Spiritchild - part 2

Her presence had been requested at the Circle, the gathering place for the Eldra, which in itself was not unusual, but the manner in which she had been contacted was. It was usual for someone to carry a message from the Eldra to its recipient. It was not usual for the message to come from the trees.

Trees were sacred. As were all elements of spirited life. And Aethyr did not involve themselves in the lives of the sentients; humans, dwarves, and elves. It was possible for the Aethyr to have an unusually high presence in some elements of nature; the wind, the trees, even sometimes animals. But for them to communicate directly was unheard of.

As a proficient listener, Fae was more capable of feeling the way of the Aethyr; their divine will, some would say. Nonetheless, direct contact was the stuff of bedtime stories.

Having received her unusual summons, Fae made her way to the Circle, where the Eldra communed.

The Circle was a place of serenity. The Eldra were traditionally the eldest, and most respected members of the People. Over time though, they had lost the requisite of being the most aged of the population, and were now selected from the wisest, most skilled and most respected members of the community. They generally consisted of healers, listeners, leaders and scholars. Healers, having knowledge of all life, and often being those people felt able to confide in and trust, were needed to offer counsel. Scholars were highly regarded for their knowledge of the histories and what has gone before. Leaders tended to garner trust and solidarity in the People. And listeners were those with the ability to communicate the will of the Aethyr to the People..

The ability to “converse” with the Aethyr was greatly revered among the People. Listening was a gift at birth, but required much practice and focus to make any sense of the “sense” that could be derived from spiritkind. It was generally reserved for the scholars of the elder generation.

The current Circle housed seven Eldra in chambers that connected directly to the central Circle, where their meetings were held. Hara Lyn, leader of the People, descendant of the founding family of Arolynos, was a beauty to behold, and was loved by all. She had served as an Eldra for nearly ninety years, having succeeded her grandfather to the position at an impossibly young age for the Eldra of the time. As such, she was still seen as young by the older members of the community who remembered her as she was back then, but she was kind and just, and her people respected her judgment almost above the others of the Circle, even though she sought counsel from each of them to better lead Arolynos.

Jakson was one of the greatest healers ever known. He was old even by elvish years, and well known by all. He was wise beyond mention and often visited the school to help Fae teach some of the histories as well as the healing craft. Jakson liked to be among the People, and seldom sat idle, in spite of his age.

His first students were new to the Circle; Shae and Ty were twins, a rarity among elves, and had studied under him for thirty years before joining him in the Circle. They joined him at the school to help teach and were great friends to all the students. They had become the youngest among the Eldra but not without good reason. The twins were not only skilled healers, but seemed to have an unusual connection to each other that surpassed mere empathy. The scholars at the school likened it to the gift of listening, and often tried to encourage the twins to attempt listening into the Aethyr. They preferred to “help and heal”, they would tell those who questioned their lack of interest in the matter, and would prove their talents elsewhere. While working together, they were unmatched, and their counsel in the Circle was always sought after, as their ability to offer a different perspective was unrivaled.

Artimus and his student Fabre were the two Eldra scholars, and had run the school before Fae. Both were serious about their study of the histories and as such were said to remember things even Jakson had long forgotten.

And then there was Danea, listener, so immersed in the spirit dialogue that she had taken on an ethereal quality. It was in the way she drifted around, in the way she spoke when she found it necessary to talk aloud, and in the way her eyes rarely seemed to focus on anything in front of her, looking instead to something apparently transcending reality.

These seven made up the Eldra, and had all been present and waiting for Fae when she arrived at the Circle on that winter day two years ago.

She remembered surveying the scene in front of her. Hara had been standing, as usual, at the far end of the Circle. Danea was also as usual, gazing out at the surrounding vista from one of the many high arched windows around the perimeter of the room.

Nestled between the seven dividing limbs of the huge central tree in Arolynos, the Circle did boast a view to behold. The Eldra’s homes branched out from this central room and nestled among the boughs further from the main trunk.

On that day, Fae had been unable to enjoy the view. Her eyes were fixed immediately on the small human boy that Shae was holding in the middle of the Circle while Ty and Jackson looked over him. As she entered, his wide eyes turned to her and watched her progress through the room. A human in Arolynos was unheard of! Even a small boy such as this.

She looked up to see the Eldra staring at her. The surprise in their eyes told her all she needed to know about her unusual messenger - it had not been sent by them. They had not been expecting her.

“Fae,” Hara began, “we were not expecting you. I suppose it is as well you came though, we have something we need to discuss.”

“I can see that,” Fae said. Her eyes flicked back to the boy, whose eyes had not left hers.

“Fae, this boy has been guided to us by the Aethyr,” Fabre declared briskly. Her eyes flicked to Danea, who seemed not to have heard, before turning back to Fae, “we have decided that as such, he should be treated as any other child here and should attend the school.”

“We have discussed this at length,” Hara intervened, looking apologetic at Fabre’s abruptness, “we thought it would be a good idea for you to meet him, so that he might know some of us he can trust. Shae and Ty have already said they will house him,” Fabre did nothing to conceal her scowl at this, “but you will obviously be schooling him, and he will need to be integrated with the other children, for which we will need your support. Fae?”

Fae, unhearing, had gone over to sit with the child surrounded by healers and the boy with tell-tale dark human hair had reached his arms out to hold her. Fae instinctively put her arms around him as she would have done with any other child at the school and picked him up as much as her petite frame would allow. It was then that she turned back to Hara.

