Luana gazed at the mysterious glowing form that stood before her. It appeared to be a woman, with long hair that flowed down her back like a rushing waterfall. She was slender and tall, draped in a liquescent flowing gown that pooled at her feet. She began to solidify, revealing porcelain skin and pale blue eyes. She appeared to glow from her head to where she touched the surface of the pond.
The woman walked across the pond on the surface of the still water, leaving a luminous trail in her wake.
Luana stood as the woman reached the edge of the pool where she waited. “Mother?”
Lyra nodded, smiling. “Oh my daughter, could it be you? Has it been so long?”
Luana’s heart raced in her chest. Is this really happening? How is this happening? Could this really be my mother? “It’s been… I’m nineteen.”
Lyra appeared to be holding back her sadness. “You have grown so beautiful, my child.”
“Thank you,” Luana murmured. Her mind tried to make sense of what she was seeing. “How is this possible?”
Lyra gave a puzzled look. “Your uncle Rydel has not told you?”
“No. Well, yes,” Luana fumbled with her words. “He told me it was where all the souls of elves went. He didn’t explain how. He didn’t tell me how you died or who my father is.”
Lyra looked up at Baylin and his elven companions that stood a short distance from Luana. She bowed her head. “Rydel, Faylen.”
They bowed in return.
“And who do we have here?” Lyra asked, reaching out a hand and pointing toward Baylin.
“This is Baylin. He is the Prince of Grasmere, the heir to the throne,” Faylen said. “Luana became his bed wife and—”
Rydel hissed at his sister’s talkativeness.
“A bed wife?” Lyra spat. “No, this simply cannot be. You are royalty, Luana. You are above this mongrel.”
Luana put up her hands. “No, you don’t understand. I love him, and he loves me. We have a son together and plan to be married.” The words sounded foreign to say out loud. She always dreamed of it, and they spoke of their plans to wed in secret. Yet she never told them to another living soul.
“Married?” Lyra asked. “Interesting.” She paused in thought.
“Sister, I do not wish to rush this reunion,” Rydel said. “But it is important that you discuss Luana’s lineage now. Grasmere is in great danger of war and your instruction could save her life.”
Baylin, who had been so quiet up until then, spouted, “And how is it more informative coming from her than you? Could you not have told her weeks ago about her ancestry?”
“No,” Lyra said. “The magical line of the elves can only be shared from parent to child. My brother could tell her she was elf kind, but he could not discuss her magical abilities and heritage. That is the job of the parents.”
“This is why the Pool of Souls is so important,” Faylen piped in. “Without our ancestors to lead us on the proper path, our race would have been lost centuries ago.”
Lyra drew her attention back to Luana, her sparkling sapphire eyes glimmered in the light from the pool. “It is time you knew the truth, the whole truth.”
Luana took in a deep breath and nodded, signaling she was ready.
“I met your father one evening in Fagin Forest,” Lyra began. “He was a young blacksmith from Black Hallows. He had no parents or siblings to provide for, but he had hit hard times and was searching for game to help make it through the winter. He, like most people of Wintervale, believed the elves had all but left these lands. They believed those few left behind remained to scare people ignorant enough to enter the forest.
“However, desperate hunger must have overwhelmed his sense, because I found him traipsing through the wood in the dark of night. He had about as much chance of taking down a stag as he did finding a needle in a cornfield. That is when I found him.
“At first he seemed afraid, terrified actually. But I told him that I was not there to hurt him and he seemed to believe. I explained who I was, and what I was, and that I would help him if he promised to stay out of the forest. Together we brought down a doe.
“However, the next night, he showed up in the forest again. This time, he was calling my name. I came to him and we spoke of things like the Kingdom, the gods and about the stars in the night’s sky.
“Night after night he came, and we talked. I found we were growing very close, much closer than I had ever been with anyone. Even someone of my own race,” Lyra recalled.
“What was his name?” Luana asked timidly.
“Mercher,” Lyra said. The word seemed to carry such a weight when she said it.
“So what happened?” Luana asked.
“One night he didn’t come to see me. I was so worried something had happened to him. I defied my brother’s orders and left the forest in search of Mercher. I ran all over Black Hallows and finally found him in his blacksmith shop, working. I remember feeling so angry with him at the time. Feeling betrayed. But those feelings didn’t last long. Little did I know that he had been working on a ring. A ring made of the purest silver. A ring for me.”
“He meant to marry you?” Luana asked, engrossed in the tale.
“Yes. Yes, he did. And he asked me that very night,” Lyra replied, her eyes moist with unfallen tears. “Though I was certain that my people would never accept a common man as my suitor, I accepted him immediately. He took me, right there, in the hay, on the floor of the smith’s shop.”
Luana blushed at hearing her mother talk about having sex with her father. “And that’s how I came to be?”
“Yes,” Lyra said. “You are the product of two individuals loving each other against the odds.”
“Against the odds?” Baylin asked. “What do you mean?”
“For an elf to find a mate outside of our race… Well, it was unheard of,” Rydel explained. “The elders felt it was a disgrace to our kind.”
“Such a disgrace, in fact, that they demanded I not only cease all contact with Mercher, but that I must also…” Lyra struggled with her words, sadness in her eyes. “They demanded that I sacrifice you to the gods once you were born.”
“A sacrifice?” Luana whispered.
“You must understand,” Faylen said. “To the elders, you were an abomination. Elves believe their bloodlines to be the purest of all lines. Your father’s blood would have muddied the waters, so to speak.”
