"Oh." Aiden said. How eloquent.
"Um, happy birthday!" Arden tried. Maple smiled wryly. "Thanks. But it's getting dark. They'll be looking for us. We should go." "Yeah, come on." Aiden said. As we turned to leave, I squeezed Maple's hand. "I'm sorry I forgot."
She shrugged. "It's okay. Remember when we were seven?" I grinned, recalling that year. Ash, Willow, Holly, Juniper and I were all alive. My three eldest sisters- Laurel, Sylvan and Olive were dead, Olive having been killed the year before.
I didn't fully understand what was happening, and neither did Juniper. I had known Maple since we were young, since I was five maybe, when she had bumped into me in a corridor. It was her eighth birthday, and I had had the brilliant idea of surprising her.
Ash was fifteen. She knew she was going to die the next year. So did Willow, who was thirteen. Holly was only eleven. She had been prone to sudden panic attacks, because she was wise for her age, and knew exactly what was going on. Still, these three put aside their worries to help us that day.
They had always been kind, and unselfish. It couldn't have been easy for them to celebrate another elf's birthday when their own always brought them one step closer to death. But they did. I remembered it clearly.
Ash had got a special room for it. Ivy and Forreston were out on a trip, which was an added blessing. We decorated it with cloth and had a cake made and everything. But as it turned out, Maple- her mother being a maid, and her father working in the stables- had quite a few connections in the palace.
She had somehow gotten the news about our surprise birthday plan, and being both young and mischievous, had planned to surprise us. She was supposed to come along to that room during late afternoon.
She didn't come.
We were puzzled at first, then worried. We had ordered some guards to find her, but they knew what she was doing and let her continue with her prank. It was becoming evening when, dispirited, we went to her room.
Her parents were there, and when we asked, they said they hadn't seen her after celebrating her birthday, and had thought she was with us. Pretending to be worried. When we returned to the room where we were going to celebrate, guess what we found? Maple, the naughty girl, was there, blissfully eating the cake.
"We caught you red-handed!" I exclaimed, giggling with her at the memory. "Ah, but I tricked you all well that day!" She said, laughing.
"Are you guys planning to come? We need to be quiet." Aiden said. We looked ahead and saw the twins staring back at us, about to enter our sleeping area. "Alright, alright. Come on." Maple said, pretending to be annoyed, though I could see a playful twinkle in her eye.
Aiden rolled his eyes and turned his back on us. We walked in, my stomach squeezing again when Grove smiled at us, pointing to Meadow, who was already asleep. We laid down, me next to Maple, and I was sure I wasn't the only one feeling conflicted.
Birch walked in moments later. "All meetings are over for the day. We can sleep peacefully now." He announced, sitting beside Meadow. "Good. Now you should actually sleep." Grove said, almost sternly. They laid down, sandwiching Meadow between them.
Soon, the area around was only filled with the sounds of elves' even breaths and the sounds of their sleeping pallets, rustling as they moved in their sleep.
About an hour later, Arden snapped his fingers, getting our attention. We waited for a moment. Nobody stirred. We nodded at the boys, who glanced at each other and carefully, quietly, sat up, waited a moment, and stood up.
Maple and I watched them nervously as they sprinted silently towards the tents.