[FWC 17] A Moment's Comfort

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FiendishlyAdorable
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[FWC 17] A Moment's Comfort

#1 Post by FiendishlyAdorable »

Setting:
The Four Kingdoms

Places Referenced:
Alteria, the Forest Kingdom (East) [All past events mentioned take place here].
Rithevar, the Mountain Kingdom (South) [All current events take place here].

World:
A story I'm writing. This is a short story from ten years before the story begins.

Characters :
Rienne (Main character, central to part of the plot in the original story, 17 years old) [IS].
Arian (Rienne's cousin, a main character of the original story, 7 years old) [R].
Dusk (Son of the town's First Elder, an antagonist both here and in the original story, 19 years old) [R].
Edith (Rienne's aunt, 23 years old) [R].
Erenver (Shepherd, 39 years old) [IS].
Fasane (Erenver's wife, 30 years old) [IS].
Akela (Erenver's daughter, 7 years old) [IS].
*IS: In story
*R: Referenced


Other References/Races:

Halfborn (the entities driving Rienne).

Spoiler!
Rienne made her way through the trees, huddled up as best she could under the cloak she had brought with her when she had left, her mind consumed with realities she did not want to face. Fall in Rithevar was almost as cold as fall in Alteria. In fact, it was potentially worse, for Rithevar was not a land of many forests, and there would be nothing to shelter her from the winds when she finally reached the hills, and from there to the plains.

As she always did, she wished she was home. But she could never return, could she? Not now, not after she had been framed for something she had never done. Her only true crime was that physical allure, and refusing someone who had wanted her solely for that reason. Had she never been beautiful, she would have been allowed to live her life out in her hometown. He never would have taken an interest in her.

She could have lived with her cousin, watching her grow up, and aiding her Aunt Edith in raising the child.

Rienne still remembered the look on Arian’s face the day she had been exiled. If she was only seven years old, the girl had fully understood the situation, and her devastated expression had never once left Rienne’s mind. The girl had not cried, but the comprehension on her face had been far worse.

Her foot caught on a stone and she stumbled forward, almost falling to the ground—ground as cold and unforgiving as the Elders of her hometown had been.

Her own father and brother had cast her out without even asking her if Dusk’s allegations were true.

If beauty brought misfortune, it also could conceal great cruelty. Dusk was evidence enough of that, for he was himself stunningly handsome. For the crime of refusing him, she was accused falsely of something else and was now condemned to wander endlessly.

She was driven to continue on, driven to never stop walking. That she had not collapsed in the lesser mountains marking the border between Alteria and Rithevar or lost appendages to the ice and snow was difficult to comprehend. More than a few women were widowed when their husbands fell to the cruelties of the mountains. Somehow she had made it through without losing limbs, and she simply did not understand this. She had intentionally climbed into the mountains seeking death as a solution to her misery.

Instead she had survived, and she was unable to stop herself from continuing on.

Now that she had survived, she no longer wanted to die. All she could do was walk, and she did not know how much longer she would be able to do so.
Rienne felt tears spring up in her eyes at the hopelessness of her situation, but she could only ignore them. Crying had done her no good. The tears had merely frozen on her cheeks in the mountains.

Gods, how she wanted to be home. She wanted to be safe, warm, and happy. The forest kingdom could be cold, but it was not a cruel, unyielding cold such as she had found here. If she was not dying or losing fingers from this cold, she was also completely miserable.

She was not sure how long she had walked until she reached the edge of the forest. As she reached the last trees, she stopped and stared at the scenery now before her.

The hills of Rithevar were large, far higher than those of her home kingdom. She felt her expression take on dismay. They would be exhausting to travel, and certainly time-consuming. Perhaps she should walk around them instead of over them. If she could not die, she was still vulnerable to exhaustion. The stamina she had built up over the past months was not going to be of much help to her if it was constantly in use.

Even so, she could admire the beauty of the sunrise of mountain country. The hill faces were such a deep violet they were almost black silhouettes, but the sky was painted in shades of dark blue, pale blue, dusky rose, deep orange, and even a pale marigold hue. The clouds scattered near the horizon were brilliantly pink and gold, giving extraordinary color to the sky and everything contained therein.

Rienne smiled tremulously, raising a hand to her mouth. For all her cynicism about beauty, she could admire the glories of nature. For long moments she simply stood and admired it, barely aware of the cold now.

Her smile faded once more as she began to walk again, wrapping the cloak more tightly around her woolen dress. Every step dragged, for exhaustion was setting in very quickly. How long could she walk today before she collapsed?

---

Erenver Salca was a shepherd by occupation. He had lived in the foothills of the mountains that bordered Alteria for years, and was fond of his sheep. They were good animals, and they rarely wandered or caused him any trouble.

On this particular morning, he was in the fields between two of the massive hills. He watched his sheep as they milled about, some huddling against others for warmth and others grazing on the grass. It was not as rich in the fall and winter as it was in the spring and summer, but it sufficed for the animals. Off to one side his daughter played with her cloth dolls. Occasionally he could hear her laugh, as if enacting a particularly amusing scene with her toys. It was a peaceful morning, and he was expecting it to shape up to be a boring day.

Instead, some two hours after he had taken his sheep out to the fields, he saw a distant figure winding around the hill to his left. One of his graying eyebrows lifted. Someone who had come from that direction could only have come from the mountains. A man must have tried to brave the mountains and returned when he was no longer able to stand the intense ice and snow.

As the figure neared, and he watched, he realized that it was a slight figure, and that it was actually a woman.

