It took some time for the crowd to disperse. The clamor of the families pushing to get to their children, along with a large number of nosy townsfolk clogged the entryway of the sanctuary, making it nearly impossible to push through. Eventually the prophet managed to usher everyone outside, directing the newfound children and their parents to stay behind in the sanctuary

Once outside, The guests began to settle in to the reception. The lawn was buzzing with gossip as people wondered aloud the reason for the return of the children. Some thought they may have been sent as a warning. Others thought they were excess captives that were not wanted. Still others considered them the first part of an elaborate trap. The lawn was filled with conspiratorial voices burning with speculation. There was a mix of joy and apprehension among the people, and more than a few looked nervously over to the forest to the west, wondering if there would be any activity from the forest.

Since Almir and Lilena were still in the sanctuary, I sat with Telina, her mother Telia, and the rest of the children. The two of them chatted excitedly about the return of Alus. I sat and listened to them, unable to contribute to the conversation.

Finiel and Arlea wandered around talking to people and receiving the congratulations and well-wishings of the guests. Eventually they were seated at their own table. Seeing that I was left out of the conversation at our table, Cadel invited me to join him. Telina didn’t even notice my leaving as I walked across the lawn to sit beside him.

Cadel wasted no time in bringing up the question on everyone’s mind. “What do you think is going on? I’ve never heard of anyone escaping the forest girls.” His face was full of curiosity, “Other than you that is.”

I shrugged my shoulders, “I don’t know” I replied uneasily. My eyes once again scanned the forest, checking to see if there were any movement at all. “All I know is no one escapes the forest girls. They had to have been let go.”

Cadel looked troubled, “Why would they let them go?”

“I have no idea. The forest girls do not let men go.”

Silence hung in the air for a minute. Neither of us had any answers.

“I wonder what they are talking about inside.” Cadel thought out loud.

There was more silence. We would have to wait. No matter what it was, I was sure that the gossip would spread through the town soon enough. I looked over at Finiel and Arlea, who were both holding hands at their table and chatting excitedly with each other. “They look happy”, I said, changing the topic.

“Yeah. I’m happy for them”, said Cadel with amusement, “She will have her hands full dealing with him.”

I raised an eyebrow and looked over at the couple again, who were now sharing a kiss at the table. The ribbons that had lingered in my mind had been forgotten about in all the excitement of the arrival of the children. Remembering them again, I decided to ask about their significance. “Cadel,” I asked, “What was the point of the ribbons?”

Cadel looked at me quizzically, “Ribbons?” he asked, “The ones in the ceremony?”

“Well”, I continued, “What do they symbolize? We don’t have that tradition where I come from.”

Cadels’ face flashed with understanding, “Oh! Well on Orth they symbolize the giving of the lady’s heart to her beloved. Typically they are placed in the hand when the lady proposes marriage.”

There was a loud cheering from behind me. I turned to see large mugs of some sort of drink began being distributed at the tables. “Lady proposes?”, I asked, shocked, “you mean marriage proposals in Orth are given by the lady?”

Cadel laughed, “Well who else would propose? You don’t mean to say the man should propose? That’d be rather forward, wouldn’t it?”

I laughed back, wanting to avoid a long conversation about the differences in cultures, “Yeah, I suppose it would”, I responded. A pretty blond woman placed mugs in front of us and we thanked her. She smiled and moved on to the next table.

“So any time a ribbon is given to a man, is it a proposal for marriage?”, I continued.

“Well, I suppose it depends on the circumstances. Sometimes it is just given as a promise, or as a token to a departing lover. You should know, you have one, don’t you? It was in the book you were gripping when we found you. You had quite a hold on it.”

“Yeah.” I said, my voice trailing off. Outside of Almir, I hadn’t talked much about Adrelia to the people of Timbervale. I didn’t quite know how to respond. I knew now, however, that I must do what I could to help Adrelia, if it wasn’t too late.

A song started to break out among the men at a nearby table. Drinks lifted high, they belted at the top of their lungs. It was a song about a man with seven wives who was slowly driven mad. The rest of the men in the gathering lifted their glasses, including Cadel. I lifted mine as well. Finiel stood on the table, singing heartily, with Arlea tugging at his leg. Her face flushed with embarrassment as she tried to get him to come down. Finiel paid no attention to her, and continued to sing.

At the end of the song there was much applause by the men, and scolding by the women. I could not help but laugh. I looked over at Telina who shook her head and rolled her eyes at me before looked away and chatting with her mother again. The place quieted down and food was brought out.

Slowly, the crowd began to quiet. At first I thought it was the food being brought out, yet as the murmurs began to grow I noticed the sanctuary doors had opened, and the families were coming out onto the lawn.

The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

I expected the prophet to make an announcement of some sort, but he did not. He simply joined his family, as did everyone else. I wondered to myself what had been said. There was a sombre mood about them, and several of them looked in my direction. I shifted uncomfortably.

With no answers forthcoming, the celebration continued. I felt restless but tried to ignore it and focus on the celebration. As the festivities started to die down, I stopped by Finiel’s table to congratulate him before heading out. He threw his arms around me.

“Thank you for coming brother! It means so much!”. His voice was choked with emotion. There was also a thick smell of alcohol on his breath. He was clearly drunk. I could see Arlea shaking her head, an amused smirk on her face. Cadel was right. She would have her hands full with him.

After saying our goodbyes we retired back to the Theos’ house. It did not take long for Almir and Telia to be inundated with questions about what had happened in the sanctuary. Almir responded that would discuss it after the children went to bed, but only with only those who had reached the age of completeness.

