Picking Petals:

Chapter 39: Court of Ash

I had gone to sleep last night, too tired to wait up for Rone. When I woke, he was sound asleep beside me breathing heavy, his brows furrowed in a deep frown. I could be mad, I could be bitter but i knew Rone was still adjusting, learning. If I drowned him with my concerns he might snap, I left Rone a note telling him I'd be gone for the day, and that I loved him. I could watch his sleep all day, he looked so calm and comfortable, sometimes he'd even smile foolishly, like a young boy. I hated leaving but there was so much that needed to be done.

Berella, Gregory, Orion, Josephine, Shay and Musho are meeting up in the empty grass field. The most important thing to me is getting every elf out of the woods, and given a room. I knew not all the elves would be as cooperative as the few I had turned back in the breakout. Some will still be loyal to the once King Marvis, some will even question my title, my belonging.

I braided my long dark hair around my horns, it's weird not even having to grab my cloak. The sun was shinning bright and hot, I wore a simple white blouse and black tights, and i was already sweating. The land was healing pretty fast, there was still a familiar rotting smell that lingered, dead grass scattered with blades of lime green. I decided to leave my sword home and bring a bow, commanding the others to as well. The last thing I'd want is to scare or threaten anyone. What also helped was Harmony and what she called her "mate", decided to come with us.

"Tell me why were doing this again? Just give them a king and then let them take back the meadows," Josephine suggested as we all marveled at our boots sinking in grass and mud. The woods was messy, overgrown and some parts still charred. I hardly smelled any leaking iron, which was a good sign.

"The meadows is in ruins, the manors falling apart, are you nuts? Is that it?" Orion mocked her as he struggled not to get his shoes "too dirty."

"Why cant we just fly?" Shay asked, "We cant fly too high but-"

"Josephine and Orion cant fly," Berella reminded Shay, who rolled her brown eyes in annoyance. "Plus Orion says the meadows aren't far we'll be there in no time."

Orions best guess to where the elves would be was the meadows, the grounds of their first ancestors. There is where their magic laid, it bleeds in the ground, suffocates the air.

We finally reached the meadows, and to Orions word there was about ten. I wasnt counting on many, but this was a great start. Orion stepped forward, "We are here to bring you home."

Everyone was completely nude of course, Berella frantically started handing out clothes to prying eyes, some just handing them right back."Free spirits," Orion reminded us as he smiled apologetically.

"We aren't going anywhere till we save the rest," said a taller tanned man. "Lorelei," the elf bowed, the others following his actions.

"This isn't Lorelei, but a reincarnation of her," Orion explained. "This is Arendale, your once well trusted head of Commanders, nice to see you alive and well," Orion sneered bitterly.

Arendale stood up, his scared left cheek looked deep and old, his silver eyes an exact replica of Rones hair. "What happened to the others?" Josephine asked as Arendale hissed at her, "Calm down snake," she growled back looking over to me. "My reputation proceeds myself," she grinned. This girl had a long journey to change, that was for certain.

"The mountain people, they took most of us, the rest ended up here," Arendale explained as a small maybe four year old girl hugged to his leg, bashfully looking up at me.

"Humans?" I asked.

"No, but they weren't Fae either, we are week unless we are on our ancestors grounds, I wont leave it, never again." Said an much elder woman that came to Arendales bicep, tears stung her dark face, her wrinkled skin showing signs of major aging. "When we came back we crossed the other side of the woods, we got lost, men in horses and steal came through with swords."