Once Upon a Time...

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Ima looked down, a light coloration coming to her cheeks. It was obvious that nobody had said that before about her tattoos. More often than not, city elves thought that her tattoos were barbaric and animalistic. Before she could thank her, Linnor arrived, covered head to toe in white. "Ah..." he said sheepishly, the redness appearing on his cheeks apparent through the whiteness. "...A bag of flour fell on us," he stated, trying to wipe some of it off of him but not making any headway. Adhair stepped out of the back room behind Linnor, clapping a hand on the wild elf's shoulder and sending up a cloud of flour.

"Ima, you can go home now..." Catching sight of Aurea, he brushed his hair back before asking, "Who is this? A customer?"

"No," Linnor stepped in. "She's just...a friend of mine." He smiled, his teeth almost blending in with the flour.

Adhair smiled as well, both of them looking equally ridiculous. "Very well. You can go home, too, Linnor...I'll clean up the mess in the back tonight." Nodding, Linnor watched Adhair go into the back before saying to Aurea, "It was his fault, the flour. He thinks he's my age..."
 
Aurea stifled her laughter as Linnor came in covered in flour since Ima was there. She bowed her head at Adhair, finding the sight of the two elves rather funny indeed. She couldn't really take her fellow city elf seriously while he was doused with flower, but she tried to be respectful. Once everyone was gone, Aurea had to release her breath and giggle. After a moment, she breathed and said, "I'm sorry. It's just... now this is the second time you've got something on your face. Though I don't think this will be as easy to clean up. Are you going to go home looking like that?"

She didn't think Linnor and his family had a proper washroom like her household did, but there were sources of water outside the city. Reaching up, she dusted his hair with her fingertips, puffing up the white powder and showering some in her own locks. At least she could see the color in his again. Bringing her hand back down, she dusted both of them off, her fingers still white on some parts. "You have thoroughly covered yourself. How did it fall on you?" she asked, another smile on her face.
 
"Adhair thought he was strong enough to hold a giant bag of flour over his head without my help, so when I saw him about to fall and went to help, he tripped over his own feet and spilled the bag on both of us." For a moment back there, Linnor had blacked out, and when he had come to again, he and Adhair were lying side by side in a mound of flour, both of them ghost white. "But...I was planning on just upending a bucket of water over my head to get the flour off..." Near his uncle's home, there was a small water pump which only worked sporadically. And when it did work, the water was brown for the first few pumps, and never cold.

"My uncle shouldn't care if I come home like this, though." His clothes would wash, and the flour wouldn't be stuck on his skin forever. Still, it was rather uncomfortable, and it would be like putting a giant target on him for the various people who didn't like wild elves. "My aunt might worry what I've gotten in to..."
 
Aurea tried to imagine the situation, but it was too comical. She ruffled his hair again, spilling more flour onto her hair and some flecks on her face and smiled. She tried to suppress another laugh and failed before she walked out of the shop and waited for him. His method of cleaning himself to get rid of the flour didn't sound very... clean. "Well, that's no good. Flour and water don't mix. It would take a while to come off if you did that. You'd need just a dry cloth. Would you like me to help?" There she was being forward again. He didn't need help with everything, even if he was injured.

Her head ducked and her hair shook with the motion. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to assume that you'd need it." She turned and started walking whether he was following or not. Aurea found she spoke freely and too fast with him, like she was a child again. And one day, he would yell at her, just like her father always did.
 
Eyebrows rising as she ducked her head and walked off, Linnor strode after her, his feet leaving footprints as he walked. "Aurea!" he called, before grabbing her lightly by her elbow. "It's fine. Having a dry cloth to wipe off the flour with would be great. Look...I'm not going to hurt you, Aurea. So...please, stop acting like I am." In truth, her actions made him feel bad, like he had done something wrong or horrible to her. It hurt him, and almost made him feel like she was like her father in some way, and didn't want to be friends with him because he was born in the wild and not in the city like she had.

"Please," he said, not caring that he looked ridiculous or that he was leaving white hand marks on her arm where he touched it, "explain to me why you act this way..."
 
Linnor was remarkably quick for someone with an injured leg, but that wasn't what mattered to Aurea in that moment. Linnor wanted to stop her, but her head stayed turned away from a moment. When she finally looked up at him, it was clear she was trying to hold back tears. "I... I'm sorry." She didn't try to remove his arm, but she straightened up, her breath coming out in a shaky gasp. She took a moment to respond, trying to find the words.

