(250 years after Tharan is named the Ascendant…)
Stupid knife. The little human girl thinks. She scowls out with vibrant green eyes. The useless utensil didn’t have an edge. Instead of slitting the rabbit’s neck she’d had to break it.
It’d been awful. Tiny droplets of rabbit blood flecked the olive brown skin of her hands.
But it was better than staying at that stupid orphanage. And there’s no way she’s going home.
She looks back and forth from the knife to the rabbit, trying to figure out how to skin the damn thing. She’d probably have better luck with a sharp rock.
With that thought, she starts to look around the forest floor, keeping a close hold on her hopefully soon to be meal. It’d been a couple of days since she’d eaten. She isn’t bad at catching rabbits. But even though she’s chubby, she’s small for her age. And the only consistent way to deal with larger predators had been to throw her catch and run in the opposite direction. If it hadn’t just been outright stolen from her.
She growls in frustration at the lack of useful rocks. At this rate she’ll have to figure out how to make a sharp rock. But her thoughts are interrupted as she bumps into something.
She gasps and quickly jumps back, brandishing her dull weapon. The rare person she’d encountered in the forest always left her alone after that.
But after she looks up her eyes widen with even more surprise. There’s no one there. There isn’t even anything to bump into! She slowly steps forward and probes the air with her knife, but finds nothing. She furrows her brow in confusion but then her face clears as a realization dawns. Faeries. She’d heard too many stories about fey who love to torment naughty children to want to try her luck.
She turns to run but immediately trips over a root, losing her grip on her meal as she lands hard on the ground, earning more scratches and bruises. She scrambles over to the rabbit, but it floats into the air and just hangs there out of reach. She gasps and glares up at the rabbit, stands, and brandishes her knife again.
“Stealing from a little girl? What’s your problem? Catch your own food!” She yells angrily at the empty air where the rabbit hangs, eyes watering with tears. She feels ridiculous, but she doesn’t know what else to do. As much as she hates to admit it, she’s getting tired. And she’s so hungry her hands are shaking. If she has to catch another rabbit?
There’s a pause before she hears a gravelly chuckle, and then what sounds like a blade coming out of its sheath. The girl inhales quickly and tries to take a step back, but trips again on that same damned root. She lands hard on her elbow with a small, “Ow!” that escapes her. And now her elbow is bleeding. She growls again and looks back up. But the rabbit is no longer hanging in the air.
She looks around. Still no one. Not a thing close by. What the hell? She groans as she stands, holding her elbow, resigning herself to starting all over, but then catches sight of the rabbit lying on the ground.
With an excited and relieved “Ah!” she lunges for it, staring at it in wonder, bloody elbow forgotten. She looks around one last time, both for anyone who might be spying on her and maybe a sharp rock she hadn’t seen earlier. Finding neither, she takes a closer look at the rabbit, and notices a small incision at the neck. She furrows her brow in confusion. What is this all about?
She shrugs and digs her knife in, faerie worries all but forgotten. It’s still a struggle, but with the first incision made, she’s finally able to skin it. The only problem is, by the time she pulls all the skin off, she’s exhausted. Both her arms and hands are sore in places she hadn’t known could be sore. Her hands won’t stop shaking. And she still has to gut the damn thing, get the head and feet off, and then make a fire and cook it.
She grits her teeth and gets to it. Complaining about it won’t make it go faster. She takes particular care when gutting, struggles to remove the head and feet but eventually manages it, and is able to find enough wood to make a fire and a spit. After the rabbit is done cooking, she eats her fill and falls fast asleep.
She opens her eyes to find that night has fallen, and she’s pretty sure the moon is in the sky, but she can’t see it. Pretty bright though. And she’s already hungry again. She reaches over for the rest of the rabbit and starts as she sees someone sitting close by, next to another tree. She squints in the dim light and then feels fear spike through her heart. She sees the point of his ears and the gaunt features, like his dark skin is stretched too thin over his bones. His golden eyes shine just a little too brightly from the bony face surrounded by long, white hair that’s been pulled back. And though it looks like he’s wearing normal enough clothes, she can’t help but notice the long, pointy sword at his hip. She swallows. She’s pretty sure she knows what this guy is.
Dark elf. In the orphanage there had been rumors that dark elves would steal children and take them underground to the Depths. Some kids had even gone missing while she had been there. And as crappy as things are right now, she figures the Depths are probably worse. She looks around for her knife but can’t find it in the dark. Stupid. Stupid!
