From tears and ash

Introduction

She was 12 when they raided the villages.
Fire licking clay walls and engulfing thatched roofs.
The smoke was choking her, and yet Ellia still smelt her mothers scent as she kissed her on the forehead. The scent of poppy and barley. Her mothers tears fell off her chin and onto Ellia's face, running paths through ash covered skin.
The fingers gripping Ellia's shoulders softened.
"Im going to need you to run, honey."
A small hand was thrust into hers, and a loose strand of hair tucked behind her ear.
"Take your brother and run."
Though she was young, she wanted to stay and protect her mother. She would have if it weren't for her little brother, a clammy hand gripping her own. She understood her role as an older sister was to keep him safe, but she hadn't known that would mean leaving her parents behind.

She looked to her mother, whose eyes were red with either the smoke or crying, she wasn't sure. Behind her mother was her father, staring at the door, gripping a blunt sword. He fidgeted with the sword changing his grip repeatedly. The only sign of his nerves. If only they had better weapons, maybe they would have survived? Or if they had been trained and weren't just farmers. Ellia would think this over repeatedly in the years to come.

"I love you." Her mother said, pulling them both into a hug. Ellia didn't say it back. Not because she didn't want to, but because there was too much she wanted to say, so much had happened in one night. It wasn't as if 12 year old Ellia could understand that not saying those 3 words, lost to chaos, would remain her biggest regret. Her father turns towards her, tears streaming down his face too. It's strange, she thought, to see your parents cry.

A tug on her arm, "Elli, what's going on?" Big blue eyes met hers, innocent, too young to understand that they were about to leave their parents to die. Ellia knew all too well what was going on, the weight she now had to carry. The childhood innocence she could no longer afford to have.

The door fell in, and a figure, sillohetted by the fire behind them, stood at the entrance to their home. A sword, far sharper than their own, and magic, powerful magic. She could see it, feel it, the fire curling around their fingers. Ellia always wanted to see fire magic, but not like this, not anymore. Her mum straightened her back and prepared herself to fight, whisps of shadow licking up her back, like a cape.
"Elli, run." A shout from her father.
The last she saw of him was his sword raised above his head, arching down in one fluid movement.

They ran through the back door, the door they used when they'd explore as kids. Not allowed to track dirt through the front. Wind whipped through Ellia's hair, carrying the stench of burnt flesh. She only allowed herself 2 seconds to take in her surroundings and find a path to run through. She locked her eyes on the woods. Trees were ablase, but she was confident she could outrun the wildfire.
The small hand in hers tugged, "Elli?" She didn't let her eyes meet his. She knew that it would be all it took for her to break down right then and there.
Instead, she crouched down, wrapped her small arms around his body, and picked him up. One arm around his back and another forcing his head into her neck. He didn't need to see what she saw. For what she saw would give her nightmares for the rest of her life, something someone should never see, never mind someone so young.

Someone had spotted them. She had taken too long.
"Hold on and dont look." She breathed.

Then she ran. She ran as fast as her feet could take her. She ran even when fire licked at her feet, burning through what little fabric was left on her shoes. She ran towards the tree line, her only hope of escape. Her feet burned, fire licking at her legs. She ran and ran and ran, unsure if the burning skin she could smell was her own or from those in the village. The weight in her arms spurred her on. He needs to be safe.
The wind wrapped her dress around her legs, and yet she did not falter.
When she met the edge of the forest, she allowed herself a glance back. A glance back to her home, her family, and what her life had been. Burning, ash being swept around in the wind. Not too dissimilar to that of snow.
And that's exactly what she told her brother Fynn when he asked what freckled in her hair. It's just snow.

The two children walked up the hill through the woods and stopped for breath at the top, they didnt look back. Fynn had wanted to, but Ellia had told him to watch the sunrise with her. She rested her hand on his shoulder, making sure he didn't look back. There were some things she could still protect him from, seeing their home burn down being one of them. And thats where they stood, pinks and purples lighting the sky in front of them and red and black shadowing the village behind them.