Chapter Seven: The Aftermath

The entire commune was frantic with activity. Gossip was spreading everywhere. Velsa, one of the town’s most trusted advisors to the house Variamne was the witch, she had attempted to kill the chosen one, and had been using Lafula Nel Feliathel as a dyed robin for decades. Though I couldn’t understand elven, I knew these were the ideas that were being exchanged by nearly every elf that saw the almost literal army that was escorting Velsa to the house Oriel, the commune’s traditional investigatory and judicial house to stand trial for her actions.

Four armed adolescent elven guards, a mage from the house Feliathel, two holy seekers and a holy keeper from Anvar’s Temple of the Hallowed Form—my companions—, myself, and a pair of the tree-like guardians walking beside the path. A witch was evidently a big deal, something I learned the hard way.

“What do you think is going to happen?” I asked Velanthe in a quiet tone.

“They are going to find her guilty, Oriel agents are already scouring her home for evidence of witchcraft, and we have eyewitness testimony from two seekers and Your Eminence. If she even bothers trying to plead innocent, she does not stand a chance. She will likely be put to ****.”

“Kind of a shame she turned out to be the culprit,” I admitted, “she gave amazing head.”

Velanthe smiled slightly and shook her head, “Your Eminence has been spending too much time with Erys.”

“I know, isn’t it great?” Erys replied and then wrapped his arms around me and planted a kiss on my cheek.

“I’m just glad our plan worked in the end,” Serike mentioned, “I wasn’t expecting the shadow demon to come back, I suppose I should have expected it to be the witch’s familiar.”

It was true, none of us had truly planned for the shadow demon, but otherwise everything went pretty much just right. Seirke answering the door was the key, she never actually went outside with Erys, instead the two snuck back in and waited for the right moment. We all knew that if Velsa was the witch, she was definitely going to try and take advantage of the situation if she thought she was alone. All it took was waiting for the right moment and for her to confess.

“It was a good plan,” Velanthe admitted, “but may I request that in the future you refrain from using His Eminence as bait?”

“Don’t worry, I don’t think I want to do that again,” I said, “I actually thought I was gonna die for a second there. That’s twice I’ve nearly died in two days. I’ve had my fill.”

“Alex!” a voice called out from behind. I whirled around to see an elf bounding toward me at a full speed run. Her footfalls were surprisingly quiet against the flagstone, if not for her calling to me I might not have even heard her approach.

The platinum blonde hair, the wildly bouncing melons at her chest, and the tears streaming down her cheeks from her blue-green eyes were all I needed to see to know who it was.

“Lafula!” I called back and whirled around. The whole escort party stopped and turned to look.

At last she crashed into me with surprising lightness given that she had been running full speed. I remembered Elenvell mentioning that elves were lighter than humans, which was good because otherwise I would have simply toppled to the ground. She immediately wrapped me in a tight embrace and planted her lips on mine.

I realized with amusement that this exact scene played out yesterday at the greeting, but this time nobody dared to interrupt the girl from having her way with me, not even me. I was more than happy to return her kiss and deepen it immediately. This scene was made all the sweeter by her frequent whimpers of happiness as we locked lips.

“You are okay! And you saved me!” she said, excitedly before burying her head into my shoulder and practically weeping with joy, “I heard you were attacked again and I was so worried, I felt so helpless!”

“Don’t worry, I’m all right. And I promise you that if they try to throw you in the dungeon again, I will use any power at my disposal to make them regret it.” And that wasn’t a threat, it was a promise.

Lafula’s attention suddenly turned to Velsa, who was still naked but bound, chains connecting her manacles to an iron collar and iron anklets, and a wooden block between her lips gagging her. Lafula removed herself from my embrace and began walking toward the witch, a menacing aura surrounding her as she went.

“Do not approach the prisoner,” one of the juvenile guards said, making a move to intercept.

“You will not get in my way,” Lafula spat at him.

“You will allow it,” A voice said, approaching from the same direction as Lafula had come. It was Elenvell. She approached with the look of a woman who had regret and was stalwart in her intention to make it right.

The guard reluctantly stepped aside and let Lafula approach. I noted the slightest hint of fear in Velsa’s eyes, if I had to guess, Lafula must have been leveling a gaze on her that spelled ****.

“You,” Lafula said in a voice strained with anger and sorrow, “you are the one responsible for making my entire life a living nightmare. But that was not enough for you, it was not enough that you nearly drove me to take my own life, you had to try not once but twice to snuff away the only ray of hope I had. I will make sure that if house Oriel does not put you to ****, what life you will be left with will be as miserable as you made mine!”

