"To this day, I have no written record of the agreement your mother made with Cyrus Sunstriker," Derek said carefully. "But I do know that part of it allowed her to raise you in secret, in a sacred forest belonging to the ruling dukedom, far from prying eyes."
The mana stones crackled softly as he went on, laying out everything that was officially known about the Jade Forest and the dealings with Mycean. By the time he finished, Kaida and Firion were reeling. Lies upon lies, schemes upon schemes, on both sides of the border.
The red-haired maiden looked especially shaken. Her hands lay very still in her lap, and her eyes were fixed on the shifting flames. Firion shifted closer, ready to comfort her.
But what she said next stunned everyone in the room.
"Duke Derek Moonspeaker." Kaida rose to her feet and bowed her head politely. "Thank you for telling me all of this."
Then she lifted her chin, and her blue eyes burned.
"Please tell Archduke Cyrus that I am NOT a possession of the Sunstriker family! I owe them nothing! Tell that man to leave me, and my husband Firion, alone!"
Every eye in the hut fell on her. No one could believe she had just brushed aside the most powerful elf in all of Aldenburg as if he were nothing more than a pesky fly.
She may have grown up alone in a forest, but in that moment she radiated a regal presence that filled the little room. The blood of the Min-ari, Firion thought. And his heart swelled with pride and love for his brave wife.
Nkiri threw back her head and laughed.
"Calm yourself, mwanangu! No mpumbavu is going to trouble you here. Omari would never let Aldenburg tramp across these lands to collect one child." She waved a hand toward the duke. "Derek came to bring you your legal papers, so that you may sail on a merchant vessel leaving here in a couple of weeks. Had he not come, every ship in this region would have turned you away."
Firion looked down at the documents in his lap. There were his family's records. And there, beneath them, was a marriage certificate with his name and Kaida's written side by side in neat, elegant script.
Only one line remained blank. The family name.
"You will need to choose a proper surname before you leave," Derek said as he rose and dusted off his coat. "Nafula and I will be in Taraji for a few more days. We are staying with the clan while my precious Fara plays with her cousins."
Fara. Firion remembered the Moonspeaker daughter who used to visit the barracks, with her snow-white hair and her dark skin.
"Ahh, that reminds me, Derek," Nafula said with a sly smirk, leaning against the doorframe. "You really should not have given our daughter that extra allowance. Just wait until you see what she bought…"
All the confidence drained from the duke's face, replaced by naked dread. Nafula's laughter followed them out of the hut.
The hut fell quiet. Only the soft crackle of the mana stones remained. And with the silence, Firion and Kaida remembered why they had come in the first place.
"Ahem!" Nkiri cleared her throat. "Do you two still wish to see a possibility?" She gave them an apologetic smile. "I know all of that came suddenly. But Derek insisted on explaining your situation, so that you might better understand your journey. It may even help you see where you must go."
The couple looked at each other and nodded.
The oracle lowered herself onto the floor before the glittering stones, folded her hands in her lap, and closed her eyes. The prismatic flames dimmed to a low, steady glow.
"Each of you, place one hand on my shoulder," she instructed. "Close your eyes. Focus on the question that troubles you both the most. If I see something, I will tell you."
The tall, muscular elf and the small deva each laid a hand on the lioness's broad shoulders. With their free hands, they reached for one another and laced their fingers together.
They closed their eyes, and their thoughts became one.
Where can we live in peace and begin our family?
Almost at once, a heavy pressure filled the air, as though the sky itself were pressing down on the little hut. Cold sweat broke out across their brows. Kaida's horns tingled, and the hair on Firion's arms stood on end.
"Stay focused, you two," Nkiri murmured, her voice calm and far away. "It may feel overwhelming, but it is only the spirits of Ogun, channeling their knowledge through my eyes. Breathe. You are in no danger."
Minutes crawled by. Nothing came. It seemed the future was too uncertain to take shape.
Then the oracle's brow furrowed, and she squeezed her eyes tighter.
"I see… I see something…" Her voice dropped to a whisper. "The shape of a waning moon… No. It is a coastline. A crescent-shaped bay, sheltered beneath a cliff." The flames flickered silver for a heartbeat. "It is hard to make out, but… I believe I know this place. One of my sons moved there centuries ago. It is the village of Selene, on the eastern coast of Eurelca, toward the south."
"Selene…" Firion repeated softly. "Is that where Kaida and I should go to begin our legacy?"
Kaida was asking herself the same thing. Is there something special about this village?
