"I don’t know, darling, but I’m sure Arbellason had a good reason to give him the afternoon off. Now you need to get back to work preparing those berries, I don’t want to be in this kitchen all day."

"It’s not fair," I whined, "I want to be outside, exploring like Artemis, I hate being the youngest."

"Goodness gracious child, stop that pouting. I need your help with these pies," Cuiledhwen said grabbing more flour, "besides, we’ll have our own adventure when we deliver the goodies to Faye."

"Your taking my only daughter to that human’s house," my father said slamming threw the front door. "I don’t think she should be exposed to his kind, not now, not ever."

Mother sighed loudly, "stop saying such things, your scaring the poor girl."

"She should be scared, he is the enemy and she needs to prepare herself."

"Prepare herself for what," Cuiledwhen snapped, "you want our daughter to be ready to fight in another war. You want her on the front lines, the first to die in battle, is that what you want?"

"Mama, please," I said exasperated. I hated seeing my parents argue and it was worse when they were arguing over me, "Father isn’t serious…"

"Of course I’m not serious," Arbellason said scowling, "and your mother knows that. Cuiledwhen, I didn’t come in here for another fight, I just wanted to tell you Artemis went on an outing with Vanya. He probably won’t be back till late."

My ears perked and I quickly forgot about the previous harsh words between my parents, "He got to go on an outing, with the princess, what about his chores?"

"I will finish his chores, not that it’s any of your concern, little one. You will receive the same courtesies when it comes time for you to court a spouse. Now if you ladies will excuse me, I have to get back to work," Arbellason said, heading to the door. "I want both of you to be careful when you deliver those pies and Cuiledwhen, don’t let Tira out of your sight."

"Beinion, good sir, I am just fine," Arbellason said in reply.  "How about yourself?"

"I’m quite well, my friend, but I have come to ask a small favor," said Beinion, as he walked closer to where Arbellason was standing.

"Is there something wrong with your house," Arbellason asked, with a panicked edge to his voice. 

"Oh no, the house we built is in perfect condition," Beinion said, taking a deep breathe of fresh air.  "Eruanna and I love the place, even though it isn’t as lavish as our last home, but we are making due."

"We have all had to make sacrifices," Arbellason said, as color crept into his cheeks.  "At least your family made it here safely."

"Quite right, good friend, quite right," said Beinion, impervious to the anger his campinion was directing towards him.  "We were the fortunate ones, but I am digressing, I came here to ask you a question."

"Well please do ask, I have much work to get to today."

"Oh yes, yes, I see," Beinion said, glancing around the Birlithe’s homestead.  "Well, I came to ask if you can spare your son Artemis for a few hours this afternoon.  My daughter, princess Vanya has requested that he and Voronwe’s son, Griffith, accompany her on a picnic today.  I was sent to deliver the formal invitations."

I was crouching close to the ground, tearing apart a bale of hay for my horse Angel, when I heard the faint whisper of voices.  I started standing up, to greet whomever had come into the barn, when I heard father yell.

"It isn’t right, Cuiledhwen," he shouted.  "She shouldn’t be allowed back here."

"Arbellason," mother said calmly, "our people preach forgiveness, we must remember that in times like this."

"I don’t care what our ancestors preached," father said through gritted teeth, "she has no business coming back here."

I crouched lower behind the partial hay bale and shut my eyes.  I tried to think of who my parents were arguing about, but couldn’t come up with any elf that would cause such a negative reaction from my father.  I sucked in my breathe and concentrated harder on the conversation.

"Arbellason, she doesn’t have any other place to go," my mother said soothingly, "and she needs to be around family."

"She has him, doesn’t she," my father spat at my mother.  "He is her family now, isn’t he good enough?!?!"

"What are you doing, Tira?"

My heart sank and my palms began to sweat, I’d been found spying on my parents.  I slowly turned around, to see the grinning face of my older brother Artemis.

"Sshhhh," I hissed.

"Don’t shush me, little girl," Artemis scolded.  "What are you doing back here anyway?"

"I’m feeding Angel," I said, "now be quiet."

"Arbellason, just let it go," my mother sighed.  "Things will be fine and we can use the extra help around here."

"I don’t want help from them," my father shouted.

"That’s Arabellson and Cuiledwhen," Artemis said, crouching down to my level.  "Are you spying on them?"

"No, I’m not," I said, stiffening my face.  "I just happened to overhear their conversation."

"Tira, you know that you shouldn’t listen in on other people," he scolded.  "Come on, get up and get out of that stall right now."

"Please Artemis," I begged, "if I get up and walk out now, I will get into big trouble.  Plus, I don’t even know who they are talking about."

Artemis shifted uncomfortably and moved his gaze away from mine, I could tell he was hiding something from me.  "You know what they are talking about, don’t you?!?!"

"It is none of your bussiness, Tira," he said.  "You are just a child and needn’t concern yourself with the situation."

"Oh come on, Artemis," I pleaded.  "Just tell me who they are talking about."

"No, it is none of your busines," Artemis repeated. 

"I’ll just keep bothering you until you tell me," I said, starring into my brother’s face, "and you know that I will."

"Fine," he sighed, "but you have to get out of here and finish your chores, once I’ve told you."

"Okay deal."

"They are talking about Faye," Artemis said quickly.  "Now get back to work."

"Wait, why wouldn’t father want Faye to come back to the clan, she was part of the royal court," I questioned.

"Arbellason has his reasons," Artemis said exasperated, "now you promised to get back to work."

"Oh come on, brother," I said smiling, "just tell me the whole story."

"I don’t know much, except that no one wants her back because of who she married," Artemis said, slowly standing. "She married a human."

I watched Artemis walk out of the barn and sat stunned on the hay, no wonder father was so angry, Faye wanted to come back to the clan and bring the enemy with her.

Men from the outer realm had marched into our village with torches and weapons of death.  They were ruthless, killing young and old alike and setting fires to all of our humble dwellings.  The brutal slayings had been nothing more then pure jealousy.  Our kind were different to them and they saw us as a threat that had to be eliminated.  The warriors we had tried to fight and keep the destruction to a minimum, but there were so few trained fighters left that they were soon over powered and over thrown.

As the battles began to grow and worsen, the royal court was dismantled and led to the safety of Tara Emata.  The journey was long and treacherous and only the king, queen and their two children survived.  They are now faced with the daunting task of pulling together what is left of our elven community and rebuilding.

The new land that is now our home, is lush and green, it brings forth feelings of hope, but my father warns us to never grow content ("Contentment breeds laziness and laziness leads to death.")  He blames our leaders for the death of his friends and I cannot disagree with him.  They should have seen the threat darkening our walls and recognized that fighting would only lead to the loss of our people.  No one will listen to my thoughts on elven policy, though, for I am only a child.  My ideas, valid as they are, will hold no water with the king and his new elders.  I just wish the king was focusing more on rewriting our laws and less on finding a mate for his daughter.

Tara Emata will never truly be my home, but I can sense greatest within the land.  If the remaining families use the advantages provided to us by this island, we will be able to rebuild and become a grand nation again.  If they work against nature, I am worried our new homes will end up in fiery rubble, just as our last colony did.