Suddenly, Lafula’s hand was enveloped in an eerie bright green light. She brought the hand to Velsa’s forehead, who winced and turned away in a futile effort to escape, but it was too late, Lafula’s palm came in contact with the witch’s forehead and she growled in pain.

This evidently was too much for the guards, and the two closest ones immediately pulled her away. She did not resist this, probably because she knew the damage had been done.

The witch now bore a symbol on her forehead, pitch black in color and smoking like a fresh brand. It looked like an elven character, but I didn’t know what it meant. It sort of looked like a curvy v that was slanted so that the bottom corner was pointing to the right, and there was a dot on the bottom left of the shape. This had the rather odd effect of reminding me that I had a symbol on my own forehead. I had a habit of forgetting that, and I still hadn’t seen it yet. At some point I needed to look in a mirror, I probably looked like a mess.

“Oh dear,” Seirke said.

“What is it?” I asked.

“Lafula just put a lust curse on her.”

Lafula had a victorious grin on her face, “Not just a lust curse, a curse whose effects can only be relieved by a single person. Alex.” She turned to look at me, beaming proudly, “No matter what her actual punishment is determined to be, she will not be seeing Alex ever again. She is going to go mad with lust, I’d say it’s a fitting **** for what she’s put me through. Who is the slut now?”

The look on Velsa’s face was actually pretty comical if a little tragic. It was fearful, but even in its fear I noticed her glance at me a few times in a way that must have been similar to the way I glanced at boobs when my own curse was flaring. This was definitely a cruel punishment but compared to what this woman had basically done to Lafula for over eighty years, it seemed pretty just to me. I certainly didn’t think anything less of Lafula for doing it. Especially since Velsa was responsible for placing a lust curse on me as well. This was just karma.

“We’ve wasted too much time,” the Feliathel mage announced, “we need to keep moving.” She then turned to me, “Felai, you do not need to escort us the rest of the way, the trial will not be until tomorrow, she will be simply put into the dungeon under constant watch until then. I sense that your time is better spent with Lafula.”

“That’s true,” I nodded.

“I shall continue to accompany you in any case,” Velanthe told the mage, “if her familiar comes back, I can drive it away.”

The mage nodded, and the group continued, being split apart now as myself, Erys, and Seirke had stayed behind. Lafula wasted no time in throwing herself into my arms again, planting her lips on mine and kissing me deeply once more.

“The lass knows what she wants,” Erys giggled.

“I am so happy I get to see you again, Alex.”

“Me too. I was worried about you the whole time,” I replied, remembering my moment in the park before Elenvell arrived.

The smile she gave me set my heart ablaze with compassion. It was the sweetest and happiest smile I had ever seen.

Elenvell cleared her throat to get our attention, “Felai elveth, Lafula Nel Feliathel, I cannot emphasize enough how deeply sorry I am for all the strife I have caused you both. And I know that no amount of words can truly repair all of the damage I have done to you for your entire adolescent life, Lafula. But just know that even if you cannot forgive me, my apology is as sincere as it can be, and I am filled with regret that this will be the legacy I leave behind when I return to the soil.”

Lafula looked down at her feet in silence for a moment before looking up and meeting the elder’s gaze, “In the end, you helped Alex clear my name. And even though you were the last person I wanted to see at the time, you came to the dungeon and told me that my felai was trying to save me. You even let me get away with having petty **** against the witch. In the end, Elenvell, these are the things I will remember you for, because they are the things that matter most to me.”

A tear formed in Elenvell’s eye, and she bowed deeply to Lafula, “I am not worthy of this, but I thank you.”

Lafula then looked around at the rest of the group before looking at Elenvell again, “lend me your ear, elder.”

Elenvell appeared to be curious but stepped forward and leaned down to hear what she had to say. Lafula spoke something to the elder, and the elder responded with wide eyes. She covered her mouth with shock, “That is truly who your mother is?”

Lafula nodded and was blushing faintly.

“Oh,” Elenvell looked as though she might faint for a moment, “my child, I feel so ashamed of my actions, please find it in your heart to forgive me, you had every reason to keep this a secret. And at the very least, I should have guessed it sooner than assuming it was a witch.”

“Don’t worry,” she replied, “I’m telling you because I do forgive you, and I trust you now.”

This was very intriguing; I was fascinated and actually a little interested to know myself. But I was mostly just happy that Lafula could find it in her heart to forgive the woman.

“Your secret will be safe with me. And this time I mean it truthfully, not even my advisors shall know.”

Lafula smiled, “Thank you, Elenvell.”

The elder nodded, and then began walking toward the house Oriel to catch up with the main group.

