Outsider- Book 1 of The Undiscovered Series *Slow Updates*

Chapter 1: Family Lineage

Cortianna closed the map an hour later, still very confused. She had managed to get nothing out of her studies of the map. No more words were formed from the clouds, nor were any new locations discovered. The only thing she had noticed were paths and small specks that represented cities or towns. She put the map back in her game bag, not worrying about it getting dirty or crumpled. It wasn't long after before she heard the front door open and a deep voice called,

"Hello?"

Cortianna flipped her bag closed, calling, "I'll be down in a second Father." She hung the bag sloppily on a hook on the wall and opened her door, glancing one last time at the piece of paper that stuck out of the bag slightly. She sighed and shook her head. There was no way her father was going to let her go away on an 'adventure'. He had never left Elkrun, like his father before him, and his father's father before him. She knew her father wanted her to stay and keep the family lineage in Elkrun. Cortianna shook the thoughts away and forced herself to smile before walking down the stairs. Her father stood in the kitchen, and when he saw Cortianna he held his arms wide to her. She walked and embraced him.

"What is bothering you, my little lioness?" Her father asked. He had called Cortianna his little lioness since she had gone on her first hunt. He admired lions, and he refused to kill them, even when he had a chance. It seemed he and them had a unspoken respect for each other.

"It's nothing." She said, pulling out of his embrace. He looked at her, worried, but then his eyes softened.

"Okay." He said. Then he turned to the stew the nurse had left them for dinner. Cortianna sat on a stool close to the fireplace.

"Where's mum?" She asked.

"She's at your cousin's. She was having some pregnancy difficulties, so your mother went to help her." Cortianna shifted in her seat, worried about her cousin. She stared into the flickering flames of the fire and hoped that her cousin was okay. It wasn't long before the door opened again, and her mother came in. Cortianna jolted out of her thoughts and turned towards her mother.

"Is she okay?" Was all she said.

Her mother smiled and hugged her. "She'll be okay. It's usual for some difficulties to happen at this point in a pregnancy." Then her mother kissed her on the top of her head. "So what you do today?"

Cortianna stood and grabbed her bow from the weapons rack, showing her mother and father the feathers. Her father looked at the feathers with curiosity.

"They look like bluejay feathers, but they are too iridescent and a different shade of blue. Where did you get them?" He asked.

"I found them."

"Well, they're pretty." He replied. Then he turned and dished up two bowls of stew, which he gave to Cortianna and her mother. Then he got his while the two women waited for him. When he sat, they all three dug into their meals. When they were done, her father sat back in his chair, sighing with content.

"Father?" Cortianna asked.

"Yes?" He replied, his eyes closed with contentment.

Cortianna gathered her confidence, deciding that now was a good a time as any to mention her wish."I want to leave Elkrun."

Her mother gasped slightly, her honey-brown eyes turning towards Cortianna, and her father's eyes shot open and he sat up and stared at Cortianna. She hunkered down in her seat, scared of her father's fury.

But, to her surprise and somewhat relief, all he asked was, "Why?"

She straightened up, looking her father in the eye respectively. "I wish to build my legacy elsewhere, and to see the world. I want to be known by more than the people in Elkrun."