“You had a child… with a filthy human?” asked Uilan while shaking violently. “Since you were little, you embarrassed me time and time again with your unruliness, but to think… to think you would sire an abomination!”

“She’s not an abomination! She’s my precious daughter, your granddaughter!”

“I have no granddaughter!” exclaimed Uilan in rage. “Nor do I have a son! You’re a shame for the Valenfele!”

“Shame? Ha! The Valenfele that are shameful! Living isolated from everyone, thinking they are superior and hating on the humans without putting any effort to truly understand the outside world!”

“Understanding of the outside world? I’ve lived much longer than you have and understand it much better than you do! You’re just lost in your fantasies, enthralled by the curiosity of the young! Once you know the atrocities that they’re capable of, you will understand and disgust them as much as I do!”

They continued back and forth for a couple exchanges, until their faces were red from shouting and their spit was flying everywhere. The spectators watched without batting an eye, and the few young ones that didn’t faint earlier asked the elderly what was going on or who was right.

“Enough!” exclaimed Uilan. “I’ll be taking the heart of the forest back and I’ll punish you more severely than ever!”

“You couldn’t before even with the help of the protectors. What’s your chance now?”

Uilan snorted and began preparing another spell. This time, he wasn’t being stealthy about it. Soon the two of them went at each other as they shouted and argued back and forth during battle. After the first couple of exchanges, it was clear for the most experienced ones that the elder was probably going to lose.

“Man, what a mess this has been,” said Ben.

“Indeed,” sighed Liza. “But we’ll be out of it shortly. Eliot, could you grab some parchment and ink from my backpack, please?”

“Uh? Oh, sure,” replied the young man. For a while now, his mind seemed lost in thought and he was constantly being absentminded.

Liza quickly wrote down some words on the parchment, folded it and stuck it to the great tree with an arrow. She then looked at the fight that was still ongoing and the spectators who were watching it while mesmerized.

“Let’s go,” said Liza.

“Uh?”

“I’m saying we should leave,” she continued.

“Are you sure?” asked the redhead.

“Yeah.”

The group quietly gathered their belongings and sneaked out, unnoticed by everyone. The father and son duo continued with their battle. Spikes rose from the earth, roots entangled on one another and wind blades cut through the air with their whistling sound. In the end, however, Alluin’s source of power was almost unlimited, while Uilan drained himself spell after spell. With the heart of the forest recovering and Uilan draining himself, the young elf could have finished the battle at any point, but he decided to stay passive and let his old man tire himself out. It was a way to let him vent so they could talk more calmly afterwards. He did regret his choice a bit after a while however, as the stubborn elder managed to last for a lot longer than he thought before finally collapsing from exhaustion.

“Why this is happening… What did I do wrong?” asked Uilan as the blackness of unconsciousness took him.

“You know, father, I keep asking myself the same thing,” sighed Alluin.

When the battle finished, the gathered elves couldn’t help but murmur in anxiousness. Their fate and future were now more uncertain than it had ever been.

“Now that this is over, we can finally talk at leisure,” said Alluin as he turned back, only to find the figures he was looking for were nowhere to be seen. He panicked for a second before discovering an arrow letter that was pinned to the great tree. With trembling hands, he removed the arrow and unfolded the letter.

I’m sorry. If you feel like it, stay in the capital, Kalafrana, for a few years and we might meet again. Those were the only words on the parchment. After reading it, Alluin’s heart clenched and he chuckled to himself. Is this her way of getting back at me?, he thought. For a moment he considered rushing after them, but thought better of it. If Liza left unnoticed first and he chased after her, she might get mad and bring about the worst outcome. Their relationship was as strained as it could be and he wouldn’t risk damaging it out of recklessness.

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-

After a couple hours, Liza and the others were finally out of the Duskwood. The journey back was mostly a silent one. Liza was reticent, Eliot was lost in thought and Boro was watching him with a worried eye. Ben and Fang Chu tried to make small talk a couple times, but the atmosphere was just too tense.

“Ah~, we’re finally out of that place!” exclaimed Liza.

“Are you sure this was fine?” asked Ben.

“The truth is that, from the start, I never knew what I wanted from this exactly. I only knew that I needed to see him and ask him a bunch of questions. Only then I could put this past me and move on. Now that I did it, I feel a lot better, especially after knowing me and mother weren’t simply abandoned. However, at the same time, I don’t think I’m ready to receive him back in my life for now. I now know he wasn’t entirely at fault, yet I still begrudge him. I need time. Time to sort out my feelings and think things through once more. Let him be the one to wait and wonder this time around.”

“That’s fine. I’m glad it worked out for you,” said Fang Chu.

