Of all the magical races, no people have sparked the imagination of humans as those of Neoire have. Regarded as the most graceful of all humanoids, with an ethereal beauty and long lives that they devote to knowledge, art, and tranquility. They are often presented as the pinnacle of virtue.
A representation based on a shallow understanding of their existence, as little is known about their way of life. For as long as human history has been recorded, they have been described as a secluded people. Guests are rarely allowed and when present, will always be accompanied by an elvish guide. Accounts by other, longer-living species, tell us that this wasn’t always the case. In a report from the Huldralian merchant Sylviar Relaira some thousand years ago, Elvish cities are recorded on the southern coasts of Asmeon. To this day, the ruins of these old cities can be found all over the continent.
~ The History and Peoples of Magic by Sir Rainaldus Gale
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Warchief leaned against the door jamb as he watched Crystal perform her daily ritual. The air felt heavy in the dark room, as she kneeled on the cold hard ground and prayed to the tattered book in front of her. He had never been a religious man, but that didn't mean he did not believe in their existence, rather, he refused to think they cared a damn about them. After all, if these powerfull beings did care and allowed for all the misery to happen around the world, then they were rotten beings not deserving of his devotion.
Looking at the book, it still made him uneasy even after all these years. Bound in a pale leather unlike any he had seen, it was dry and cracked. The title had long worn away and the pages were barely bound. Spots of what he hoped to be dirt, were caked on every page and made it hard to read the scratchy runes written within. One of the demon tongues, if he were to guess.
He had never asked about the book. Some secrets were better left untold.
The atmosphere in the room changed an the room sudden seemed brighter then before. Letting him know that the ritual was done. Crystal turned to look at him before she stood up in a fluent motion.
“Did you need anything?”
The sharpness in her words, almost made Warchief roll his eyes but he refrained. It wasn’t often that he needed to drill some sense into the much older demoness, but here he was.
“I’m planning to take Lidea out with me to the city. The Hûldral seal needs to be picked up and I think it would be good for her to be out of the caves.”
The venom in her eyes as she waited for him to get to the point, would almost make him cower. It was his luck, that she liked him too much to consider hurting him. At least, that was what he told himself.
“I thought that you could come along to look at the bandage. I’m pretty sure it can come off now and outside it would be better for her not to wear it.”
“The wound can’t be in the sun.”
Brother would be proud if he saw how patient I’m being.
“She will wear a hood. No problem.”
He could see the fight in her eyes. It wasn’t about the wound but that Lidea was safe here in the cave. After she had made her decision clear, it had driven the demoness’s protectiveness to go into overdrive. Although he understood her concerns, he wasn’t about to let her coddle a woman who had fought on actual battlefields..
Yes, she was young, but under her circumstances, it was no wonder that she had matured early.
“Warchief is this necessary? What if someone recognizes her? Why take such a risk?”
He felt the magical energy bubble under his skin. Fueled by his annoyance at her behavior but he quickly dampened it before he would cause any fires.
“Crystal, that is enough. Get a grip. She can make decisions for herself. I will not tolerate you insulting her.”
For a moment she looked appalled as if she couldn’t believe that he spoke this harshly to her. Yet, slowly reason swirled back into those crystal blue eyes and she bit her lip in contemplation. He didn’t interrupt her thinking and waited until she finally nodded.
“You are right. I’m sorry.”
“It isn’t me that you should apologize to.”
The stiffness in her shoulders let him know that she wasn’t completely convinced yet. He hadn’t expected her to but was glad that she at least decided to bury the hatchet and try to be accepting.
“I will talk to her. Are you going now?”
A smile pulled on his lips in satisfaction, as he nodded his head.
“I can let you go first and come in later.”
“No, it is alright. Let’s go, I will look at that wound so you can be on your merry way. I can speak to her after you come back.”
He recognized procrastination when he heard it but decided not to mention anything. After three weeks of almost complete silence, another day wasn’t going to make a big difference.
“Good.”
He grabbed the bag he had prepared together with his cloak. The demoness glanced at him from the corner of her eye as she collected her medical supplies. Even without any knowledge of the art of healing, he could see that she packed far more than she needed, but decided not to comment on it.
