Mira's View (9 page)

Tark set down the scroll he had been looking
at and stretched.

“I thought he said he would let us rest for a
couple of hours before the feast.” Galena stood, stretching as
well.

Still grinning, Elenio shook his head. “It’s
been a couple of hours.”

Galena looked around, trying to gauge the
position of the sun and saw that Elenio wasn’t pulling her leg. She
knew she had read quite a bit, but she hadn’t meant to read the
entire allotted time away. Tark and Elenio had already begun
descending the spiral staircase as Galena took one more look
around. She hurriedly descended as well, returning to the room
below. She headed toward the small washroom and took advantage of
an empty pitcher she found in there. She thought about cool, clean
water as she filled the pitcher up and proceeded to wash away the
grim and grit from her face and neck. Removing a brush from her
pack, she combed through the snarls in her hair and proceeded to
braid it in a simple braid, which she wound around her head. Her
hair was so long that she was able to loop the braid around several
times before tucking it neatly away.

She glanced at the bed and saw to her
amazement that Twoit slept soundly. She had never believed the old
tales that ferrets would spend the majority of their day sleeping,
but with Twoit around, she was coming to find this particular part
of history was true.

Feeling rushed, but satisfied that she no
longer looked as rough as she had, she raced down the remainder of
the stairs where Tark and Elenio were waiting for her.

“Ready?” Elenio asked, as he looked her
over.

With her face turning red, she nodded and
strode to the door where Tark held it open for her.

Stepping out onto the little doorstep that
led up to the grand door in the tree house, Galena blinked in
surprise. The fading daylight surrounded her and the air was
considerably cooler than when she had first gone in.

Where had the day gone? Surely, she had not
wasted an entire day staring at old scrolls.

“Do you intend to spend the rest of the
evening on the stoop, or are you going to follow the elf they have
sent for us?” Elenio whispered in her ear.

Giving her head a little shake, Galena
stepped down and waited beside the young elf. He was younger, based
on his childish features and his height, but he held himself
proudly.

He must feel that he has an important
role
. Galena smiled down at the young one. Elenio and Tark
stepped down to join her as the young one turned and began to lead
them back toward the village. Nodding grimly at the other two,
Galena started after him, rushing until she had caught up. She
noted that all the elves that had poked their heads out and greeted
the trio earlier, were nowhere to be seen. Assuming they were all
gathered for the feast, she glanced back at Elenio.

“Not an elf in sight anywhere,” he muttered
more to himself than Galena.

They passed through the center of the small
village and past the way they had entered. The young elf trudged
on, with no hint of hesitation or slowing down. Galena began to
feel unsettled. The young elf was the only sign of life in this
village. Surely, they should have seen a stray elf here or there,
making their way to the celebration.

“Are we almost there?” Galena asked quietly
of their young escort.

He nodded vigorously, grinning all the
while.

Taking small comfort from his friendly reply,
Galena trudged on. Several minutes more passed before they began to
see light glowing from somewhere in the distance. They continued
toward the light, which grew brighter with every step.

Grinning broadly back at them, the young elf
took off at a run and disappeared over the edge of what appeared to
be a small dip.

Galena looked back at Elenio and Tark to see
what they made of all this. Elenio shook his head as Tark shrugged.
They stepped up to the edge of where the young one had disappeared,
and stopped. Galena felt her jaw drop as she took in the sight
below her. They looked down into a small valley that was filled to
the very edges with elves. Hundreds of tables sat out with elves
occupying them. They were laden with mounds and mounds of food.
What Galena had taken as a small village, she now realized, was
three times the size of her own. Apparently, the majority of the
elves had been hidden within their homes or were away at the mines.
The most amazing sight of all, was the floating lights above their
heads. Weightless balls of colored light bobbed gently, casting
their light brightly over everything below with pleasant
warmth.

