The Raie'Chaelia

Chapter 3

The Delphaline

She couldn’t believe she had forgotten him.  They had been inseparable during the three years he stayed with her and her grandparents at the inn.  She remembered the words of Grandma Naelli: Those two are always together.  You can never find one without the other.  She should have at least recognized him by his eyes.  He had the same eyes.  Of course, everything else had changed quite a bit.  Time had done its job.

“Last time you saw me was about nine years ago,” he said.  “So you were pretty young.”  He paused, still massaging his shoulder.  “Well, we both were.”

She suddenly felt a pang of guilt for hurting him.  “I’m sorry, Jeremiah, I didn’t mean to kick you so hard.  It’s just that … I’m not sure if you’ve noticed, but things around Branbury aren’t exactly normal at the moment.”

“Really?!” he said wryly.  “What gave you that impression?”  

She smiled at him and suddenly felt a wave of soothing relief inside her, partly because she wasn’t alone anymore, but mostly because it was him.  He was so tall and handsome now and she could immediately feel the familiarity between them.  It was amazing.  Nine years had passed and yet it was almost like yesterday they had been together on the banks of the Créonar with Kirna and Tycho, in their swimsuits, eating the tomato and cheese sandwiches that Grandma Naelli had tucked into her lunch basket.  

“I’m so glad you’re here!  You are a sight for sore eyes.  You have no idea.  I have so much to tell you.”  

He read the expression on her face.  “Here,” he said softly, placing his arm around her shoulders.  “It’s cold.  Let’s go make a fire and relax a bit.  We can talk about it over some food and you can tell me what you’re doing here.”  She let him hold her as he grabbed the lantern and they walked out of the room.  “I just returned last night from a hunting trip in the mountains, so I’ve got some small game in the ice box that we can throw into a stew.”

“Ice box?” she inquired with sudden curiosity as the image of the strange contraption she had seen in the kitchen formed in her mind.  She looked up at him and then, without warning, found herself falling to the floor only to be halted halfway down thanks to his huge arms.  She was lucky he had grown into such a strapping young man.  As he pulled her to her feet, she glanced back at what had caused her to stumble and saw the fallen book sprawled out across the floor, its pages bent underneath its weight.  She drew back slightly to collect it.

“The Delphaline,” she said, reading the title and brushing dust off the front cover.  Brown and bound in tough leather, but extremely old with inscriptions and symbols etched across the front and back, the book held the appearance of a time-worn relic.  “This looks interesting.”

“Oh yeah,” he said affectionately, holding the lantern closer to the cover.  “My mother used to read me stories from this book when I was little.  It must have been on the top shelf all this time.  I thought we’d lost it.”

“It looks like a collectible.  It’s a storybook?” Chalice asked as they made their way toward the hearth.

“Yeah, from what I remember.”  He looked toward the front door that was still wide open.  “Are those your saddlebags outside?  I noticed them on my way in,” he asked as he placed the lantern in the middle of the kitchen table.

Chalice nodded and sat down near the light to examine the book.  The sun had set and it was full dark.  Jeremiah stepped out and returned with the bags, placing them on the kitchen table.