Mira's Hope (19 page)

Sighing, she started where she had left off,
with the trees a little bigger than year old saplings. She had
chosen an oak tree as she thought these were truly the wood of
choice. Grand, strong, and a pleasant aroma. The perfect
combination for her final home before going to a magical cave that
she may never come out of.

No, stay positive
, she told herself
firmly. Closing her eyes and blocking out these unpleasant
thoughts, she returned her attention to the growing of three trees
at once. When she first thought of the idea, it seemed intimidating
to her, but as she began to work with them, she found it was
slightly harder than working with just one.

Instead of shaping one tree, Galena found the
trick was to think of them as parts of one and shaped them
accordingly. As she was not trying to accomplish anything
significantly fancy, she found that creating the single, long room
an easy task. Once she formed a solid little home, she began to
work on the finer details, something that had become second nature
to her and therefore, required very little time. Opening her eyes,
she found a somewhat longer home than she had originally planned,
displayed before her. Feeling her chest swell with pride, she
looked up at Elenio and smiled. She’d created this entire home,
complete with doors, windows, a bed, table, chairs, cooking area,
and wash area in less than ten minutes. A new record for her.

After they went in, Galena realized she would
have to make the wash area into a separate room for unlike Pangoro,
if they wanted privacy, they would have to have a separate area. It
was only him in his little hut, so this had obviously not been a
concern for him. This took her all of a minute to fix before
declaring she was taking the first bath. Before she could escape to
the washroom though, Elenio stopped her and requested for her to
create a washtub in which he could start cleaning clothes in.
Shaking her head as if she were ashamed of him, she made short work
of the request before scurrying away to the washroom.
Relentless,
she thought once more. Hopefully, that
particular part of her healing would wear off soon. Although, it
was going on a week since she’d done it.

It was some time later, that she was awakened
by several loud and persistent bangs on the door to the washroom.
Startled, she looked around, trying to get her bearings once more.
Her memories came rushing back and she considered scooting further
down into the warm water again to resume her nap, but the knocking
persisted.

“Galena, answer me before I break down the
door. You’ve been in there over an hour.”

Groaning, she slowly sat up, regretting the
action immediately as the cold surrounding her, made contact with
her skin. Quickly, she created another fire orb, making the room
warmer almost instantly. Bringing her hands to the side of the
basin for leverage, she laughed aloud when she saw the condition of
her skin. She looked like she had aged at least fifty years. Her
hands alone looked like they were nearing their deathbed due to the
amount of wrinkles in her fingers. If Elenio hadn’t woke her up,
she was sure she would have turned into an overdone prune.

Preparing herself to stand, Galena called
out, as Elenio hadn’t stopped his continual beating on the door.
“I’m coming, I’m coming. Since you were so productive out there, I
don’t suppose you have any clean clothes for me to change
into.”

“Yes, but they’re wet still. You didn’t make
me a place to hang them to dry or send me a breeze to help the
process along.”

“Must I do everything,” Galena growled
sarcastically.

“Yes, because sleeping in a tub counts as
doing everything,” he replied back, his voice dripping with sarcasm
as well.

Galena grinned despite herself. She loved
giving him a hard time. It made her feel giddy inside. She turned
her head at the sound of the door opening and heard the smack of
soaking wet clothes hitting the floor.
Hmph, they were
clean,
she thought to herself. She reached for the drying cloth
she’d brought with her and dried herself while she thought of a
vine stretching itself across the small room. Hanging her clothes
up there, she started combing out her hair as she sent a steady
gust of wind through the room until the clothes were thoroughly
dry. Galena found from several different attempts, that when she
used a warm, almost hot breeze or gust of wind, the clothes were
more apt to dry than using a breeze from the cold outdoors. So
thinking of summer, she created wind from the air surrounding her
in the room and used it to dry the clothes.