Now he stood, frowning, for a woman had no business playing in the mountains at this time of year. They were no jest, and were, in fact, quite dangerous. He intercepted her midway between his flock and the direction from which he had first seen her.

His first reaction was to be dumbfounded.

The young woman was breathtakingly beautiful, with a cascade of raven-blue hair, cerulean-blue eyes, and a fine, fair complexion. Despite her beauty, her clothes were tattered and torn and her boots almost worn through. If her clothing had ever been distinctive, that was no longer apparent. She also had the shadowed eyes and fragile look of someone who had recently gone through extreme adversity.

Erenver recognized that her clothing was that of the Alterian peasantry, reserved for girls who had not yet reached the age of eighteen. Her leggings and boots were worn and tattered, and her tunic was dirtied and ripped. The cloak was in as bad of a condition.

His second reaction was to wonder how she could possibly still be alive if she had indeed come from Alteria.

Judging by her facial features, build, and clothes, she was certainly not Rithevarian, or at least not entirely so. Her coloring was unusual for an Alterian, as the inhabitants of the forest kingdom typically had red or brown hair and eyes of hazel, green, or brown. It was not unheard-of for an Alterian to have blue eyes, but the black hair was rightfully Rithevarian or Northern.

The sheep were going to have to settle for an early departure, Erenver thought. By the looks of that young woman, she was not going to last much longer. Her hollowed cheeks and thin frame indicated that she had not eaten in some time. The man sighed. His wife was likely to chide him for bringing home another stray, but he could hardly just leave her here.

She stopped as she registered his presence and watched him charily, as if expecting something bad. He found that her expression roused in him fatherly emotions. She was, after all, still a child by Alterian designation, as well as Rithevarian.

“It’s the wrong time of year to be wandering out here,” Erenver informed her.

Her mouth twisted, indicating some bitterness. “I would not be here if I had the choice.”

Her very slight, soft accent confirmed that she was an Alterian native. Now he really had to wonder how she was still alive, if she had worn those clothes and traveled without food. The only path from Alteria to Rithevar was through those mountains unless one took a passage across the Great Lake in the neutral territories.

“Come with us,” he said without preamble. “You are not going to make it much farther in this condition and I would be heartless if I did not help.”

Us?” she asked, sounding very wary.

He gestured at his daughter, who was watching them from a distance. “My girl and me. Perhaps you can tell us your story along the way, for everything about you tells me that there is a tale to be told.”

She gave a half-smile. "Do you like sad stories, then?"

Erenver smiled in response. "I find that not all stories have to have a sad ending."

---

Rienne agreed to accompany him for only two reasons. For the first, she was too tired to care if this was a deception. She had been traveling so long that she simply could not say no, even if she knew she should be more careful. For the second, the idea of a warm place and food was too tempting for her to resist. If it was a lie, well, it could be no different from anything else she had experienced since her exile.

She found that for once she was in luck. The man was exactly who he claimed to be, and his wife was kind. Their daughter was a little energetic, but she was Arian’s age and Rienne could not help but smile at her exuberance. They provided her with food, new clothes, and gave her the pleasure of their company, something she had craved in her time alone.
She allowed herself to relax and smile. Rienne thought that perhaps she could allow herself to stay here. They had offered to let her stay. She wanted to stay. No, she was going to stay, for as long as they would allow.

The warmth and comfort brought back some of her spirit, and she felt her health returning. After so long in despair, she had managed to find some modicum of happiness. It was not what she would have wanted more than anything, but it was more than she had now. Akela, Erenver's daughter, reminded her so much of Arian, if she was perhaps a little less precocious and less aware of the world's crueler realities. Fasane, his wife, was as kind and generous as her aunt, and spent a fair amount of time ministering to Rienne.

Rienne found that she could smile genuinely now. She was happy, and believed she would be able to have a life after all. She helped with the chores, met people in the town some three miles to the south, and enjoyed time with the little family. Now she even felt joy as the days continued. That she had fallen into this kind of luck was beyond what she had believed possible. The longer she stayed, the more she longed to live here with these people.

She had thought that outside of Alteria there would be nothing for her, but perhaps she had been wrong.

Hope filtered into her life.

---

Two weeks later, she found that the compulsion to travel had returned, stronger than ever before, and she felt the return of fatalistic despair.

Would it ever end?

Erenver's family objected to her departure, as she could not explain adequately why she was leaving, only that she must leave. When they were unable to persuade her to remain, they provided her with all the supplies and clothes she could have asked for. Despite her objections, for she had no way to pay them, they refused to accept her attempts to insist that she did not need their possessions and food when winter was approaching.

"You will not leave this house without proper preparation," Fasane told her sternly.

Rienne had managed a laugh, but it was more hysterical than amused. "I thank you for your kindness."

Akela released her hand and stepped back. "Do you have to go?"

No, Rienne thought. "Yes," she said.

When she had walked so far that she could no longer even recognize the landscape as similar to that where she had enjoyed her respite, she stopped and looked at the sky. Her blue eyes were dull with depression. She was back to the cold, and back to the constant travel. If she was more prepared now than she had been, that was only a small comfort. What she had wanted

“When will I be able to stop?” she whispered to whatever drove her onward. "Why do I have to do this?"

The entities that had driven her from her momentary haven did plan to have her stop eventually, but it was not in this place. What they had planned would not work out if she was happy. To achieve their ends, her new life could not be a happy one, or she would not grant their wish willingly - and thus not at all.

They wanted to live, truly live, to fulfill their purpose, and this young woman was the only one who could grant their wish.
With every mistake, we must surely be learning.

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