Elvaeria, Ep. 7

Hey everyone!! Here is some more of Maedaeria, newly renamed as Elvaeria!! Tell me what you think! I know this one is wicked long.

xoxo

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As Kateri, Emily, and the Pegasus waited in the lounge of the Place of Councils, they talked over the many frightening events which had taken place that day.
“After I left you, what happened?” Emily cried impatiently. “And where did you come from, Honored One?” she added, looking admiringly at the fantastic Pegasus before her.
“Before we answer any of these questions, I think we should all introduce ourselves properly,” Kateri said. “I’m afraid I don’t even know your name, Honored One.”
“Nor I yours, until I heard it spoken with the title ‘Princess’ before it!” exclaimed the Pegasus, smiling faintly. “So you are the Elvin Princess?”
“I am Kateri, Princess of the Elves, yes. This is Emily, also one of the Elvin princesses. She is my cousin.”
“Which of you is the daughter of Lidaera, Queen of the Elves, and as such, the heir to the kingdom?”
“Kateri is. My mother is Lidaera’s younger sister, Cilnaera.” Emily said, adding, “But we still did not know your name! Won’t you tell us?”

“Dear ones, I cannot blame you for not knowing this ancient tradition, because it has been so long since a Pegasus such as myself has walked among you, but it is the way of the Pegasus to only impart her name to those she truly trusts and admires. But as it is, I have now come to the conclusion that I can trust you, and that indeed, I do admire you. My name is Vaerizanda.”
“Oh, how beautiful,” Emily gasped, her eyes wide.
“Heaven Sent….that’s what it means, right?” Kateri asked, smiling.
“Yes, that’s right. But now, I shall tell you my half of the story.” Vaerizanda said, as she took a sip from her bowl of the same strange, whirling mist that the two elves were drinking.
“Now, where to start…Hmm. My friend, Kaezira is her name, had been traveling for weeks….But wait, no….No, it is necessary to go even farther back than that.

“Kaezira, the woman from whose gown this small piece of material comes from,” Vaerizanda began again, indicating the piece of cloth with her snout. “is a simple peasant from the land of Linaeria. She is the daughter of a farmer of no importance, her mother has been dead these many years, and she does not even know her name, as apparently it is painful for her father to speak of it, and he has told her nothing of her mother. She has no title, no significance to anyone, except those who know her as the sweet and loving girl she is. She is truly amazing. She has a heart larger and truer than anyone I have ever before met before .
“I met her one day in the forest; she was picking berries for a pie. Well, we formed an immediate bond. Since then, we have been fast friends. But not too long ago, she traveled into Elvaeria alone. She was looking for me, in fact. She traveled deep into the forest. Too deep. She became lost. After hours of searching through the forest for the way home, she came to a small hut. Hoping that whoever lived in the hut would be able to help her, she naively knocked upon the door, not knowing that evil exists even in the seemingly peaceful Land of the Elves.
“What she saw there was too horrible for words. An entire family slaughtered. She nearly fainted than and there, and she would have, had not circumstances forced her to keep her wits about her. For, you see, the murderer was still there. A outlandish creature, she said. A monstrous creature! I myself have never laid eyes on him, but she described him to me thoroughly. She did not wish to tell me, it frightened her even to think about him, but I made her, for the more I knew about this monster, the safer I could keep Kaezira.
“Well, as I was saying, the murderer, some kind of monster, was still there. He was dressed in a long, black cloak, and in his arms he held a girl. She was a gorgeous girl, Kaezira said, and she seemed to be unconscious. He stared at Kaezira, stared and stared. Then, he slowly stepped from the house, and, spreading enormous, black wings, soared up into the sky, after whispering three words to her. ‘You are next.’”

“How horrible!” Emily exclaimed. Kateri remained silently, her eyes large.
Zaerizanda was watching her. She looked at her, her eyes searching, before continuing.
“After Kaezira told me all this, I knew it was no trifling matter. I told her we had to flee from her home, for the monster would surely come after her. I was sure it had some way of searching her out and discovering where she lived. She was heartbroken, for she loved her father dearly, and she had a brother who was in the Lindaerian army, and who knew when she should see him again. At first, she refused to go, but her father, hearing of the horrendous affair, would not hear of her staying where she could be in danger.
“So we set off. For weeks we have been traveling through the forest, going through the safest routs. You may think it foolish to travel through Elvaeria when that is where the monster itself must live, but, though you are of the ancient and honored race of elves, even you have little knowledge of the secrets this forest holds. Even though you are of the noble race of elves, you, and your elders with you, cannot image the mysterious contained in Elvaeria’s depths. I knew we would be safer in the forest than anywhere else. I knew especially one place where the beast would surely never find us….The Kingdom of the Elves.
“We had been traveling two weeks, with no sign of danger, when suddenly, we felt as though we were being followed, watched. Before long, we knew the monster was on our tails. There was nothing we could do…We simply continued to travel, staying one step ahead of the creature.
“We were so close to reaching the Kingdom of the Elves…Closer even than we thought…When Kaezira fell and hit her head on a rock. This injury was not too severe, but it held us up for two days. When we were at last able to move again, the creature was right behind us. We had nothing to do but run. Run we did! We sped through the forest, doing all we could to reach the Kingdom of the Elves before we were overtaken. We would have made it, had not I in my carelessness run under a low hanging branch. Though this branch was high enough not to harm me, it knocked Kaezira right off my back. Then, before I knew what had happened, I had tumbled into a hole…what I now know was the well…and everything suddenly went black!” Zaerizanda broke off with tears in her eyes. “My fault, all my fault!”
“Oh, Zaerizanda, it’s not your fault! Truly it isn’t—” But before Kateri could go on, the door burst open and aged Meginia was before them.
“The Elders are ready for you!” she breathed.