Once Upon a Time...

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Leaving Aurea in the copse, Linnor searched the nearby bushes for any sign of blueberry bushes. This time of year was about the best time for blueberries, he knew, so they would be ripe and good to eat. Finding a couple bushes near the lake that he had washed off in, he picked as many as he could hold before returning to her. "I should've thought ahead," he said, wishing that he had somewhere to put the berries down on. "I could've brought a blanket or something..."

Holding out his cupped hands to offer her the berries, he said, "Take as many as you want, I'm not really that hungry." Smiling softly, he asked, "Do you think I should make a fire? It's not that cold out tonight, but maybe some light would be nice..."
 
While Linnor was away collecting their meal, Aurea studied the stars. She knew there were patterns, but everyone had different ideas about what they meant, or if they even meant anything at all. She was trying to see how many she could count before Linnor returned. She turned as he came up with a handful of berries, shaking her head at his words. "Well, we'll remember for the next time then," she said, carefully plucking some blueberries from his open palm. She popped one into her mouth, smiling as the sweet and tart taste hit her tongue. They were delicious. The fruit back in the city wasn't as fresh, and she found there was a clear difference between the two.

She nodded at his words, eating a few more berries before she answered. "You could always teach me how to make one." She stepped in front of him, pushing her hand under his to steady it while she picked more berries from his fingers. By the time she was finished, only a few remained and her fingertips were blue as well as her lips. "Do you need me to get anything for the fire?" she asked, her blue-hued mouth curling into a soft smile.
 
Chuckling as he saw her blue-stained mouth in the semi-darkness, he said, "Dry leaves, twigs, and if you find any rough, grey rocks, get those too. I'll get the rest. Don't take anything off of the trees unless it's dead, either, only get what's on the forest floor..." Leaving her again, he found a tree that had toppled over some years ago. Wishing he had a knife to make this easier, he simply tried to pull off thick branches, which was difficult with one hand holding him up. When he finally got a branch off, he rubbed the place where the branch had been, feeling a bit closer to the gods of nature for doing so.

Nodding towards the tree as a sign of thanks, he dragged the branch back to the copse, setting it against one of the larger ones. Trying to kick it near the middle, to make it more suited for a fire, he soon had a few pieces of branch, and was arranging a pit in the middle of the copse. Wondering if Aurea was doing fine, he started setting up the fire, before heading off again to find anything else he would need for the fire.
 
Aurea resorted to only getting items on the ground, as trying to pull anything dead off of the trees might have ended with bad results. She didn't stray too far from the copse, knowing that if she went out much further, she would get lost. The forest was big compared to anything she'd ever seen before, and it didn't help it was dark. She nearly tripped a few times since she wasn't looking out for them, but after searching for some time, she found a small pile of dried leaves. Picking it up, she moved along and discovered some fair-sized rocks as well as twigs.

Walking back to their area, she found Linnor gone again, but she knelt and put her gatherings on the ground. She knew most fires had rocks around them, but she didn't have enough to make a complete circle. Her brow furrowed in thought as she attempted to figure out how to make it work. She didn't really want to go back out and look for more, but she also didn't want Linnor to have to stay out searching alone.
 
Wishing he had a striking stone to start the fire with, Linnor returned to the copse, finding Aurea there. "If you're looking for more rocks, I can help you get some...they're probably by the lake." Dumping the things he was holding in his arms by the pit he had made, he gestured with his free hand for her to follow, before heading towards the lake.

Once there, he gathered as many stones as he could, holding them in one arm. Hoping that Aurea could hold more than him, he waited until she was ready to start heading back, his leg giving a dull ache. Back at the copse, he arranged the rocks in a circle with bigger ones on the inside while smaller ones covered the cracks. Straightening, he said, "We still need a striking stone...I'll go find one."
 
Aurea picked up her step as she followed him back down down to the lake. Once she found out where most of the stones were hiding, she helped Linnor pick up more than she'd found on the other side. He couldn't carry as many, so she made sure to grab more than him, just so they'd have enough to fit around the area of the fire. She followed him back to the copse where she allowed him to arrange the rocks, handing them to him when he needed them. When he moved away to get a striking stone, she almost followed again. However, she let him go, as she didn't know what one looked like. "I'll wait for you here then," she said, giving him a smile.

She sat down on the ground next to the unlit fire, using the back of her hand to try and get the blueberry stain from her lips. It didn't work out so well, but she tried anyway. She was tempted to return to the lake and wash off, but there was the chance of getting lost and she wasn't going to take that. Linnor knew where he was going; she didn't.
 
Back by the lake, Linnor searched the side of it for white colored rocks. Finding one, he held it up to his eyes, checking that it was an actual striking stone and not something else. Testing another rock against it, he struck the two together, and was rather happy when he saw sparks come from the friction. Taking the white stone back to the copse, he sat by the unlit fire, and began working on setting it aflame.

Striking sparks onto the kindling, he made sure that the fire would hold before leaning forwards, gently blowing on the embers. Within a few minutes, the fire was decently-sized and had no chance of going out soon. "There," he said, smiling as he looked up at Aurea's fire-lit face.
 
