Children of the Forest - Sagas of Yryan - Completed #Wattys2017

Chapter 2: Nightly blue

They all left in the late afternoon. Gram had brought two horses with him. On one of them sat Merak with Moira in front of him. Faolan was sitting in front of Gram on the other horse and as they were riding down the small path Faolan couldn't resist looking back at their home one last time before it disappeared behind the trees.

Now the world was slow again. Until only minutes ago, it had been changing in a breath-taking speed. Merak had told the children in detail what was going to happen, and had sent them to pack their belongings, while he sat down to write a letter to his sister, which he would then give to Faolan. Meanwhile, Gram had gathered Merak's things and unsaddled the horses, so they could rest for a while.

An uneasy silence had filled the twins' bedroom while they were both packing. They didn't have much, so it didn't take them long. Once they had gotten downstairs, their father sent them around the house to take other things with them, such as a kettle, all their maps, Moira's bow and some knives.

'Moira, come with me for a moment, will you?' Merak had said. They had both disappeared into his bedroom and after a while Faolan had heard them argue. Moments later Moira had rushed down the stairs to get outside. Their father had followed her down but then stood still next to Faolan. In his hand, he had held something red wrapped up in thin leather. He had given it to Faolan without any further explanation than that they would need it once they had reached their aunt. Obviously Faolan was curious what was inside, but he hadn't dared to look, since it was none of his business.

Now that they were riding through the forest, Faolan forgot his anger and grew more and more nervous. The journey that lay ahead of them scared him. Secretly, he was glad that his sister would stay with him, though he would never have admitted it. She tended to be brave in the woods and always eager to discover new things while he preferred to stay at home and learn as much as possible from his father. Faolan couldn't remember the few years that they had spent in town, because they had been very young back then.

Since they had moved to the woods, they had only had visitors occasionally and they had always been older than Faolan now was. Twice a year, usually once before and once after winter, their father would leave them alone at home for a week and go to town to restock their supplies. This year, their father had promised to take the two of them with him. One of them should have gone in spring, the other in autumn so there was always someone home to look after the animals. Now, none of this was going to happen. The future had changed within the moment Faolan had heard the horses outside the house and now there was no turning back.

They were riding on for a long time, and it was slowly getting dark when they finally reached the crossroads. As the horses stopped and the men helped the children down, Faolan started shaking uncontrollably. He couldn't think clearly anymore, and all that was left inside his head now was that he'd have to say goodbye to his father and that they might never meet again. He tried to hide how he was feeling and looked at his sister who, to his astonishment, seemed to be fine. Actually, she was still angry with her father and refused to look at him, so Merak came to Faolan first. He hugged his son and told him that he'd miss him, that he should be brave and look after his sister.

'Be a good boy, as you have always been,' he whispered into his son's ear. Then he turned to Moira, who still refused to look at him.

'I will not hug you now, because I know you don't want me to. Even though you might be angry with me now, I want you to know that we will meet again. I love both of you, I always have and I always will. Therefore, I also know that the two of you love me, even though you might at times be too angry or sad to admit it.' Merak took the backpacks off the horses and gave them to his children. 'Your aunt is a nice woman, she'll look after you. Until you get there, look after each other, together you are a great team.' After these words, Merak looked at Gram. 'But I can tell from that face that time is short now. So farewell, dear children.' With great effort he turned away from the two and got back up on his horse. The men were about to ride away when Moira said, 'Gram, are you a good man?'