“Well, it’s pretty obvious that you didn’t hand her over to be sacrificed,” said Baylin, getting a few steps closer to Luana. “So, the question is, how did you die? How did Luana end up with Hal-john and Fersa?”
“I’m afraid it’s a rather long story, Prince of Grasmere,” King Rydel replied.
“The short version is, we had been on the run for many months,” Lyra said. “We fled to Ranhold and then I gave birth. We were happy. We were certain that the worst was behind us.”
Lyra’s smile faded. “But the arm of the elves is infinite. Scouts were sent to every Kingdom in the realm to find us. I knew our only hope was to return home and plead with my brother to help the elders see reason. However, the evening we docked back in Rivermouth, we were intercepted before we made it halfway through the King’s Wood. Their instructions were to kill Mercher on sight and bring you back for me to sacrifice. We fought, of course, but we were completely outnumbered. Mercher fought with his last breath, even as his blood stained the ground crimson. He died protecting us. I managed to slip away, running as fast as I could through the King’s Wood, holding you in my arms. In the end, I wasn’t fast enough.” Lyra’s expression was full of memory and regret.
“And you died?” Luana whimpered, tears running down her cheeks.
“I found you in your mother’s arms,” said Rydel, walking up beside her and placing a hand on her back. “Even as she struggled for breath, her grip was impenetrable. I promised her I would watch over you, protect you. However, you had no place amongst the elves. They would have never accepted you. You would have been in constant danger.”
“Your father had a distant cousin in Black Hallows. Her name was Fersa,” Faylen explained. “She was married only a year at the time. We took you to her and Hal-john in the middle of the night. We provided them with enough gold and supplies so they could relocate to Open Shaw, where no one knew them. It was an easy story to believe. A young couple with a newborn baby.”
“Since then, Faylen and I have watched over you from afar,” Rydel said. “You are our niece, the beloved daughter of our most cherished sister, and a Princess of the elven court.”
“Princess?” Luana asked in awe. “I’m a Princess?”
“Yes, though with your half blood you would never be given any station to rule,” Faylen said. “But it doesn’t make you any less a Princess. A Princess with powers!”
“Powers? Yes, I believe you spoke to me about some of these,” Luana mused. “My ability to see things in the future, for one.”
“Yes, my daughter,” Lyra said. She appeared weak. The strain of taking a solid form was beginning to weigh heavy on her. “My blood gives you strength and power few could ever dream of.”
“How so?” Luana asked. “I’m only half elf.”
“That is true, but you are a firstborn,” Faylen said.
Luana furrowed her brow in confusion.
“You see, Luana,” Rydel explained. “The gods have gifted the elves many unique gifts. One of which is that every firstborn is to be a male heir. It ensures the line will continue and the magic will stay strong.”
“But then how…” Luana began to ask. “How am I… but I’m a woman.”
“Exactly!” Faylen exclaimed. “You’re a firstborn daughter!”
“It’s a rarity that only comes along once in a thousand years,” Rydel said. “At least, it was until you came along.”
“Until I came along?” Luana asked. “What does that mean?”
“He means that I was the firstborn daughter to occur in a thousand years,” Lyra said. “You are the eldest daughter of an eldest daughter. In all our history, no such occurrence has been documented.”
“The gods have smiled on you, Luana,” Faylen said. “They have chosen to give you such an amazing gift! You have the potential to be more powerful than any of us.”
“And it’s a power that many would kill for,” Rydel said. “That is why we have kept such a close watch on you all these years.”
“Was that before or after I was dragged off to be a bed wife?” Luana spat. “If I’m so important, where was your protection?” She looked at Baylin and felt guilty. Though she hated him in the beginning, she loved him now. And he was as much a victim of the ritual as she was. She shot him an apologetic look.
“Prince Baylin is part of your path,” the Elf King said. “I have foreseen it. The two of you have the power to create a new rule of Wintervale. You can abolish the Bed Wife Law and unite the five Kingdoms of Keld, creating a unified front.”
“And what of the elders?” Baylin asked. “They killed Lyra because of Luana being an abomination. What if they realize she survived? You said her power would be something many would kill for.”
“After Lyra was killed, the elders saw the error in their ways,” Rydel said.
“All but one,” Faylen murmured.
“Yes, there was one who still insisted Lyra’s death was justified,” Rydel said. “So much so that she wanted her power absorbed instead of put to rest in the afterlife.”
Luana shivered, though she was not cold. She imagined someone sucking the life out of her.
“Do not worry,” Rydel said. “The elder was cast out of Wintervale and has not been seen since. Without the power of our people behind her, she can do you no harm.”
Luana looked to her mother and saw how the once bright glow that had radiated out of her was dwindling. “Mother, what is wrong?”
“We are only allowed a little time away from afterlife,” she whispered. “It would appear my time is up for now.”
“No!” Luana cried. “There is still so much I need to know. So many things I want to ask you.”
“Rydel, you must teach her,” Lyra said weakly. “Teach her how to control her magic. How to use it to protect herself, to protect her people.”
Slowly, Lyra sank into the pool and was gone. Baylin and Rydel held tight to Luana as she cried out, reaching for her mother. All that remained was the glowing pool with its surface smooth as ice.
Baylin pulled Luana into his arms. “It will be all right.”
“Luana,” Rydel said. “Faylen and I will teach you to use your gifts. Lyra wanted you to be able to protect yourself and defeat your enemy. When Mirstone arrives, they will wish they had stayed in their castle.”