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  It was a big cave and, having been used by their clan for generations as a stopover, was stocked with essentials, much like the Hollow Tree. There were sleeping rolls and blankets, lanterns, firewood and flint, water buckets, a basket full of eating utensils and a shelf full of cups. A stream ran past the cave, so fresh water was always available.

  Once inside, Maia showed them where to sit. Jasmin and Luke sat next to each other, while Aaron perched on the far side of the fireplace. Wolf curled up at Jasmin’s feet and she absently rubbed the back of his head with her hand. Silas busied himself with making a fire and then put on a kettle of water to brew tea. None of the humans noticed Silas’ way of making a fire, but it made Maia wonder if she remembered how to. She had not used magic in so long, could she still do it? She resolved to do little tests when she got home.

  The others came in and started setting up camp for the night. The cave became a bustle of activity and Maia began to feel a little crowded. Aaron still sat alone, watching her every move, his brow furrowed into deep lines on his forehead. She felt awkward under his gaze and somehow naked. She remembered how he had stared at her when he caught her at the river. She shivered. That, she then thought, might be the ideal solution to her problem right now.

  “I think I will take Jasmin down to the pool to wash, while it is still light enough to see. Father, will you let the men know we are down there and need privacy?”

  Jagaer nodded and Maia grabbed Jasmin’s hand to lead her out of the cave. A weight had lifted off her chest once she stepped out into the fresh air and out of Aaron’s sight. The stream formed a little pool just downstream from the cave and Maia led Jasmin down the path, Wolf at their heels.

  “I thought you might like to wash. The pool’s water will be cold, it comes straight off the snow fields on Shadow Peak, but it is very beautiful.”

  “Thanks, Maia. I do feel dirty. I have not washed or changed in three days. I’m surprised Archer is not repulsed by the smell of me.”

  “Do not worry, no one will think badly of you. Tomorrow I will give you some of my clothes to wear. You’ll see; they are a lot more comfortable than the suit.”

  “Thank you. That would be nice.”

  “Look, here we are.”

  Maia pointed ahead and Jasmin got her first look at the pool. The little run-off stream that came from high up in the mountains gathered here in a shallow depression in the rock, before spilling over on the other side, creating a small waterfall. The roughly circular pool spanned about ten paces across and was about as deep as a man was tall. Rocks and foliage surrounded it, creating a little pocket in the forest that could not be seen from the path.

  “Come, let us get undressed quickly, I want to be back before it gets dark. Wolf, stay, watch.”

  Maia motioned the order to the wolf and he obediently sat down next to the pool, staring off into the forest. After the incident with Aaron, she was a little more careful. Wolf would let them know if anyone approached.

  Jasmin was a little shy about taking her clothes off at first, but then chided herself; Maia had surely seen her naked before. She stepped into the water of the pool after Maia. It was cold, but refreshing. Jasmin surreptitiously watched Maia as she first dunked under to wet her hair and then gathered some of the sand from the bottom to scrub her skin with. Jasmin copied her, but carried on watching her a while longer.

  Jasmin had never seen anyone with a body like that. Although Jasmin herself was lean, she thought of herself as lanky and awkward. Maia’s body was flawless. She had long, shapely legs, the muscles clearly visible when she moved. She had curves in all the right places, a flat, well-muscled stomach and her breasts were high and firm. Now wet, her dark hair shone and hung low over her buttocks. Even in the gloomy light of the forest, Jasmin could clearly see that Maia had incredibly green eyes. She wondered if there was anything that wasn’t perfect on Maia. This made her think of her father.

  Technically, Maia was his wife. Although Lisa had been a pretty woman when she was younger, the illness had ravaged her body and her features. Maia, however, was absolutely perfect. What would her father think of having a body like that in his bed? Jasmin blushed. She had never had thoughts like that about her parents. How could she even be thinking something like that? She shook the thought off, feeling a little ashamed, splashed her face with cold water to hide her flush, and carried on scrubbing her body.

  By the time they were finished, their skin was pink and smooth. Jasmin regretted having to put the dirty suit back on, but Maia had promised fresh clothes for tomorrow and if Maia could bear it, so could she.

  The girls walked back to the cave hand in hand, Wolf in the lead. Maia liked this bubbly girl and felt a kinship with her that she had never before felt with any other girl. She had always preferred the company of boys. She could hunt, shoot, climb and fight with the best of them. Only once she had gotten a little older, had she come to appreciate the company of women and their softer, more refined manners.

  When they walked into the cave, Archer and Filithrin were back and three pheasants roasted over the fires. The roasting meat smelled wonderful. Although Maia did not often eat meat, and she mostly abstained from hunting now that her powers were fully developed, she still enjoyed it from time to time.

  Jasmin skipped over to where her brother and father were sitting. Maia had seen the relief on Aaron’s face when they walked in and he now berated Jasmin for having taken so long. He had been worried. He then looked up and gave Maia an accusing stare. She shied from the menace in his face and the force of his Eläm; she would have to learn to shield herself from it.

