Erra Deali
Chief Mate
Ship log
Date: Unimportant (xx/xx/25723)
=log continuation=
What a long break. Didn't get any closer to finding our destination, though. A thoroughly frustrating week . . .
Computer, where was I?
=Audio recording replay=
Ah, right. Damn it. I lost my flow of the story completely. Let me get back into it.
The safe home was nestled under the gnarling, massive roots of the Great Wood's largest, most magnificent trees, near the center of the forest. These roots rose out of the ground, creating tunnels, archways, places where an elf could easily hide while remaining only a stretch away from the trees and their language. Scattered around these roots was a collection of structures that looked hastily raised, made of fallen branches and woven leaves and needles. Elves walked to and fro in and out of every structure and tunnel and arch, carrying things, trying to create a space where everyone could fit.
It was the safest place in the world for us that we could be. The dwarves had their caves, of course, under the ground, but we elves had never trusted those. To be buried alive? Unimaginable. If the end of the world came, buried under trees was much preferable.
Better to be sheltered by the exposed roots of trees. They were reliable.
After the giant sky ship appeared, everyone must have assumed it was the End just as I had. According to legend, there was nothing to be done except hunker down and wait for a miracle.
Wait for the Chosen One.
And I, of course, had disappeared. I can only imagine the panic.
I felt eyes on me as I followed Kyri to the tree gnarls, elves saying my name, some in wonder, some in distress.
Kyri noticed as well. "The elders are this way," he said, and quickly climbed up the nearest root, one that was higher than our heads. He looked down at me and waited. "Erra?"
I gestured behind me. Ashra was closer, now, glancing around curiously, and being glanced back at. I spoke slowly, trying to frame my words properly. "He can't climb," I said.
Kyri looked at me like I was an idiot. There was nothing physically wrong with Ashra, anyone could tell that. What did I mean, he couldn't climb trees?
"He doesn't know how," I explained vaguely, wondering if the look Kyri was giving me was the same one I'd given Ashra when I found out. I cringed at my past self.
To be honest, even now, I still don't react well to new information. It's one fault I've never improved on.
Still looking perplexed, but less shocked than before, Kyri climbed back down. He gestured with his head to his right, and I followed him as he made a way through the city.
"What do you mean he can't climb?"
"I don't know, Kyri." My people aren't the kind to allow lying for very long, and though I wasn't lying, any elf could see I was withholding. I needed to come up with a convincing story, and fast. I tried the one I had come up with before. "He . . . I believe he grew up underground."
"What?"
"I don't think he's seen a tree in his entire life," I continued, with honesty. For all I knew, living on that ship, he never had. I gestured at the way Ashra ducked under the roots and leaned far away from wood of any kind. "Look at him!"