Maybe that was how they got along as friends. Neither bothered to mention the things the other annoyed them with. At least, not the serious things. His change of living quarters had made him susceptible to more nagging than he normally received in a year and he could only wonder how Lidea had been able to put up with it.
She must have the tolerance of a saint.
Even now, he could hear her mutter about the clutter around her desk. Thinking he wouldn’t understand when she spoke in Udräsh. He didn’t. But the sound of nagging was universal among all languages.
“You got everything?”
Her eyes bounced off her bag to the desk and back again.
“Yes, we can go.”
As if to show how ready she was, she strode in front of him. Leaving the infirmary first. This time he did roll his eyes at her childish behavior and smiled as he made to follow.
“My point still stands. What if they recognize her?”
“They won’t.”
He knew they wouldn’t, and the confidence must have been clear in his voice as he could hear the healer sputter.
“How can you be so sure?”
She was so smart, but in many ways also very slow.
“She was a noblewoman that left her house as a young teen. Most people have barely seen her as a child, even less as an adult. The most they saw of her, was when she was about to be executed. After she had been starved for a month and was covered in dirt. If that wasn’t enough, there is also the fact that half of her face is heavily scarred now.”
He said it as a matter of fact, but both of them fell into silence as they thought of Lidea’s condition when she came into the resistance. Honestly, Warchief hadn’t known if she was going to make it. Although the burn wound hadn’t been fatal, she had inhaled a lot of smoke while her body had already been weakened. Even if she physically recovered, Warchief had expected her to have a hard time mentally. Instead, she had almost immediately started to attend training and tried helping him.
He knew that it was her way of keeping her mind occupied, but it was still impressive.
As they reached the greyish door, he knocked loudly even as he didn’t expect a response. The door was made of massive oak and seemed to absorb the sound a bit too well. She hadn’t heard him coming during the previous visits either.
“Are you sure that she is here?”
He grinned at Crystal, who instantly seemed to realize her stupidity. There was no training at the moment, and outside of the library and the mess hall, Lidea tended to spend most of her time at home. Reading or writing, Warchief supposed.
“I’m fairly sure. She said last time to just come in, but it feels odd to not at least try, you know?”
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Opening the door, he entered a sitting room that had been mostly dust the first time he had entered. Lidea had spent the first day vigorously cleaning the place until no speck had remained. Even missing practice because of it, what had concerned him. At first, he thought her absence was caused by Crystal's outburst, but further interactions between the two suggested that Lidea was more confused about her behavior than anything. She hadn’t been angry or upset enough at the half-demoness to have caused her to go into hiding like that.
He had an inkling that she found something that evening that had caused her reaction. Yet, she hadn’t brought it up and Warchief was reluctant to ask about things that she did not willingly share.
“Lidea! We are coming in!”
There was still no response but Warchief wasn’t worried. If he had learned something through these past weeks, then it was that Lidea could focus so well that she wouldn’t notice a dragon passing her by.
“The carvings are beautifully done. It is nice to see that at least one house survived the resistance.”
Following where Crystal gazed at the wooden panels, he decided to just keep his mouth shut. He had never had much appreciation for the fine arts, but to his eye, these carvings seemed to be average at best. If he could ever convince his brother to give Crystal an invitation, he would take her to Neoire. Even he, a cultural barbarian, could not get past the craftmanship of the elves.
I suppose you have to do something if you live for thousands of years.
"It is the farthest away from the main buildings. Why walk all this way, when there are enough other houses between to get materials from? It also helps that Lidea cleaned it up well.”
Although the cleanness emphasized how empty the house was. This wasn’t Lidea’s fault. It wasn’t as if the previous occupant had left any decorations, but even furniture was fairly limited in most rooms. Maybe they could look for at least some flowers, while they were out and about.
“She is probably upstairs. Are you coming?”
Crystal lingered in front of the wooden panels covering the wall and he almost thought that she hadn’t heard him, but eventually, she started to follow.
“You seem to know your way around here.”
“I visited her a couple of times. Wanted to make sure that she had everything she needs. Especially now that her usual caretaker was off pouting.”
“I wasn’t pouting!”
“Sure you weren’t.”