  Why did he hate her so? She had tried to be nice to him, but every time she attempted to talk to him, he found an excuse to walk away. If he would just let her explain everything that had happened, maybe he would understand. She felt sorry for him, but something told her that it was not pity he wanted from her. Feeling uncomfortable under his glare, she moved over to one of the fires along the wall. She knelt in front of it and shook out her hair to dry it.

  Moments later, Jasmin was by her side, following her example. “Papa is not very happy with me. He says we took too long. He can be so grumpy sometimes.”

  Jasmin sighed. It was clear that she did not like her father being upset with her.

  “He loves you. It is only natural for him to worry about you.”

  “Hey, that is exactly what Mom would have said.” Jasmin smiled and nudged Maia in her side, a twinkle in her eye.

  Maia blushed and did not know what to say. They were quiet for a moment, each lost in their own thoughts.

  “So, does Archer live close by?”

  Jasmin said it in a way that sounded as if it was of no real importance, but Maia could hear the undertone of the question. She smiled inwardly, but then wondered if it was a good idea for them to get close. Eventually the Humans were going back to Earth and she already felt very protective of Jasmin. She did not want her heart to get broken. Then she thought about herself in a position like this and knew she would want the opportunity to decide for herself.

  “Yes, he does. Sometimes he gets sent on a trip or errant, but most of the time the Guard stays in the city.”

  “The guard?”

  “Archer is part of our Elder Guard. It is a group of eleven warriors that protect our clan, their Lord and Elders. It is a highly respected position and only the best are chosen. He is also one of our best Hunters. It seems you have an eye for quality.”

  Maia winked at her and Jasmin blushed, but smiled.

  “Do you think he likes me?” Jasmin said, looking over to the cook fire, where Archer turned the spit.

  “I don’t see what there is not to like, but I suppose you will have to find out for yourself. He only just came back from an errand, so I suppose he will be home for a while.”

  The pheasants were finally ready and were shared out. They were a large group for three pheasants - Maia and her three guests, Filithrin and Archer, Silas, Jagaer and Jaik, and four ot
her members of the Guard - but they supplemented their meal with travel bread and stewed vegetables.

  Wolf went from person to person, picking up scraps. Jagaer mumbled something about bad manners, but scratched the wolf behind his ear. He had gotten quite fond of the wolf, although he had been against keeping him when Maia brought him home as a pup. She had found him, alone and injured, in the forest and he had been her first real test of her powers. She had healed him and nursed him, but when she took him back to the forest for him to run free, he decided he liked the company of Elves and had stayed.

  When Wolf had first come to them, everyone just referred to him as the wolf, as they didn’t want to name a creature they would not be able to keep. However, once he had decided to stay, the name had stuck and he was now known as Wolf, although Maia still thought it was as clichéd a name as it got.

  Once they had eaten, Maia helped Archer and Boron, another Guard member, to gather their dishes to take outside to wash in the stream. Boron protested at first, doing dishes was not something the daughter of his Lord should do, but Maia quashed his protests. Boron decided it was best not to argue with his princess.

  Jasmin also decided to help and took the dishes from her father and brother. Maia suspected that she wanted another chance to speak to Archer, rather than do dishes.

  It had become fully dark by the time they stepped out of the cave. The moons were almost invisible under the canopy of the trees, but the Lumina flowers around the cave were already glowing, lighting their way. They usually started to glow within an hour after sunset and would only fade again just before sunrise. Maia had always loved them. She had a few at home, potted on her windowsill.

  Maia almost bumped into Jasmin as she suddenly stopped, staring.

  “They are so beautiful,” Jasmin whispered and then took a hesitant step towards the nearest vine. Her fingers lightly touched the funnel shape flower and it briefly glowed a little brighter where it had been touched.

  “We call them Lumina. Here in this forest, all the Lumina flowers glow a deep blue-green colour, but further south, some of them are vivid reds, oranges and yellows.” Maia picked one and stuck it behind Jasmin’s ear. “It will glow for about an hour or so before the light fades now that it is not connected to the vine.”

  She twirled a strand of hair around the short stem so it would not fall. The flowers did not spread their light far. Each individual flower was its own little island of light and the one behind Jasmin’s ear created a little halo effect around her face.

  “Very beautiful indeed,” Archer breathed in Jasmin’s ear as he walked past her.

  He winked at Maia and carried on walking down the path. Even in the ghostly light of the Lumina, Maia saw Jasmin blush a deep scarlet.

  “Thanks, Maia,” Jasmin said, a little out of breath.

  In the morning, Jagaer ordered the members of the Guard to take the horses down to the Grazing Grounds.

  “We will take the short cut over the ridge to the city. It is too steep for the horses to walk there,” he explained to the Humans. “We should be there by noon.”

  Maia saw Jasmin pout a little when she realised that Archer was part of the Guard taking the horses, and Wolf, away. Only Jaik stayed with them. However, there was so much to see on their way to the city that Jasmin soon put Archer to the back of her mind.

  The mountain path became steep, going up hill, winding through crevasses and past sheer drops. The forest was dense where the soil was deep enough and various types of fern dominated the underbrush. Birds were ever present and their songs accompanied them as they walked. Every now and again, they got to a point where there was a break in the trees and were able to see glimpses of the plains to the east.

