Origin (52 page)

Kierra then brought up one last item for discussion. Toruk had filled her in about the attack on them the previous night. He shared with Kierra that Morn, one of his guard, was sure that he saw a drakenhawk with the party that attacked them. He tried to contact it and when that failed flew after it with Nisil trying to determine who it was and why it was there. At one point in time they got close enough to see that the crest of the strange drakenhawk was different than theirs. They were distracted for a moment as Toruk tried to rally them for one final attack on the remaining assassins. When they looked again, the drakenhawk was gone. Kierra told them that after spending time checking on the location of all of her drakenhawks, she’d determined that it was not one of the drakenhawks from Drakenreach.

“Now we have another mystery to solve. So there are foreign drakenhawks out there that you can’t communicate with,” said Elwyn shaking her head. “Do you think they might be able to intercept the thoughts of our drakenhawks in Drakenreach? That would certainly explain how they keep finding us. What else can possibly go wrong?” she added looking stressed and spent.

Ayron and Kierra both realized that Elwyn was exhausted and close to a breaking point, so they said their farewells and encouraged her to sleep.

After they left, Elwyn lay on her soft bed and tried to relax. There were just so many things running through her mind and so many questions with no answers, that it was difficult for her to calm down and find a sense of peace. She remembered some of the relaxation techniques Rhys taught her to help her quiet herself in the woods while looking for game. Eventually, while picturing a large open meadow in her mind with a faceless rider heading toward her, she fell asleep.

A
yron walked slowly back to his room after leaving Elwyn. His heart was heavy because he knew that many of the burdens she carried, he could not take from her. The only thing he could do was to be there to support her if she asked. Kierra, still with him, felt the same way. Companions were partners, best friends, and sometimes advisors, but they could not protect their counterparts from having to experience the challenges that life brought. He had come to fully realize that when Keroc was seriously injured and there was absolutely nothing he could do to fix the situation. It was a journey Keroc had to take alone. Ayron sat in his room for a while talking quietly with Kierra about some of the issues facing them in the next forty-eight hours. They both agreed that their highest priority was Elwyn’s safety. For the moment, that had to come before searching for answers to their questions and trying to understand the emotions that sometimes threatened to overtake each of them. All that wouldn’t matter if Elwyn ended up dead.

After a time, both Ayron and Kierra began to feel exhausted as the adrenaline rush that accompanies extremely stressful situations, drained from their bodies. Kierra left Ayron’s mind with a gentle farewell, saying that she would contact him the next evening and let him know how Azavon took all of the news. After she left, Ayron stretched out on the bed, too tired to even climb underneath the soft blankets. He never even remembered falling asleep.

Ayron came awake the next morning to a sharp rap on his door accompanied by a loud giggle. He staggered over to open the door, wiping the sleep from his eyes. As he did, his niece held out a big mug of hot tea with the promise of more to come. While he changed and washed up, Elwyn went and brought the rest of the breakfast tray back to his room.

“My goodness, weren’t you the slug-a-bed this morning uncle. I bet you and Kierra stayed up late last night gossiping, didn’t you,” she said laughing. “I think this is the first time that I have woken before you since we started our travels together. I have to admit that, even though I have a lot on my mind, I feel great this morning.”

“Yes, you do seem awfully chipper,” said Ayron attempting, without success, to look grumpy. “Last night you certainly appeared down in the dumps. What’s changed?”

“I have just come to the conclusion that I am wasting too much of my time and energy worrying about things that I can’t change or don’t know. For today at least, I plan to focus on the things I do know and deal with those issues first.”

Elwyn then told Ayron that she planned to spend some time preparing to meet the stranger who, in a few days time, would want to take on the role of her father.

“I know that my father will probably recognize likenesses to my mother in me. I hope he understands that it will be very difficult for me to relate to those things, since the only knowledge I have of my mother comes from her diary. I have no desire to hurt my father in any way, so I hope that he can find a way to give me the time I need to adjust to the situation and our relationship.