This led to disappointment from Telina who complained that since she would be reaching the age of completion in a month, she should be allowed to participate in the discussion. Almir was resolute in his decision, and Telina, upset, went upstairs to her room to sulk. A couple of the children tried getting little Alus to talk, but due to his age he was not much help, and seemed mostly bewildered about the whole situation. All he knew was that they had been lead from the village to the edge of the forest, and told to leave.

The rest of the evening seemed to drag on, with anticipation from all about what might have taken place inside the sanctuary. Dinner felt rushed, and there was an anxiousness in the air as we waited. At bedtime, the children were rushed to bed, and, waiting for some time after, to ensure all had either gone to sleep or had retired to their rooms, Almir sat down at the table with Lilena, Telia, and myself.

There was a silence in the room as we waited expectantly. Almir had a thoughtful expression on his face as if he were pondering how to begin. He and Lilena exchanged glances. Finally, he broke the silence.

“Chon”, he asked, “What happened that day that the slave girl escaped?”

I swallowed, “I — I — everyone knows the story by now, right?”, I stammered.

Almir squinted, “I don’t believe you have ever told the story yourself.” His eyes peered at me appraisingly. He knew something.

I shifted in my seat uncomfortably. Finally, my head drooped as I gazed down at the table shamefully. “I’m sorry”, I frowned. “Your gift was very generous. It wasn’t that I didn’t appreciate it.” I stared at the wood grains on the table, as if they were the most interesting thing in the room. “It was Adrelia.” I looked up at him again expecting to see scorn. However, his eyes showed no sense of emotion other than pure curiosity, as was typical of Almir. I sat there, silenced.

“Continue”, he said. Telia was staring at me now, her eyes boring into me. Lilena looked as if she were about to break into tears.

“She was one of Adrelia’s people”, I said. “As much as that she deserved to be sold, or even worse, I just knew how much it would upset Adrelia. All I could do is imagine her standing next to me, with a horrified look on her face.”

There was a gasp from the Telia as she realized what had really happened. Almir merely sat back in his chair tugging at his mustache thoughtfully. Lilena chewed on her lip and said nothing. “So you let her go?”, Almir said, only half asking.

I nodded.

I could feel the angry stare from Telia. This girl had been one of those responsible for kidnapping Alus, as well as the death of Alea. She had been guilty of atrocities and I had let her free. I felt complicit.

There was silence a the table for a long time. Finally Almir spoke up.

“We do not know for sure why the children were released. We did our best to piece it together from what the children told us, but they are very young, and it was difficult.”

Telia interrupted, her voice furious, “You let her go! How could you?”. Her eyes were fire. She looked at Almir, “This is what happens when you deal with Nelak!”, she fumed. Lilena, for her part, seemed much calmer.

Almir held up his hand quietly and Telia sat back in her seat, giving me an icy stare.

“It appears, from what we can tell, while most of the captives were kept, these children were released as a gesture of goodwill for the release of the captive you set free”

Lilena started crying, her head in her hands. Telia’s mouth fell open in shock. Almir merely sat back, arms crossed thoughtfully.

I was numb. There was a moment of deathly silence that seem to hang in the air for an eternity, as if those in room did not know how to feel. Telia looked at me and let out a sigh. “Chon, You meant well, I know. It was such a foolish thing to do.”

The quiet was broken by a knock at the door, causing me to jump in my seat a bit.

Almir stood and answered the door. It was the prophet.

“Prophet!”, Said Almir with surprise, opening the door, “Come in! Sit down, please.”

“Thank you Master Theos”, came the voice of the prophet. I could feel the tension melting a way a bit at his presence.

The prophet sat at the table to my left. Telia was leaning back in her chair with her arms crossed. Lilena had leaned forward and was rubbing her temples.

The prophet sat down at the table, “I assume everyone is aware of what happened at this point?” He asked solemnly.

Almir nodded, “We are.”

I felt like I was losing the only family I had in Orth. “I am sorry”, I said helplessly, “I just couldn’t go through with it. There was already so much suffering. I couldn’t add to it.”

The others look at me. The prophet reached out and touched my arm. “Revenge is not the way”, he said. He turned towards me, “What you did was foolish, but I cannot fault where your heart was.”

I opened my mouth, but not knowing what to say, I closed it again.

“He is nelak” said Lilena softly to Telia, “He meant no harm. It is just what they do.”

Telia sniffed, “I know”, she finally said, her voice softened.

My jaw clenched in frustration. Would every action I did be scrutinized? Every mistake chalked up to my being a nelak.

“And now your son has returned”, said the prophet. “The punishment of a forest girl would not have brought him back, but it seems that Chon’s mercy has.”

The tension in the room was gone, and all eyes were on the prophet. I wasn’t so sure of the conclusion everyone had come to. If the forest girls had the boys go, I believed there had to be more to the story, but I kept silent.

He continued, “The will of Phatia is tied to this one”, he said, his hand resting on my shoulder, “we might not know why, but we must trust that she knows what is best.”

With that, the prophet stood. Telia meekly apologized for her accusations towards me. “The prophet is right”, she said, “You are a good person Chon. Foolish, but good.”

“Chon”, the prophet said, “There are four other families that are very grateful for your actions tonight. I have visited each of them and they have asked me to express their deepest gratitude”

“Thank you.” I said numbly, “That means a lot. I have been here only a short time but you all feel like family to me now.”

The pastor nodded grimly, “That is good to hear Chon, but you won’t be here for much longer.”

My heart sunk. I rested my head in my hands and gazed at the table, dejected. A loud thump came from the table as I felt something hard land beside my head. I turned to see a full coin purse sitting on the table beside me.

I looked up to see the face of the pastor, a smile curling on the corner of his lips. “The families have heard of your desire to go to Avalid, and have all chipped in to help as a token of their gratitude.”