Five moths later, I stood before the Council again, a pompous looking official unrolled a scroll and read from it.
"Lheora Yhanni, you are officially charged with the following crimes."
"What, more than one?" I interjected sarcastically.
"The first," he coninued, ignoring me, "is blatant worship of the Evil ones you call Gods; second, the practice of Evil magic; third, the sacrifice of innocent beings to the Evil ones; fourth, misleading your kinfolk in order to practise said Dark Arts; fifth, forbidden intimacy. How do you wish to plead?"
"Well lets see..." I prevaricated, "first, they are not Evil just different, second the magic is neither inherently Evil or Good, third I have never harmed aliving thing - unless you count walking on grass, and I demand you tell me to what you are referring!"
"At your Final Initiation, you killed an animal."
"Did Lord Rhialhin Shalarhi tell you that?" I asked, blatantly fishing for information. "Because, as I recall it, he was standing in front of me when I refused to kill the animal in question."
"Lord Rhialhin told us nothing, we have a second witness."
"Your witness was mistaken."
"How do you answer the other charges?"
"I did indeed mislead my kinfolk, but I cannot claim that I am grieved by that fact, as to the last charge, as the humans say 'a lady never tells', and I have no intention of confirming any of your presumptions about my personal affairs." I knew they wouldn't have a witness for that charge, at least, unless...
"Let it be known, Lheora Yhanni, that we have a witness to the last charge, do you wish to change your plea?"
...Lord Rhialhin told them, he never approved and obviously he had little to lose by telling them.
"I do not."
"Do you wish to add anything to your statement?"
"I do not."
"Very well, the Elders will now convene to decide a verdict."
The guards took me back to the cell, they needn't have bothered I was summoned back within the hour.
"Lheora Yhanni, let it first be known that you are formally Disowned from the Houses of your parents," I felt a cold chill down my back at his words, "so it is said, and so it will be represented."
I realised then, that what I had felt was the disappearance of my Birthmarks, when I looked later I found that only my own, the Frozen Hourglass remained, my Parents marks ahd faded to thin black lines.
(Elven Birthmarks appear when the child reaches their majority, the mark consists of three parts, the Mother's Mark, the Father's Mark and the Child's Mark which he or she will in turn pass on to their children. The Marks are likened to the tattoos which some humans place on themselves, however they appear painlessly as part of the elves' skin. - AL)
"Second, Let it be known that you while being a priestess of the Heathen Gods, are still young, and therefore have been sentenced to indefinite Exile until such a time as you Renounce the Heathen Gods."
I felt sick to my stomach, not in fear of my own sentence, but at the words 'you are still young', among our people the younger a person is the more salvagable their soul is considered to be and I worried for Galeorhin's fate.
"We ask a final time, will you renounce your False Gods?"
"No," I replied, for how could I renounce something I did, in fact, believe in?
"Very well, sentence will take place in five days, you have until then to request any, non-contraband, items you wish to take with you."
"As you say."
"Council is adjourned," announced the Head of the Elders.
I made a short list of necessary items, and the day before I was to leave a servant of Lady Lhanni Nikarias household brought them to me. He was accompanied by Lady Nikaria, carrying a parcel, she bid the servant leave and handed it to me.
"My Lady?" I said in confusion.
"It was left at my home, it is addressed to you, from the Lord Galeorhin Shalarhi."
"Is he dead?" I asked her calmly, even as she handed me the parcel.
"Yes, it was for the best."
I unwrapped the harp, made of the branch of a tree and strung with magicked strands of my own hair.
"When was it received?"
"Tidyule Day," she replied disapprovingly, "did you and he......?"
I knew very well what she was asking and refused to answer, as I had in the Council Chamber, until finally she left and I threw myself upon the bed and wept for my lost Love.
(A gift given from a man to an unrelated woman on Tidyule day is cosidered a Betrothal gift. - AL)
When the guards came to fetch me the next day I was as calm and composed as any elf could be, I carried a small bag of my belongings in one hand and my harp in the other. We first stopped at the Magic school, where the Head Mage gave a small parcel to the guard, then we continued to the Traders post at the mountaun border.
"Put this on," said the guard, handing me the parcel, I opened it, inside was a silver necklace, engraved with Elven runes.
"This prevents you from entering the Elven lands until such a time you renounce the False Gods, the Traders have agreed that you may journey with them, until such a time as they return here or you wish to leave," he reeled off the entire message in one breath, I didn't respond, I saw no point in it.
One night, somewhere in the desert, I walked away from the Traders camp and slipped in the Other Realm.
"Lord Riax", I called out into the void, "I would speak with you."
"I thought you might," he replied appearing behind me. "What can I do for you?"
"Is Galeorhin dead?"
"No, but I do not know where he is."
I swayed in shock, I had expecting him to say 'yes'. I just needed the closure of hearing him say it.
"What happened?" I managed to splutter.
"The others managed to contact some more of our people, and they took him."
"Where?"
"Again, I do not know, and even if I did there is no way for you to follow."
"I see."
"On the other hand, if you wait long enough the inhabitants of this world may develop the technology."
"I do not think I will live that long."
(Average Elven lifespan: 2000-4000 years. - AL)
"But you are to be 'Exiled until you renounce the false Gods' is that not so?"
"Yes but I'm sure they don't care if I die first..." The thought hit me suddenly and I gaped at him. "You don't mean?"
"Lheora Yhanni, my sweet one, you will not die until you renounce the False Gods. I happen to know that they exiled Galeorhin under the same terms, and told him you were dead."
"Oh no!"
"Be assured, my dear, as soon as he was free he contacted me, I told him you were alive, before they took him."
"Thank you," I told him sincerely.
"Anything to annoy them," he replied with a shrug, "besides My Lady wants you alive."
"I'm flattered, I think." Everybody has superstitions about people favoured by Fate!
"As well you should be, now you had best be off before those traders miss you."
"Again my thanks."
"And watch out for the others trying to trap you," he warned me as he disappeared.
The news that I, apparently, could not die was a shock but an amusing one in its way because I knew it was not the Council's intention.
Present:
"I left the Traders when they reached an area near the coast," concludes Lheora Yhanni, "and you of course, know what happened after that."
"Yes," agrees Ani'ca, "you stayed with us."
"Learned a few new tricks."
"And taught us some."
"A total fluke, no pun intended."
"And now what will you do?" asks Ani'ca, after a quick splashing session.
"Get dressed," mutters Lheora Yhanni, rolling her eyes, "you Dhija!"
"It's not personal," protests Ani'ca, "it's elemental conflict."
"I know, I know. To answer your question, I'm going to travel, I haven't quite decided where yet."
"I expect that after twenty-five years as a large sea-creature walking going to take some getting used to."
"I have time."
"Of course, I feel the need to ponder and absorb what you have told me. Will you return in a few years and tell me what you have been doing?"
"Of course," replies Lheora Yhanni standing up, "don't wait though, I'll come to you."
"As you like," replies Ani'ca, disappearing into the sea.
Lheora watches her for moment then looks at the sky, the whole day has passed in the completion of her Tale. She decides to spend that night, in the dunes near a small fishing village. Later that night, ghostly music eches around the village, carried by the wind from the sea and for years afterwards the villagers tell stories of a lonely spirit who haunts the dunes at night, lamenting its lost love.