Chapter 7 #3
She had been told by others in her village that he had once been kinder, but that was before his heart was broken by her mother.
Once a week when she was a girl, her father would take her out riding around the land near their cottage.
He would tell her stories and fables about how Elves came to be.
How they defeated lesser creatures to become the most magically powerful creatures in their lands.
These stories always made Orla feel small.
Her father rarely acknowledged that Orla was only half Elven.
When her magic manifested in the nature-based way of all nymphs, he refused to acknowledge it.
Whereas most Elves could do things like change form, summon objects, have dominion over the weather, or even read minds, Orla could do none of those things.
And because her mother had absconded shortly after her birth, she had never really gotten a handle on it.
Sure, she could make things bloom out of season, she could even cause seeds to sprout within a day of planting.
But it was also unpredictable, bursting out of her at random.
Her father had been no use in helping her master it.
She knew her father loved her. He was never cruel or unkind, just…
indifferent. When Orla would tell him about how the other children at the village school would ignore her or ask her questions about her strange, rounded ears and lack of an Elven mark, he would tell her to ignore it or to get tough and fight back.
Neither piece of advice was particularly useful for a young girl wanting to belong.
Growing up in a kingdom primarily ruled by ruthless Elves, the flighty soft nature of nymphs was often ridiculed.
Others either pitied her, thought she was unserious, or they wanted to bed her; there was usually little in between.
Orla tried hard to be more than an object of lust or someone others thought of as impetuous. It didn’t come easy for her though.
Her father hadn’t known how to shield her from the judgment of Elves; his advice had always left her wanting.
Keep her head down and blend in was all he had to offer.
He ignored the fact that others would immediately recognize that Orla was different.
Or Duncan was so wrapped up in his own grief that he had little time to think about the challenges his daughter faced being a nymph in a world ruled by Elves.
His advice was especially useless because she was so obviously not fully Eleven.
The most damning tell of all that Orla was different, besides rounded ears, was her lack of an Elven mark.
All Elves were born with a mark, noting their superiority over other beings.
The most coveted were wings. Typically, only nobles like King Mikki had those.
Talons were also considered a particularly desirable mark, useful in battle.
Antlers and horns were common, and tails were the mark most seen on Elves who lacked any rank or title.
Orla had always wished she had the Elves elegantly pointed ears, but she wished she had a mark even more.
In her youth, she had even fashioned herself a headband with antlers from the carcass of a buck she had found near her family cottage.
The teasing she received after attempting to pass them off as real had lasted for moons.
Her father had never acknowledged these challenges, continuing on with his teaching and stories as if she were fully Elven.
One story told of how the deity of mischief and trickery, Gaius, tricked the god of creation, Jove, into making a creature who could only speak the language of ruthlessness.
Gaius made a bargain with Jove. If Jove made the creatures, Gaius would ensure that the creatures worshiped him above all else.
Jove was known to be a vain god and adored the idea of being the sole creature worshiped by these new creations.
From that bargain, Elves were made. But Gaius hadn’t told Jove that he would tell the creatures about free will.
Gaius planted the seeds of free will in the creations.
All these millennia later, Elves still spoke Gaius’s language; the language of cruelty and cunning.
But many no longer worshiped Jove alone.
Many didn’t worship him at all, preferring to worship Gaius instead.
Her horse bucked, pulling Orla from her thoughts of her father.
She returned to the stables, knowing that she only had a little time before she would have to lead Owain to his meetings with the various nobles at the palace.
She had heard mention that kings from four of the other kingdoms on the continent would be in attendance.
King Mikki was clearly trying to secure his kingdom, leaving no room for future wars.
The warrior in her strongly suspected that peace between Emmental and the Kingdom of Edam was unlikely.
One did not simply put aside a century of animosity and bloodshed, and Orla found it hard to believe that King Mikki would want to share Emmental’s immense power with Edam.
But the nymph side of her was desperate for peace.