The sun was already setting, it had been a long day for me, but I was glad everything was working out in the end.

“Guess we’ll be staying one more day here, huh?” Erys said.

“I suppose we’ll be staying in the house Variamne again,” Seirke added.

“Um,” Lafula spoke up, “actually, if you do not mind, I would be honored to have you all stay at my father’s home tonight. I imagine he would very much like to meet you.”

“That sounds delightful,” Erys said, smiling.

“Also, I have not had the chance to thank either of you. Not only did you help clear my name, you saved my felai twice,” Lafula began walking toward the redheaded fem.

“I mean, it’s kind of our duty so you don’t really need to—!” Erys got interrupted by a sudden fierce kiss from Lafula. He was silent until their lips parted, “Aha, on the other hand, if that’s your idea of thanks I’ll be happy to accept.”

Both Seirke and I laughed as Lafula made her way to the silver-haired woman next and placed an equally fierce kiss on her lips as well.

“I am happy to know that my felai has such loyal and competent companions,” Lafula said. “Come with me and I will show you the way to my father’s house.”

I was somewhat surprised by Lafula’s father, Auriel Nel Vaness for a number of reasons. Firstly, he was fem, which shouldn’t actually have been much of a surprise given that there were no elven men, but still managed to throw me for a loop only because his appearance didn’t quite match up with the imagery that was evoked in my mind for the idea of a “father”.

Secondly, I actually did not recognize him at all, which meant that he wasn’t present during the greeting. As it turns out, the reason he was not there was because of the third thing that was striking about him. He was very very frail.

He shared Lafula’s platinum blonde hair, though his was closer to stark white than hers, and had a brilliant pair of green eyes that sparkled like emeralds, but his body was not only slender it was thin, almost emaciated. In spite of this, he was warm and very welcoming from the moment we set foot in his home. Unlike the other elves I had seen, whose movements had been so effortless and graceful, his movements were slow, calculated, precise, and extremely careful; he was almost robotic. As it turned out, he had a very rare disease among elves that made him extremely brittle and frail, one wrong move could shatter his bones and lead to an untimely demise. He had friends who delivered essentials to him every so often, as leaving his home could be very dangerous.

He thanked all three of us very graciously, and prepared a wonderful dinner for us, comprised of bread, salads, and fruits, that was quite delicious.

“I was beginning to believe I would not live to see the day that my daughter would work past those dreadful rumors,” he said, “But thanks to you, I think it might just happen, and I cannot thank you enough.”

“Your hospitality has been more than enough thanks,” I replied.

Auriel smiled warmly, “It is plain to see why you were chosen to be Erynessa’s hand in this world. There are far too many people who would use that status selfishly and at the detriment of others. You have nothing but compassion in your heart, and it shows.”

I felt my cheeks become flush with embarrassment at this, “I don’t really think I’m anything special,” I admitted.

“That’s why you’re perfect,” Lafula replied, followed by a round of nods from the others.

I wasn’t sure I was convinced, but it felt good to be complimented, so I rolled with it this time.

“So, what are your plans now?” Lafula asked, “You only came to the commune to visit, right? Are you going back to Anvar?”

“That probably should be my next step at least. After that, I don’t know.” I had a lot to think about. In spite of how much trouble it had been, this had been kind of interesting in retrospect. This whole mystery in the commune was something I might have expected from a fantasy book, or a Lairs and Liches campaign. Except it was real life, and there was something exciting about that. Perhaps I had a bit of an adventurous streak in me. It was something I had to think about.

“Will,” Lafula began quietly, peering down into her lap, “will you take me with you?”

Everyone looked at her curiously.

“I know you worked really hard to clear my name, and I appreciate it, but I don’t know that I can just go back to being a part of this commune.”

“It’s going to get a lot better for you going forward,” Auriel tried to assure her.

“I know but... I do not feel like I am a part of it anymore. They spent so long pushing me away, and now it feels like such a long walk back. And I am not sure it will be worth the trip.”

I stroked my chin thoughtfully. It must have been a difficult place for her to be in.

“But if I am with my felai, then I know I will be happy, and every step we take together will be worth it.”

I felt my heart swell. It was such a far cry to think about my life before I came here. Even though it was less than a week ago it felt like another lifetime. I was someone who genuinely believed that I would never amount to anything, and that I would die alone. I suppose I was technically right, according to Seirke that’s exactly what happened. But now I was in a world where people valued me, and while I wasn’t sure I deserved it quite yet, it was heartwarming to know it. And here was this beautiful elf girl, determined to go with me wherever I went instead of remaining in the place she called her home for one hundred years.

“Well, if it is truly what you want, I would be happy to have you.”