I also plan to spend some time thinking about what I can share with my father that will help him to understand the truth of what happened, just how much my mother loved him, and to help him to walk through the grieving process, hopefully for one last time.”

Then sighing deeply, she went on to tell him that she also had to process her feelings about life-bonding with a drakenhawk.

“For many days now, I’ve been hearing and seeing thoughts and images that are not my own, without the opportunity to figure out how I feel about it. I know that a lot of it was for my benefit and protection, but it has still been a very intrusive experience for me. I’m a person who has learned over the seasons to keep to myself as much as possible. I do know in my head that bonding with a drakenhawk is the right thing to do. I just have to figure a way to get that feeling to my heart.”

As they ate breakfast, Ayron shared with Elwyn that Kierra wanted them to be ready in case they were needed to answer questions during the time Lady Silvenna was meeting with Azavon. He told her that Kierra would let them know when the meeting began. He also told her that he was going shopping in the village for a while and asked that she stay in her room while he was gone.

“While I am not anxious to draw attention to either one of us, we have spent far too many days in these outfits and I really don’t want you meeting your father looking as if you’ve been through a war; even though to some extent you have. He will be worried enough when Lady Silvenna tells him the trials you have experienced just trying to get to Findara, and I would prefer you don’t look the part,” said Ayron with a twinkle in his eye. “Besides,” he said grinning broadly. “It isn’t every day I get to shop for a young woman.”

“OK now uncle, just slow down. Don’t get carried away, and don’t come back here with a dress and expect me to wear it. It won’t happen!”

“Now Elwyn, you know that I’ll take your feelings into account. I won’t try to turn you into a frilly frumpy female. But, you could do with a little more color and tailoring. Everything you own is brown, and your clothes fit you like a burlap sacks.”

“Ok, ok, there is no need to continue insulting my appearance or my clothing, especially since I made almost all of it. Just make sure that I can still fight and shoot my bow in whatever you bring me, since we’re still not positive that we are safe from attack.”

“Just trust me to look after your best interests, little one,” said Ayron walking toward the door with a huge grin on his face.

“Sure, sure, I’ve heard that before,” said Elwyn as she stepped across the hall to her room. “That’s what Clayre always says before she puts me in something that makes me look absolutely horrid.”

As Ayron walked away, she shouted after him, “By the way, Toruk sent Raski, Morn and Filn back to Findara to scout the area around the meadow where we will be meeting my father. The others will be serving as our escort for the rest of the trip; along with Keroc, of course.”

While Ayron went shopping, Elwyn grappled with her feelings about life-bonding. She was both honored and puzzled that Kierra would want her to life-bond with a drakenhawk. She felt honored because female drakenhawks had not served as companions since Lady Silvenna’s day. Her companion was the last female drakenhawk to choose to life-bond. At the same time she felt puzzled about the same subject. No female drakenhawk had chosen to life-bond with a companion for several hundred seasons; so why now. And who did Kierra have in mind for her to life-bond with. It couldn’t be Kierra herself, who she already knew and was comfortable with. She was the leader of the drakenhawks and dedicated to the survival of her race. Elwyn was not surprised that Kierra had never chosen to life-bond with a companion. She must have her talons full just trying to deal with drakenhawk related issues. Even though both Kierra and Ayron both tried to convince her that the reason for the bonding was to protect her, Elwyn had a sneaking suspicion that it wasn’t the only reason. She had recently come to realize that companions didn’t always share all the information they knew with their counterparts.

While she was grappling with the issue of life-bonding, she was hit with another revelation. The companions must have known all along that her mother hadn’t committed suicide. They must also have known of her existence. Kierra mentioned that she could interact with Gemma. She also knew that the morden could contact each other over long distances. Elwyn believed the reason that the morden in Findara were never willing to choose a head mare was because they had chosen Gemma and were waiting for her to return home to them. Given all of this, Elwyn had to believe that some of the companions knew all along of her existence and, for some reason, chose not to share the news with anyone else. Elwyn didn’t think it would be wise for her to share this information with anyone else right now, but at some point in time, she would ask both Kierra and Gemma to explain all of this to her.

