The Endless Summer

Chapter 2: Spring

The stars above continued their merry dance many times over, and soon the infant became a boy.

"You get back here!" the shopkeeper shouted as two small boys ducked and weaved through the crowded market with ease. Clutching their ill-gotten prizes, they reached the edge of the crowd and continued to run through the streets. They no longer ran out of fear of being caught, but more for the fun of it. They reached a dilapidated building, and moved a few boards to the side of one of the windows, and crawled inside as they had a hundred times before. Only then did they stop to catch their breath. One of the boys looked at the other and spoke. "Curse your human hands, Rorien! Almost got us caught for good that time!" Rorien looked hurt, but noticed the gleam behind the eyes of the yellow-haired elf boy. "Hey...what can I say? Being half-blood has its disadvantages, but at least I was able to hold on to my prize." The brown haired Rorien held two apples aloft proudly. The young Elwe looked truly surprised. "Well, I'll be... I thought I had put it in my pocket. You're getting too good at that, you know?" "I have my moments."

The pair sat on some charred, but otherwise unharmed benches as they watched the sun go down through the broken window that took up nearly the entire front of the building. Slowly eating their sweetly stolen prizes, they sat in silence. Elwe was the first to speak. "Don't you wish it could stay like this forever?" "No way. I want to get out of here and actually do things someday. Not to mention, no adult would be able to fit in here through that little hole in the wall we call "a door."No, Elwe... I want to grow up and do something amazing. See the world. Meet new people. Build something with these hands of mine." After that, the pair just mused in silence at each other's words.

"Oh man... my parents are going to kill me! Here I am lounging with you, Rori, and I had all this work to be done with my parents today. I am dead... might as well bury me here." Elwe said with remorse. Rorien's reply was to start kicking dirt at him. Elwe stood up and shoved Rori off his bench. "Are you mad?! I should slug you." Rorien lay on the ground where Elwe had shoved him, laughing madly. "What? You said I should bury you here, so I did!" More manic laughter. Elwe still remained mad, but slipped away through the hole in the wall and ran home, Rori's laughing echoing through the cobblestone streets behind him.

As the boy approached his home, he slowed to a walk. He saw that the house was darkened, which was odd for his parents. Still, he walked on. He reached the front door, sighed, and pulled the handle. As expected, both parents stood expectantly in the alcove. "Elwe..." his father started, but his mother cut in. "What happened to your clothes! You were roaming about with that RORIEN again, weren't you?" Elwe looked down and replied with a hint of annoyance "Yes, mother..." Elwe's father stepped in again. "Well, you smell of apples, so I guess that visit from the guard wasn't unwarranted, was it? Really Elwe? In an ELVEN city, you figured you wouldn't be seen stealing apples from the street vendors?" Elwe simply looked at the ground in silent shame. After a moment, he looked up and said "I am sorry, mother. I am sorry, father. I never meant to bring dishonor to our family." Elwe hurriedly walked off to his room, suppressing a smile as best as he could. He felt bad. He really did, but the seriousness of his parents was too much for him. They disapproved of Rorien because of his mixed heritage, yet spoke openly about maintaining peace with humans. Elwe wished he could learn more about humans culture and biology, but he was too young yet to begin his training in a profession. The closest he got to studying was watching the various caravans trek through the city streets, bringing rare and wondrous goods from far-off lands.  Sometimes dwarves would visit, bringing their crafts with them. Clockwork toys, tools that made life easier or more productive. The dwarves themselves were always rather untrusting of outsiders... Elves least of all. However, one dwarven toy maker would talk to Elwe when he was in town. It was from him Elwe learned stories about wild beasts and untamable wilderness. Deadly dragons, and ferocious wolves. Glimmering mountains of gold, and ancient relics of great power, long forgotten. The dwarve's name was Stronlak Ironhammer, and Elwe would routinely check with the gate guards to see if he had come.

Unfortunately, tonight nobody was coming to talk to him. Elwe would be lucky if anyone could talk to him for a week. He turned the corner in the hall, and entered his room and sat on his bed. He pulled the map of the known world out from under his bed, and mused over it by the candlelight. He had been given the map by his grandfather, who was a renowned explorer. The moon shine brightly in the night, and the warm air of the coming summer allowed Elwe to keep his window open. Elwe noticed a silvery gleam on a section of the parchment where the moonlight hit it. He lifted the old sheet of paper off the table, but the silver had vanished. Confused, he set the sheet down on the bed and walked to his desk to fetch a magnifying glass. When he returned, he nearly dropped the glass in shock. There, on the map which now lay in complete moonlight, was a second map of the planet outlined brightly in mysterious silver ink. "Moon letters" he thought out loud. He raised the parchment to let the moon shine behind it. Instantly, the map lit up, showing all the detailed drawings of a strange place with continents with names like "America" and "Asia." He set the map back down, his head reeling with ideas for what it could possibly mean. First off, he had to show Rorien and get his opinion. He quickly traced the map underlay, and rolled them both up. He waited until dawn when his parents left to go to the various city council meetings, and grabbing a hooded cloak, snuck out into the early morning light.

He found Rori at their usual meeting place; an old well few people actually used for water anymore. Nowadays, people simply tossed a coin in and made a wish. Elwe greeted Rorien with a quick wave, and Rori just laughed. "Snuck out, huh?" he said, playfully pulling down Elwe's hood. Elwe looked at him seriously, and quickly pulled it back on. Rori had seen that look a dozen times. It always meant Elwe was cooking up some new adventure. First, it was searching the sewers for some ancient shield. They'd both gotten yelled at after coming home smelling the way they did. Now that he thought about it, most of Elwes adventures ended that way...

"Look! In the light of the moon last night, Grandfather's map revealed its secret to me!" Elwe pulled the second map out and unrolled it, and lay the semi transparent paper over top of the old map. "See? Now if this doesn't hint at adventure, I don't know what will." Rori pondered a moment, unsure if Elwe had fabricated the map, or was actually just losing his mind. "Elwe, you KNOW we can't just take off to do this. Our folks would kill us. ACTUALLY kill us! Not to mention, between you and me, I think we MIGHT have enough gold to buy one single Apple." Elwes eyes gleamed, and he opened his mouth to speak, but Rorien cut him off. "Oh no... Not another "we can live like kings for years off this! All we need to do is explore some stinky old dungeon and get chased by rats, and come out empty handed." Elwe laughed, and pulled a rope out from under his cloak, as well as two travel packs. "Lower me down." he said, pointing to the well. Rori smiled from ear to ear. "You sly bastard..." Elwe held a finger up to make a point "No such thing as a bastard elf. We are married as soon as we perform the act." Rori rolled his eyes "Yeah, yeah... I know. Now shut up before I leave you down this well for a few days."

Several minutes later, Elwe came up, soaked to the bone, but grinning like a fox. His pockets bulged with coins, and he managed to fill two small sacks; one for each of them. "I left a note for my parents saying we were going camping for a week with some other kids from school. That should buy us plenty of time, and THESE..." He jingled the bag of gold. "...should buy us anything else we need."

A quick stop by the market to gather some supplies, and they were ready to be underway. As they checked the maps, they saw that the maps intersected at 3 different locations. One of them was a 3 day hike away, so they decided to visit that one first.

With packs full, and hearts willing, they waved to the gatesman, and started out on their journey, funded by the wishes of an entire city...