Mira's View (14 page)

Galena climbed out of bed and straightened
her hair while looking in a mirror that hung on the opposite wall.
Elenio came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist,
bringing his head down beside her own. She couldn’t help noticing
how good they looked together, even if it was slightly disheveled
at the moment.

Galena smiled at their reflection. “Before we
leave, I fully intend to use their washbasin. I’ll have to ask
Morgo to fill it for me.”

They strode out the door, Elenio leading
Galena, and found Tark already waiting for them in the sitting
area. Across from him sat Morgo. His eyes seemed to capture
Galena’s attention immediately and she felt as if she were looking
into a deep and endless black pool. Her heart began to race and her
palms were sweating when Elenio grabbed her hand and gave it a
gentle squeeze. She broke the stare, looked into Elenio’s beautiful
blue eyes, and felt the tightness leave her chest. He was her
anchor. She didn’t know how she could have gotten through this
without him.

“The council has met. They have agreed to let
you stay as long as you refrain from doing magic. They have even
agreed to aide you on your quest, as Mira has visited many of us
through the mirror water. She has told us that we must assist you
in any way that we can. Although admittedly, there is not a lot we
can do. We are not fighters, but we can provide shelter, food, and
safe passage as far as the base of the Mountains of the Gods. I
have been chosen to be your guide,” Morgo related with no emotion,
no intonation whatsoever.

Galena couldn’t decide what she found more
unnerving; his looks, or his voice.

“Just how many villages and tunnels are
there?” Tark asked, awe in his voice.

“No one knows how many tunnels there are, but
there are several villages. We have been down here for hundreds of
years.”

Galena took a moment to absorb this,
shivering involuntarily, her desire to see the sun becoming
increasingly stronger. Before Morgo could continue, Galena decided
that she desperately wanted to clean up before they ate.

“Do you think it would be possible to wash up
before we meet with everyone else?” Galena asked tentatively. She
realized she was switching subjects, but she did have her
priorities. Meeting a group of strange elves while smelling like a
torlic was not on her list of things that she wanted to do.

Morgo gave a curt nod and springing up from
the chair, went to the washroom, filling the basin and heating
stones for each in turn until they smelled and looked more
respectable.

Nodding at them in approval, he said dully,
“Come now, they are waiting for you to arrive before they will
begin the feast. While you dine, the elders will tell the story of
our beginnings.” Morgo stood abruptly and without another word,
strode to the door.

Looking slightly shocked and bemused, the
trio followed, unsure what else they could do.

They followed Morgo down the steep path that
led to the village. As they passed the homes, more elves appeared
and followed in their wake.

Our passing seems to signify that it’s
time for everyone to gather
, Galena thought. They approached
the center of the small village where there was a collection of
tables placed around a large water fountain. In the center of this
fountain, sat an old elf woman and behind her stood a younger elf
with one of his hands on the older elf’s shoulder. The old elf was
bent with the passing of time and her face was lined with wrinkles.
The elf standing behind her resembled the one sitting, but only
vaguely. Galena couldn’t help but notice that where the older elf
had the marks of Rau on her hands and feet, the younger one did
not.

On the table was a variety of foods that
Galena was familiar with such as beet soup, raspberry preserves,
warm nut bread, green spinach, and several other fruits and
vegetables that she enjoyed. In addition, many other dishes
resembled nothing that she was familiar with. Morgo led them past
several of the tables where the other elves that had followed them
in, were now beginning to sit. He stopped in front of a table that
had several elves already sitting and waiting for them. Galena
noticed that this feast, too, had the floating lights, but they,
like their surroundings, were varying shades of white and gray.
Instead of a portraying a festive mood, like the lights at Gora,
these lights only succeeded in making Galena feel a sense of
loss.