She emerged from the room to find a slightly
disgruntled Elenio, staring grumpily at her from one of the chairs
around the table. He held his head in his hand and had his elbow
propped up on the table. He definitely looked more tired than he
had any other time since she energized him. Like his old,
un-energized self. Smiling at the fact that it looked like he was
finally wearing down, she stepped to the side of the washroom door
and indicating with a broad sweep of one arm, that it was his turn.
Grudgingly, he hauled himself up from the chair and slumped over to
the washroom, making a point to slam the door behind him. Galena
giggled quietly as she warmed the stones and filled the basin with
water then headed toward the living area to first check in on Tark
and to start making something for dinner while she dried Elenio’s
newly washed clothes.

It was sometime later after Galena set the
table that Elenio came out to join her.
He still looks worn out,
but at least he smells better,
Galena thought to herself as she
watched him sit down across from her.

“The energizing finally wear off?” she asked,
still smiling broadly. It would be so much easier to keep up with
him now. She thought if they kept going at the pace they had been,
she would never make it through the cave. She passed him a basket
of food and waited for his response.

“I feel like I could sleep for a week,” he
almost groaned.

“Well, if you think I’m going to give you
another burst of energy, you’d better think again. You just about
killed me the last time.” She took a bite of an apple while
regarding him and his sleepy state.

“You could give us both a burst of energy,”
he stated, shrugging.

“I somehow don’t think that’s a good idea. I
think we should reserve that kind of energy for special occasions,”
Galena started, choosing each word carefully.

Elenio raised an eyebrow in surprise, but
kept quiet as he waited for her to continue.

“Having that much energy seems to be hard on
the body. Sure, you felt amazing for a while, but then you pushed
yourself too hard during that timeframe. Now that the magic has
worn off, your body is feeling the effects of being pushed so hard,
for so long. It’s not good.”

Elenio continued chewing his bread while
regarding Galena. “Good point,” he said simply. They ate the rest
of their meal in silence, both lost in their own thoughts.

Galena’s mind began to wander to the cave and
the terrors she would find inside. According to the elves at the
last village they’d passed, once they reached the outer edge of the
western woods it would be roughly a two-day journey before they
reached the heart of the woods. There had been a couple elves who
traveled to that area, but hadn’t actually found the entrance of
the cave, because of the guardian. They stated that once they
reached the heart, Galena and Elenio would know it. Galena tried to
convince them to tell her what the guardian was, but the elves
smiled and just shook their heads. Both stated that once they left
the heart, they remembered there being a guardian, but neither
could quite remember what the guardian had been.

“Are you scared?”

Galena jumped nearly a foot into the air at
these words. She’d been so lost in her thoughts she’d temporarily
forgotten Elenio was there. “Of what, you giving a heart attack?”
she practically yelled as she tried to calm her now racing
heart.

Elenio just laughed and took a bite of the
sweet bread she laid out for them.

Taking several calming breaths, she looked at
him, trying not to let the fear that swelled up in the pit of her
stomach reach him, but she saw from the expression on his face that
he felt it. He nodded his head and stood. Walking over to her, he
pulled her up and embraced her gently, lovingly. He kissed the top
of her head and she buried her face into his clean smelling chest.
She drew a ragged breath, the only sign of her anxiety breaking
through her otherwise confident demeanor and as she did, he held
her tighter.

“I would be lying if I said no and you would
know I was lying,” she said in a muffled voice.

He stroked her hair as the fear that had been
eating away at her broke free. She needed to get this out if she
wanted to go on. She felt as if by holding on to the fear, it would
only hinder her more once she reached the cave. Fear, sadness,
desperation, the desire to live, and hatred all spilled over in her
hot tears and angry cries. Not for the first time since starting
out did she wonder why it had to be her. It seemed so unfair she
should have to carry the weight of the elven world on her
shoulders.

Elenio held her through it all, until she
felt calmer, more at peace with her lot in life. The tears dried
and embarrassment replaced all of her other emotions. She let go of
Elenio and went in search of a cloth to clean her face. Elenio
watched her go with mild interest. Her face turned redder when she
saw the wet front of his shirt.