  By midday, they reached the top of the ridge. From here, it was only a short way down The Steep, the path that led to the city. But, as its name suggested, it was steep. In some places, steps had been hewn into the rock and in other places, there was only a chain attached to the cliff face one could hang on to. Jagaer and Jaik assisted Luke and Aaron, while Maia helped Jasmin.

  The Humans were soon sweating and breathing hard, their legs shaking form the constant strain. Despite his age, Silas was able to manoeuvre the precarious path with ease and Maia wondered how he did it, although she had seen him do it a hundred times. She did not know his real age, she doubted anyone did, but for an Elf to look this old, he had to be ancient, perhaps even over three thousand years. It did no good dwelling on it; Silas never told anyone how old he was.

  They laboured on for a while and soon heard the rushing of the waterfall. The river came off the mountain, tumbled over one of the cliffs and then flowed in a fast, steep bed down to the city, which it divided neatly in half, and then flowed through the little birch forest, which they called the Silver Forest, to join the mighty Oakin River far out on the plain. The city was shaped like a large horseshoe, with the Gathering Grounds in the centre. It nestled at the edge of the forest, right up against the steep sides of the mountain.

  Their houses were built in the trees; some so high up that one could see over the canopy of the forest and, on certain days when the air was extraordinarily clear, one could see the shimmer coming off the great lake in the far distance. Because of the slope, the trees were at different levels, much like a terrace. Their entire city was built on so many different levels that sometimes one had to climb several staircases and cross several bridges just to get to a neighbour.

  Maia loved it.

  The Humans were huffing and struggling by the time they reached the Water Mill. It was a complicated structure and several pipes led from it, channelling the water to run past the houses, giving them running water. It was used to fill their buckets, bathtubs and cooking pots and even flush the latrines. Wastewater was then channelled another way and disposed of in an underground river that ran past the city. By the time that river emerged far to the east, the water was clear again of all impurities.

  As they approached the mill with its churning blades and buckets, Aaron perked up for the first time. He seemed to forget his tiredness and stepped off the path to take a closer look. Jagaer was about to stop him, but then changed his mind. Aaron seemed completely absorbed with investigating the mechanisms.

  Maia saw Jasmin roll her eyes at her brother, who just shook his head. Maia was going to ask what this was all about, but the noise from the rushing water made conversation all but impossible. She decided to find out later. Right now, she just wanted to get home.

  By the time they reached the outskirts of the city, the Humans were tired and wet with sweat, but the view ahead made them perk up. Jagaer allowed them to rest and admire the view for a while, before they descended two steep sets of steps that led to the Median, one of the main airy walkways of the city. From there, they traversed the short, but high, sway bridge they called the Spoke, before going down another two short flights of stairs onto Lower Walk. None of them was afraid of heights and had been more interested in the view than the fact that they were so high off the ground. There was just so much to see and even Maia took it all in with hungry eyes; she had missed home.

  Although there was an underlying uniformity to the houses, each one had been built to suit its inhabitants. Some were angular, others round. Some only had one level, while yet others sprawled on multiple levels, with stairs connecting the various rooms. Most of the houses had wood shingle roofs, but some of them had roofs made of such cleverly interwoven branches that it was near impossible to tell where roof ended and tree began. Although their Builders used cut wood to shape the houses and brace the roofs, they also used the living trees in their construction. After a tree was chosen, it was then encouraged to grow a certain way to accept the new house and then anchor it in place. The larger the house, the more magic it took to encourage the tree. After a time, house and tree would become one and it would be nigh on impossible to separate them again.

  Most of the bridges were made out of rope and wooden planks, vines encircling their railings. Only t
he bridges along the forest floor were made of stone. Beautiful, blown glass lanterns hung at periodic intervals; their crystals dull in the full light of day. Maia knew that in the evening, their whole village would be bright with the light from the crystals and they would sparkle like stars in the night sky. The bridges swayed and rocked, especially when more than one person walked on them and it took a little practice to be completely steady on them. Maia had always loved them, playing on them since she was able to walk.

  They had now passed The Round, a small, wooden path that branched off Lower Walk that held only three houses, and then went across the small bridge connecting Lower Walk to their veranda. The Lord’s House had a prominent position overlooking the Gathering Grounds. As they approached it, Maia felt excitement course through her body. She was home! She almost ran down the swaying bridge as she saw their front door open and her mother step out.

  “Oh, Maia, you are finally home.” Malyn was almost in tears when she saw her daughter, and hugged her fiercely.

  “Mother.” Maia’s voice broke on the simple word and she had to swallow hard to suppress her tears. She hugged her mother for a long time before she let her go. “You look well, Mother, I have missed you so.”

  Malyn squeezed her hand and cast a thankful glance towards Jagaer. She was a little startled by the strangers and looked at Maia questioningly.

  “Mother, this is Aaron and his children, Luke and Jasmin. They are my guests and I respectfully request their lodgings for the time they spend with us.”

  It was unusual for guests to be housed within the regent’s home, they had guest lodges for this, but after one quick look at Maia, Malyn agreed. There was something afoot here that she was not aware of yet, besides the fact that the three guests were not Elves.