When All You Have are Embers

I

Aisin

Surrounded by the evergreen towering trees of Ethersta's forest, Aisin, Cane and Igin rode to Ethersta in search of aid from their Elven King. They rode through forest and crossed rivers until they could see the Kingdom along the horizon. They did not talk amongst each other the entire time. They had enough conversation going on in their own heads.

The days seemed to grow longer and longer as they rode, until they finally reached the silver gates of the Wood Elves.
The city that surrounded Ethersta's castle was lively, the people were completely unaware of what just occurred across their Elven border. The smell of meat cooking wafted through the air and nauseated Cane greatly. The stress and worry had reached his stomach.

The Eltherstian flag was waving from every stall and shop on the street, and it seemed with every step they took someone was trying to sell them something. 
Shoulder to shoulder with people, Igin was trying her hardest to push her way through, but as she put her foot down her ankle gave out and she stumbled. 

Aisin grabbed her by the arm and managed to get all three of them away from the sea of people. As he knelt down to tend to Igin's slightly scraped knee, Cane shoved him to the side, taking his place in front of her. Aisin rolled his eyes and waited for him to finish wrapping the scrape.

Igin thanked Cane as he offered his hand to help her stand. As she continued to walk she placed her hand on Aisin's shoulder and smiled purely. 
"Thank you, as well." She said before walking on. 

Aisin hoisted his bag on his back before Cane bumped into him with his shoulder, seemingly on purpose. 
"Got some taste for royals have you?" Aisin said, stopping Cane in his tracks. 

He chuckled before he entertained his comment. Without even turning around, he simply said,
"She chose me. Not that I owe you an explanation, barkeep." He said, before walking on. 

Aisin glared at the back of his head with fiery rage. As he followed behind him, Aisin felt that he would rather be with anyone else.

As they walked along the stone laced paths that led to the castle they thought about what they could say without spreading panic among everyone here or if anyone would believe them. The missing princess of Elthin was being brought to Ethersta in the time of a budding war, what would happen? Cane didn't want to find out, he had sworn to himself to protect Igin.

Wood elves walked along the roads and entered shops all around them, wearing cloth underskirts, layered with tunics and leather belts stacked upon each other. Elves talking and drinking as they laughed and jeered. The sun gleamed down on their heads and everything around them, painting everything with an orange hue.

The heat grew more intense with every step towards the gates. Guards marched up to them, silver armour covered their entire body, and they held metal staffs in front of their chest plates. The guards examined them and their belongings. They were told that they would have to leave their horses with the guards or let them free if they wished to go inside. Aisin looked at Cane and he nodded. They obliged and handed the reins to the guards.

The gates closed behind them with a loud metal clap as the guards, with one hand on each of their backs, walked them gently towards the castle. Igin kept a veil over her face to cover her ears and to not draw attention to her presence.

Bordered with dark oak wood, The Doors to the Castle of Ethersta. Igin had seen them before when she was young, she was shorter then, but they still towered over her the same way. Even now, after all these years, she was shocked they had not lost any of their presence. Inside the large wooden frames was a stained glass mosaic, depicting the battle of how Ethersta became Elvish land thousands of years ago.