What a pathetic excuse of an elf am I,
Galena thought to herself.

Once cleaned up, she returned to the living
area, where she found Elenio leaning against the table, waiting for
her to return. Without a word, he reached for her hand and they
went to bed for the night with the unspoken understanding that it
would be all right in the morning.

Chapter
Twenty-Five

Galena looked around herself, and saw nothing
but blinding, white light. It surrounded her, enveloped her, and
seemed to radiate within her. The warmth of it spread through her
until a peace like she had only experienced once before, filled
her. Returning her attention to directly in front, she found Mira
watching her with a gentle mother like smile on her face.

“Welcome back, my child,” she said, reminding
Galena once again of the woods that surrounded her, the springtime
creeks, and the sound of falling leaves.

She sighed as she heard her speak, content to
just listen to her the rest of her life. “Where have Rau and his
creatures gone?”
Really, listening isn’t my strong point,
she thought.

“He has begun to gather his forces for the
coming war. He is temporarily preoccupied with this task, but do
not take comfort in this, for soon he will come after you once
more. You are the main focus of his hunt. You must never forget
that.” Mira’s smile faded as she regarded Galena sadly. “Haulua is
extremely angry for we have bound him.”

“Who is ‘we’ and why did you imprison your
own brother?” Galena asked, not sure what was going on.

“My brothers, Kya, Luma, and I did. Haulua is
Rau’s creator as you should know.”

Galena nodded as Mira continued.

“He was helping Rau in his plotting and
planning for we have tied Haulua’s life with his creation. Anyone
who creates something as evil as Rau, deserves to be punished.” At
this, Mira looked extremely angry and Galena found herself cowering
in spite of herself. “We cannot keep him bound forever my child,
and when he does get free, his wrath will be great.”

“What can I do?” Galena almost wailed.

“Hurry, my child.” Mira smiled once more at
Galena, calming her mind and easing the panic that had blossomed in
her chest.

“Will I make it past the cave?” Galena
couldn’t help asking.

“I do not know the future, but I can give you
some advice. No matter how real it seems, it is only real within
the walls of the cave that you’re in.”

“What does that mean?” Galena asked, feeling
extremely stupid.

“The cave is designed to take your worst
fears and make them real, but only in the cave.”

“But they’re just figments of my imagination
right?” Galena asked as she struggled to put the pieces
together.

“No, in that cave, it becomes real. Once
outside those walls, reality becomes uncontrolled by you once more.
Fate takes over again.”

“I might die from the creations of my own
mind?”

Mira nodded, her eyes steady upon Galena’s
face. Sadness filled Mira’s expression as she reached out and
caressed Galena’s cheek as a mother would a child. “You have to
face your own fears before you can face the fears of the all the
elves. I’m sorry, but there is no other way. Now hurry. Do not stay
where you are for longer than you must, for even now, Haulua fights
us.”

Galena watched her fade from view, the
blinding light surrounding her faded as well until darkness
consumed Galena and she slept the rest of the night through.

Chapter
Twenty-Six

Exactly as he’d hoped, whole villages started
turning up in Corista. The first to arrive was the villagers of
Gora. They toted along with them Pangoro, which surprised Tark as
much as the underground elves arrival. Because of Pangoro’s magical
abilities and special link with Mira, they realized in advance,
what was happening and were able to prepare sooner. Still angry
with Pangoro for the lack of information from the last time he’d
seen him, he made a point to put the old elf to work
immediately.

He had him helping the underground elves
build more tree homes and to strengthen the swords the blacksmiths
were producing. The underground elves were already adding their own
magic to the swords, but Tark knew Pangoro had a bit more insight
in this area. Secretly, Tark was hoping to wear the old elf out and
make him regret his lack of advice in the search for Mira’s View.
More importantly than his little revenge, he realized Pangoro had
much more experience in building tree homes and things of that
nature than the underground elves.