SWNOVELS Chapter 2: Trusting
Sahara knows that what she is about to do will get her in more trouble, but she is prepared to accept that trouble because if she were to lose Brystol, the future for Holestroy would be lost. She makes a rash decision and teleports herself to the elders.
Sahara expected the room of the elders to be empty when she arrived, but to her surprise, it was filled with the elders already in session. She felt a sudden heat rise on her face as the beady eyes of elders burned through her. “Sahara Ashdell.” A voice booms causing her to cover her ears. “What is the meaning of this?”
“I need help.” She says holding out her bracelet. “I have seen the future, and defeating Patreek depends on me saving someone. I think Patreek has already gotten him and I can’t save him with my teleportation powers being blocked. I beg, for the sake of the elven future that you grant me just a few minutes without this bracelet so that I can save him?” Sahara looks around the silent room as she continues to hold up her bracelet toward the main elder. “Please?” She begs feeling a tear fall from her eye as she remembers Brystol’s tears falling from his eyes in her vision.
“Why should we trust you?” One of the elders asks to the right of Sahara causing her to look toward her.
“I have never done anything for you to distrust me,” Sahara begs her case but after a moment of silence, she feels her anxiety grow. “I will give you anything. Please, just grant me this one wish?”
“Anything”, she says causing one of the elders to scuff toward the other elders.
“Are you willing to add another year of punishment for such a request?” One elder asked.
Sahara doesn’t even think twice about the agreement as she quickly answers with a yes.
“Would you give up your betrothal to Brystol?” Another elder asked.
Sahara feels stunned for a moment as she looks over in surprise at the elder. She feels pain in her heart as she slowly replies, “I would.”
“Would you sacrifice some of your blood to Patreek?” The same elder asked Sahara.
“What? No!” She says angrily.
“So, not anything.” The elder said simply in a sour tone.
“I would give you anything reasonable you asked of me, but helping Patreek is not a reason,” Sahara replied.
“Sacrificing your betrothal is though?” The elder asks.
Sahara thinks for a moment wondering if giving up her betrothal was worth saving Brystol’s life. “Absolutely.” She says clearly.
The large room is silent as Sahara sees all the elders staring silently at her. She yearns to know what they are thinking and wonders if they have the authority to break her betrothal. After another moment of silence, Sahara holds out her wrist exposing the bracelet as she asks, “So, do we have a deal?”
The elders remain silent for a few more moments as they glance silently between themselves. Finally, the head elder nods his head toward another elder. Sahara watches as the elder he had nodded to moves toward her and begins to remove her bracelet. Sahara can feel her breathing quicken at the thought of her betrothal being broken. For the last two years, she had wanted to break her betrothal so badly, but now she didn’t want to lose Brystol. She loved him too much. She knows if she cannot save Brystol from Patreek, she will lose him anyway but in a way she could never get him back so she reassures herself that this is worth it.
The head elder breaks her train of thought with his loud words, “You are allowed to do what is needed to save Brystol, teleport him home to Holestroy. Then, tell us when you have completed sending him.”
Sahara nods in understanding followed by her words, “Thank you.”
As soon as the bracelet is removed from her wrist, Sahara closes her eyes and focuses her energy on finding Brystol. As soon as she feels his presence, she can tell he is in a region of the elf world she has never been to and the cold feeling makes her shutter. “Focus” she reminds herself and she focuses back on finding Brystol. She smiles as she feels Brystol’s presence and teleports him to Holestroy Castle’s main entrance. She knew someone would find him there more easily than if she put him in his room. Before she opens her eyes, she feels pain and realizes Brystol is wounded on his side and chest. She had never been able to feel what another elf had been feeling before and it brought deep emotions inside her to life. She knows he will be alright though and sighs in slight relief before the reality of what she has just done hits her. Tears break from her eyes as she opens them realizing what she is about to lose. She wonders if Aran Rayterbay is going to be angry with her for agreeing to break the betrothal.
She holds her wrist back out as she blankly stares down at the ground in sadness. “It is done.”
She feels the bracelet snap back around her wrist just before she hears the loud elder’s voice echo around her saying, “You are full of surprises Sahara Ashdell.” He pauses for only a short moment before she hears him continue, “We are aware of your deep feelings for the young cundu. And you have shown us today how much you have matured in the past months. You will make an excellent Tari to the six kingdoms with the cundu by your side.”
His words confuse Sahara as she looks up at him with puzzlement on her face. He smiles at her before he continues, “Your betrothal is not to be broken. We require nothing in return from you for your request today.”
Sahara feels relief as she lets out a heavy breath before speaking, “Thank you for your kindness. It will never be forgotten.”
