Fire on Fire: A Koralie Story

Chapter Two: Oralie

A/N: More angst! And Chapter 3 is Kenric pov, which I should post soon (or maybe I'll wait a week again lmao). Also, no clue why I included Elwin. I just love the man so much. Elwin has depth?? he has character?? he has a backstory and pagetime??? No, but he does now hehe. Elwin supremacy, your honor. That is all. Also tell me when you guys want the next update.

It's kinda unedited but... Please vote and comment and enjoy! 

 Oralie

There was no life without him.

Perhaps Bronte had been right. Perhaps she wasn't letting herself grieve. But to grieve meant to break. To grieve meant to remember losing him all over again. And she wasn't strong enough for that. She wasn't strong enough to pick herself up and push forward if he wasn't here.

She took off her circlet and tucked it into her satchel before setting her pathfinder to the right location. She didn't know why; it felt a little like she could pretend, if only for a few moments, that she really had stepped down. There was no Councillor when she'd been with him. No circlet. She was just Oralie. And he was just Kenric.

She reappeared to the sound of silence before the Wanderling Woods. No birds sang amongst these beautiful, tragic trees. A golden archway stood strong in front of her, dappled with white flowers and vines that twisted around the words, Those who wander are not lost.

Oralie took a deep breath and followed the path she'd taken so many times that led to Kenric's Wanderling. She stopped in front of the tall, twisting tree with huge branches and bright red leaves, vibrant as if it were autumn, stretching towards the sun that dangled high in the sky.

There wasn't much else to do except remember every sweet, wide smile he'd given her and force the memory down when tears rose to her eyes.

She felt less alone here, somehow. Maybe because the only elves who ever visited were the ones who understood loss. Maybe it was the way the red leaves rustled in the wind, and the way she liked to think it was his voice, his way of telling her he was there. He would always be there.

But it was no less lonely.

She took a deep breath, but the tears came anyway. Silent, choking, killing her slowly, so she couldn't even scream.

Did Kenric scream when the fire had taken him?

Only her nightmares could answer.

She folded her legs under her, leaning against the base of his tree, and picked up one of the blue flowers that fluttered to the grass. It smelled like Kenric, like cinnamon and home and something more.

She could almost imagine his arms around her. Almost.

She pulled out a little garland of pastel-colored papers looped together like chain links from her satchel. By now, his Wanderling was decorated nearly to the brim with these paper chains, looping between the leaves, dangling from branch to branch. She'd added seven at a time each week she visited, but it'd been too long since the Everblaze had taken him away from her. She'd lost count how many days had passed by. Only those paper links held the truth.

Those paper links.

She remembered the first time she'd found them sitting on her desk. A little chain of three in different colors.

The second time she'd found them, they'd been sitting on her throne. That was dangerous, and she'd scolded Kenric in furious whispers for about ten seconds before her smile broke through, and he'd teased her about it until she'd melted into his arms.