He keeps finding me

2.6

Wilwarin's face was pale, his searching look to his mothers mixed with disbelief, "What is this? This is not funny..." He then made his hands shake and let himself fall back, almost landing on the ground, but Ardon caught his waist and steadied him.
"What," Ardon wanted to ask, but then saw the box and what it contained. His eyes went wide as he looked horrified at the two women, the two women whose happy faces turned to confusion. They stepped in front of Wilwarin, Elanor shrieked and hugged Hwarwa.  
Hwarwa looked at the mess in the box before her and frowned, but did not forget to calm Elanor in her arms with gentle movements on the back. 
She bit her lip, looked to the side into her son's horrified eyes, "It was supposed to be a new dress, we had it tailored for you. It had lively little butterflies all around. Just who did this?" 
Elanor looked up from between her wife's arms, "Whoever it was, we can conclude it was the same people who pushed our son off that cliff."
Wilwarin felt the hands of Ardon still on his hip, there was a slight heat coming off them, "Why do you think that mama?"

She bit her lip and pointed to the shell next to the dead deer's head, Wilwarin didn't notice it at all. He was focused on the blood dripping out of the deer's mouth and the unclean cut on its neck. There it was a white-blue shell, splattered with blood, lying between the deer's head and the piece of paper as if it belonged. As if to serve a warning. 
Ardon confused looked at the shell and then at the elf he had in his hands, his hands seemed warmer than ever, maybe it was the waist he was holding. He looked at Elanor, "What do you mean? Someone pushed Will off a cliff? When?"
Wilwarin looked to the ground as he walked a bit to the front, slowly out of the hold from Ardon, "Today, just before we met actually. It's fine really, I only suffered a few scratches, but if it was more to the left I would've been... I would've been-" He bit his lip, seemingly struggling to get the words over his lips.
Ardon finished his sentence with a bit of fear in his eyes, "Dead, you would have been dead." He felt something deep inside, and endless emotions of sadness, it was accompanied by anger. A lot of anger, so much anger to be called fury and so much sadness to be called despair. He felt something talking within him, 'Can't be hurt...Must protect... Has to... live'

It was not the voice he normally heard on a rainy day, no it was something deeper, something that came from his soul. Setting his sight back to the three elves in front of him, Ardon took a deep breath and hugged Wilwarin from behind, "You must have been so scared."
Wilwarin was surprised by the sudden hug, he wasn't used to it. Yes, he had been hugged by his new mothers, but Ardon was... different. He couldn't even explain why, maybe it was those ice-blue eyes that seemed to tell too much of the past or the concern he could always see. Wilwarin felt a bit embarrassed by this hug and he felt his ears slightly warm up. 
Hwarwa shook her head as she held the note in her hand and inspected the deer's head, "Something is odd, one thing is for sure though. This wasn't a forest elf like us, we are taught from birth that the animals of the forest deserve a clean death. So that their beauty can be preserved as they wander the forest as ghosts. This, however..." She says and points to the uneven cut at the neck, "It is clear that brutes have done this, I wouldn't be surprised if dark elves did that. Though they don't visit us in the dance season, too bright and sunny."

Ardon let go of Wilwarin, he felt the elf stiffen up, so he didn't want to make him more uncomfortable, "The merfolk use an uneven spear, maybe they could've done it? The motive could be money, ever since I arrived they've been trying to get their money's worth. Telling me that they are the top merchants and stuff. Maybe they were betting on Vulen and now they've probably lost a lot of money, with them losing their bets?"
Elanor shook her head and smiled at Ardon kindly, the fear in her eyes still visible, "No, the merfolk hate losing, but they also know that betting in general is a game of luck. And in the dancing competitions, maybe a game of bribe. Luckily most elves don't value the monetary things, we like to live in balance so the dance competitions will always be fair."
Wilwarin felt the truth in these words, but being reminded of the soul he felt when Vulen danced, little thought of doubt layered his mind, 'What if I won because my mama is a predecessor? The rule of children stepping into their parent's footsteps.'
Hwarwa put the horrid things back in the box, closed it, and heaved it up, "I'll bring it to the guard station for a moment be right back. How about you three try to lighten the mood with stories from the past, it'll get you away from the present." Her tone of voice sounded heavy, she cast a last comforting look at her son before stepping outside.