The Chronicles Of The Council #1: The Sun's Tears

Chapter 13: Laelia - Guardian

"Always have something beautiful in sight, even if it is just a daisy in a jelly glass." – H. Jackson Brown Jr.

The celebration of our fifth-century birthday is not comparable to Faolan's Millennium a week ago, but it is huge compared to my four-hundred-and-ninety-nine of previous birthday celebrations. I don't remember the first ten birthdays at all. All the other ones that did not celebrate a century of my age were spent with my family. Sometimes we did not even celebrate. You get tired of birthdays if you have had as many as us and added that of my family together, but five hundred is a big deal.

If you only add Faolan, Aedan and my birthdays together, you have a total of two thousand birthdays. You get my point.

Aedan tugs my arm.

"Where did you go? I have set my master plan to humiliate Faolan into working. That is new. Where did you get it? Tell me later, because you have to come to watch this now."

He pulls me along to the middle of the crowd.

"We have to hide behind the others so he does not see us."

Aedan draws me behind an elf whose face I cannot see.

We peek around the white garment and search for Faolan's face. Aedan points when he sees Faolan before I do.

Faolan is talking to elves of his age.

"What now?" I whisper to Aedan.

Aedan grapples around in his pockets. I can hear many things clanging against each other. He takes out a small bottle with a thick pink liquid in it.

My eyes widen.

"If Mother finds out you took that, our hides will be tanned and used as tapestries in her study."

"She will not find out, because we will replace this bottle when we visit Idunn."

Aedan's eyes mirror that of a fox playing with a nestling that fell out of its tree.

I suppress a smile.

We dart back and forth behind the backs of the elves; always keeping Faolan in sight.

"You are a genius."

"I know."

"If we do this, he will not show up in time to torture us tomorrow morning."

"That is exactly what I thought."

"How do we give it to him?"

"I offered the last two pumpkin and cream pies to Elorhim. He immediately ran to Faolan. He always follows Faolan everywhere."

"And Elorhim is just an innocent bystander in all this?" My mouth breaks into a wicked grin.

"He wanted the last pumpkin pie. I told him that it was for you and me, but he insisted that as he is older than us, he should have it. I agreed."

"The only objection I have is that you used the last of pumpkin pies to do it."

"There happens to be one more plate in my room, but look! It is happening."

I look at Faolan. I notice Elorhim shadowing him for the first time.

Faolan is winking quite a lot. I can see the small muscles of his hands twitching.

Elorhim also looks like a drowning rat.

Aedan and I notice too late that the elf that has been covering us stepped away. We scamper for shelter, but Faolan and Elorhim see us and smile brilliantly. They stop twitching.