Bare but Safe

Arialin slowly opened his eyes. He was laying on a large chair, with a really comfortable blanket on his legs and chest.

Who transported him here? Who gave him a blanket? His memories were blurred. He only remembered a small hand of a child, which helped him to not drift into insanity.

A child? Not possible. Delirium? Most likely.

A small pang of primal panic reached his muscles and they tensed. He didn’t have shackles, so it wasn’t humans who would trap him and bind. Other elves?

Other elves would surely condemn him no less than invaders. His kin could sense the shadow that sat in him, they sensed it not with eyes or touch, but with their empathy. Maybe they would not kill him, but surely would tell him to go away.

He pulled the blanket delicately up, only to find out he is completely naked. Another touch of panic. Why? They surely wanted him to not run away. Or, his common sense added, your clothes were dirty and torn and they didn’t want you to lay in a wet shirt and underwear.

He slowly raised up. The room in which he woke up, was large and walls were decorated with scenes from human and elvin history. He could recognize the painting showing elvin age of light but also Landing on the Reech, a very infamous attack of human pirates on bottomless elves’ land. Bottomless elves were the first elvin nation that bent their knees before invaders, their cave homes were blown up with powerful explosives, burying everything under piles of shattered rock. It turned out that pirates would be the least of their problems now, he thought.

Creation of Manis, the Green Palace of Esenor the King, the Celebration of Lilac Clutches… all from elvin history. And Dark Bane the destroyer of northern forests and Attack on Sita, from human one. Whoever lived here, had a morbid sense of aesthetic.

Arialin felt as his body relaxed. Nothing indicated that he was a prisoner. Maybe someone really wanted to help him, in fact. Even among humans were good people.

When he decided to fast search for any robe or even take the blanket and find anything similar to the bathroom, the door opened and a young, slender elvin man entered, with almost apologetic expression.

“I am sorry, but my Master ordered me to take off your clothes’ ‘ said Keeral. “They really were unusable, you laid too long in the dirt on the courtyard.”

Master. So indeed it was a home of a human lord. That wasn’t encouraging, but he expected that.

“Who is your Master, unsl’ralith?”

My good host. Arialin used an elvin language, to show respect to Keeral.

“Lord Rhuitaure was generous enough to lend you his bedchambers” smiled Keeral, and seeing he raised a brow, he chuckled. “Do not worry, ahar’sat, he is an elf, like us.”

The expression Arialin made was not a wise one. Elf being a master, and lord and owner of bedchambers larger than thrice his family house? But to his astonishment, he recognized a very old elvin surname, from the age of light. Birch elves, Rhuitaure.

“He is a royal adviser, ahar’sat” said Keeral. “Now,” he pulled fresh fabric he brought with himself. “Here are clean clothes. When you are ready, Lord Rhuitaure will like to see you. No, he will come here, after all, this is his room.”

Arialin, feeling a strange wave of disbelief washes over him, slowly took the clothes from Keeral.

“I am… I am Arialin…” he managed to utter.

Keeral nodded and embraced the room with his gaze.

“My Master will call for late supper” he said eventually and smiled again, encouragingly. “You don’t have to worry, you are safe. Every elf is safe under this roof.”

Arialin started to clothe himself, he still couldn’t embrace the situation. How mad it seemed and sounded! But soon he will meet this mysterious Lord Rhuitaure.

Run, he felt as if a known voice filled his head but as much as he had a hard time to defy it, this time he managed to ignore it.

*ahar’sat – my friend.