Aurea's lips appeared purple with the fire puffing out red and orange hues, but it didn't stop her from smiling. "It seems so... magical, when you do it like that," she said, motioning to the stone. She pushed her hair around her shoulder before she chose to stretch out along the ground, her hands laced on her stomach and her eyes searching the sky.

"Do wild elves have names or meanings for all the star patterns?" she asked, tilting her head back to look at him upside-down before her gaze went back to the stars. The fire was warm next to her ear, but she didn't mind. She would at least stay comfortable during the night, even if the dirt wasn't very soft like her mattress.
 
Linnor nodded in response to her question. "Sure," he answered, sitting down next to her before letting himself gingerly ease down. Searching the sky for familiar patterns, he pointed at a group before saying, "That is Whitestone the Wise. He is the one who first brought my people here, from a desert wasteland far to the south, where we were treated worse than we are in the city. They say that Whitestone had hair as white as winter's first snow, and eyes a piercing red color. Among the city elves in the south, he was feared by many, as they called him the Ghost of Blackwood, after the city they lived in. Because he brought my people here, and away from the southern horrors we experienced, when he died the gods gave him a special spot up there, like they did with all of our heroes..." Trailing off, his eyes scanned the sky once more, before pointing out another one.

"That one is Cheiel the Friend. She was a city elf who became one of the Hin'tio because she fell in love with the tribeleader, Blueleaf. They were my ancestors, though nobody knows for certain when they lived. The gods gave her a pattern because when she became a Hin'tio, she followed all of our traditions, she hunted with us, and had no fears of anything we did, something no other city elf had done. When the Tralk attempted to destroy us, she fought alongside us, and was a better fighter than many of our men at the time..." As the silence went on, he added, "Do your people have stories for the stars?"
 
Aurea shifted up so her head was next to his, making it easier to follow his hand in the glowing fire light. Linnor's people had such beautiful stories about the stars, something she could never hope to match. The story about Cheiel and Blueleaf made her think of herself and Linnor. Maybe not the falling in love part, but it meant there were interactions with the two separated elf-people, and that there was nothing wrong with her being friends with him.

She looked over at him when he inquired about the city elves' stories. "None as lovely as yours, I'm afraid," she said, moving her head back to look up at the sky. She pointed to one off to the side, one Linnor hadn't given a story to. Aurea would have felt strange with two conflicting stories on the same star pattern. "My father says that one is called Mavilla the City Saver... A long time ago, city elves would pray to her and she would grant them protection for whatever threatened their way of life, especially wild elves." She paused, realizing she didn't like that story anymore. Her father had never really elaborated beyond that point, but she was always fascinated with the stars and asked to hear the story over and over, even if he denied her request.

The thought made her sigh and shake her head. "I love the stars. I think they're beautiful, but my mother and father never had stories except for that one. Hearing yours... I think it makes them better."
 
Linnor grinned. "Thank you," he said softly, looking over to her. "When I was young, we had to use the stars to find out way at night, if we got were out hunting after dark there was no way to tell which was home was...I learned at an early age how to tell where north was, no matter where I am...of course, if it's cloudy, it's harder, but I can do it all the same..." Trailing off, he sighed quietly, simply looking up at the stars.

((Sorry for the short post D:))
 
He seemed to know so much more than her, and the knowledge he had was useful, unlike her. Aurea found the lessons on how to be more of a lady boring and unimportant in her own life, but Linnor had been taught to do things her father would never think about. "It seems smart to learn such a thing. My father would never resort to that method," she said, "but then again, my father would not think that walking around in a forest at night would be fun, unlike right now." Her words were accompanied with a soft laugh before she yawned.

Turning on her side with her back to the fire and her body facing Linnor, Aurea propped her head on her arm before closing her eyes. She fell asleep within minutes, her legs curling up slightly. Rest came easy from the fire's warmth and the feeling of safety from knowing someone was near her.

((It's all good. :D))
 
When Aurea fell asleep, Linnor simply stared at the stars, feeling on edge. He knew that wolves hadn't been in this forest since his grandfather's time, but something didn't feel right. Pulling up fistfuls of grass and dropping them, he strained his ears for any sign of predators in the forest. Eventually, though, his eyelids grew too heavy to keep up, and he fell asleep, the soft cushion of grass comforting him as a slight breeze blew through the woods.

Sunlight burned his eyes in the early hours of morning. Sitting up, he looked down at Aurea before smiling, gently reaching over to brush her hair away from her face. Pushing himself to a standing position, he kicked the fading embers of the fire, sending up a cloud of ash. Coughing, he made sure the fire was completely out before starting to move the rocks back into the forest at random locations. 'Leave the forest as you had arrived,' his father had once told him. Once the rocks were scattered, he set about letting the ashes go, holding them in his hands and letting the wind carry them away, handful by handful.
 
Aurea didn't stir as his hand brushed her face, but she did wake up from his cough. Thinking something was wrong, she sat up only to find the fire put out and Linnor moving away with the rocks. She stood and brushed her dress clear of dirt and grass, watching Linnor as he moved back and forth between the dense parts of the forest and the clearing. She was quiet, not wanting to disturb his careful ritual, but once he was finished, she spoke up.

