The Shadow behind the Light

Chapter Eleven: Elleáh and Villíe

Gowelleah called Ezen one morning. They needed to talk. Gowelleah confessed why he had come back after so long, why he couldn't come back sooner. Gowelleah had a wife, and daughter. I say had; he had a wife. His duty as a rioter was to round up those who tried to flee during the depression. Deserters of the military, families who tried to flee, mothers and their children, were rounded up. And killed. The youth were sent to orphanages where they were indoctrinated and taught to fight in the never ending brutality of the war. The rest were killed. His orders that day were like all of them. Gowelleah told Ezen the reason he stayed, and the day he left. Dee was her name. They were friends since they were in younger school, the actual education. Gowelleah was sent to the military camps when he was 150 and Dee went to private school to became a youth teacher. They reconnected when Gowelleah was posted in Illianstraéigh and started dating and later married. They had a child together who was around Zenithe's age when he last saw her. Zenithe is 210 so she would be about 340 on estimate. He name is Elleáh.

The day Gowelleah fled it was the usual. He said goodbye to Dee and young Elleáh like usual. He was reaching the end of the day and looking forward to going home to his family. It was the last group rounded up. They were all lined up as Gowelleah loaded up his crossbow. Just as he pulled the trigger he looked up. He said that he didn't like looking up and it was easier to dehumanize them, that's what he was taught. But this time he looked up, he doesn't know why he did but he looked up to see the fear in his own wife's eyes staring back at him. They were full of forgiveness, not betrayal, just forgiveness, she knew the risk, like the rest, it was hopeless. Elleáh was taken to the orphanages, it was there, gowlleah said, that she learned to fight. She always had the spirit of non conformers. He found out that she fled when she was 160 and started to search for revenge. She had tracked Gowelleah down when he was with refuge at the outlanders, he said that she blamed him for the death of her mother and how she suffered under the Queakeares. If Treaose hadn't stepped in when she did, Gowelleah said that he would have lost his life, not just his leg. He lost his leg due to an infection after Elleáh mutilated it. But he doesn't blame her. Gowelleah has never really been a vengeful person, which is quite sad as he never had a lust for revenge, if he did maybe he would still be... and I would be gone much sooner than now.

He had not seen Elleáh since, for all he knew, she was dead.
I know what I have to do. I have to find Elleáh and show her what actually happened.

Ezen reached out to Treaose who had connections. It was found that Elleáh was captured by the Queakeares and was at Estinové, level 16.
Ezen arrived at the outlanders the next sunrise. She laid refuge there while she figured out her plan of action. Looking back on this now, I think one of the reasons they chose her to be a Demi was because of her quick thinking and the ability to make a plan in seconds and act on it immediately, and probably not because of her impulsive moving, going in blind, remember that thing about the irony? Yeah this is one of the ironic things, Ezen had more sight than me but still ran in blind. I may not be able to see but even I can understand how impulse shouldn't be acted on always, that's how you lose things. It's how Ezen lost her middle finger and how she lost her sight in her left eye, and how I lost my eyes.

After resting the next day and finishing up the plans, we headed to Queakeare territory. I would be surprised if you don't know anything about Queakeare prisons, but you should know that the more underground, the more security. And Elleáh was being held on level sixteen, the lowest habitable floor. This wasn't going to be easy, but not impossible.
The first three floors were hard but not impossible. The Queakeares have always been strong in guards. We finally reached the last floor, with much difficulty. The conditions they were kept in was inhumane. My position in power abilitizes me to change this and I can confidently say that these conditions no longer exist and Estinové as a whole is doing a lot better. Elleáh was in the far right corner. When we found her, she thought we were just another guard. Ezen vaguely explained who she was as she broke down the door separating them. However, when Ezen went to help Elleáh up as she was barley conscious, Ezen discovered that Elleáh could not walk. She had suffered injuries which at the time we assumed was the doing of the Queakeares but I know now from my experiences here that it was from her fellow inmates. It will happen to anyone who goes in, they never come out the same. That's one thing about Estinové I could not change, even the guards are scared of them, poor Zenithe.

Ezen carried Elleáh up the levels of Estinové and flew back to the outlanders. They helped heal Elleáh's main injuries but Treaose said that it is not likely that she would walk long term again. Ezen and Treaose engineered an electric chair for Elleáh to use when she was healed enough. 
When Elleáh regained consciousness Ezen properly introduced herself. Elleáh thanked Ezen for saving her but gave her a cold term when Ezen revealed she was Elleáh's aunt. That didn't last long after Elleáh received her chair from Ezen.

Ezen remained at the outlanders ro help Elleáh settle and after talking to Treaose she made arrangements to break out her friend Villíe.
The day of freedom came. She snuck into Quirl at night. She first went to Villíe and told her the plan and to prepare, she then exited and went up the stairs to Juni. He had asked her to get him something last time they talked.
They both trusted each other now. Ezen told him about everything that had happened since they last met. Juni was understanding and gentil, like I knew him to be, but something was off now. He had lost that look in his eyes. They were a rich and dark hazel colour and they complemented his wings. His wings were gone. His spirit had been broken. No matter what now, the Juni I knew was gone, he was a roaring fire which was stomped out like an ant in a war zone and turned into smoke. He showed Ezen something new that day. The thing he wanted was a strange request. He asked her to get some quartz crystals. He held them in his hands and did a strange things. His eyes turned that glorious beige and his hands glowed white. He looked like the Göde he once was-is. His eyes turned back to that beauteous hazel brown as he handed one of the two crystals back to Ezen. He showed her how to use them to spiritually communicate using ancient tech bullshit.
Ezen left Juni after that, alone in the dark, like it always was. Little did we know but that would be the last time we saw Juni in casual. That would be the last time we saw him before the world fell down.

Villíe and Ezen arrived back at the outlanders dawn the next day. Villíe was quite a character when she was sane. She was ex-Queakeare. Villíe and Elleáh were introduced and became extremely fast friends. Ezen chose not to return back to Quirl for a while. No one came looking. Treaose let Ezen teach some defense classes to the youth and inexperienced.
Döte got in contact with Ezen a few weeks after Villíe came. Their pack had been raided. Most survived but their shelter had been destroyed and they had no where to go. Ezen talked to Treaose who permitted the Svöttes to come to the outlanders until a suitable place to live came up.
Treaose was soft to those in need. In all honesty I am so glad they got raided. That sounds awful out of context. But if the raid hadn't had happened then Döte's pack would be dead, and probably the outlanders too. They saved each other. I don't believe in fate, but if I did I would say fate works in wondrous ways.