are these symbols?”
“These are words in the Tongue of Old. It’s a prayer that accompanies the hunter who goes down the path leading to the Brume, but I can’t translate what the words mean. It wouldn’t make sense in your language.”
The elf’s words did not surprise him. He made a joke. “Strange tongues and secret prayers! So much for the Reconciliation!” he exclaimed.
She replied in kind, with a pinch of dry wit: “This is who we are—what makes us elves. It’d be like asking humans to stop being greedy, but you know that’s not happening.”
“Hey! That’s a cutting remark. Not all humans are greedy, you know,” he scolded her, proud to be a human.
Clarice laughed heartily. “Please, Kaj, you don’t believe that yourself! I’ve never met a human who doesn’t allow succumb to corruption over a few tinkling coins!”
Kaj took after her example and replied in kind: “Sure, maybe we can be a tad bit greedy, but we have our good points, too. Besides you know a human who doesn’t correspond to your description…”
“Really? Who would that be?” she asked, feigning surprise.
“Last I checked, you never offered me coin to follow you on this crazy adventure. In fact, I came despite the fact many would have considered your arguments unconvincing.”
“And yet, you’re tagging along. My unconvincing arguments were enough to convince you.”
Kaj shook his head in amusement. “Okay, okay, I give up.”
Clarice looked down, laughing. “I must admit that out of all the humans I have known, you are the most likeable… at least so far.”
The man was taken aback. “Thanks. I’d like to say the same about you, but you’re an elf…” For a moment, he was afraid that came out wrong, but fortunately she understood what he meant.
“I know.” The smile soon left her face. “Unfortunately, among the noble families in Nidath, there are still elves who do not accept the Reconciliation and the sharing of their culture…” she looked up, and stopped in her tracks.
“There it is—the Sacred Brume of Desail. Follow me!”
A thick fog obscured the path, and Kaj saw Clarice disappear into it.
“Where did you go?” he asked.
“Don’t worry, come in!” she urged.
Kaj advanced forward, and after a few steps in the fog, he was paralyzed: a huge tree stood at the center of the clearing. The trunk’s knots and the curling of its branches reminded him of a woman’s body. Its powerful roots were visible in places; when Kaj placed his hand on the trunk, he felt the energy that emanated from it, and he pulled back almost out of fear. The tree had a bright aura all around it, and was surrounded by various objects: there were tablets and stones, engraved and decorated with elven symbols and words, and there were the beautiful yellow flowers that grew all around the tree. Clarice pointed out the skins, teeth and skulls of animals neatly arranged at the foot, all gifts and tokens of thanks left by the hunters who had received the Breath. At the center of all the offers lay a larger tablet, and above it, resting on a root, sat the huge skull of some deer-like creature.
“That skull… what animal is it?”
“That trophy, together with the largest tablet below it, belong to the Master. He faced his opponent and received Desail’s Embrace, and that’s the skull of a silverdeer, the rarest and most shy deer species of all the Shadetrail. If one finds you and guides you, and if you manage to kill it, it means that Desail has given you her Embrace; silverdeer are immune to the Breath. When the hunter receives the Embrace, they are wrapped in Desail’s invisible fog and can approach it without running away. When a silverdeer is killed, two of them are said to mate during the next full moon, to restore balance. These deer only conceive during nights of the full moon, and the birth of a fawn is extremely rare.”
“It’d be nice to see one…” The tale had Kaj fascinated.
“Don’t get your hopes up!” she replied, laughing.
“I was serious,” said Kaj, annoyed.
But Clarice didn’t heed his response. “Let’s go.”
They passed through the fog, and Clarice knelt facing the Brume, reciting a few words in Elvish before resuming the journey.
They were walking apace, but Clarice was forced to slow down from time to time to wait for Kaj, who stopped to observe the landscape and to catch his breath. She realized that her desire to get to the city was strong, and that it was affecting her mood. “Could you avoid stopping constantly?” she eventually snapped.
“I’ve never been here. These places are so beautiful. You can’t blame me if I stop to enjoy them a little,” he replied.
“We’re not here for the view!” she scolded him.
“The world won’t suddenly disappear if I stop to look at the forest for a moment,” he replied, annoyed.
Clarice took a deep breath before answering. She tried to ignore that. “Shall we go now?” Upon seeing Kaj had no intention of moving, she couldn’t hold it in any longer. “Get a damn move on! I won’t wait for you if you don’t move. “
“What’s the matter with you? I was just resting!” he said, worked up now.
“What’s the matter with me? We have to. Reach. Nidath. And you keep wasting time!”
“Then go, if you’re so impatient! I’ll follow the bridges and find the city by myself!”
“Oh sure! And after three or four walkways, you’d already be headed in the wrong direction!” she retorted.
“I can find my way perfectly well, thank you very much!”
She shook her head. “Why don’t you stop being such a capricious child?” Clarice’s anger was evident.
“Capricious child? You are unbearably arrogant and irritating!”
With a gesture of annoyance, the elf spoke words in Elvish whose meaning Kaj did not know, but which were obviously an insult.
“At least have the decency to cuss me out in my language, and not with words I don’t understand! It’s always like that with elves. You people don’t really care about peace; it’s only everyone else that respects it!”
Clarice then turned toward him threateningly. “Don’t you dare talk of peace, Kaj! Don’t try to tell me elves don’t respect peace! You humans have never missed an opportunity to humiliate and abuse us! You are corrupt and obtuse and you don’t realize when they’re giving you a helping hand!”
“Are you done?” he asked cockily, then continued. “You know why I dare tell you? Because I think you are so obsessed with being an elf that you don’t realize how similar you are to me! You prefer to submit to the rules of arrogant nobles who don’t even support you. You should know by now that there is no absolute good in any race! Maybe that’s why it was a human who managed to spearhead the Reconciliation, and not an elf! Which isn’t surprising, since at least we are better than you at being humble!” He paused,
