Hope

Chapter Thirteen: A New Way

It was starting to get late and everyone except Zack and the old elf were getting tired. Stan kept repressing yawns and Rebecca wasn't so polite. The old elf just chuckled every time he saw Rebecca yawn and he then said, "It's fine with myself and my daughter if you stay in this house. My daughter should return tomorrow because she is visiting family in another town and I'm certain she would allow you use of it. Remarkable woman, Jírda." The old elf sighed and leaned back in his chair.

Zack looked very excited. "Is it the same Jírda that sat on the council?" he asked. "If she is, she's my grandmother."

The old elf gave a start. "Your grandmother?! Goodness me, son, but you can't be..."

"I am," Zack confirmed. "You must be my great-grandfather... Lwyn, right? It's been so long since I've been here last. Everything has changed a lot."

"Yes," Lwyn said. "This is quite a surprise. I didn't think that I would see you for some time yet. As I recall, your parents were quite clear that you were not to be going this far north where you had no business being."

Zack's cheeks flushed teal. "My parents were being overly cautious. There was little need for their concern. As you can see, I am alive and well, mostly because of my human friends who were kind enough to make sure I didn't get into too much trouble."

Lwyn laughed. "Your friends are nice, Zack, but it seems to me that you get them out of more trouble than they get you out of."

Tasha sighed. "That does seem to be the case. We saved him once, but he saved us from a number of nasty fates, including slow death by poison."

Lwyn inclined his head and gave Tasha a small smile. "Why don't I show you where you'll sleep tonight? We can continue this conversation in the morning."

Lwyn showed us the three extra bedrooms squeezed into this house, and we divvied up the rooms. Tasha and Stan shared a bedroom, as did Jing and Rebecca because Jing was the only one that could stand Rebecca's snoring. That left me and Zack to share the last bedroom. It was the smallest one, but size wasn't a problem. Zack curled up on the bed and I then shifted into my cat form and slept on his head.

In the morning when I woke up, I was confused at first because it had been a while since I had last slept in my cat form. My dreams had been strange again, full of brightly lit forests and elven voices calling in the distance. Zack was still asleep, but I had the feeling he wouldn't be asleep for long. I then jumped off his head and padded out the door, my ears pricked for any sign of Lwyn. There was one thing that I wanted to ask him before we left for the capital.

I eventually found him talking to Tasha at the table. They were discussing tactics for their final move against the government, which didn't really interest me at the moment. I had inadvertently steered them in that direction, but I was really here to find my brothers if at all possible. Seeing as Lwyn was occupied, I decided to go exploring on my own and see if I could find any trace of my brothers' scents. They should be over on the coast by now, even if they had walked the whole way. Unless, of course, they took different routes than I thought they had. We had separated initially because there was one last thing I had to do, but now I missed them more than ever, especially Tornheart. We somewhat understood each other, even if my other two brothers didn't. Both of us had been the unfortunate recipients of most of Shadeclaw's attention. I had been trained to become Shadeclaw's heir and Tornheart had been the subject of Shadeclaw's displeasure more often than not.

I slipped out of the front door and padded to the center of the village. I sniffed the air and caught traces of elves, food, and herbs, but no sign of any other cat shifters. I then padded over to the well, which was in a corner of the village, and this time I caught a faint trace of something. I followed the faint scent trail past the well and beyond the village, where I found a stronger scent trail leading to a bramble patch. I carefully picked my way through the brambles and found a clear spot in the center where a lump of black fur lay curled up, barely visible in the long shadows cast by the dawn light. But as I breathed in his scent, I knew who he was.