Elara?
The girl looked radiant; not anything like the emaciated person he's seen struggling to breathe in her sleep last night. Smiling up at them, she now closely resembled the child depicted beautiful paintings he'd seen around the house.
'And it's lovely to see you too, Lana!' she ran up to the young maid, clasping her hands in her own. 'To think I wasn't here when you returned to the estate!'
'Isn't that because the young lady had wanted to run around to all the quarters and corners of our village as soon as the sun had risen?' The maid, Lana, laughed merrily.
Elara huffed playfully. 'Well, everyone had been awakened in the middle of the night after the curse was broken. We, fortunately, had sir Siel here to inform us of what had occurred.' She squinted her eyes happily while exchanging glances with the boy. 'But the others… Now, I am well aware of how my father immediately sent men out to inform the people of what had occurred. But Lana, you must understand that I had to see things with my own eyes – to ensure that all our people are well! We've all been asleep for over a month, after all!'
'Oh, I understand, young lady.'
As the two girls giggled together, Arin couldn't help but smile.
It was a good thing that the destruction of that curse had returned everyone's life force. Clearly, it had also restored Elara's strength to live. Because, even before the onset of the curse, hadn't the girl confined herself to her room? Hadn't that old maid in Willowshade said something about how her grief had led her to withdraw from everyone around her, for years on end?
Hadn't she?
…Had she?
Arin shook his head, trying to refocus his attention. Elara was now addressing him.
'It is good to see you awake, sir Rin. I must say, I was rather afraid upon awakening to see a strapping man such as yourself collapsed on the floor of my quarters. So much so that I didn't even notice sir Siel in the armchair until he also woke up moments later.'
'It's a pleasure to finally make the acquaintance of the man who saved our Silvershade.'
Arin quickly returned her greeting. 'The pleasure is mine,' he said quietly. He didn't say anything further.
There was silence for a moment, then,
'We're on our way to speak with your father, Elara,' Siel chimed in. 'We must learn of the origin of those cursed flowers.'
Cursed… flowers?
'Oh, father has been looking forward to conversing with the two of you since the moment he was first wakened. I do not know if you are aware of this, but I was the first one to fall into slumber. He'd been searching desperately for the cause for weeks, and when others from our household followed one-by-one, he was already at his wits' end.'
'What a relief it must've been for him to wake up and realize that everything has been resolved! And even though we've all lost out on so much time, and there is a mountain of work for him to take care of as the village headman, I can promise you that he is overjoyed in the present.'
'I must warn you however,' Elara lowered her voice dramatically, 'he will try with all his might to… keep, you here.'
…
Huh?
The girl continued after a moment. 'Oh, I know that tower magicians such as yourself never truly have a moment to spare. I merely thought I ought to warn you that father shall do his best to keep you here for a few days. He hopes to be sending you off with whatever fanfare and celebration we in Silvershade can muster on such short notice. So, be warned, good sirs.'
And with another, polite greeting, she was off.
Lana was shaking her head fondly. 'I have never known our young lady to sit still,' she commented, as they walked further into the house. 'Just this morning, I was told, she'd taken it upon herself to distribute bags of our estate's dry supplies amongst the poorer households, whose foods might have perished entirely in this past month. She needn't have – the headman's already written to the nearby villages, and we're expecting additional supplies by nightfall today. Even so... well, that's just how kind our Elara has always been.'
They continued on as they'd been, with the young maid sharing details of the plans to organize community kitchens in the village marketplace, or anecdotes from the past, while Siel responded with stories of his own. Arin followed them in contemplative silence. Finally,
'Here we are, sirs!' Lana exclaimed.
They had arrived at Silvershade's headman's quarters.