When Your Feathers Flutter Down to Me

Chapter Four: The Princess And Insults

Of course, that was an oversimplification, but Gorose was convinced that with enough time, Elisia could learn to understand his kind, and in turn, perhaps help with his bigger hope. The fact that he was already beginning to see her as one of his own residents was just an added bonus that made it easier to care for her.

It was with all of this in mind that Gorose stood up. He faced the crowd, and when all eyes were on him, he brought up his scepter before slamming it down into the ground. The impact resulted in a loud boom, and underneath the scepter, a small crater about two inches in diameter had formed in the earth.

With nothing but the light of a nearly full moon shining down on them, Gorose spoke. "This woman has wronged us in many ways," he began. "She has hurt us, made us live in the slums, and sometimes due to her actions, lives have been lost. I understand your frustration, your anger... your hatred.

"But," he said with force. "This woman, Elisia, is no longer in the position we've always known her to be. She's now much like the commoner humans. As I'm sure some of you know, some of those commoners are quite kind to us."

A few in the crowd were beginning to see the elder's point and looked away in shame, but the rest watched on. "Elisia is not here of her own volition. She did not come to start a new life, nor has she come to try and make amends with us. But regardless of that, she has gotten the opportunity for a new life, along with an opportunity for a new outlook, nonetheless."

"I do not expect you to love her. I do not even expect you to acknowledge her. However," Gorose said, his face hard. "This new Elisia, this commoner kind, is suffering from something outside of her control. There was no way for her to know where the boundary is, and know it is so close to the village."

This drew a few murmurs, so Gorose decided to spell it out for them. One of the biggest conditions of Elisia's branding spell was already public knowledge anyways. "Elisia cannot leave the outskirts of the kingdom! Along with that, she cannot invoke her name in a show of power, nor address herself as a princess. This also applies to everyone else who calls her a princess. These are the conditions placed upon her by the king of this kingdom, who had her exiled here."

"That's why she dropped to the ground?" someone wondered aloud. "Because she tried to leave the outskirts and the spell wouldn't let her?" Gorose nodded.

"Exactly. And these conditions were placed on her against her will. I only wish I had known how severe the consequences would be if she tried to leave...

"Regardless," Gorose continued. "She suffered because of it, and in her time of agony, you all decided to pile on." A few more people looked away in shame. "Greed doesn't only come in the form of money or power. It comes when you want too much. If you wanted to see Elisia in pain, then you got that. But, some of you were overzealous, and insisted on seeing more. Tell me, are you satisfied?"

At last, most of the people understood. They should've been trying to show a little kindness to Elisia. If they treat her as an enemy, of course she'll do the same thing. Adding to that, some of them had been going out of their way to cause her pain, rejoicing in it. They even piled on while she was down, making her misery even worse. How did that make them any better than Elisia was when she was a royal?

"I have made a decision," Gorose said formally. "I will be taking Elisia out to the woods just to the south of the village. No one is to approach her, nor speak to her, without my permission and presence."

With his declaration made, Gorose scooped up Elisia off the ground. At this point, she was wavering between being conscious and unconscious, so she put up no protest. Gorose carried her past the small crowd, then through the village before finally going out the back end and going even farther.

About 20 minutes later, he arrived at the place he was going. In thick woods, there was a small area that was somewhat clearer than the rest. In it, there was a very small, dark brown wooden shack. It was really only big enough for a bed, and its only unique feature was a tiny window to the left of the rickety door. A short distance away from the shack was a long log, and in front of that was a circle of stones meant to be a firepit.

Walking toward the structure, Gorose opened the door. When he did, he was met with the smell of pines. Inside and to the left was a singular "mattress" (cloth tied together and filled with hay) with a blanket on top that took up most of the floor space. All that was left was the bit in front of the entryway. There were no decorations either.

"It's not much," Gorose whispered as he laid Elisia down on the mattress. "But it will certainly be better for you than the village." Pulling the blanket over her, Gorose left a short note explaining the situation and then placed it by Elisia's head.

"Good night, Elisia," Gorose said quietly. Then, he left the shack, Elisia's new home, and headed back toward the village.

End of Chapter Four.