“We are not here to prevent good from happening. We must prevent the bad from happening. Your betrothal benefits the elven world in many ways and it should never be broken. In the future do not bargain with such a treasure. Your punishment need not be extended an extra year, as it is evident your powers can be useful to do good. Therefore, we will remove the sentence to not be able to teleport other elves in our world. Telepathy blockage remains as well as the block on teleporting others to the human world. We will release the block on you teleporting yourself to the human world as a gift of trust toward you.”
Sahara felt more surprised by the elder’s kindness since she had just teleported in the middle of the night to them uninvited. “I don’t deserve such kindness since I have intruded by teleportation to you at mid-night. I apologize for the urgency and thank you again for your surprisingly positive response to me.”
“It is not our intent to make you an enemy but a foe.” Sahara realizes from the elder’s comment that they fear her slightly and it sends a chill up her spine.
“I would love to have each of you as foes as well.” She says with a curtsy.
“Safe travels back to Yetya, Aranal.” The elder bows his head slightly toward her and she knows he is warning her not to go to Holestroy to check on Brystol, though she wants to.
“Have a wonderful evening, er … morning,” Sahara says realizing the time must be close to dawn. She then teleports back to Yetya, though she would prefer to go see Brystol shedoesn’t want to lose the trust she just gained with the elders.
Sahara spends the next few hours pacing in her room waiting to hear something from the Aran or Tari about Brystol. It is not yet light outside when she finally hears a knock on the bedroom door. She hurries over to the doors and opens them both quickly. She feels disappointed as she notices it is only a messenger with an envelope. “This is….” She snatches it from the ellon’s hand before he can finish and rips it open closing the door with her feet and ignoring the messenger completely.
She sighs in relief that it is a letter from the Tari stating that Brystol was back at Holestroy safe. She hugs the letter and glances out of her window noticing the sun is just starting to peak out over the hill in the distance. She gasps in excitement remembering how she had promised to meet Isla out by the Slewbo’s arena. She throws the letter on her bed before racing over toward her closet to change.
As she arrives out to the arena, she notices Isla waving toward her, “Good morning Aranal. I was just about to feed and brush your Slewbo.”
“Oh, please? Let me do it?” Sahara says excitedly wanting to bond with her creature.
“Royals do not typically do such chores, Your Highness,” Isla says unsure of the idea.
“You will find, Isla, that I am not an ordinary royal,” Sahara says taking a large shiny silver pail from Isla. “Now where do we place her food?”
“Actually,” Isla reaches to take the pail back from Sahara, “that is the poop I cleaned out of her stall.”
Sahara snarls her nose in disgust as she willingly allows Isla to take the pail from her. She had realized it smelled bad but had not thought it could be what was in the pail. “Oh. Sorry. I could. Maybe clean her stall also next time.” Sahara says trying to sound not disgusted by the idea.
Isla laughed at her, “Are you certain? It is quite unpleasant Aranal.”
“No. I want to learn.” Sahara says finally getting close enough to touch the Slewbo’s back. “When would it need to be cleaned again?”
“After lunch actually,” Isla says with a kind smile. “Slewbo’s poop just before every meal and we feed them three times a day.”
“Oh,” Sahara says trying not to sound surprised but all she could think about was that there was a lot of poop.
Sahara spends the next couple of hours learning how to feed and brush the coat of the Slewbo. She loves brushing their hair and finds it to be a peaceful activity. In no time she and Isla are out in the arena training her Slewbo. Sahara feels that the day is going much better than yesterday’s training. She could tell a difference in the young Slewbo. She had been thinking all day about different possible names for the creature but had yet to think of the perfect name.
Just before lunchtime, Sahara leads the Slewbo back to her stall to go enjoy a picnic lunch with Isla and the other centar workers at the stables. She realizes just how beautiful a day it is as she lies on the blanket looking up at small glittery creatures flying through the sky. They remind her of butterflies in the human world. She yawns feeling the heaviness of her eyes suddenly.
A smile grows on her face as she sees a Holestroy carriage enter the kingdom through the barrier. She quickly rises from the ground in excitement, “Thank you for a lovely picnic!” She says to the centars, before running to meet the carriage at the castle.
She is out of breath as she arrives at the carriage just as the door is opening. She feels disappointment as Verdiwild appears behind the door. “Good day, Aranel.” He says looking intrigued by her disappointment. Sahara looks behind Verdiwild hoping Brystol would be with him but to her surprise, she sees Aran Rayterbay.
“Aranel.” Aran Rayterbay says sounding unimpressed.
“Aran,” Sahara says with a dutiful curtsy as she begins to feel curious as to why they have come to Yetya.