Now that I won’t be so single minded about editing, I’m hoping to get back to my daily prompts – it’s been a while since I’ve done any of them and I kind of miss them. The best part about that would be I can start posting something fresh here each week.
Anyway, to set this scene up . . . Howard figured out a way to transport himself to the magickal realm, accidentally pulling Ellen along with them. They ended up in the Darkwood Elven Realm and, along with the bard Sebastian and the elven guard Kaelan, are on their way to meet up with Jessica and Dominic. As you’ll see from this scene (I hope) Ellen and Kaelan are developing a bit of a mutual crush.
Stretching upwards, she whispered to Epona, “Do you think you could move up beside Kaelan please?”
Epona’s ear twitched and she whickered, but her stride lengthened.
“Thank you,” Ellen whispered.
Kaelan looked over at her in surprise. “Is anything wrong?”
“No,” Ellen said, trying to control her blush response. “I was just curious about the Wild Woods Realm. Is it like the Darkwood Forest Realm?”
“No,” he shook his head. “For one thing it is much smaller and there is no city as there is in Darkwood, just a handful of villages and a town in the center. Truthfully, it has been a long time since I have been there.”
“You don’t visit your family there?”
“The visits became fewer as I became older. There never seemed to be time.”
Ellen was trying to picture Kaelan as a child. She’d bet he was just as cute as a little kid. Elf. Whatever.
“Didn’t your mother’s family ever visit you in Darkwood?”
“My mother’s family did not wish her to marry my father, despite the fact he would be able to provide well for her. To marry meant she would leave them.”
“But love will out,” Ellen guessed.
He glanced over at her. “It did indeed. They have been very happy and my mother never regretted her decision to follow her heart.” Smiling, he faced forward again. “My father says they met when he was delivering a set of silver gauntlets to the lord of the Wild Woods Realm. There was a festival and he was invited to stay over for it. Mother was with a group of young women who kept fawning over him, supposedly because he was from outside the realm. Mother was the worst of the lot and wouldn’t leave him alone until he danced with her. After that she was determined to make him hers and chased off every other woman who approached. Apparently the magic was strong in her blood. By the end of the evening he truly was hers, heart and soul.”
Ellen laughed. “And what does your mother say?”
“Ah. Mother claims this cheeky apprentice silversmith noticed the setting up for the festival and wheedled an invitation from the lord of the realm, who gave it to him only because he was so impressed by the quality of his work. He was making such a nuisance of himself, pestering all the young women for dances, that she took pity on her friends and made the supreme sacrifice of dancing with him herself. By the end of the festival he proved his way with silver also included a silver tongue, because he sweet-talked her into running away with him.”
“And which story do you believe to be true?”
“The one that my grandmother tells, that my mother noticed my father lurking on the fringes of the merry-makers and, feeling sorry for him, went over to see if she could convince him to join in. From the moment their eyes met they were lost to each other, and my grandmother knew she had lost her daughter, but gained a son.”
“I think I like your grandmother’s version best,” Ellen said with a smile.
“And your parents?” Kaelan asked, genuinely interested. “You said they were from very different cultures, how did they meet?”
“Now that’s a story in itself,” she said. “They were friends growing up – their parents lived next door to each other.”
Kaelan nodded. “Ah. So they knew from the beginning they were meant to be together.”
“Actually, no. My father spent his senior year in Japan, studying the martial arts with one of his uncles. My mother went off to university where she became involved with one of her professors. She was very young, and far away from home, and he swept her off her feet. They had an affair and when she ended up pregnant he married her.”
“Your father is not your mother’s husband?”
“He is, but it happened later.” Ellen had to smile at his confused look. “Mom finished school right before she gave birth to twin boys. There was a lot of friction between her and George, her first husband. He wanted her to stay home and look after the boys, she wanted to put her degree to good use. Before she could find a job in her field – art restoration – she found out she was pregnant again.”
“How many siblings do you have?” he asked in surprise.
“Four – two sets of twin brothers.”
He shook his head in disbelief. “Elves bear only one child at a time, and we are not a prolific race. My mother is considered a wonder for having three children.”
“I don’t think mom was really happy having the boys so close together. In fact, from what I can gather it wasn’t a happy marriage at all. But it didn’t last long. She was still pregnant with the second set of twins when her husband died unexpectedly. She ended up moving back home with her parents – who were thrilled to have a houseful of children.”
“Children are a blessing,” Kaelan murmured, “no matter the circumstances.”
“That’s exactly what my grandparents believed,” she said with a smile. “My father returned from Japan just after the second set of twins were born, fell in love with her all over again, and they were married a year later.”
“He must be quite the man, to take on four children not his own.”
“He is,” she said proudly. She couldn’t help but wonder what he’d think if he could see her now. Would he be proud? Or appalled?
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