Morgo indicated the chairs that Galena,
Elenio, and Tark were to take with a sweep of his hand. They sat
and politely took in their surroundings. Five elves sat across from
Galena, three males and two females. They stared solemnly at the
trio without a word. They held their heads high and wore slightly
brighter shades of clothing than the villagers she had seen thus
far. She saw dull oranges and reds among the clothing, but other
than that, they looked much the same as all the other elves in this
underground world. Not one of them could have been older than her
father, who had been almost sixty when the torlics had taken his
life. Galena nearly choked at this sudden memory and turning her
head, she looked at the other elves finding seats at the remaining
tables, to distract herself.

“I thought we would be talking with the
elders,” Galena whispered to Elenio who sat on her left side.

“We are the elders,” a particularly well
dressed male elf said in response to her question.

Galena’s eyebrows shot up in surprise as she
looked at the elf who had spoken. How could this be possible?
Surely, there wasn’t an elf sitting at this table that was older
than fifty!

Chapter
Twelve

Realizing that she was being rude, Galena
cleared the surprised look from her face and tried to appear more
dignified than she felt.

“We will feast first and then we’ll explain
our existence and how it is that, as I assume you were thinking,
the elders of a village appear so young,” the same elf said, this
time with a slight hint of a smile shadowing his otherwise,
unremarkable face.

Galena shyly returned his smile and bowed her
head to hide the blush she could feel creeping up her cheeks.

Elenio grinning broadly at her, reached out
and took her hand under the table, squeezing it briefly.

The elf who had spoken stood and waited for
silence before continuing. In Galena’s opinion, this took very
little time, because the atmosphere was already very subdued. She
could feel hundreds of large, black eyes boring holes into the back
of her head. However, not wanting to see if her theory was correct,
she kept her head firmly turned toward the standing elf.

“Friends, loved ones, we gather here to
welcome our guests, but also to tell the story of the underworld
ones. Our meeting is of gladness, but also with worry and caution
as Mira has instructed. Let us feast now and take comfort in
knowing that our guests shall leave us after they have slept.” With
that, he promptly sat down and reached across the table for plate
that seemed to be calling to him.

“Well, I feel completely at home now,” Tark
muttered just loudly enough for Galena to hear. He reached for a
dish as well, heaping the contents onto his plate. “Might as well
eat heartily now. It sounds like we’re not welcome for a morning
meal before we set out.”

Galena’s shoulders slumped and a sadness
stole over her. Why take them in if these underground elves felt so
opposed to them?

“Take heart, my young ones,” the same elf
said quietly to them. “We are uncomfortable with others from the
world above, but we will do what we can to help. You come to us at
a great price. By taking you in and giving you shelter, we risk Rau
discovering our existence, something that we have managed to keep
secret for hundreds of years. It is only under the guidance and
encouragement of Mira that we have gone against our very nature and
let you view our world.”

Nodding briefly, indicating that she
understood, Galena felt no more at peace. If anything, she felt a
great deal worse. She was putting this village at risk as she had
with her own. As strange and depressing as she found this place,
they had come to their aide. She would hate for anything to happen
to them because they had chosen to help her on this quest.

Like the people of this world, the food was
forgettable. Most of it was bland or had very little flavor. Even
dishes that Galena was familiar with, had a completely different
and dull taste. Not wanting to seem rude, Galena finished what she
had taken, but politely refused more. She couldn’t stomach any more
of the tasteless food. She longed for the cold cave that they had
been given for their brief stay. Compared to the atmosphere
surrounding her now, it almost seemed welcoming. She noticed that
Elenio and Tark were also refusing more food. They too looked as
uncomfortable as Galena felt.

What seemed like hours or even days later,
elves began removing the empty dishes from the tables. Galena heard
shuffling and scraping behind her and panicking, she turned quickly
to see what was causing the noise, but found that the other elves
were slowly leaving in groups or pairs.

“As promised...”

