Ollo Vae

Prologue

A boat silently headed off from Laketown at midnight. Onboard there were two passengers; a young woman, and a newborn child. The young woman- the child's mother, it was easy to assume- kept the child in a bundle of fur blankets while she rowed out to the shore. Next to the baby was a small leather satchel with cloth diapers, an extra pair of clothes, and a bottle.

As the mother rowed the boat onto the rocky beach, a large figure stepped out of the nearby conifer woods. He stood at 8"5' with an unkempt brown beard and held a woven basket in his hands. Once the boat was safely beached the mother stepped out, holding the baby and the satchel, and gently laid the baby down in the man's basket. She was just over half his height and looked minuscule in comparison to him.

"Are you sure that this is what you want to do?" he asked her, looking out at the lake as the lights of a few houses started to turn on. The mother nodded and gave the infant a disheartened glance.

"I wish it could be different, but even if I kept her, she wouldn't live a normal life. You know how they treat me because I had her. Do you honestly think they would treat her any better?" she asked him. The man shook his head slowly, looking down at the baby in a sort of pity. The mother looked as if she wanted to say more, but looked back at the lake as more lights flickered on, and shone like stars through the thick low-lying fog bank. She sighed and began to walk towards the boat.

"Take good care of her, Beorn!" she shouted as she pushed the boat into the lapping waves, and hopped in before the water got too deep. He nodded.

As he watched his friend disappear into the shroud of mist, the infant started to stir. He looked down at her, not quite sure what he should do. The small child let out a yawn, and her eyelids slowly opened to reveal her dark onyx-colored eyes.

"Come on, Kierra," Beorn whispered, "let's go home."