"I just... My father wanted me to be raised proper... and quiet. When I was younger, if I spoke too much or too loudly, he would reprimand me. 'Ladies don't act that way,' he would tell me, if I was doing something he thought wrong. 'Ladies speak when spoken to, and they are soft, not loud.' He told me so much more, and I... I hated it, but I didn't know what else to do. I was supposed to make my father happy and proud of me. I... I had to." She twisted her hand so she was gripping his arm, biting her lip to keep from spilling tears.

"It's not you. I just... It's how my father wanted me to be." She realized Linnor was the only elf ever to ask her why she acted the way she did, and for some reason, she was glad. Everyone else accepted it as normal, but he was willing to figure out why. "It's why he was so surprised... and angry when I brought you home that night. It was because I'd defied him...." She only seemed to act that way around Linnor, but she didn't know why. "I'm sorry...," she repeated, looking down again before glancing up at him. Her light brown eyes were soft with memories, but one tear had fallen, and she was quick to wipe it away, to remove any trace it was there. Of course, her fingertips were still dusted with flour so she left a streak of white just under her eye.
 
Seeing Aurea like this made Linnor feel bad for her. No girl should be forced to act like that if she didn't want to. If she wanted to run and scream and shout, then let her. At least, that was how he saw it. In the wild elf tribes, everyone was expected to help out, to further the tribe's existence, but when they weren't helping, they could do what they pleased, and no one would tell them otherwise. Ima was a strong example of that. She was strong, fierce, and she wouldn't take any foul words from anyone. On the streets, many city elves knew not to say the word 'slum' within hearing distance of her, as she would undoubtedly start a fight with the elf who had spoken. Of course, this would get her arrested several times a month, and Adhair would speak with her family to see if he couldn't get her out.

"Don't be sorry," Linnor told her. "It's not your fault...it's your father's, for making you like this..." he trailed off before sighing softly. "If you want, I would like to show you the place where I lived before the Hin'tio came here. It would only take a half day to go there and back, but you don't have to if you don't want to..." He cracked a smile, ignoring the looks given to him by city elves.
 
Aurea looked up when Linnor, of all things, didn't blame her for what happened during her younger years. When everyone just allowed it to happen, the wild elf standing before her decided that wasn't good enough. "I... Thank you."He made the next offer, and she smiled. "Right now? I... I'd love to," she said, turning her head as some of the other elves glanced at Linnor and his whitened appearance. She didn't want them to stare, even if it was hard.

She wished he wasn't covered in flour so she could hug him. In fact, she decided to forget the flour for just a moment and she threw her arms around his neck in a quick hug. When she pulled away, the front side of her was coated in a thin layer of flour, but she only laughed. "I helped you start to clean it off already," she said, smiling up at him. It was enough to help her forget the moment when she brought up her past. It wasn't nearly as bad as what Linnor or Ima went through, but it still wasn't good. However, Linnor had a way of making her not think about it.
 
Linnor was glad when Aurea agreed to going to see where he used to live. Of course, if they left now, then they wouldn't be caught out at night, but he figured that they would be fine. Besides, there were no Aka's in the forest, were there? Grinning, he jumped when she threw her arms around him, sending up clouds of flour to settle on top of her and her clothes. Too stunned to return the hug, he was admittedly a bit disappointed when she let go, wishing he had had time to hug her back. Smiling at her joke, he asked, "Do you want to leave now? I don't care about the flour, but we can go by your home if you want to change."

Shaking his arms out, in an attempt to get some of the flour off of him, he ran his fingers over them, not liking when he didn't get any off of him. Making a soft sound in the back of his throat, he frowned before looking back up at her. "I...I don't like flour anymore," he said, laughing softly.
 
One half of Aurea's face was now covered flour from her hug, as she'd pressed her face to his chest for a few seconds, while the other half just had the simple streak under her eye. At his question, she shook her head and smiled. "No, let's go right now. I don't want to go home." The more time she spent with Linnor, the longer she would have to wait before she had to go home. She didn't really care about anything while with Linnor, only wondering when their time would end. She knew if she went home now, her father would demand her to stay in or her mother would need help with the young twin elf brothers. It was always something, and it would be even worse if Aurea mentioned that she'd been with Linnor the entire time she was out.

Aurea watched Linnor make a poor attempt to get some of the flour off his arm, and when he didn't, he made a sound that was similar to a whine. It made Aurea laugh again before she spoke. "Don't worry. I'll help you get it off. Now, which way do we go?" Even if Linnor limped all the way there and back, it would mean she got to spend more time with him. The thought kept the smile on her face as she held her hands behind her back, the braid threaded with flour and loosening with each turn of her head.
 