“Why a human child?” Was the only question she could find. Humans were by and large known to be a destructive race, and were avoided by elves and other races alike. To have one in the haven that the ancient Lyn family had carved for elven-kind seemed the thing of stories told to children to discourage bad behaviour. A look crossed Hara’s face, but it quickly became the calm visage usually found there. Fae failed to notice. The fact that she was holding a human boy in her arms was enough to process at once. It was Jakson, however, who answered her.

“This boy is an orphan, sent to us in his hour of need. No good will come of questioning Their will or the circumstances surrounding this event Fae. All we know is it is now our task to care for him as one of our own.” He cast a glance at Hara, but Fae was too taken in by the bright blue eyes staring up at her to think further on it. “Will you be able to integrate him into the school when he is of an age to study?” She looked up at that.

“Of course.” She turned back to the boy. “How old are you little one?” She asked without a thought. His eyes widened and he replied so quietly she had to turn her ear to him to hear.

“Nine, Miss, nearly ten soon,” he whispered in elvish. Fae stopped. She could feel the rest of the Circle holding their breath as she turned to face them.

“He speaks elvish?!” She breathed incredulously. Fabre intervened again.

“The Eah have seen that he can join our family without the stigma of human tongues in our haven. Would you question them again?” She said, invoking the ancient name of the Aethyr, and glancing at Danea who continued to gaze out of the window, seemingly unaware of the growing tension in the room behind her.

“I never took you for a listener Fabre, what has you speaking for the Aethyr today?” She turned to the listener at the window. “Danea, what’s your take on this development?” She did not turn to answer, choosing instead to answer as if speaking directly to the Aethyr.

“My thoughts on this are welcome only with Those Who are Listening. He is home, nothing else matters.” And with that she drifted out onto the boughs that lead to her chambers. Fae turned back to the others.

“What does she mean?” Again, it was Fabre who answered.

“What does it matter? The boy is here now, we have been charged with his care. The matter it closed.” And with that she too left to her chambers. Hara nodded in agreement but did not seem pleased with her choice of words.

“While I lack Fabre’s vexation, her words are true. The boy will stay with Shae and Ty until he is old enough to attend the school. Do you want to discuss it? I apologize for the lack of background to it but it would appear this is what we have been charged with.”

“Best not ask questions child,” Jakson said, “the boy will need stability more than anything now and the best we can do is to just accept him as he is.” Fae nodded and turned back to the child who was slowly falling asleep in her arms.

“What’s your name?” She asked him quietly.

“Bek,” he whispered before finally closing his eyes.

*

Many times over the years she had wondered about Bek’s past. He did not seem to know it any more than the Eldra did. Whatever had happened to him had rendered him near speechless. He rarely spoke at all and when he did it was in a voice barely above a whisper. It was as if his voice had been scared away.

Fae had even listened to the Aethyr, asked about Bek’s history. But while she was normally renowned for her listening abilities, this time the Aethyr had not deigned to answer her. Their response was unusually quiet, as if they held their breath and feigned absence.

His dark hair clearly marked him as human, but Fae had started to notice the tell-tale tapering of his ears into the traditional elvish feature that belied those preconceptions.

As they walked the branches in the direction of the school together, Fae wondered at his first day there. Not being able to speak for himself would not help matters, and she would not be there for him today as much as she would have liked to be, as she had a meeting to attend.

It was not so unusual to be called upon by the Eldra. She was already widely considered one of the best healers in Arolynos and to even be considered capable of listening, let alone being an adept, was unheard of until at least fifty years of age, and that’s when most listeners would begin the century of training it took to fine-tune it as best as you were able. It was not unheard of for the Eldra to call upon her for counsel from time to time, but this time it felt different.

Remembering Bek’s background had her thinking about her own. About how she couldn’t remember further back than around five years of age. About the dreams. About her notable skill in healing and listening that had begun to manifest at twenty one years of age. About everything she couldn’t explain...

Shae met them at the school to wish Bek well.

“Morning Fae!” She trilled. Shae was always full of energy and cheerful. She crouched down to be level with Bek, “Have fun today. Learning is pointless unless you’re enjoying it. Take it from one who’s made it their life’s work!” She winked at him and steered him towards the open gathering area formed by the interweaving of several branches to form a large flat floor space one hundred feet from the forest floor proper. This space was used for all sorts of events requiring a large area of space, but during the day it was most often dedicated to the running of the school.

As Bek walked towards the gathering children, Fae was confident that he would be made to feel welcome. She wished she could feel as confident about her meet with the Eldra.

Fortunately, she would not be meeting with them until after the midday meal so she and Shae were able to continue their work at the school for half the day.

She worked her way around everyone, making sure they were all being looked after, getting Bek settled in, but she could not feel her heart in it today. She could not shake the feeling that something was coming.

When the sun reached its zenith, she almost breathed a sigh of relief. She ensured that the midday meal was being taken care of before seeking out Shae. She found her wrapping up an intermediate class in setting bones, telling her students to practice some skill they had been working on, probably stitching, but she wasn’t paying attention. Only after the students had dispersed did she approach Shae.

As Fae approached, Shae looked up and smiled a greeting. A small furrow appeared on her brow at the cloud over Fae’s expression.

“Will you walk with me?” Fae asked.

Shae fell into step with her as she headed toward the Circle.