They lifted their hands from Nkiri's shoulders, and the heavy air lifted with them. The oracle rose and gave her lion ears a little shake.
"Selene is a very small community. A fraction of Taraji's size," she said. "The people there want only peace and quiet in their lives."
In that moment, the path ahead grew clear. Firion and Kaida traded a glance, and slow, confident smiles spread across both their faces.
At last, they had a destination. They would find their forever home in Selene.
They stayed and talked with Nkiri for a long while after their fortune was told. And, just as she had hinted earlier, the oracle shared some of her own family's history. She too came from a primordial clan, much like Kaida's.
Records of the first fae were scarce. But a few ancient accounts described the earliest bloodlines to cross into this world as prominent, yet small, families.
The blue horn dynasty had sprung from a single clan. But in other lands, many societies had grown from proud and powerful fae bloodlines. Nkiri and Nafula were the last pure-blooded members of one of them: the Ola, a nomadic tribe who once wandered the endless sands, recording the passing of the ages.
Now, worn away by Mother Nature and Father Time, the Ola had dwindled to two women. And both of them knew their people's era had come to an end.
"But that does not mean our tribe is truly gone," Nkiri said, her voice warm and low as it echoed through the hut. "Many of our proud traditions are still kept here in Taraji, like honoring the animals whose lives become our nourishment. And in my children, even in my niece and her cub, I feel the same spirit I felt in my own family, more than seven hundred years ago."
Her words struck Firion deeply. He had watched his homeland and his people crumble before his eyes. Yet there were still traditions of Auriel he longed to pass on to the family he hoped to build with Kaida. And despite his painful history with Mycean, he hoped to weave some of her people's customs into their life together, too. Something new, born from both. A symbol of a new lineage.
When it was time to leave, Nkiri swept them both into her arms at once. Firion was startled. For a woman of her age, she was astonishingly tall, and her embrace was as strong as a bear's.
"And what about the children born of deva and elf couples?" she whispered into their ears with a mischievous twinkle. "Why don't you two go out tomorrow and meet some of them? It would be a fun way to find inspiration for your own family!"
That night, after dinner, the couple could hardly stop talking about Selene. They imagined a quiet life beside a beautiful coastline, and wondered what sort of people might live there.
Later, after making love, Kaida lay curled against her husband's chest beneath the blankets, the glow of the kiln painting their skin in soft amber. They snuggled close and talked in hushed voices.
Something had been tugging at Kaida's thoughts. Emani and Nkiri had both mentioned someone who sounded very much alike.
"Firion, do you remember what Emani said the other day? His uncle married a red wing deva and lives in Eurelca. And Nkiri said she has a son who moved to Selene because it is quiet." She propped herself up on his chest, eyes shining. "They must be the same person!"
Firion rubbed slow circles on her back. "It could be. Do you want to meet his wife, if she truly has red wings?"
"Mmm… it's not only because I want to see her wings," Kaida said softly. "Maybe she is someone like me. Someone who lived alone for a long time, but still longs for simple company."
They had not even left Junai, and already she was wondering if she could make friends there. It was that pure, wholehearted love for the simple bonds she had been denied as a child that made her feel so dear, and so strangely familiar, to Firion.
"You know, Kaida, you remind me a little of my father," he confessed. "He was always wondering if he could simply make friends with everyone."
Her face lit up. "So your father and I are alike?! That's a little like how your firmness reminds me of my mother. You both saw the dark side of the world, and you understand its dangers, and you protect people like me, who are naive to it."
He pressed a warm kiss to her forehead. "You should not call yourself naive for things you could not control. As far as I can tell, Kaida, you learn things remarkably quickly. I will admit I can be a little slow myself, so watching you pick things up so naturally makes me very happy." He chuckled. "I hope you learn your numbers faster than I did."
Kaida's face scrunched into an adorable little pout. She cupped his face in both her hands.
"I would not be this smart or this aware if I had never met you! You are my FIRST friend, and my ONLY beloved husband!" Tears glistened in her eyes. "If you had not found me, I would be some ornament for aristocrats to show off!"
Gently, Firion brushed the tears from beneath her eyes with his thumb. Then he drew her face to his.
Their kiss deepened slowly, their tongues twining together like a pair of birds dancing on the wind. For a male elf, a single kiss like that was enough to stir the fire in his blood.
"You know what comes next…" he murmured with a wolfish grin.
And as the doe came into heat once more, the buck sought her again and again, long into the night.