Prologue of the Prologue: Nelora Mahariel

Chapter 1: Wild Fox Chase

Summary:

8 year old Nelora Mahariel and her best friend Tamlen are sent out to gather herbs not far from the camp but they get distracted.

Notes:

"Childhood means simplicity. Look at the world with the child's eye - it is very beautiful." - Kailash Satyarthy

Nelora and Tamlen are sent out to gather herbs near the camp but it isn't nearly as exciting as being on the hunt with the hunters, trapping, tracking, reading the signs of nature, finding game and much more.

Nelora is displeased with their assignment and it is showing. Her usual fieriness and happiness are wiped away from her face when the elders pulled them out of a fun game to do this. She is dragging her feet, huffing and puffing like every herb weighs a ton and is nearly impossible to gather into the basket. The corners of her mouth are turned downwards and sadness is lurking behind her amethyst eyes. For Tamlen the situation is not as bad as it is for her but still he's not enjoying it either.

The girl complains jet again "Why do we have to pick these herbs I'd better be out learning how to hunt because that is what I'll be when I'm older, a mighty hunter."

Tamlen is sick of her whining so the least he can do is to whine back to blow out some steam "Stop it Nelora you are not making me feel any better. This is dull enough. You're complaining sucks all the will to work out of it."

They both are quiet; the sounds of a lively Dalish camp not far away fill the empty space between them. The birds are chirping in the trees and that gives Nel a few ideas.

She asks with a hint of mischief in her voice: "Tamlen are you still bored?"

He is sitting on the ground in an elfroot gold mine when he looks up to her and answers „Of course I am. Why do you ask?"

She drops the basket and points to the trees. „You hear many birds chirping in the trees then they must have a nest and many birds have many nests. So... Do you want to check them out?"

He turns his gaze back onto the herbs and reminds her unenthusiastically "Remember what happened the last time we did that? We were chased around the forest by an angry woodpecker then we ran into some swans who we, mostly you, too managed to make furious." He runs his index finger on the pink scar left on his left hand. "Thankfully some elders came and chased the birds away. Afterwards we got scolded at the camp, yet again." He lets out a heavy sigh "It was a lot worse than the time with the ducks and the wild turkey."

Nel giggles and smiles brightly "What can I say we have the worst luck with birds or they just hate us because of some mischievous birdy reasons."

The elven girl sits next to her friend and still tries to convince him that she has a good idea "You know what? Let's give it another shot. These are tiny birds and tiny birdies are less dangerous."

Tam shakes his head vigorously, still keeping focus on herb picking unlike his best friend "No way even if you take all of the blame this time. By the way tiny beaks can cause a lot of pain too."

Nelora pouts, crosses her arms and turns up her nose and declares: "You are no fun Tamlen!"
She keeps her pouting very exaggerated so that her best friend would finally give in and do as she wants. The elfling keeps it up for a while but gives up because she sees that it isn't working this time. Ah well, maybe better luck next time.

About an hour goes by and both children are focused on their work

Tamlen blows his stubborn honey blonde bangs away for the umpteenth time and comments with relief "Now I think this was the last elfroot that was ripe for picking in this place."

The girl announces "I'm disappointed."

Why would she be like that, we finally finished this chore, he should be happy "Why so?"

She lifts a branch of a bush and looks under it as if trying to find something "I thought that there would be more herbs in this place. The Elders are going to be disappointed too. I just know it!"

Tamlen remembers something he overheard should he tell Nel about it. What harm can it do? "You know Nelora yesterday I heard a few of our clan mates speak that further in the forest there is supposed to be a gold mine for elfroot."

Her eyes light up "Then we will go and see that ourselves."

There is the harm. The boy whines. "Not again, we'll get into trouble!"

"Where is your sense of adventure?"

Tamlen looks at his fresh and pink scar on his right hand and speaks in a quiet but sincere voice "It is gone because your adventures always end badly."

Nelora starts begging: "C'mon please..."

He stays firm. "No!"

Nelora still keeps going but makes cute puppy dog eyes this time "Pleeeease Tamlen."
He is less confident now. "No Nelora. Not this time."
The girl is furious and stops begging: "Fine don't come then! I'll go off in to the woods alone! More adventure and fun for me and not for the wuss who didn't dare to break some rules. No game, no gain!"
She turns her back on him and starts stomping deeper in to the forest. Tamlen grows less sure of himself with each step she takes away from him. Finally he breaks and yells: "Wait for me too you furious, clever manipulator!"

****

While exploring the forest Nelora spots a fox in the distance. She stops and grabs Tamlen's shoulder to signal him to stop.

He doesn't like to be pushed around even by her, especially her but she always manages to do that, somehow. This time he'll tell her that, maybe she'll be less manipulative and headstrong with him. "I really..." Nelora puts her hand on Tamlen's mouth so he would stay quiet. He doesn't like it at all and starts to protest but Nelora points to the fox.

He pushes her hand away. "What about it? It is just a fox.".

The other elfling turns to him with a frown "Don't you remember when Hahren Paivel told some story that foxes can lead to secrets?"

No he does not. Where would she get an idea like that? "I think you may have dreamt it lethallan."

She puts a finger on her mouth, "Oh shush you! I don't care if you believe me or not but now I'm going to follow that fox." as headstrong as ever.

"That is a bad idea Nelora." He didn't notice that she was already sneaking towards the little fox.
The young boy ponders to himself "We will get in to trouble as always with her brilliant ideas. I think that we are in trouble right now too. No way I'm going back to camp alone and be scolded, alone."

The Girl is hiding behind a bush when he reaches her. She teases him "I see that you finally caught up."

"Yeah, yeah stop mocking!" he said a little too loudly so that the fox heard it and started running away.