With a teasing grin, he further climbed the stairs as Crystal trailed behind him. Every step creaked under their weight, and as they reached the top, he could see the door towards the office standing open. Through his calling, their bickering, and them coming up the stairs, Lidea still didn’t seem to have noticed them.
Honestly, how did this woman ever survive in a battle?
She was seated behind her ornately decorated wooden desk. Not that unusual considering everything in the room seemed to be made of wood. Wooden floor, wooden wall paneling, wood on the ceiling, wooden cabinetry along three of the four walls, and of course all had been carved into typical figures like dragons or dragon riders.
They weren’t the most creative bunch.
He could understand that the wood would make someone else feel warm and welcome, but to him, it was just unnerving. One moment of losing his temper and everything could be going up in flames.
Pushing away his unease, he focused instead on the piles and piles of parchment rolls placed on the desk and the cabinets. When she had asked for paper and ink, he had the good sense to order a lot more than he expected her to need. Seeing the amount she had used, it had been a good call. On the corner of her desk, a pile of old books lay. Reference material for the letters. Warchief had never even considered looking in books to find out how he was supposed to write a letter.
When he mentioned it to Lidea, she had scuffed that he shouldn’t assume all cultures and etiquettes to be the same all over the world.
An interesting comment, considering he had been all over the continent. But then again, he had always moved among the common folk, not the aristocrats.
“Lidea? Are you in there?”
He had the bad timing of speaking, right as she was dipping her quill into some ink. The young woman jumped out of her seat, tipping over the ink well. Almost destroying the letter she had been working on if Warchief hadn’t instinctively grabbed for it.
She had the gall to look affronted as if he had scared her on purpose.
“Don’t look at me like that. It isn’t like we sneaked up here. I yelled multiple times and we were talking all the way, but you still didn’t hear us.”
Lidea’s face turned bright red as she took a towel to clean up the ink. A useful excuse to hide her expression, he bet.
“My apologies, I was too focused it seems.”
“Just a bit. We have to find a system that works for you. Maybe we can get a trumpet on the market and hang it at your door.”
As she had cleaned up the mess, he laid the letter back on the table. A bit surprised when he spotted that the contents were written in a language he didn’t recognize.
“I thought you had already finished the envoy letters?”
A confused look flickered over her face until she saw where he was looking. He could see the hint of panic before she brought it under control. Making him curious about what she was trying to hide.
“They are, this is a personal letter.”
She picked up the roll and put it in one of the piles that she had prepared.
“Yours are all ready to send as soon as we have a seal.”
Her eyes glanced to Crystal behind him. No doubt wondering why the woman had joined.
“Excellent. I got informed that it is ready for pick up. That is why I’m here. I thought you might enjoy some outside air.”
That immediately got her attention as she looked at him first with excitement but then it quickly turned to concern.
“Won’t they recognize me?”
He could feel Crystal grin behind him, even if he didn’t see her.
“I doubt it. How many people have seen you after you grew up? Anyway, we can see how people react. If it looks dangerous, we can escape before it becomes a problem.”
Even though he doubted that Lidea cared much about her face, he was still hesitant to point out that her scarring would make identifying her difficult.
He could see the warring emotions in her eyes. She probably itched to go outside. If he had learned one lesson during his time here, then that was that humans weren’t meant to live underground.
“You will have to wear a hood if that helps.”
“Have to?”
Instead of answering her, he turned to Crystal. The she-demon had moved towards the cabinets with letters. Looking idly at the rolls to avoid having to face Lidea just yet. It was interesting to see her so unsure of herself. Normally, she was always full of confidence. Then again, usually she didn’t care or pretended not to care about what others thought. Somehow the young noblewoman had crept under her skin.
Just as he wanted to prompt Crystal to answer, he was intercepted by Lidea.
“Crystal? Why do I have to wear a hood? Can the bandages be removed maybe?”
He forgot how perceptive she was. Or maybe it was given away by the fact that Crystal had brought half of her medical supplies.
Her shoulders stiffened almost imperceptibly before she turned towards them. A casual smile, hiding any vulnerabilities she might be feeling.
“Yes, everything should be healed up now. You have been taking care of it as I asked?”
“Twice a day, cleaned it with boiled water and used the lotion you gave me.”