Elwyn then spent a while thinking about meeting her father for the first time. Apparently he looked very much like Ayron, so at least his appearance wouldn’t be shocking to her. Again and again, she found herself getting swept up in worrying about what she didn’t know and imagining possibilities. She came to the conclusion that the best thing that she could do for them both was to be perfectly honest with him about her fears and apprehensions. If he was the man that Ayron painted him to be, he would understand and work with her in building their relationship slowly and naturally.

“After all,” she thought to herself. “He was patient enough to wait for several seasons to marry my mother in order to give her the chance to get to know his people and to arrange a beautiful wedding for her.”

Elwyn’s head was beginning to hurt from all the thinking. Just as she lay down on her bed, planning to take a short nap, there was a sharp rap at her door accompanied by a muted screech that she would recognize anywhere. Ayron entered; his arms full of packages.

“You must have spent a fortune. Did you buy out the store?”

Ayron laughed and said, somewhat sheepishly, “Well these packages are all for you, I had mine sent over to my rooms already. I had difficulty deciding what to get and thought it would be better for you to have more than one outfit to wear.”

“I brought three outfits with me. I can repair them when we get to Findara and they will be perfectly serviceable, Ayron.”

“Well, why don’t you at least look at what I bought for you and then make up your mind? Besides, I’ve been thinking about burning all of your other clothing,” he said with a grimace. “I’m not sure that we will ever be able to get the blood stains and smells from the assassins out of them, no matter how many times they are washed. My clothing is in much the same condition, I’m afraid.”

Elwyn picked up a small package from the pile that Ayron placed on her bed and began to unwrap it. She blushed as she discovered that it contained several pairs of undergarments. Ayron, noticing her discomfort, assured her that the shopkeeper’s wife selected the more personal items for her.

“There are many elves living in Sylreth, so when I told her your age, height, and build, she seemed to know what you would need. Hopefully she got it right.”

Elwyn opened one of four rather large packages next. Her mouth dropped open as she held up the most beautiful pair of brushed leather leggings she’d ever seen. The leggings were a beautiful rich forest green and were softer than any animal skin or fabric she’d ever touched. Another of the large packages held a matching tunic in the same color and made of the same soft leather. The tunic came to her knee, but was split on the sides to allow her to ride easily. The neckline of the tunic was trimmed with gems of different colors, shapes, and sizes. Elwyn had never seen anything quite so beautiful before. She started to speak but Ayron shushed her and pointed to the last three packages that still lay unopened on her bed.

As she opened the next package, her eyes widened in amazement at what she saw. The package held another tunic similar to the first, except that it was pure white in color and was encrusted with deep purple amethysts at the neckline and along the edges of the sleeves. It was by far the most beautiful tunic she’d ever seen, even more beautiful than the green one. She was speechless and found herself working hard to hold back the tears that threatened to escape her large violet eyes. She quickly opened the next two packages to give herself some time to gather her thoughts. The first held a pair of white leggings that matched her tunic, and the second held a beautiful pair of soft leather boots.

“Uncle, you shouldn’t have bought me such expensive things,” Elwyn said softly as she turned to face him. “I’ll bet this clothing cost a fortune.”

“And you, my young niece, have got to stop thinking of yourself as a poor village maiden and start thinking of yourself as royalty. At the very least you are a princess twice over. I know that you have been asked to make a lot of changes in your life in a very short time, but I am not sure that things are going to settle down for a time yet. If you think about it, changing the color and texture of your clothing is one of the smaller ones. And please, stop worrying about the money. I have far more of it than I am capable of spending in my lifetime.”

“I will try uncle,” she said still stroking her new tunic. “These things are truly beautiful; far more beautiful than anything I have ever seen.”