Leilieth awakened slowly to the rustling of leaves around her. The wind caressed her cheek. She had taken shelter in the cover of the thick, broad leaves of the tallest tree she could find on her first night of exile, just out of reach of the rotting, bewitched bears that hunted below.
Sunlight painted a scattered ribbon across her emerald gown and made the charmed ruby on her finger glow as a flame. The ruby that her mother had loved so. That she had presented to her on the night of her four hundredth birthday, just four days ago.She sighed deep within, from a grieving place that carried last night's horrors and the uncertainty that came after.
Her mother, Feliss, had done the unthinkable. She had walked into the flames of Priestess Luna's fires at the fall harvest ceremony. Her power lust had driven her to perform the Dark Blood Rend spell,and as many who succumb to its force do, Feliss found herself on the path to madness. Leilieth had cursed herself for not detecting the signs earlier; though the descent was rapid, the course was just as the Reth'nor elders had said. Feliss had been seen at market, talking to an empty booth with no wares, insisting the shopkeep had just left. Her hair and clothes were unkempt, with straggles of dirty, tangled hair loose from her braids and strings and stitches dragging from her breeches. Her chestnut-colored hair had faded to white in a matter of hours before the ceremony began.
What strangeness as she walked into the fire! Her pale skin turned dark purple as she tread through hot embers. She turned and met Leilieth's eyes, and smiled a wicked smile that was not her mothers'. She then dissapeared into the woods. This Feliss was a conjuring of a different element.
Her mother was all that she had. They had found refuge in the hidden Isle of Reth'nor when Leilieth was new to the world, far from the Tears. In the midst of a raid on their marketing town, a dying Elven woman pressed a silver Port key into Feliss' hands as she faded from this life and went to meet The Mother, whispering that she would have others be safe and live on. Feliss activated the key, and they were transported to a place they knew not where, and were greeted by the suspicious, scared eyes of fellow elves seeking their own safety.
Leilieth grew to be a woman in this town that had been razed and left to ruin in battle.A Human pack scavenged a Port key from the corpses of deceased bretheren to find the isle, ravaged the land, and found their fate in the death curse placed on it if one other than an Elvish tried to use it to return to the main lands. It had been a time of great pain and loss.
Birth, however, has a way of healing the woes of the past, and rebirth was seen everywhere-small sprouts were coaxed into trees and plants, wounded animals were nurtured to health in the care of her mother's Majick, shelter was created by their hands in a dugout hillside. The cautious townspeople saw Feliss' good majick and welcomed her and Leilieth into their haven. Soon they were working to create a stable home within their protective bounds.
Feliss taught Leilieth elementary Majicks,how to heal and defend herself. Leilieth had found a true desire to bring life to and aid the creatures of the island, and was skilled in the defenses as well. Leilieth's magic was strong, and her laugh cast light upon the dark. Fitting that her name meant "Blessed with Light". In her three hundredth year, Leilieth came upon Feliss deep in the woods. She was whispering an incantation with force and harsh tone, unlike anything uttered by her mother before. Feliss' eyes glowed with a sinister light. A small wood sprite writhed in pain as a sphere of red engulfed it, floating between Feliss' hands.
"Mother!" Leilieth cried.
"This does not concern you!" Feliss hissed,then upon realizing that this exchange was real, her glowing eyes dimmed to their usual green and she ended the suffering of the tortured being.
Leilieth fled the woods to their humble cottage. The day turned dark and still not a sign of Feliss. Leilieth warmed herself by the hearth, and was brought from her thoughts by a light touch to her shoulder.
Feliss' soft voice broke the silence.
"I have been meaning to tell you of your origin, about those from which you came. It is a twisting road that brought us to Reth'nor. But you are young yet. Let us wait a while and resume when you have more years to your history. As for the woods, those spells are of my tribe, and I promised your father I would not teach you."
Upon giving her the ruby, Feliss had named the ill-fated ceremony as the date in which her past would be revealed. Alas, that speech never came and she knew only what she had up unto then; that she was a child borne of two noble elves from different tribes; her mother's, who continued trade with the Humans despite the war, and her father's, who had long since sworn oaths against any dealing with man. The love they knew was covert, as the two tribes did not speak in protest of the matter of the Humans.
Would she ever see her mother again? The elders of the island said that this had happened only once before, shortly after the War of Tears, and that when a Fae took the "Burning Walk", if they survived, they had succumbed to their madness and would no longer recognize their own tribe. Since she was not their kin,she must go seek out those with whom she had the blood bond to find her true purpose.
Leilieth joined with the Shadows and crept slowly down the tree, past the menacing bears, and began her walk down the sandy path to the edge of the island. She looked out at the vast sea, and stroked the smooth stone on her finger.
The ruby glowed of its own fire this time, became warm, and made a shrill sound that pierced Leilieth's ears. A gryph appeared as a small dot in the sky, and came to land on the beach. Leilieth cast a shield, as gryphs were carniverous and had a taste for Elvish flesh. But this gryph was different-his midsection was saddled and he bore a red ribbon around his neck with an amulet.
The gryph shook his head and preened as the amulet opened. Yellowed paper drifted from the amulet's core to Leilieth's hands. The script followed:
"You have summoned a travel gryph of the House Lok-ri with a gem of this purpose. The creature will deposit you in the nearest haven, in which you will be reunited with your bretheren.Those who greet you will provide you shelter until you find your closest kin".
She exhaled a sigh of relief. She had just felt the largest abandonment of her life and was being reclaimed in the course of a terrible day.So this was an ally, this carniverous beast? She climbed on and set a slow healing spell on herself for good measure. As she watched the life she knew dissapear below the clouds, a feeling of strength and peace flowed over her as a wave upon the sea. Like the sharp stones that were smoothed into pebbles by their force, so mended the barbs that had muddled her brain. She was of the Lok-ri.
Feliss' voice broke her silent meditation once more, and would be the last time she heard her mother for centuries to come. She said but one word, a name, that she knew was the name of her father upon its hearing.