Galena turned back around as the same elder
began to talk. He clearly was the head of the council. Galena took
a moment to try to find anything that was memorable and would stick
in her mind about this elf, but struggled. He had the same, large,
fathomlessly black eyes and pale skin. His hair was limp and black
and pulled back from his face with a piece of string. Galena found
her thoughts starting to stray to other things while she looked at
him and was startled when he began talking again. Shaking her head
slightly, she sat up, and prepared herself for his dull voice. She
didn’t want to drift off again, even though this would probably be
the case.

“First, let me start by introducing myself. I
am Lars, the oldest of the elves here.”

Galena fought to keep her face blank at this
declaration. She strove to make sure her face revealed nothing but
indifference at this piece of information.

“Our existence began with Norika. She was of
your world, but had been thought dead because of a cave-in in the
mines of Rau. Instead, heavily pregnant despite her age, using the
endless light that is provided every elf upon entering the mining
work; she found a tunnel that led deeper under the ground. She
continued this way for many days, drinking water from the streams
that run underground and eating the moss that grows along the
stream banks. Finally, she came to a great cavern, much like the
one that you sit in now, and stopped her exploration.

It was in that cavern, she gave birth to a
son, who she named Arok. As you know, at the birth of every elf
baby, a mauk appears to tattoo the infant, but this did not happen.
To this day, we are unsure why the creature did not appear, but we
know fortune smiled upon us that day. Arok grew up without being
marked as Norika raised him in that cavern. They made their beds on
the hard rock and ate what the stream provided. When he was old
enough, Arok began to use magic. He had nothing to fear because,
unlike his mother, he was free of Rau’s grip. He shaped rock into a
house and created more lights as the one that Norika had stolen. He
learned how to grow plants and provide them with different foods
than what they had fed upon from the stream. As he grew older, he
realized that he would have to go to the world above in order to
find a commitment partner for them to continue this life.

He went above briefly, returning with a
beautiful elf named Kora. She had agreed to be his partner and
return to the world in which he and his mother were beginning. They
bore five children. Once again, the mauks did not appear with any
of them. They grew in much the same fashion as Arok with the
exception that life was a considerable amount simpler because of
Arok’s ability to do magic. His children could likewise, do magic.
When the time came for each of them to find a mate, they went to
the world above and returned with their chosen partners. With each
generation, this was so until it was no longer necessary, because
of the large number of underground elves there were. Freeva is one
of many villages now.” At this point, Lars paused to allow all this
information to sink in, taking a drink.

Galena drank as well, even though she found
its contents to be sour and disgusting. She needed to do something
to stay alert. Lars’ dull voice was indeed putting her to sleep
despite the interesting story he was telling.

Lars cleared his throat before starting
again. “As the years went on, different characteristics started
arising among all the underground elves. These characteristics I’m
sure you have noticed by now.”

“The black eyes, deathly white skin, and dark
colored hair,” Galena said, more to herself than the elders.

Lars nodded, smiling gently at Galena. “We
also noticed that because we live so close to the hated intuneric
stones – as they have spread and multiplied throughout Tomiro by
some magical means – that our lives were growing shorter and
shorter. Now, an old elf is one who has reached their fortieth
year. I am the oldest at the age of forty-six. We contribute this
fact to our limited contact with the upper world, but we see it as
a price worth paying in order to remain free from Rau.”

Galena disagreed with Lars on this point. She
felt living under Rau’s rule could never compare to this life
although, she felt it would be prudent to keep this thought to
herself.

“We have become quite adept at using magic as
our ancestors once were. It was because of this magic that we were
able to find you and your traveling companions. In the last several
weeks, Mira has been seen in several of our mirror waters,
foretelling of an elf that would right the wrongs of Rau. She told
us we would know whom it was, because of the torlics that trailed
behind. So, we set elves to work watching the mirror waters for
this elf, which is why Nina saw you and brought you here. We will
further aide you by sending you with a scout to the base of the
Mountains of the Gods.” With this final statement, Lars bowed his
head and promptly sat.