A Double-Edged Sword

The Decree

For who else, besides Johhin with his patient companionship or Jalin with his happy humor, was there for Lela to talk to, to help her forget, for even an instance, the sorrow that was bound to her more tightly than any rope ever could be. Her other siblings were wonderful, but they didn’t share the same companionship. Sasha was only two years younger than Lela, but the two sisters had little in common. And Derik was only seven, too young to burden with her own troubles. Little Malia was even younger, having just turned four.

No, trapped in her home in the midst of winter, there was no one for Lela to confide in or to make this any easier to endure. So Lela tried to imagine her twin brothers, somewhere out on the ocean in a great ship, trading goods and attempting to make enough profit to start a life of their own when they returned. But her imagination fell flat, for she had never seen the ocean. She had never even been outside the ring of mountains, named Corin’s Crown after one of the more narcissitic kings, that surrounded the great valley in which she lived. And besides, if she thought too much about her brothers attempt to make their own fortune, she was reminded that they were getting ready to start lives of their own. Too soon they would marry, build houses of their own, and forget her. They had already left her in pursuit of their own adventure. There was little solace in the knowledge that she, too, had reached the age when her life would soon change. At fifteen years old, marriage was not a far off prospect. In fact, she knew that this summer, when travel between farms became easier, it was possible that one of the nearby farmer’s boys would begin to court her.

She tried to imagine who it would be or if anyone would even want to look twice at her. Foolish and unrealistic, she was not, and she knew that she was no beauty like her younger sister. Her hair was not as thick and wavy. Her eyes were not as blue and expressive. And she certainly didn’t have the full lips. No instead, she had freckles across her nose. A straight, thin body that matched her straight, bodiless hair. But she was hard-working, and she didn’t consider herself hard to get along with. And even though she didn’t consider herself a beauty, she wasn’t so unpleased with herself as to call herself ugly.

No, there would have to be somebody. She just hoped it was somebody that she could love, or at least like. There were several unmarried young men that she found quite tolerable, just none that she could picture herself wedding.

With her thoughts occupied thusly, she took the first step towards home. One foot after the other, she neared the small wood house, watching the smoke curl out of the chimney.

As she entered the yard, she couldn’t resist one last glance westward towards the mountains in the distance. But when she tried to focus on the distant horizon, she found her gaze drawn to something much closer. Something which made Lela’s eyes widen and her breath catch in her throat.

There, riding with a fair amount of haste down the snowy road, were two riders. Despite the speed, the sight of two riders cantering down the wintery road wasn’t that out of the ordinary. Even in the middle of winter, people had to travel. But what caught Lela’s attention was the color and shape of the men’s clothing. The pattern and combination of bold blue and shiny silver stated that these two men rode for the King. Lela tried to imagine why two of the King’s couriers would be riding down the rarely used road that connected the farms in her own small part of the valley to the small towns nearby, but she couldn’t come up with anything.

“Lela?” the weary version of a familiar voice turned Lela’s head.

Lela tore her gaze from the riders, to focus on her mother.

“Where have you been?”

Normally, Lela would have expected a scolding for leaving, and staying away for so long, without informing someone that she was leaving, but today her mother merely asked with a sort of apathy.