Chapter 14
Braid Linkage
Some ten minutes later, the two of us were sharing a bowl of nuts and fruit on the moss while Deidre was telling me about her childhood.
Apparently, elf children were quite independent, left with peers and older children while their parents were at work. Everyone, including the aristocrats, had to contribute to the Kingdom somehow.
“When I was little,” Deidre explained around a mouthful of apple, “I had many friends. But after the age of five, children began picking on me over my strange eyes, hair color, and masculine body. That’s how I ended up hanging out with the two other freaks around here: the idiot and the dick.”
We giggled at the same time.
I couldn’t believe her toned body, which women would kill to have and men would drool over, was an object of ridicule here. Elves.
“I’m sorry you were discriminated against.”
She waved her hand dismissively. “The others’ perception of me couldn’t stop me from growing as strong and fast as the best of them and having fun along the way.” She took another bite of the apple. “How about you? Happy childhood?”
“Yes. It was. My father left my mother when I was sixteen, but they had stopped being a couple a few years before that and just lived under the same roof. Both gave their best to provide me with a peaceful and safe home.” I was picking at the chestnuts in my bowl, lost in memories.
“My father remarried two years ago, and my mom and I even went to the wedding.”
“Your mother is obviously a forgiving, kind soul,” Deidre declared while moving onto her third apple.
“Here when a braid linkage is broken, she-elves tend to remain possessive of their former braid partners.” She chewed a bit, pensively.
“Actually, they’re possessive of their ex-moss partners, too. ”
“Moss partners?”
“Boyfriend or girlfriend, to use the silly human term. That’s when you’re regularly interacting on the moss with someone without having been braid-linked.”
“Is that your equivalent of marriage–linking your braid with another’s?” Look at me–so interested in knowing more about Elvish culture.
Maybe it had to do with the fact that after meeting Karim, Deidre, and Tisvali, my perception of my hosts had changed.
Elves would always scare me, but now I knew there was so much more to them than human killers and nature lovers.
It was like with carnivorous plants: they were deadly to some creatures, but once you learned more about them, you realized they were not just insect-digesting leaves.
“Nah, it’s not exactly like marriage,” Deidre told me. “As far as I know, humans marry because they want to spend their lives together. Linking your braid to another’s means you acknowledge them as partners in the creation and growing of new life.”
“Oh, I see. But isn’t this linking of hair a bit awkward when you try to interact on the moss?”
Deidre laughed so hard that an apple seed flew out of her mouth. “Gods, imagine maneuvering with linked braids!” She kicked her feet as she giggled. “We do not keep our braids tied to each other indefinitely, Jasmine. It is done just for the ceremony.”
I chortled. “It figures.”
“Aaand,” she shot me a playful look, “you should know that speaking about moss interactions with anyone else but your moss or braid partner is scandalous.”
I bit my lip. “But we’re doing it?”
Deidre shrugged. “We’re also sitting on Karim’s moss without him having invited me on it.
I don’t like playing by the rules, as you can surely tell.
” A mischievous glint appeared in her eyes.
“If you’re planning a braid linkage with Karim, you’ll need to grow your hair much longer than this.
” She eyed my curls with a calculating look before grinning.
“Yours will be the most stunning braid in the Kingdom.”
I let out an incredulous laugh at the very idea I would plan a relationship with the Prince. “Karim and I? No, no–I–He…”
The look she gave me said I was full of bull. “Anyway, she-elves are quite possessive of their ex braid partners. Pulled-out claws and cut hair are the mildest consequences for the ex. As for their new partner, they’re not off the hook so easily.”
I winced. “Do I want to know?”
“A merciful she-elf would chop off only a toe or two,” Deidre informed me in a nonchalant tone.
“O-kay.” I returned the prune I’d been holding to the bowl, having lost my appetite.
“I take it your mother didn’t bring a dagger to your father’s second wedding?”
“Gosh, no.” I snickered, glad we were back to the safer topic of my childhood. “She wanted him to be happy, despite their unsuccessful marriage.”
Deidre plucked the prune from my bowl. “Did she remarry?”
“No. She was happy being single.”
“Was?”
I needed a moment to find the right explanation. “Honestly,” I sighed, “I don’t know. The last time I saw her was when I went home for Christmas.”
Deidre put the half-eaten prune away. “What happened?”
