Activity

Part I

“What was that?” cried a young woman, whirling to stare at the surrounding trees. “Nayandi, I’m sure I heard something.”

Her companion, another young lady of about nineteen, slowly notched an arrow to the string of her slender bow.

“It’s all right, Rhea,” she replied, after a tense second, letting the bowstring slacken and placing the arrow back in her quiver. “We’re alone out here.”

Out here referred to the unexplored forest the two were traveling through. Slender aspen trees crowded close together, their silver bark mingling nicely with the rustling green of the leaves in the canopy. Dead trees were here and there, either lying on the ground or stuck straight up in the air, leaves gone, branches brittle. Ferns and  other undergrowth crammed together on the forest floor. If the maidens hadn’t had their trail to follow, they would have had a tough time chopping their way through. But despite the beauty of the wood, it housed an ominous feeling, one that shivered its way up the girls’ spines. Danger threatened every step they took.

“Alone, except for a wild animal or two.” Rhea replied, tossing her shoulder-length nutmeg hair out of her hazel eyes. She smiled apologetically at her half-sister. “Sorry. I just don’t like these woods.”

“Not many do,” came the quiet reply. Nayandi glanced around her as she turned back to the trail the maidens were on and leapt lightly over a log. Rhea followed.

The two walked in silence, with Rhea occasionally glancing anxiously around the dense undergrowth. The quiet was unbearable, for not even the song of a bird, the chirp of a cricket, the gurgle of a creek, or the rustle of leaves when a breeze softly pushes past them could be heard. She glanced again at the tall figure before her and broke the silence.

“Nayandi, tell me your Elvish name again.”

Nayandi smiled slightly, her serious dark eyes sparkling for a mere second. “Lárawen.”

“You know,” Rhea replied after a moment. “I wish I could have been a half-Elf.” Her eyes danced as her usual smile lit up her face. “To be able to make that choice.”

Immediately Nayandi’s face snapped back into its solemn countenance as she remembered her quest. “No, you don’t. You have no idea how hard it is for me to make this choice.”

“I’ve got an idea,” Rhea answered, stealing a glance at her companion. “This whole journey is to help you make that decision.”

“Yes…” Nayandi mused, her mind wandering to the oh-so-distant past, imagining what it must have been like for her father, Charles, and his first wife, the Elvish maid Naldiel.

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So the next part is part of Nayandi’s memory, that’s why there’s an abrupt ending. All critique welcome!