Elves of every age, dressed in a multitude of
colors, like a long forgotten spring day, stared up at them from
the bottom of the valley. In the midst of them, stood Naradin,
smiling.

“Welcome Galena, Tark, and Elenio. It was
foretold that you would be coming and of the great quest that you
have undertaken in order to correct the balance of life to what is
right and true. We beckon you to join us in this feast as a means
of thanking you. Come share in the companionship and knowledge that
we can provide you.” He raised a hand, sweeping it grandly toward
his left, indicating to them where they were to sit.

Galena stumbled forward in an awed daze.
Sneaking a quick sideways glance at Elenio and Tark, she saw the
same amazed looks that she felt sure was displayed across her own
face. The elves that surrounded them stared intently as they made
their way to the center of the valley. Galena had to stop herself
from checking her hair or making sure that her leggings were laced
up. It would be just like her to forget something as essential as
that, while getting ready.

Galena was just thanking Mira for allowing
her get to their table without embarrassing herself when she caught
her foot on the leg of a chair, tripped, and fell into Tark.
Chuckling under his breath, Elenio righted her. She grinned
sheepishly at him, walked up to the middle chair, and sat down
before she could do any further damage.

Still smiling at them as her father used to,
Naradin raised both hands, saying, “Let the feast begin!”

Chapter
Seven

Galena rolled over and off the bed, landing
on the floor with a loud thump. She sat up and took in her
surroundings as the events of the past couple of days came rushing
back to her, although the events of the previous evening seemed
permanently foggy. Twoit looked down at her curiously from atop her
pillow. She had her head cocked at an angle, as if she were
wondering what had gotten into her funny friend.

“Don’t look at me that way, it’s been a long
couple of days,” Galena grumbled. Elenio’s head popped up from the
hole in the floor surrounding the stairs, clearly investigating the
origin of the thud. Not wanting to explain that she had simply
fallen out of bed, Galena waved him off. Grinning at her, he
descended the stairs again, leaving her to her privacy.

Grimacing slightly as she stood, Galena laid
back in bed where Twoit proceeded to curl up beside her head,
burying her little body in Galena’s hair. Galena tried to go back
to sleep as it had been very late before she had even gone to bed,
but her mind raced with the events of the previous night. Never
before had Galena drunk as much elderberry wine, eaten as much, or
conversed with as many elves as she had last night. Many things
from that evening seemed like glimpses of shadows, blurring,
indistinct, and hard for her to grasp. However, other memories,
such as the knowledge that Pangoro was the maker of the floating
lights, seemed to be engraved into her memory. The elves would not
speak much of him, but from what Galena had gathered, Pangoro was
fully capable of using magic as the elves of the olden days
had.

Thinking of him and the floating lights,
Galena quickly sat up, realizing that they were going to meet the
secret elf, Pangoro, that very day. Excited, Galena rushed to the
washroom to ready herself. In the center of the room, there was a
deep basin. At the bottom of this basin was a layer of large stones
covered with woven pieces of wood like a basket. Staring at it,
Galena recalled reading in the scrolls the previous day that this
basin was designed this way so that an elf could cause the stones
to become hot, thus warming the water in the basin. Taking this
piece of knowledge, Galena thought of flames dancing in a fire pit.
She watched as the stones at the bottom grew cherry red with heat.
Before they could damage the wood, she thought of water and filled
the basin. As indicated in the scrolls, after a few moments with
the heated rocks, steam began to rise gently from the warm water.
Galena rubbed at the tattoos on the back of her hand and foot. They
did not hurt as they had before, but it still was an uncomfortable
sensation. Feeling smug, she realized the pain was becoming less
with every use.

Undressing, Galena stepped into the warm
water and felt the days of travel drift away. She scrubbed the grit
and grime away and felt the tension from a night of feasting melt
from her skin. She really wished they had tubs like this in her own
home. The ordeal of dragging water from the well, pouring it into a
pot above a fire, waiting for that to heat, and then pouring the
water into a small basin, made bathing in her home not worth it.
This way was so much more efficient. She had no idea how long she
had been in there, with the stones hot, the water continued to be
pleasantly warm. It wasn’t until she heard a quiet knock at her
door that she realized that she had drifted to sleep.