Crystal muttered a ‘well done’ and pointed at the chair as she put her medical bag on the desk. Unpacking her supplies as she clinically asked her questions.
“Any pain? Itching?”
“It does itch. But it is mostly healed up from what I could see.”
She looked eager as she sat down. Probably the bindings could have been removed weeks ago, but with her training in the sand, as she did, he didn’t blame Crystal for keeping them on longer. Turning away from the two he focused on the letters laying ready for them to send.
Lidea had been the one to write them, but he had helped her with their contents. He might not have her political prowess, but he did enjoy elvish schooling. It would have taken extra effort to not at least learn something from his classes. He knew why and how a king would or could help. Even now he could see Lidea’s critical eye as he had given her his insights but for once she had held back her questions.
Only for the better. She barely even knew what magic was. Explaining how he became the adopted son of the Elvish royal family would be a hard fact to grasp. Often even he had difficulty understanding his weird position.
All because of Chase’s selfishness.
Blaming his brother was unfair, but in moments he couldn’t forgive the elf for saving him from the claws of death that day. Nobody would have missed him and it would have averted so much misery if he had just let him die.
“If we are going to the city, would it be possible to send some letters?”
He looked back at Lidea. The binding around her face had been removed and he could see the angry red skin that spread from around her eye up to her forehead and sideways over her cheek. It was uneven, but it looked dry and without the blisters, it had at first. If only he had moved a little bit faster, then she wouldn’t have been maimed this way.
“So bad heh?”
A crooked grin spread over her face, one side not getting as high as the other. He didn’t detect any sadness or grief over her injury. Her blasé attitude made him smile. If she didn’t mind, then the least he could do, was to treat it as if it was nothing as well.
“I have seen worse.”
It wasn’t a lie either and he smiled as she winked at him with the mutilated side of her face.
“Good. My mother would be awfully disappointed if I couldn’t win over any noble's sons anymore.”
His grin grew wider. The idea of a little Lidea in a dress being dragged to a ball, was so far off who she was now that it was hard to imagine.
“Well if she gets too worried, I still know some with peculiar tastes.”
“Warchief!”
Crystal had turned from her patient and looked at him as if she was going to sew his mouth shut if he didn’t pay attention. Instead of cowering, he only smiled innocently.
“What? Not every man likes a woman with a sword.”
She narrowed her eyes while Lidea grinned behind her. He was happy to see that she didn’t hold hard feelings against the demoness. Maybe he should have suspected as much.
With a harumph that his queen mother would have been proud of, she turned back to her patient and poked every piece of skin. Trying to discern if she had no pain for sure.
“I’m fine Crystal.”
“Shush, I will decide if you are.”
Lidea found his eyes and rolled hers, as she let her over-concerned doctor do her work.
He leaned back on the cabinetry, looking out of the window to where he saw the river far below.
“We will be able to post any letters you need to. I only have to pick up the seal stamp, after that I hoped to visit some pubs. Meet up with some informants maybe.”
Almost immediately her comfortable attitude changed, as she became alert. For only a moment he had to think about what had caused this reaction before he knew.
“Not that informant. Don’t worry, I wouldn’t deliver you to him.”
He could still remember her face as he had told her about their deal with the crown prince. Knowing what she had gone through, the betrayal on her face had felt like a punch to the gut. Even if he told himself that he hadn’t done anything wrong, he still decided against acting behind her back again.
“So, all done and ready to go. Be careful alright? Keep the wound out of the sun.”
Lidea moved to look at the healer and smiled thankfully.
“I will, don’t worry yourself too much.”
“How can I not, when he is taking you with him? You have a good head on your shoulder, but that won’t help you when he runs right into danger.”
The two women shifted their attention to him. Lidea with a raised eyebrow, as if to ask him if he actually was that stupid. While Crystal had tilted her head, daring him to deny it.
“I am a fire mage. Thinking is not my best skill.”
“That isn’t an excuse!”
He laughed at Crystal’s outrage and looked at the letters.
“I promise that we will be fine. So what letters have to come with?”
“Your promises are worthless and you know it.”
Although said in jest, painful memories flashed through his mind at her accusation. The worst was that he knew more than anyone that she was right.