Safe and Sound

Elmyra Norlana reflects on her relationship with her brother after his sudden disappearance.

     The world outside was quiet, the hunting parties, full of those hoping to increase their station and good samaritans alike, had long disbanded and gone home. The amount of people who showed up to help was to be expected when a noble disappeared, but the speed in which they gave up befits his actual standing. Elmyra sighs, not like she was out there for long either, though her reasons were different. She had suspected what had actually happened from the beginning, Yanvis didn't disappear, he ran away.

     Elmyra can see the reflection of her green eyes narrow as she stares out her window, into the woods surrounding the Norlana  family household, giving one last look, hoping she sees that stupid red coat standing out against the night background, but all she sees are a few animals scurrying, the sound of them not even quite reaching inside the room.

     She didn't stay out looking for him very long because she was the first one to go look for him, she always was. She was looking out for him longer than anyone else, trying to give him the care he needed, she had sometimes wondered how well of a job she did, shielding him from the realities of being the black sheep of the family. Guess now she knows, he's gone and it might be her fault. Did she not handle his always fragile heart with enough care?

     Her thoughts drift back to simpler days, back before they were all pulled apart by the crushing weight of responsibility and noble standing. She thinks back to their days in the woods, that special clearing, where everything always seemed to fade away, the only thing to matter being the company you brought with you.

     She thinks back to the first time she brought him to the spot, it didn't just feel like centuries ago, it literally was, she couldn't have been much older than 100 at the time, and Yanvis couldn't of been more than 5. She remembers the small weight of him in her arms, a sniffle here or there exposing the fact that he had just gotten through a crying fit after he had tripped in the forest earlier. He insisted he wasn't hurt, despite his tears, but he didn't have any complaints when she scooped him up. His tiny hands drifted to her hair, as they always did, back when she kept it longer.

     She follows the path just like when she was little, letting Yanvis gawk at all the big trees and animals who scattered as they made their way through, though she tried not to be noisy, a light foot was always something she had.

     By the time they had made it to the clearing, Yanvis was full of energy again, she sets him down again and he doesn't give it a second before he starts running around again. She sighs a bit, considering he just hurt himself from doing the same thing, but she's safe in the knowledge that all he could possibly trip over here are his own two feet. She keeps an eye on Yanvis, but takes a second to do her own share of gawking at the area. A beautiful clearing, the sun shining down making the tall grass look almost yellow, with just enough trees on the periphery to give pockets of shade for those who want to relax. She barely has time to sit down before Yanvis is already upon her again, begging for her to show him some sword moves again. She acquiesces with a sigh and a smile and shows him, the next few minutes after that were Yanvis sloppily repeating her movements with a stick, she tries her best not to laugh at the scene.

     He eventually tires himself out, having defeated countless hordes of goblins, dragons, and evil villains, Elmyra at times playing the damsel in distress. He tries to hide a small yawn, but he's not exactly inconspicious. Elmyra motions the little hero over to her, while she sits and reaches into her bag and pulling out a book, Yanvis' eyes light up at that and he moves just a bit faster. She sets the book down for a second and scoops him up again, placing him in her lap. She picks up the book again, a series of short heroic fantasies, and flips to one of the stories, reading the story to him, with him sometimes trying to chime in to read some of the passages, his clumsy words contrasting the elegant handwriting of what he's trying to copy was, Elmyra realizes so many years later, a metaphor for his entire life.

     All that to say, that clearing is where Elmyra checked first, the only place she needed to check to know if he really wanted to be found or not. Elmyra shakes the thoughts out of her head as she turns away from the window, her light green nightgown swaying with the sudden turn, the fabric bristling against the wind being the only sound in the room. Her head drifts to her extravagant bookshelves, pushed up against the back wall of her room, a bitter smile almost hits her lips, thinking about how for all her training and studying, there was no protocol for this, no guide on how to fix it, assuming it ever could be.

     "Seems like he's really gone." a voice cuts through the utter silence of the bedroom, a voice with a ever playful quality, like everything is a game to her. Elmyra doesn't even turn around to greet Nimue at the door, with Nimue not even waiting for permission to barge into the room, the two have been sisters for about four hundred years, they don't always have to like each other, but Elmyra understands her, that it's just easier to entertain whatever brought her down this way, maybe she'll actually have a heart about this whole situation. A certain amount of guilt rises in Elmyra as she makes her way to sit on her bed as Nimue takes a lounge chair in the room, for guests or when Elmyra has time for some leuiserly reading. Nimue's long hair hangs all over the back of the chair as she leans her head back, looking at the ceiling.

     "Seems so." Elmyra's eventual response as she lightly sits on the edge of her bed and runs her fingers through her own comparatively short shoulder length hair is controlled and measured, not giving anything away.

     "And here I thought I was supposed to be the cold one..." Nimue muses, Elmyra couldn't see her smile, but it creeped it's way into her voice.

     "We're the only ones who knew him well enough to know what really happened, even you, despite what you think about him, can't possibly believe he was weak enough to be kidnapped or careless enough to get himself lost in the woods he's known since he was just a boy. He made his own decision...there is no reason to worry." Elmyra says even-handedly, though she falters at the end.

     There's a low hum from Nimue as she ponders her sister's words. She had been looking at the cieling before, but she slowly looks out of the corner of her eyes at her sister, her smirk deepening.

     "His own decision huh? Are you saying you wouldn't of dragged him back if you had found him?" Nimue asks calmly, though the mirth in the words are impossible to miss.

     Elmyra's thoughts drift back to the past again, only a few hours ago, to that clearing in the woods, the nostalgia of days long since passed still thick in the air, and the red streak she saw out of the edge of her vision as she approached, not close enough to identify, but close enough to stop with magic, if she so chose.

     "Of course I would have." Elmyra says, her voice still cool and collected.

     There's a beat between the two sisters, green eyes meeting blue ones, steely resolve clashing against bemusement. Suddenly Nimue gives a laugh.

     "Ha! You know, I almost believe you when you say it like that." Nimue says, looking back at the ceiling. Elmyra can feel her brows crease, finally getting annoyed by Nimue's attitude. It's not the words that finally get to Elmyra, it's what went unsaid, a challenge that's only visible for a fleeting moment in her eyes. A glint in them that asked "Do you think he'd be strong enough to lie that well for you?"

     Nimue's hair flutters all around as she suddenly stands up and fully turns to look at her sister. Her gaze softer than before.

     "Oh, c'mon, don't give me that look. I won't tell anyone, better for Mom and Dad to believe something tragic happened to him rather than him running away, though that'd be the narrative they'd keep anyway, even if they did know." Nimue muses, brushing some hair out of her eyes before she continues.

     "It's really no matter to me where he goes, because you're right, I know him. I at least know he knows he wouldn't be able to stay in the Feywild, no one where people wouldn't know him even in passing here, he'll have to venture out into the rest of the world. Maybe he'll even be happier out there..." Nimue trails off, a crack in her armor of smug superiority.

     Elmyra nods slowly, her own gaze having softened, the sisters agreeing on something about their brother for once. Nimue turns to leave without another word, apparently getting all of the answers she wanted and not finding the amusement in the conversation anymore. Elmyra watches her sister practically glide out of the room, a skill they both had to learn, and one she replicates as after Nimue leaves the room, she gets up to grab something from her bookshelf, something with a happy ending.

     She doesn't even notice that one of them is missing until her finger, which had been gliding over the books while she looks, hits open air. She's only confused for a moment, putting the pieces together immediately, a small sad smile comes to her face, knowing that her brother still has some piece of her with him, throughout whatever trials he's sure to face now.