Tales of the Lost and the Wilds [on hold]

Interloper

She'd chosen a human.

Out of all the possible men she could have taken as a lover, Lysira had taken a human soldier.

At least she had the sense to come back with me to the village without further protest.

Even I had to admit begrudgingly that a human-elven couple wasn't unheard of. Before the humans invaded, our interactions with them had been limited but not entirely absent. Occasionally, travellers or merchants had passed through our woods. As long as they respected nature and, on occasion, paid a toll, we allowed them to continue on their way. Some elves found these outsiders fascinating and had their little adventures with them in the flowerbeds near the river. Other elves were enticed by the allure of the sprawling human cities and chose to live there. Both ways inevitably lead to the birth of half-elven children.

Then, humans and elves alike had started disappearing in the woods. The humans blamed us for it and suddenly, we were no longer welcome in the human cities. Some of the half-elven kids had stayed with their elven parent in the woods, but most lived in the human cities now. It was safer that way, as the woods had turned into a bloody battlefield, and the place where the cultists took their victims. It was an unsuitable environment for a child to grow up, especially one of mixed heritage.

If Lysira's child was born with rounded ears, they would be able to blend in with humans. Wildewall, the capital, would be the easiest place to hide in the masses. But there was also an argument to be made to head for the sparsely populated southern coast to escape notice. It seemed that Lysira desired that for her child. If the child were to be born with rounded ears and other human features, however, it meant our village would be extraordinarily unsafe. Though I doubt anyone would openly attack Lysira, I saw what happened with half-elven children now that it was war. The Elder and the hunters would certainly look upon her with disdain. 

The problem was: we wouldn't know what parent the child would take after more until they were born. That meant Lysira would have to leave the village regardless before she started showing, and only return if it was safe. She had clearly already come to that conclusion. That was why she wanted to leave.  

Lysira walked quietly behind me. I looked at her over my shoulder. She didn't look at me, instead staring off to the side and pointedly missing my gaze with a deep frown and crossed arms.

With a sigh, I stopped walking. The village wasn't far now, and we couldn't just march in there without having discussed what we were going to do with this. 

"Were you ever planning on telling me?" I asked, unable to keep the bitterness out of my voice. "Or would you just have left silently in the night?" 

Lysira squeezed her eyes shut, then slowly opened them and finally looked a me. "I knew how you were going to react. I was going to tell you about leaving, but not the reason why I left. Then, if I could pass the child off as elven, I would've returned to the village and imply one of the lone wanderers is the father. It's not the best plan, but at least my child wouldn't be an outcast."

"And if the child couldn't pass as elven?" I pressed. "Would you have disappeared without ever revealing the truth to me or our parents?"

Lysira's response was tinged with frustration. "Considering your reaction now, dragging me out of the tunnel without even asking about Edwin or having a proper conversation with him, I didn't think I had much of a choice but to leave. Contrary to what we like to say about ourselves, we are not very tolerant of all things in nature in this village."

I bit my tongue. I wish I could say I supported Lysira's decisions, but I didn't. I always tried to be there for my sister, but in this I didn't know what to say. I shook my head. "Where do you want to go, anyway?"