“Where’d you learn to do that?” he asks in a kind, gravelly voice.
She looks at him in surprise. He’s… talking to her? “W-what?” She asks, trying to keep her voice steady.
He merely nods toward the rabbit.
She looks nervously at the rabbit then looks back at him with confusion, “What’s it to you?”
He chuckles, “I’m just curious. You’re what, five? Six?”
“I’m eight and a half!” She says with loud indignation.
“Oho, pardon me,” he says with amusement, “So where does an eight and a half year old who’s clearly not a farmer or a hunter learn to do that to a rabbit?”
Still wary, and brow still furrowed in confusion, she says, “Watching the cook.”
“Huh.” he says thoughtfully, “And is that the first one you’ve done yourself?”
She nods.
He chuckles again, shaking his head, “Not bad. Not bad at all. However,” he looks around, then looks back at the girl, “This forest is no place for little girls on their own. You’d be better off with your family, where you belong.”
He starts a little as the girl scoffs with a deep bitterness and derision he rarely sees in children, “Shows what you know. My family doesn’t care about me. And the orphanage sucks. So here I am. In this nice forest. Minding my own business.” She ends pointedly.
He arcs an eyebrow at her, “Would you rather I’d have minded my own business instead of helping you earlier?”
The little girl blinks in surprise, incredulous. “That was you?! But… I couldn’t see you! And if you wanted to help me why didn’t you just show yourself?” She demands.
The dark elf doesn’t even bother answering her question, he just looks at her with a quizzical, sarcastic smile, eyebrow still arced.
The little girl scowls. “Fine. What do you want, a thank you? Here: thank you. Now leave me alone.”
His smile softens. “Is that what you want? Really?”
Something about the way he asks the question makes her cut off her biting reply. Is he sad? Does he know something she doesn’t? She scowls again. He’s an elf. Probably super old. And I’m eight. He probably knows lots of things I don’t. But what’s his problem anyway? She loses herself in her thoughts and questions for several long moments.
She furrows her brow at him and finally asks, “What do you want?”
“Hoo boy now that’s a big question. You’re gonna have to narrow it down.”
She growls in exasperation, “What are you doing here? What do you want with me? Why are you bothering me? Why won’t you leave me alone?”
“I saw a lonely little girl trying to skin a rabbit with a butter knife and wanted to see if she could pull it off.”
The girl stands, fury and tears in her eyes, “I am not lonely!”
He chuckles, “Please excuse me, a lonely little girl who’s lying to herself.”
The girl balls her little hands into fists, “You can go back to the Depths! Who do you think you are? If I wanted to be with people I’d be in the city or back home. I want to be alone. No one’s ever needed me and now I don’t need anyone either so there.” She punctuates her last declaration with a vehement arm crossing and fierce scowl.
The old dark elf lets out a long slow breath, puffing his cheeks out and raising his eyebrows. “Been there, done that. Take it from me little one, it doesn’t end well.” He looks at her solemnly, “And I just don’t think I could live with myself if I didn’t at least try to help you find another path.”
The little girl sniffs and resists wiping her nose for as long as she can… until she can’t stand it any longer. She swipes at her nose but says nothing. She had missed talking to people. She’d even started muttering to herself. Which, she realizes now, he’d probably noticed. And for some reason he seems to… care.
“Tell you what,” he says into her thoughts, “I’m actually on my way to Old Llandeilo for a trip. It’s an elven city some distance southeast down the river. How about you come with me?”
Eyes wide with surprise, the girl can’t believe it. She’d always wanted to explore the other cities she’d heard about. And she’d heard Old Llandeilo had buildings in the middle of the river that ran through the city. Curiosity and excitement barrel through any apprehension, “Y-you mean it?”
He nods, “I do. Who knows, maybe we’ll find a place for you on the way. Or maybe we’ll continue on to Lismakege in The Snakewoods, see if you like it there.”
The little girl’s eyes sparkle as she gasps with anticipation and nods enthusiastically. The Snakewoods were known for… well, snakes! She had always been fascinated by snakes.
The dark elf’s mouth quirks up on one side. “It’s settled then. Best get back to sleep. We leave first thing in the morning.
The girl nods again, then sits down and curls back up in the spot she’d passed out in earlier.
“Oh, before I forget, what’s your name little one?”
“Um… Alkara Bla—.” She cuts herself off and stares at the ground. “Alkara.” She finishes a little timidly.
The old elf smiles, “Nice to meet you Alkara. My name’s Iroshi.”