Shaking her head to clear it, she sat up
slightly before calling out, “Be out in a moment.” She stood up and
taking the cloth placed within the washroom, dried off. She
redressed in a clean pair of leggings and tunic and then brushed
her hair out before putting it into a long braid. She couldn’t help
the anxious feeling that was building up in her stomach. She felt
more than curious about the one that had foretold of their coming
and had the ability, like her, to do magic. Hopefully, this elf
would know the location of the Sword of Lumina.

Satisfied that she was once again proper
looking, Galena turned and flinging the door open, nearly walked
into Elenio.

Grinning wickedly, he took her into his arms
before kissing her forehead. “I was beginning to think the
elderberry wine and good company was too much for you.” He pulled
her closer, resting his cheek on the top of her head.

Galena, still feeling as if there were
thousands of butterflies trying to claw their way out of her
stomach, let him hold her for a few moments before stepping away.
“Is Tark ready?”

“Both of us are. We were just waiting on you
and the arrival of our escort.”

Galena walked over to the bed and began to
pack her own things as Elenio sat down in a chair that was on the
far side of the room.

“There is food downstairs as well, when
you’re ready. We’ve already eaten. Naradin supplied us with food
and other necessities for our journey too. Now we won’t have to
make an extra trip back into the village. I wonder where they keep
the old elf.” Elenio looked up at the ceiling as he said this while
scratching his chin.

Galena thought about it for a moment before
she bent down to scoop up some of her belongings that she had
thrown on the floor when she had arrived back earlier that morning.
She folded them neatly before returning them to her pack. For her
next bit of magic, she was going to learn how to clean clothes more
efficiently, as the clothes that she was packing were stiff with
dirt. Her stomach growled uncomfortably which brought to mind
another question.

“
Why didn’t you wake me?”

“We knew that you would need the most time to
recover,” Elenio said with a smirk on his face.

Galena considered throwing her pillow at him,
but decided that it would be better to wait awhile and then get
even. Throwing the last of her clothing in her pack, she stood as
Twoit stretched, yawning widely. The ferret had an uncanny ability
to sense when it was time to get up or when Galena was getting
ready to go. Smiling down at her friend, she scratched behind the
ferret’s ear. Using her arm like a bridge, Twoit climbed up
Galena’s arm and onto her shoulders, finding a comfortable spot for
her to ride.

“Hmm, I’m not sure that would be such a good
idea right now,” Galena said as she looked at Twoit upon her perch.
“Let’s see what Pangoro has to say before we shock the village with
your presence.”

Twoit looked at Galena, blinked her small
dark eyes, and turned her face away from her, clearly not impressed
with the idea of returning to Galena’s pack.

“Come on, don’t be like that. Once we leave
the village, I’ll let you out again.” Galena gently lifted the tiny
ferret from her shoulder and placed her on top of her clothing in
her pack.

Twoit circled once before curling up in a
corner. She looked up pitifully before laying her head back down to
resume her morning nap.

Shaking her head at the mournful look she
received, Galena took her pack and swung it onto her back.
Fastening her belt and scabbard around her waist, she turned so she
faced Elenio.

He was still sitting, but the smirk that he
had been wearing, had completely vanished. He stared at her
intently, a look of pride shown fiercely upon his face. He stood,
still staring at her, then strode across the room, and took her
into his arms.

Galena felt his strong arms wrap around her
waist and hold her tightly against him. She practically purred with
the comforting feeling of him all around her. She laid her cheek
against his chest, breathing in the smell of him.

What would she do if she could never hold
him like this again?
Shuddering slightly with this thought, she
whispered, “I love you.”