Nel nudges him "Look at what you did with your loud whining, now we have a fox to catch!" as soon as she said that she lounges after the poor tiny creature that was already frightened enough.

Tamlen just looks at Nelora with big surprised eyes, the mixture of grey and light sky blue, as she chases the orange animal.

Nelora yells at him "You coming or what?"

Tam gets up from the ground and joins the chase.

They make crisscross laps in the forest.

"Through the bushes Nel!"

"Low branches up ahead Tam!"

"Thanks I'm past them!"

They keep running but Tam is faster than her so he is getting ahead. He issues her a new warning: " Oh no! Slippery mud Nel!"

They chase the fox for a while: The chase doesn't just involve running but slipping in the mud, tripping behind tree roots, dashing through bushes and the occasional bumping head against tree branches.

"The fox is headed your way Nel!"

"No it is heading your way!"

They both are running towards the animal and just under their noses the fox slips in to its lair. They slide like crazy because the forest floor is mostly slick mud.

Two friends can't stop at the right moment and run in to each other.

They both lay on the ground. Silence creeps in and just like that they start laughing out loud and from their hearts. Both of them sit up on the ground covered in mud, still laughing franticly. They fail to notice that they're sitting on top of a hill. As a consequence of Nelora trying to lie down she starts to roll down the slope. When she is at the bottom she is still giggling.

Tamlen starts to make his way down to her and asks "You alright?"

It is hard to see where Mahariel begins and the nature ends. Her ivory skin is not showing at all from all the mud that is covering it, there are many leaves and tiny twigs in her clothes and hair; he must look quite similar to her. The girl answers "Just covered in more mud, tiny twigs and grass, otherwise I'm fine!"

They keep on laughing just like they are in a trans.

The two friends have calmed down a lot. Time to go back home, they don't want a rescue party to be sent after them.

Tamlen reaches out a hand for Nel "Let me give you a hand so you can get up."

She smiles. Her teeth look even whiter with her dark and muddy face. "Thanks!" She reaches out for his hand and starts to pull herself up but she can't.

At first she is confused and then panicked. "I can't. My hair is stuck!"

He lets go of her hand and takes a few steps towards the seeming source of stuckness. Nelora had stopped just in front of a big tree that had lodes of sap oozing from it. This doesn't look good at all.

"Nel your hair is stuck in a tree's sap."

She punches the ground with both of her fists. "No you have to be kidding me!" There are tears gathering in her eyes. She looks down on the ground and then up to him. "You have to help me!"
He does not know what to do; the panic is building up inside him too. Don't show that you are panicked to her; she'll be even more scared. "Me? How?"

She squeezes her eyes shut, one tear from each eye slides down her muddy face. Her voice is like a sad whisper "I don't know try pulling it."

Does she know how painful this is going to be? He needs to make sure that she knows what she is asking. "Won't that hurt?" he is still concerned for his best friend.
She hugs her knees. "Yeah it will but I just want to be free of it!"

His hand brushes against his pocket. It has something in it. He reaches his hand into it and feels some wood, leather and metal. What is it? He gasps in realization. It was given to him before going herb picking, maybe this can help Nelora. "Wait Nel I have a knife. It was given to be for those pesky herbs that are too tough and don't want to be plucked. It would be better if i used it. Are you ok with that?"

She is slightly trembling, the thoughts of what is going to happen if she is stuck here forever are crowding her mind, it is very unlikely but they are still there, scaring her, not helping at all. Without realizing it she cries out "Fine, do it! Just get me loose from here!"

"Ok Nel I will count to three. One, two, three." He starts to cut her hair loose from the sap. She is crying out in fear but when he wants to stop she tells him to keep going despite her emotions.

Finally she is free from that cursed sappy tree. Nelora still has tears of terror streaming down her face. She gets up and hugs him.

"Thank you for helping me out and coming with me, otherwise I'd still be stuck, alone, sad and..."
Tamlen sooths his best friend "No need to cry Nel, we're best friends and best friends always have each other's backs."

She whispers into his ear "Thank you for being you, Tamlen." She now hugs him even more
tightly.
****

They are walking back to the camp.

Nel is curious "Where did we leave our herb baskets?"

He tries to remember very hard but he can't. What if they'd try to retrace their steps? – Bad idea, with all the crisscrossing around the forest they may get very lost. It is easier to go back to camp and then go back to the herb picking site, yeah that's where they probably are but then again he can't be sure. "I have no idea, maybe at the place where we gathered them."

She nods "I do hope so." Her hair looks very strange. It is chaotic, very short in some places and long in others, much of it still has some sap stuck to it.

She tries to run her hand through her hair but fails, the damned sap has stuck it theater in many places and it would hurt a lot to just pull her hand through. She has no idea what it may look like but an idea of a birds nest comes to her mind, what might Ashalle think of all this. She asks: "Do you think Ashalle is going to be mad?"

He scans her, a lot of dirt, scratches, leaves, tiny twigs and a little bit broken clothes. "She'll be furious."

The girl has her nose up high like some noble and asks: "So you did not give me a professional and a stunning haircut?"

He snorts but goes along with her goofing around "Absolutely the best for the best, my lady."

He gets a tiny giggle from her.

Nel asks carefully: "Sooo...Want to stay in the forest to avoid the fury of others, mostly the fury of the elders? "

"I'd love to but they will find us."

"Yeah you are right maybe some time in the future."

Tamlen chuckles and reminds her: "You know that you are going to get another haircut at the camp."

She frowns. "Don't rub it in, today has been tough on me."

He has a cocky smile "I'm never going to let you forget that adventure nor the new haircut you are going to get because sap doesn't was out. And oh i bet I bet it is going to look terrible."

She says sarcastically: "Haha really funny."