On the edge of the lake, horse hooves slowly paced the shore.
The last light of dusk was leaving. The clouds and trees that had been bathed in the sun’s warm colours seemed like, somehow, were turning in for the night.
The trees whispered as they cuddled into themselves, and the horses ears stood up as if the whisper was meant for them. The clouds embraced each other away as they bade the day farewell.
Nophar noticed the subtle change on the surface of the water and on her horse. She looked at her brother and Bacca, giving them a hand sign to settle down.
She got down from her horse and looked for a certain tree, with roots both in the water and into the Earth.
Bacca’s already acute sense of hearing had developed amazingly in the days since they left Muirlen. Nophar and Nethur had promised to try to help him with his “current condition” and offered to guide him through the mountains and forest to the base of
He watched Nophar curiously while she searched for something on the floor; but when she put a thin golden rope around the base of an oak at the shore, he felt the air stir and heard the voices of the forest creatures become silent.
Nophar was kneeling as if she were praying, and when she finally stood up and held her Nethur’s hand, Bacca detected deer hooves gently padding the ground on the other side of the lake.
The hooves were soft but there was an overwhelming wave that pressed his heart each time the deer stepped.
It was the same kind of deep emotion he had felt in his musical trances – but this one was far stronger.
By the deer arrived by the three, Bacca was already so riveted he found himself knelt and facing the ground, his heart bursting uncontrollably. Everything around was made of music, and the closest pulse, the one ahead of him, could only be described as light.
He would later on recall it as silent joy.
A firm hand barely pressed his shoulder and Bacca realized he had been shedding tears. He still couldn’t face the source of this emotion but stood up, feeling humble and grateful at the same time.
The hand left and he grew calm and steady. He could see the horses beside him, but it was the surface of the lake that inevitably attracted him now.
He needed his solitude more than ever.
It was time to face his sorrows, his grief and his past. Only by himself could he mange that.
“Welcome, my children.” Saymi stated, and opened her arms.
Both Nophar and Nethur hesitated, not knowing exactly what to do or how to behave. They couldn’t speak either. They only hung to each other’s hand.
“After all this time, doesn’t a mother deserve a hug from her children?” - Her eyes were filled with tears. Despite everything, her children always turned Saymi into a more outspoken person. She couldn’t stand another moment without embracing them.
Before she broke down, both of them were holding her and all felt the relief of their love.
Of the two siblings, Nethur was the most sensitive to his mother’s shifts of mood or stance. Tonight was no exception. The slightest contraction echoed through their embrace and Nethur stepped away and whispered, while Saymi comforted Nophar still:
“Though we have missed you, Mother, we wouldn’t have disturbed the peace of your home for no light reason. We apologise for the unannounced visit, but the matter is somewhat serious.”
Nethur’s practicality had always surprised Saymi and, at rare occasions, hurt Nophar; but tonight all knew he was in no cold mood.
He was simply right.
Saymi gently left her daughter’s arms and assumed a more formal posture.
“From your friend’s scent I can perfectly tell Hourin has been up to his…pranks. Your friend has now been sent to a battle of his own and his alone. Whether he is released from Hourin’s spell or not depends entirely of the outcome of his inner battle.
As for Hourin himself, you both know how unwise it is to demand an explanation or an exception from him. I would not advise you to do so, and I have only recently returned from the Kingdom. I need my quarantine to establish my bond with him again. Therefore I wouldn’t be able to do it for you.”
Nophar was able to hold herself together again and replied quite seriously:
“Hourin used these circumstances to summon us here.”
“Summon you?” Saymi was perplexed. “Where were you summoned by him? Not…”
“Yes, Mother, Hourin got into Muirlen. He has found a way inside of our magic defences.”
Saymi felt her bowels pressed by an alarm. Hourin was a being beyond the common magic level, but the sacred relics that protect all elves and some humans are almost unsurpassable. For an elven location to be visited by such an uninvited deity, it could only mean that the Gate Icon of Muirlen had been removed.
“You must get to the queen immediately, children, and report all that has happened, including our meeting.”
This last statement was a clear command and the urgency of Saymi’s tone made the sibling look at each other in reluctance.
“Mother, we haven’t been to Gronmerthil in…”
“You will go, sent by me and the queen will receive you promptly.” Her commanding voice seemed louder than it had actually been.
Saymi eased a sigh and her gaze became tender once more.
“Do you forget you were sent by the queen herself to stand in Muirlen as hosts of our kind? Do you forget you serve our race as does she? I cannot tell you why, but our good queen herself may be in danger should you not this task to an end. As in all in nature, so has our meeting come to be.”
With her typical sentence to call upon silence, Saymi kissed both her children on their forehead, blessing them.
Nethur smiled, inwardly thankful to be sent back to the great city, even if for a short time. He knew, though, his sister wouldn’t feel as comfortable as he would, for she had inherited mother’s shyness to big crowds.
He decided to lay camp where they were and soon they were enjoying their ration around a welcoming bonfire…
