Iliae tossed, unable to find sleep even in her tired state. With a heavy sigh, she sat up, pulling the thick, woolen blankets around her shoulder as she used the diluted glow of the moon to find a match to light the lantern by her cot. Her brother lay soundly asleep in his own cot, only a few feet away from her, curled underneath his own blankets to protect him from the cold of the Tundra. She smiled, watching him as she made her way to the small chest hidden beneath her pack. Carefully, she removed the silver chain that hung around her neck, placing the key that hung from it into the lock of the chest. Removing her journals and various soil samples she had gathered, her eyes settled on a mound of letters. Returning to her cot, Iliae pulled a letter from the stack and unfolded it.
My Love,
Your last letter wears heavy on me, while I had not expected your father to accept our engagement easily, I cannot say I expected this. I know how much you dislike my ill thoughts of him, but my distaste has exceeded all boundaries with this news.
After hearing of the arrangement, I took the liberty of finding this Daeyn, in an attempt to at least reason with him. The news seemed to shock even him, as he has recently proposed to the eldest of the Jerowyn Springsun’s daughters. He has agreed to discuss the marriage with his father, he is a good man. With hope, your engagement will be called off and become a thing of the past, though I will make arrangements for your transport to be interrupted before reaching Eversong, besides my own petty jealousy, I trust your brother’s intuition.In concern to my rash behavior toward your father, I apologize, though since your letter did not mention him dying an untimely death, I assume Daeryan was able to heal any damage I managed to cause. Once again, I beg you to come with me, your brother as well. I cannot stand by and continue to watch as your father puts you both in danger’s path. Send word, and I will be there before the sun rises.I am getting along, my ribs still hurt, though the damage is not serious enough to worry yourself over. Ray was able to mend the more serious breaks, though I’d still prefer to be healed by an ogre than listen to his pointless chatter. Though, I will say that will be the last time I decide to pick a fight by a cliff.
I will see you soon. Before you know it, we will have our wedding. We will have our life. Just as we have always wanted it.
Forever and always yours.
The letter, like all the others, was left unsigned save a quick sketch of a sparrow carrying a small heart.
Iliae continued to stare at the parchment long after she had finished reading it, her eyes following the curves of every letter. It had been the last letter she had received, the last time she had heard from the man she had loved for so many years. The words began to blur as memories returned to her, only to be interrupted by Daeryan shifting in his cot. Her gaze lifted, meeting his knowing stare.
“You woke me up.”
“I’m sorry.” She quickly folded the letter, carefully slipping it back under the string. “I was just…” She paused as she sat the letters on the makeshift end table. “Go back to bed.”
Daeryan sat up slowly. One lifted to his eyes, but fell immediately back down to his side. Rather than push the sleep from his eyes, he simply faded to a wisp and reformed. “I’m wide awake. Wait, no…that’s you.” Illy’s brother replied with a drowsy, somewhat playful growl to his voice.
“Go back to bed.” She repeated, quickly replacing the letter and dropping into her cot, purposefully turning her back to her brother. When he climbed out of his own bed and laid one hand on her shoulder, she tried to shrug him off.
He just sat behind her, sighing as he whispered, not entirely to her.
“Everybody feels something, Ill, even if they feel something horrible. It’s like sleeping on your arm too long. First you don’t feel anything…then it hurts, then it feels funny…then, after a while, it gets better. But you have to get your big, fat head off it, first.” He smiled, returning to his own cot.
“I’m alright with Reved.” Iliae truthfully stated, though she knew that he wasn’t the figurative arm her brother was speaking of. With a sigh, she rolled over onto her back, her eyes fixating on the shadows dancing across the roof of their tent. “It’s been three years, Dae. I’m allowed to wonder on occasion.”
Daeryan nodded, rolling onto his other side, stretching slowly. “Yeah I know you’re okay with Reved.” He paused for a moment, considering his words. “And you are allowed to wonder, I’m just wondering, too. Like, why exactly you aren’t looking for him.” He said, stretching his legs out underneath the blankets.
“I did look. We looked for months after the Scourge were taken care of.” Her voice wavered as she turned her head away from him, pushing back the tears that stung at her eyes. She shrugged her shoulder as Daeryan reached across the small gap between them, attempting to comfort her as he spoke again.
“Yeah…But who knows if that was long enough?” He paused again, pulling his hand back. “We didn’t have what we needed to look very far, and a lot of people were still scattered…”
“He was never the type to run…He would have looked for me, for us. The only reason he wouldn’t would be if something stopped him…” Iliae stopped, her words faltering as soon as the thought crossed her mind.
Daeryan sighed again, rolling onto his back to watch the roof of the tent, his ears twitching as he attempted to tune out the stirring herd of mammoths. “He was resourceful, and loyal, especially to you Illy. What if he was conscripted? Called away? He would have joined the Farstriders or the Rangers, so that he could keep looking.” Daeryan offered, smiling faintly, though he knew his sister couldn’t see.
“And if he did? Where would I start? Its been years, he could be anywhere now.” Iliae turned her head to Daeryan, her expression uncharacteristically upset.
She watched as her brother sat up, reaching into the water basin by his cot for a damp cloth which he preceded to run over his face. He remained quiet for several seconds, before finally returning the cloth to the water. “Why not talk to that one guy? The scary one that runs your Order? You know he turned me into a big block of ice…”
“I would think Commander Frostbane would have higher priorities than forming a search party for a man he doesn’t even know.” Despite saying this, the thought had crossed her mind more than once.
“Well it can’t hurt to ask? For Aereyn?” Daeryan offered another smile to his sister, who had already sat up in her cot.
Iliae sat up as her brother spoke her former fiancé’s name, her hand immediately reaching for the communicator that laid beside her boots. “You’re right.” Switching it on, she spoke into it, trying to keep her voice steady. “Commander? This is Iliae. If you have the time, I would like to speak with you.”
