Wild Jewel [Enter a world of Faerie Romance]

Wild Jewel - Chapter 12

She smirks at me. "She tells everyone what we are meant to hear. She tells each individual something different, so I cannot hear what she has told you. And it is you the message is for."

"What does it mean?"

"I cannot know what she tells you, unless she tells me as well. So you must decipher what she has told you yourself."

I nodded. What the 'Hiril' has told me was simple enough, though what I wanted to know was why she needed me to know it. And what was it that was changing? Was she walking about my world, being that I've learned a new world? Or is it something else entirely. I put it to rest in my mind, letting me puzzle over it later.

"So what else was it that you wanted to tell me?" I asked.

She gave me a sidelong glace, and began standing up. "Come take a walk with me."

My day was full of hesitations, as I dithered in the grass for only a moment before jumping into stride with her, the deer giving us an unconcerned glance, like we were merely deer as well.

She took me through the tall trees, where leaves had fallen beneath our feet, though we barely made any noise as we stepped. Beams of sunlight shone through the tree canopies, the leaves baring shadows where the sun could not pass through the 'Taurë'. In the distance, I could hear the giggling of the pixies, the twittering of the birds and the bubbling of a nearby creek.

"You know that being my daughter means you are my heir to being the next Queen of the Glade?"

"Yes," I sighed.

"Well, when you were growing up, I was never able to know you would come to us. Sprites and Pixies always told me how you would play with them, but it was your father who managed to keep you from going too far in."

All of this was a mystery to me. I still had no memory of this, and I gave her a quizzical look. She shook her head, as if to tell me not to prompt on it, and I unwillingly passed it.

"My point is," She continued, "Hérion, our King, knew we needed to pass on our leadership to someone when we were gone. And seeing as I had no knowledge of you coming to us, we had agreed that Delius would be a suitable choice."

I gaped, but quickly composed myself.

"Of course, this was before you were here. And I wanted to let you be aware of the fact that we would like you to take his hand in marriage. Be united, so that you have a strong king at your side when you rule."

I was beside myself. I had barely been here a few months, and my mother was already planning me a wedding? It was almost absurd, except for the fact that she was right, at that he would be a strong leader. But I couldn't. I didn't think of him in that way, in a way that I might love someone. I didn't feel like I needed to be with him. Only that he was my teacher in fighting, and that I trusted him.

"I know this has come as very full on to you, but I need you to consider it. The Hiril had helped us choose him as our next King, and so I knew that it was inevitable that you two should be wed."

I still couldn't bring myself to talk. We had stopped walking, we were near the 'Duin en' i' Hiril' now - the River of the 'Hiril' - and despite the fact I felt comforted by being near Water and the Earth, my heart thumped loudly in my chest. I hadn't realized I had been holding my breath, either, and I let it out in a huge gush, and I took a long deep one back in.

"Charushëela?"

I closed my eyes, and let the wind briefly caress my skin. "I need a moment to myself," I decided, opening my eyes again, "I won't be long...I just need to...think."