"This way," he said, making a gesture and leading her towards the Hin'tio District. Weaving through the maze of small houses and tents, he soon found a tiny gate that led out of the city. Once outside, a few Hin'tio tents remained, but they were currently unoccupied. As far as he knew, no one had ever lived there. Beyond that, nothing but fields for a few miles. Linnor didn't speak very much, and was spending the time imagining what it would be like returning to his home. A couple years ago, everyone had heard that the diamonds that they had been moved for were all gone, that the Lord Regent's men had mined them all, and the valley was now left in a state of decay. Though he hadn't seen it yet, Linnor could already imagine what it must look like: barren, empty, and with none of the greenery or trees that it once had.

Shaking away these thoughts as they came upon a forest, with a worn, nearly nonexistent path leading through it, he said, "It's gonna be a while longer until we get there...do you want to rest here for now?" In truth, he was getting tired. Normally, this would be nothing, and he could make the trip in little more than two hours, but with his broken leg, the trip became difficult and tiring. Rolling his shoulders, he wiped some of the flour off of his hands, glad that patches of his regular clothes were appearing through the flour now.
 
Aurea stayed close to Linnor since she didn't want to lose him. Though, she found it would be difficult to lose someone covered in bright, white flour. Even still, she stuck by him. Linnor wasn't speaking, but Aurea respected the silence. She took the time to look around. Rarely did she leave the city, and when she did, it was in a carriage with covered windows. There were roads; it was that mostly traders used them. Linnor seemed to know where he was going despite having no real path to walk on, and she followed closely. Outside the city, it was soft and quiet. There was no jumble of elves walking along the street or anyone yelling. It was simple and she liked it that way.

Aurea stopped as Linnor spoke. She was still ready to go and was about to say 'no,' but then she realized his leg was probably hurting him from walking so much. "Sure," she answered, giving him a smile. Her hands woven together behind her back, Aurea leaned against a nearby tree, studying the leaves and the bark and the ground. She loved to look at everything as her eyes filled with a quiet wonder for the lovely scenery around her.
 
When Aurea said that it would be okay for them to rest, Linnor smiled before letting himself sit down against a tree by the small path. "Thank you," he told her, letting his head rest back on the bark of the tree. Closing his eyes, he let himself relax for several minutes, his leg still sending waves of pain through him. When he opened up his eyes, he glanced at the sun, estimating the time. It was a couple hours before dark, and they could probably get to the camp before then.

Forcing himself to stand up, he rolled his shoulders before saying, "Are you ready to go?" Once he had a confirmation, he nodded before leading her into the forest, making sure to keep his eye out for any sign of landmarks that he would recognize. "Have you ever been in this part of the countryside?" he asked, smiling softly.
 
Linnor had closed his eyes, so Aurea took the time to study him rather than her surroundings. The flour obscured some of his features, but she still found him to be good-looking. Smiling and shaking her head at the thought, she turned her head away so he wouldn't see her staring at him. As he stood up, she nodded and answered, "Yes... Let's go." She was silent, but she glanced over at him on occasion, watching him while also being clearly fascinated by everything around her. When he spoke again, his voice almost sounded like a part of the nature surrounding them, gentle and kind. "No, I haven't. If my family leaves, we go the opposite way. I don't think they like to pass by here." It must have been a reminder to her father of what they'd done to the wild elves, but she'd never known.

The thought made her sigh and with an absent mind, Aurea reached back and pulled her braid over her shoulder, untying the blue ribbon fastening her hair. Her locks spilled out in waves, and shaking her head once, it puffed out along with specks of flour floating into the air. "Linnor... Can I ask you something?" She paused, biting her lip in thought. "Do you think someone would lie to you your whole life just to keep something secret?"
 
Linnor couldn't help but frown at her question. Still, he answered, "Perhaps...if that secret was big or dangerous enough. Or if you were trying to keep a child from learning some dark, terrible truth...but eventually, the truth would have to come out..." He trailed off, not sure if what he was saying was correct. "But for your whole life would be outrageous." Focusing on the ground beneath him, not wanting to trip, he became silent, wondering why she had asked that.

After a few minutes of silence, he finally asked it. "Why did you ask that?"
 
"I think my father lied to me about what happened to you and the other wild elves. He just... He never told me what really happened. He always said you all had agreed to move and that the Lord Regent was kind about everything, and that a wild elf tried to kill him, and so he had to move you all away. The way you all live, he said, it's your fault, and you were all dangerous and unruly and that I should stay away. Always to stay away... He told me all those things... but he said that we moved here from far away so he could be an adviser for the Lord Regent. I just... I don't remember anything from when I was really young."

Aurea's walk slowed, but she still kept pace with Linnor. Two conflicting stories and yet nothing jogged her childhood memories. She remembered the admonishments from her father about being a lady, but it dominated her memory on more than one occasion. She felt weak because nothing in her mind made sense.