“Thank you, Fanu. And thanks everyone, I wouldn’t have been able to do this without you.”

“Don’t sweat it. Like I told your father, it’s you that is always helping me out. I’m glad to be of assistance when I can,” said Ben.

“Likewise,” said the redhead. “You’re my friend and you’re always helping my pupil, so of course I’ll have your back.”

“Yes, Liza, don’t fret over it. It’s a dragon’s job to help their friends,” said Boro, though he probably just made out that rule.

They then all turned to Eliot, as they were expecting the young man to say something next. He still had his eyes clouded and seemed to not be paying attention to the conversation, so Ben quickly gave him some nudges with his elbow to prompt him out of his daze.

“Hey, guys, do you think I also have a father?” he asked innocently.

The heart-warming atmosphere suddenly turned upside down, as they got struck by this simple, yet complex, question. Liza was the first to recover and she approached Eliot to caress his face.

“I’m sure you do, Eliot. One day your memory will return and you will remember who your father and mother are, where you lived and what happened to you. Then we can all go visit them together.”

“Right, about that, why don’t we visit my home? Zahur medicine is the best in Flanac and scholars have studied and researched it for centuries. I’m sure there must be some concoction that would bring back one’s memory.”

“Really?” asked Eliot eagerly.

“I’m positive. We have an entire library dedicated only to medicine and herbs in my sect, and the old man who’s responsible for the concoctions we use is at the top of his field. I’m sure he could help. While we’re there, we can also see how Ben does in the martial tournament. It’s time to show those old fogies what my pupil can do!”

“Are you sure that’s a good idea? I’ve improved a lot, but to go against people that’ve been training since they were six years old is kind of scary,” said Ben.

“Be more confident in yourself! You’ve been through my training and, though you complained a lot, you never quitted or ran away. Those you’ll be facing are going to be the ones that ran away from my training, how could you possible lose?”

“Let’s go then! I also want to know who Eliot’s parents are!” exclaimed Boro.

“Yeah! Let’s go!” shouted Eliot who’d recovered his cheerfulness.

“Well, that’s fine by me,” shrugged Liza.

“It’s decided then! Let’s go to Zahur! If we keep going east from here, we’ll reach the Impregnable Mountains, then is just a matter of crossing over it and we’re there,” said the redhead.

“Before that, we need to settle something though. Boro, how fast would you be able to travel if you flew by yourself?” asked Ben.

“I don’t know. Three to four times faster than you walk, probably, maybe more depending on the terrain. Why are you asking?”

“I would like to ask you to deliver some letters to Lawrence back in Kalafrana. If we walked back it would take us a long time to circle the mountains again, but you can just fly over them and come back in no time at all.”

“What? You want to use me, a dragon, as an errand boy? Maybe I should make you piss yourself, like the first time we met!”

“I agree with Boro here. Why don’t you just hire a courier to deliver it on the way?” asked Fang Chu.

“The contents are too important. I can’t trust a courier to deliver it. Boro, like you were saying, remember when we first met?”

“Yes, you were trembling in fear and almost pissed yourself!”

“Yeah, yeah, but remember what I gave you?” asked Ben with a smirk. He was confident Boro would take the job without complaining.

“Yes! That sweet, sweet candy! I asked you for more, but you said you didn’t have any. Were you lying?” the dragon eyed him furiously.

“Nope, I didn’t have more. But the letter I want you to give Lawrence has the recipe to make that sweet. It’s called chocolate and, as you can attest, it’s the desert of gods! If I gave it to a courier, he might lose it, get attacked on the way or somehow damage its contents. However, if you decide to handle the letter yourself, by the time we’re back from Zahur Lawrence will have many factories set up and you’ll be able to eat as many chocolates as you like!”

“What? Give me this letter at once! I’ll deliver it and be back in no time!”

“Easy there, I still need to write it. How about you, Liza? Want to write a letter to Otto? I’m sure he would be happy to hear about you and Boro could deliver it on the way.”

“Not at the moment. My head is a mess right now. I’ll send a normal courier to Tirin after I sort things out.”

“Stop offering my services like that! Just write the damn letter!”

“Right, right, chill out.”

Ben wrote different variations of recipes he remembered, as well as a bunch of instructions and things of note for Lawrence to be mindful of regarding their business. If things proceeded as he thought in the future, the merchant would be in hot water soon. There was much to be cautious about. He sealed the letter with some candlewax and gave it to Boro. The dragon was about to set off immediately, but he managed to hold him down long enough for they to discuss where they would meet again.

“Done. Boro is off and he’ll meet us before long,” said Ben.

“Then let’s go to the east! To Zahur!” exclaimed Eliot.

===

End of book 1.