It has been a week since the new emperor took over the reigns of the empire. A hundred kilometers away from the imperial palace, in the south, there stands a lush green forest, called the He forest. Extending several kilometers back towards the south, this forest is one of the biggest and most important forests of the empire.
Its front area, however, extends only up to two kilometers. On the right and left of this forest, reside the Stalwart and Aspartame tribes respectively. These two tribes, although amongst the top tribes of the kingdom, have completely opposite values and cultures, and still have been living in harmony since forever.
While the Aspartame tribe believes in the supremacy of men, the Stalwart tribe believes in the greatness of women as well. In the Stalwart clan, women hold equal opinion and standing as every other member of the tribe. The tribe head, Aziel Stalwart, is a righteous man and has raised his daughter away from the measly standards of ignorant tribes. His daughter, Ezlyn Stalwart, is going to be the next tribe head and he has raised her keeping that in mind. She has been by his side in decision making and important hearings.
He keeps her updated with the news from all around the kingdom and trusts a lot in her judgement as well. On the other hand, the Aspartame tribe believes that women are best stayed at home. Their men are typical brave warriors and women are more inclined to household chores and arts. Patriarchy holds a great value and only a male successor can become the next tribe leader.
Between these two tribes is the starting line of the He forest that only covers two kilometers in width at that point. If one is to stand in front of the forest, there is Aspartame tribe to the right and Stalwart tribe to the left.
Now, if you go inside the forest right from the middle in the front, you can see a young girl with chestnut brown hair moving briskly amongst the trees. Moving towards the Stalwart tribe, she is holding onto a fawn in her left arm as she expertly makes way with her right hand while moving forward. The girl has beautiful almond shaped eyes in chestnut brown color and a sharp nose, much like that of a leader. Coupled with her royal blue robes, her beautiful hair and eyes give a fairy-like impression.
She didn't have a fair complexion by the way. She had a light brown skin that was quite fair but not a porcelain white. Her skin tone somehow added more to her charm as she confidently moved around the forest with an air of nobility. Her elongated neck often moved from right to left as she made her way out of the forest and stood in front of the tribe gates.
Earlier today, Ezlyn had left to meet her best friend Rosa Aspartame on the other side of the forest. On her way back, she came across a white-faced baby deer. It looked no older than two days and Ezlyn knew for a fact that the doe (mother deer) had abandoned the poor soul. White faced fawns were rarely conceived and mostly abandoned because they had fewer survival chances. Their white color made it hard to hide from the predator. Moreover, they couldn't hear or see as well as a normal fawn, and even sometimes had some other health issues. Therefore Does tend to abandon the white faced fawns if they had twins or triplets, and the other fawns were normal.
That seemed to be the case here. The mother had abandoned this fawn while she was nursing the brown fawn she had given birth to along with the white faced fawn. Ezlyn had tried to get her to feed the white fawn as well but to no avail. Finally, she couldn't help but bring this little baby back with her. It was too cute to leave there.
The little dear had a white body including its face without a single patch of any color. Only, its back was colored in brown, starting from the tips of its ears to the end of its tail. On this large brown patch were small white spots that gave it an angelic appearance. One would imagine it was some fairy animal, entirely complementing the fairy-like appearance of Ezlyn. These two would definitely make the best pair.
She entered through the tribe gates and instead of going forward towards her own house, she turned right to an open area where some goats were nibbling on the grass. A few feet away from the half dozen goats was a small hut. Ezlyn went there and sat on the mat outside.
It had only been a few seconds of her arrival when someone appeared behind the door of the small wooden hut.
"You're here."
An old lady smiled at her.
"En.."
Ezlyn relied on nodding her head only.
The woman was in her late 60s but looked hale and hearty. She was wearing a simple black robe and had her head covered in a black scarf as well. She reached to touch the fawn's head gently and spoke.
"You found a partner."
Ezlyn looked at her perplexed and spoke,
"It was abandoned.."
"... For you."
The old lady smiled after completing her sentence.
Ezlyn didn't ask any questions anymore. This is how it had always been. She trusted the lady enough to know that she won't divulge any more information until it's time. She was a seer. Seventeen years ago, when Ezlyn was born, seer Salma had predicted that she had a golden future ahead, and that one day she'll be someone to look up to. That was also the reason why despite having a younger brother she was chosen to be the next tribe head. Her father believed that she would be a great leader and he wasn't wrong.
The old lady had gone back inside the hut to look for something. When she came back, she was holding onto a bottle of goat milk.
"Here, feed it."
Ezlyn silently followed her instructions.
The old lady had said that she got herself a partner, that didn't seem too normal. It seemed there was hidden meaning to the story.