"I'm sorry... To say those things. You won't hurt me... I don't think you're dangerous," she added, her head down as they continued to move. "I feel as if I know nothing. Ima told me today about really happened to the wild elves, and I know if I ask my father to tell me the truth, he'll demand to know where I heard such lies or he'll tell me I'm not to see you again." Either of those outcomes were bad, but Aurea didn't think she could lose a friend, not when she was confused and unsure about the words in her head. Not only had it happened to her, but her two twin brothers would eventually be told the same thing, but there was no telling how the stories would affect them.
 
Linnor frowned at Aurea's words. What her father had told her was not true. He didn't know about the other tribes, but in his own, the Lord Regent's eviction had been a terrible thing. They had not be told about it earlier to the day the soldiers arrived, and when he was identified as the tribeleader's son, they had put him in chains, even though he was just a boy and had no weapons on him. They had taken him and his father to the Lord Regent's castle within the city, treating them both as if they were dangerous prisoners, before forcing them to kneel before the man, demanding that Linnor's father swear fealty to him and agree to move his people to the designated district at the end of the city.

Of course, his father had refused, and was cut down, his head rolling on the floor with one swing of a guardsman's greatsword. Linnor had watched, terrified, before the Lord Regent had addressed him. "Will you make the same mistake your father did?" Tears stinging his eyes, Linnor had shaken his head, fear filling him as the belief that he was going to die in a matter of seconds did the same. Shaking, he had bowed his head, saying the words that the Lord Regent had tried to get his father to say, but this time with his father's killer standing over him.

"I swear fealty to the Lord Regent and his city...I will move the Hin'tio tribe to the district des...designated for them, and I will not commit any crimes relating to the health and safety of the Lord Regent..."

Coming back to reality as Aurea apologized, he shook his head. "Don't be. It isn't your fault we were forced to move to the city..." Forcing a smile for her, he continued walking, the slight incline making the road more difficult to transverse.
 
Linnor seemed to space out, but he came back as she spoke. He smiled, which was surprising to her. Of course, the flour lining his face and lips made it look like he was wearing powder the female elves used on their face to make themselves pale, and it was comical, but it was still a smile. She didn't understand why he did it. She was sure to have brought up painful memories for him, but he still put on a facade for her.

"You don't have to smile for me, you know. I mean... if you don't want to," she said, twisting her wavy hair over one shoulder. Even as she said it, she seemed just a crestfallen if he actually listened. Aurea thought his smile made him look better, especially without the flour, though she couldn't help that fact at the moment.

She stepped in front of him, but it wasn't to stop him. She walked backward and kept pace with him so she could look at his face, noticing that his gait was slower than hers. She hadn't even felt the incline, but he was, and she saw it. She almost moved to help him, but she didn't know how.

((Poor Linnor. :c also, I realized today just how many words end in 'r' sounds, and how it all rhymes with Linnor. I keep trying to come up with ways not to sound like a Dr. Seuss book when I use his name. xD))
 
Meryck almost stopped when Aurea stepped in front of him. Then, he saw that she was still walking, so he continued, watching the ground in front of him. After a few minutes of walking, he recognized a tree that had once been his favorite place in the forest. The sun was now starting to dip below the moutains towards the east, but it was still bright outside.

"We're close," he told her, a smile coming to his face. "It should be just over this hill..." Walking in silence until they crested upon the hill, Linnor's breath was taken away from him. "Gods..." he muttered. The floor of the valley was barren: there weren't any trees, not even stumps, and the floor of the once-lush home was ashy grey. In the side of the valley walls were several entrances to caves that were boarded up by wooden planks.

Tears immediately springing to his eyes, he brushed them away with the back of his hand, wishing it wasn't true. "Gods, why...?" he asked the air, placing his free hand on a nearby tree to steady himself, feeling like he would fall over if he didn't.
 
She turned and walked by his side when he mentioned being close. She was content to be in silence but that small feeling was chased from her body as she and Linnor came upon what used to be his home. There was just... nothing. There was only dirt and ashes and the entire place had an air of death around it. It seemed that was for the valley and what had gone on during the mines. She didn't hear Linnor the first time he spoke, but she looked over at the second time, watching as he wiped away tears. He was sad, and he had every reason to be. The valley was broken and it would never repair itself.

Aurea's heart twisted as she continued to look upon it in absolute silence before she reached over and touched his shoulder. She then moved in front of him and wrapped her arms around Linnor's neck in a soft hug. There was nothing she could say, nothing she could do, that would change the outcome of the valley. However, it seemed like the right thing to do in the moment, but she pulled away after a few seconds in case her touch wasn't welcome.
 
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