to you now that we've found you." Rayla sat, waiting for any kind of indication. "I'm sorry, little one, but there's nothing left here. We can take you to a new town and get you a new family. One that will be safe from whatever did this. We could certainly use an extra pair of hands to take care of the egg."
The child looked from Rayla to the egg. Even if she was in a position to talk, her young brain wouldn't be able to articulate everything she felt. The little girl looked at her mother once more, leaned over to give her a kiss on the cheek, then hopped off of the bed to finally leave the room.
Rayla found Callum waiting in the sitting room.
"How'd it go?" he asked.
"I really don't know." Rayla admitted, placing the egg carefully back in the satchel. Callum had found a second satchel, this one with a button flap, which was now full of breads, jars of preservatives and bottles of juice. "She won't speak. I don't blame her after what she must have gone through, but it would be nice if I got a yes or a no."
The little girl appeared in the doorway, carrying her own small bag, with one of her miniature weapons sticking out of it. Her eyes hardened a bit when she looked at Callum, but otherwise she appeared resigned to this new lot in life. When Callum moved to get up, Rayla followed, the child allowing her to take her hand as she was led out of the door, leaving her home for the last time. The child tried to ignore the carnage that was littered throughout her village. That Moonshadow elf was right; there really wasn't anyone left. So, as they left her village, or the remains of it, she supposed she'd really have to go with them to this new home. As long as that human didn't try anything sneaky and bad.
Author's Notes: I'm glad to see at least some of you guys are okay. ^-^ Next time, who's ready for some adoraburrs? Or some more pre-teen angst from Ez, poor kid is having a bit of a rough time at the moment. Personally, I don't consider it out of character because it's pretty normal for cute, happy little sunshines of kids to become moody little butts when they hit puberty. Don't worry, though, kid's just going through the motions, he'll get better. Review.