I wish I knew. “My parents lived in another country,” I explained, trying to keep my emotions at bay. “When the war, as you call it, started, I lost contact with both of them, what with all means of communication going to hell. Then I ended up here.”
“Maybe she’s been taken by another kingdom.
” Deidre gave me a somewhat sympathetic smile, though from what I’d learned, elves weren’t very attached to their parents.
“It’s not just our kingdom that takes in human females these days, you know.
Ours did it first, but other kingdoms soon followed suit. ”
All I managed in reply was a weak smile. I didn’t know what was best anymore. What if Mom had survived the apocalypses and was in the elves’ hands, but she was too stubborn to obey their rules? What if she hadn’t even made it past the zombie apocalypse? What if Dad–
Deidre poked me in the shoulder with a bent finger. “Come on, it’s not so bad among us elves. It sure beats trying to survive on your own on the surface.”
“Yeah.” I took a sip of the elves’ version of liquid courage–pure spring water in a crystal glass. “Unless you’re a man.”
Deidre shrugged. “If you’re referring to the fact that we kill human males encroaching on our territory, then yes, it’s bad meeting an elf if you’re one of them.
But it can’t be helped at times of war. Humans have wreaked havoc on Mother Nature and have forced us to hide in the shadows for centuries.
Peace between us is out of the question at present. ”
Before I finished opening my mouth, she was already answering my unspoken question.
“Females and children we spare, because you pose no serious threat to us in small numbers while also being of assistance in maintaining our crops. We need the extra help, now that the war has forced many of our farmers to pick up a bow, and you need safety from the deadly shadow kinds on the surface. It’s a win-win. ”
Shadow kinds? If by that she meant the monsters lurking in the shadows, then yes, working for the elves did provide safety from them. But not from the shadow-dwelling hosts themselves. “You still kill women,” I couldn’t help but remind Deidre.
She snorted. “Not in this kingdom, we don’t. Who told you that?”
I frowned. Why would she lie to me? Or was it that she, as an aristocrat’s daughter, didn’t know what was happening in the gardens? “The guards. They say refusal to garden is a death sentence. Once you disobey, you’re taken away and never seen again. I’ve watched it happen twice.”
Deidre’s eyebrows shot up. “You’ve seen females get killed by the guards?”
“Well, no. Just being taken away for the execution, but–”
A low phew escaped Deidre’s lips. “You scared me there for a second.” She took a long sip of water.
“Our garden guards don’t harm humans–Karim would turn anyone who dares into a pincushion.
It was his idea to give your kind sanctuary, after all, and the Queen ordered it under,” Deidre scrunched up her nose, “uh, certain conditions. Either the guards were trying to scare you into obedience, or by death sentence they were referring to what awaits you on the surface beyond our borders. Where disobeying humans are left to fend for themselves, as per the Queen’s orders. ”
“Oh!” My gosh! Did that mean I could have gotten away from here at any time by simply refusing persistently to water a carrot? If only the other women knew!
Also, Karim was ensuring our safety in the gardens? He’d suggested giving us women a safe place amid the apocalypses? Then him being a good guy wasn’t just wishful thinking on my part. My impression of him had just been confirmed.
“Don’t worry your hair in vain, Jasmine. You’re safe here with us. And if Karim tries to send you back to the gardens, I’ll have a word with him. Tisvali will, too, because my friends are his friends, always.”
Warmth bloomed in my chest at her sweet gesture.
It wasn’t that I minded my tasks in the gardens; if the working hours were more humane and we were allowed to move freely, not kept under guard and the threat of death…
But that change would never happen, not unless the Queen and high-ranking elves saw they had nothing to fear from us.
What if I could stay up here, at this upper cave level, and advocate for our rights?
Not that I had a clue how to do that, but I could at least try.
“Thank you, Deidre. As long as it won’t get you in trouble and–”
She scoffed. “Just so you know, in my culture that would get you a hair-tug, like a misbehaving sibling. In your case, a close friend.” Deidre tilted her chin up as she added, “There’s no amount of trouble that I won’t get myself in for a friend.”
“Thank you, truly. It means the world to me to have such a loyal friend. Though,” I added with a delicate smile, “I’d prefer not to have my hair tugged by anyone.”
Deidre gave me a solemn nod. “Understood.” She then got up to put away the nearly empty food bowls. “But enough serious talk.” She smirked as she returned to the bed. “Let’s talk moss partners.”