"Good morning." Well, it might not have been good, but that was only due to the soreness of her muscles from sleeping on the ground. Even if she was a little tightened up from it, it'd been fun. Linnor had done something with her that no one else had, and that was only the talking part. Showing her around was something she never expected, but she welcomed it all the same. "How's your leg today?"
 
At the mention of his leg, Linnor winced. "Mmm," he said, frowning. "It aches...But I should be able to get back home okay..." After a few moments of silence, he uneasily asked, "How angry do you think your father is going to be at me? Should I stop a block away?" Smiling, though there was a twinge of worry in it, he tried to turn it into a joke, though he was being serious.

"We should start getting going soon," he said after a second, looking up at the sun. "Unless there's anything else you want to do...?"
 
Aurea nodded, reaching behind her to pull her braid forward. She was carefully picking blades of grass from the red locks when he spoke again. It was a tense joke, but she tried to smile all the same. "I hope my father will be gone, but I cannot count on that. It might be best if you... stay away. I don't want him to see you." She didn't like having to say those words to him. Her friendship with Linnor wasn't supposed to be a secret, but her father had already vehemently opposed her decision to help him. He would not approve of her continuing friendship with him.

"I would like to do something else, but my mother will be wondering where I am. As much as I do not wish to go home, it would be worse if I didn't." Her words were soft as she looked away, focusing on the few blades of grass still lingering in her hair. When she was satisfied they were all on the ground in front of her, she undid the braid and let the wavy locks fall down. "Shall we go then?"
 
"Sure," he said, before starting on the path back. Like the day before, the trek was relatively easy, and they made good time. Before midday, they were within sight of the city walls, even though Linnor's leg was hurting him. Upon reentering the city through the entrance in the Hin'tio District, he could immediately tell something was wrong. For one, there was no children running about, and none of the adults were outside either, giving the district a strange, quiet feeling. "Something isn't right," he muttered to Aurea, his eyebrows pressed together in confusion. "We better get you home..."

Before they could even get halfway across the Hin'tio District, a group of the City Guard approached them, speaking to Linnor with barely-hidden disdain. "You are Linnor Willows, yes?" At his confirmation, two of the older elves stepped behind him, their hands on the hilts of their swords.

"What is this about?" he asked, eyes narrowed at the leader of the group.

"You are being arrested by order of the Lord Regent, Daechir Orisea." That wasn't right, Linnor found himself thinking. The Lord Regent's name was Dimaethor, not Daechir. Daechir was the name of...his son.

"W-why?" he asked, a paleness creeping across his cheeks.

"For the assassination of his father, Dimaethor Orisea."
 
Aurea was quiet as they walked, but when they neared the city and into it, the feeling was strange. No one was running around, no gossiping or shopping, no... nothing. It was empty. Aurea stuck close to Linnor, knowing she wouldn't lose him but feeling overwhelmed by the quiet. They were stopped by the guards and she shrank beside him, but she looked up in disbelief and anger at the guards as they accused Linnor of murder.

"That's impossible! He was with me," she said, stepping up in front of him, as if her presence would protect him. Maybe it wasn't the best admission, but Linnor couldn't have possibly done anything, not with his injuries. One of the guards made a move to pull her away, but she snapped her arm from his grip.

"He didn't do anything," she said again. "You can't take him away." The last thing Aurea wanted to do was see Linnor get in trouble for something she knew he couldn't do.
 
"He is the leader of the tribe, and though his uncle handles most of the relations between his kind and city elves, he still commands much of the people. One of the Hin'tio slums killed the Lord Reagent, and we have reason to believe that this one had a hand in it. Now step aside, girl, or we will detain you as well. We can take a slum like him away and we will. Got that?"

Before she could say anything, Linnor stopped her. "Don't get involved. This is my people...my problem. I'll have to sort this out. You get home. I'll try to come over in a few hours, once I figure this out. I don't want you to get hurt." Looking up at the men, he said, "I'll go without a word. Just don't hurt her, okay?"
 
Aurea was about to tell them just who she was. Her father had power. He could have stopped this, right? She started to shake her head and defy them, but Linnor spoke. His words hurt her, but she understood. He hadn't done it, so he could walk away from it after figuring out what happened. Aurea almost hugged him, but if she showed emotion, she didn't know what would happen to him.

She only nodded, and the guards let her pass. She walked before running, and she didn't look back. She wanted her father to fix this, but she knew he wouldn't. In fact, he would probably be pleased to see someone like him detained for any reason. When she was home, he was there and absolutely furious that she hadn't returned that night. However, Aurea refused to tell him where she'd been and who she'd been with and he confined her to her room.

Aurea sat against the door, fighting tears. Her mind was on Linnor. She hadn't been able to help, and even if she had, he was right. The Hin'tio tribe was his responsibility, and he had to take care of them. Still, the hours passed slowly, and with each quiet moment, she began to lose hope that he would be able to return to her.
 
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