The Elevated Tree

13 - Abandon

  I'm not sure what it meant that I was visiting his home, for the first time since Changing, at night, and without him. Weird, at least.

It was actually a coincidence that Limar lived where I more or less needed to go. But not a coincidence that that's why I knew. Years ago, when we were both lighter (though maybe less agile) we climbed in the trees the branches over his parents cove. One day, when we were about eleven, we noticed that the foliage got sparser the higher we went. After we were maybe thirty paces up, the branches thinned enough to see through, and we spied a garbled view of the valley beyond – part of the way to Starbreeze. We were much to scared to even begin to descend towards forbidden ground, and there didn't look to be many good handholds, but the memory had always stuck with me. I'd never thought I'd need a secret way out of the Glen, to hide my purposes from my own people. But if the Protector had been someone besides my father, I might have risked bluffing my way past. Afterall, the Glen priestesses herself has just sent me on a mission outside not two days past. But he knew me, and I couldn't risk him discovering any lies.

Besides, he might try to dissuade me from....leaving. In a way, my own father supports the same system that has so utterly failed at keeping me and my friends....safe.

Though dark didn't really effect my eyesight, I still carefully picked my way through Limar's "frontyard." Any sprained limbs at this point would throw a serious spanner in my plan.

Knowing the home was abandoned helped, as I didn't have to be as quiet as we used to be when we snuck out.

I found several handholds on the cistern ladder, which got me about three paces in the air. From there, it was just remembering where we had started our climb so long ago.

There were more vines than I remembered, which is logical, since there'd been several Agaetí Blödhren since then. Growth was inevitable.

More holds for me.

The drag from my pack was significant since I'd brought everything I though I would need for....forever. I tried to counter balance it by leaning my head forward, though I couldn't do it often as I had to look up constantly looking for the next nook. Some of the trees were close and hardy enough to use as footholds and put most of my weight on the vine, though I was terrified of them breaking. Elves couldn't fly, and no amount of gracefulness could break a fall that high.

Putting that thought out of my head, I estimated I had 10-20 paces left, maybe.

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By the time I reached the point I remembered from our first, and only, time up here, I was drenched in sweat. It was much darker, but I could feel the rivulets dripping off my forehead and chest and abdomen. My eyebrows and clothes caught most of it, but I hated the feeling, knowing my next bath was not soon. Though the branches up here were much thinner, I hooked both my legs around two likely candidates, then wrapped the vines around my arms for balance. I uncorked one of my fathers exterior skins and took a long draught of water to rehydrate. I was suddenly glad for the years of forced calisthenics and Rimgar my education had required. Young elves were rarely overweight mid-puberty, but that wasn't always a given.

Eying the valley in the darkness, I tried to gauge how far down I might have to go. The Glen was a valley, so though I'd climbed around thirty paces, Limars cove had been ten of those, and the ground below me looked more like it was only fifteen away. Still too far to jump extremely safely. I figured that would be the case and implemented the second stage of my abandonment. I slung the pack off one shoulder, then wound a vine through the armstraps to hold it while I dug around. Ilthalaine kept a thin elvin-cord wrapped around the back of the frame for emergency uses, and I figured this definitely qualified. This stuff was hard to make, therefore extremely valuable.

I ran the smooth cords strands through my hands as I knotted a noose and then a halfhitch. I didn't care if I left this behind after my descent, and that was a likely necessity.  Wrapping the rope around the tree to my left, I fished the rest through the whole Id created and let it fall into the darkness. Just in case it was too short, I was not going to tie it to my waste this time. I unstrung the pack and replaced it on my back, wrapped the rope around my forearm, and then butt, so I could control my descent with a simple flick of my off hand. My plummet into darkness was halted several times as I arrested my momentum periodically. I saw the ground approach...20 paces...  10. Sticks crunched as my thigh high boots made a harder-than-normal impact on the soft loam and detritus.
  I had done it-for the first time ever-outside of my home, unsanctioned. My overly warmed posterior none the worse for wear, I took one last look up at the pale rope, then turned my back on it.

Ahead of my striding legs was everything: the future I wanted. Leaving behind...that which I refused to think about. Any other thought would do-whether or not my food would hold out; where Exactly I was headed; was Darkshore the best place to start? No matter how I tried to distract my distraught brain, the thought that was screaming to get in, the thought that made Me scream myself hoarse, it was always there: chewing at the vestiges of my self control.
I cut across the field leading to "my meal tree." Every move I made forced thoughts of Her to pop up. My foot slipping in my boot slightly every step a painful stab back to the time she had helped me to pound fat into the souls so they would be soft for me. The way the trees branches came together so often in Teldrassil that she liked so much because it seemed like they were trying to protect us from... the elements, from everything. The flowerbud charms she sowed onto some of my trainers that made them creak sometimes and was really embarrassing but I kept on because I know it was done in love.
  EVERYTHING hurt.
  It hurt to breath, to run, to even stride across this beautiful grass in this glen the tree had made.

I shook my head, slowly at first to jar the thoughts loose, then faster and faster as I sought to distract myself for good. Unfortunately, this meant I had to pause my walking since my vision and now balance was too impaired to even take a step. Instantly, a feeling of lack-of-progress came over me: I had somewhere else to be. I got the message from my brain: keep moving. I nodded, as if my own mind needed visual confirmation that my will had received the information: I Would keep moving.

I had some decisions to make along the way though. If I showed up in Dolanaar with no official reason and got questioned by someone in authority...worse, someone Id met last time... I refused to follow that thought to its logical, and likely inevitable, conclusion. Better to skip the town entirely and go straight to the capitol. However, I was at a disadvantage there since Id never been before, and honestly had no idea how to leave exactly. I knew we could fly off the tree on gryphons, or port out from the western portal, but Id never done either of those things either.