"She is perfect for a queen isnt she?" Bristol asked looking at his son who was salivating ashe watched her.
"What?" His son asked waking up from his own daydream. He pushed him aside as Quigley closed the kitchen door behind him.
"What is it?"
"Ellipse has been crying."
"Why?" He asked. "Did someone beat her?"
"You aren't going to ask that question." She growled at him. "I told you a thousand times you should get her to see the seer. But you haven't yet."
"Ellie is..."
"Do you know what she said last week?" She asked him and he looked down. "She says she died with a sword in her chest. Today she said she's running out of time."
"I'll go talk to her."
"Dad, her eyes lit silver and i felt her pain in my chest. You have to take her, soon."
"I will tomorrow." He gave in knowing his eldest daughter like he knew his deceased wife. Listening was always best for him.
"Today." She said flinging the kitchen door open and threw him out. "Wasnt a talk." He confessed as he walked back to the men. "Felt like i was talking to a pissed off Haelynn."
The men in the meeting room chuckled as they remembered the queen. She was more feared than the chief was, a macademian nut. She never caved in ehen she made a decision.
"Yeah, she was a good queen and a tough nut to crack." Bristol commented.
"She was." Quigley agreed with a sad face. "And brave."
As he sat down, Illyra walked out of the kitchen with a tray of drinks and set it in front of them. Their hearts sank as they saw what the drink was.
Half heartedly, they took the goat milk and when she went back inside the kitchen they complained in whispers about needing something stronger.
They, however couldn't voice their complaints to avoid the wrath they faced last month. They shut it once she turned and asked what it was that they were saying and drank the baby feed. Like babies.
"Bristol." Ellie said leaning on the other meeting room door. Her eyes puffy and red. Like she smooked a lot of weed earlier. Her silvery hair was a bit too messy and unkept.
"Ellie."
"You know how to fight, right?" She asked trying to stand upstraight but felt a bit weak.
"I think I am still a General, and ive been to war at least half a dozen times and left alive, so i think i know how to fight." Bristil answered placing his horn down.
"Then can you teach me hoe to fight?" She asked.
"No!" Her father replied getting up. Bristol held him down as he added his own question, "why do you ask?"
"I need to go kill someone." She joked without flinching or batting an eye.
The men laughed and looked at her. The chief didn't. He grew exceedingly concerned as he looked at her.
She seemed fragile. Weak. Even weaker than their mother was on her deathbed. And she looked like her. A lot like her in her final moments.
"Ellie." Her father called to her but she didn't look at him. She looled at Bristol who was laughing hysterically.
"Who do you want to kill?" Dalton asked looking at her with his lazy and lost eyes. "I can help arm you."
"Don't!" Quigley growled at him
"Ariel."
"You!" Bristol kept on laughing but stopped as he sae that she was serious. "You cant even lie to protect yourself, or steal, how can you think of killing someone?"
"I can kill." She responded bluntly, but none could believe it.
Not even her dad.
She was the village's moral model. She was the perfect child that almost concerned everyone even the seer. She never asked for anything from anyone. Not even from her father though her sister did almost every week.
Even if she was hit, she never fought back. She just took in hits like a punching bag. She'd even let the bully roll another slap or fist on the other cheek and she'd cry it out, alone.
"Please. I can learn fast." She pleaded with her entire soul.
Bristol looked at her father.
"No." Quigley responded as he walked up to her. Her sister was right, he summed up. She wasn't well.
She looked scared and hurt. Did he leave her alone and vulnerable way too many times? "Darren, go get me the seer, and be quick about it." Darren got up and kicked his behind.
"Please chief, i don't have enough time." She started crying. Her sister stopped her cooking and went to her to embrace her.
Her father looked at her for a moment as if thinking hard about it.
"Don't embrace her." Their father directed Illyra as she was about to hug her and dhe stepped back. "She wanna learn how to fight and go into battle, she needs to be stronger to carry the weight of the sword."
He looked at her with dark eyes. "Are you sure you want to learn how to fight?"
"Yes."
"Fine." He turned to Dalton. "Make her a fine sword. And you Bristol, break her."
"Dad you can't...!" Chief Quigley looked at Illyra and she stopped whatever she was going to say.
"If you think she can't do it, you can sto her." He sat back down as Ellipse bowed, said her gratitude and ran for her room. "Aren't you done yet?"
Illyra looked behind her back and went back to her pots.
"Don't you think you're not thinking this through?" Britton asked as the chief smiled menacingly.
"Boys, my daughter has grown."
"What? You happy?"
"Oh come on, how many times has she asked for something from any of us?" He asked looking around at them. "How many times has your daughter bullied her and even beat her and she cried alone in a corner? Huh? How many times has she refused to learn how to defend herself?"
"Arent you curious over who this Ariel is?"
"No, but hasn't she stopped herself when she was about to do something stupid?" He asked and the men had to agree. But the cook didn't agree with them.
"You have way too much faith in her."
"She hasn't let me down once." He leaned backin his seat. "I'm sure that once she won't even touch the sword and swing it at anyone."
Bristol looked at the chief and saw the very same smile he had when he was still a lad and said he was going to marry Haelynn. The same determination was on his face. He gabe in. "So, how should i break her?"
"Don't overdo it. Just teach her self defense first."
"I do believe you're right on this course of action." Dalton started as he scatched his ear as Illyra walked out of the kitchen with a tray. "She may be ripe..."
"Dont even think about using that word to descripe my goddaughter!" Bristol growled at him and Dalton looked Illyra and her tray. Bristol looked too and saw her frown.
She put two plates and went back for more.
"You're dead!" Bristol told the chief and the chief nodded slowly.
"That would be my predicament it seems."
"Father," she sat the plates in front of them and and got up. "Have you ever heard of a daughter threatening her father?" She asked with tears in her eyes.
Her father stopped trying to get to the food and looked up. Dalton who already had a spoon in his mouth stopped froze and looked at her.
"I do believe not."
"Good, then I'll be the first. If Ellie hurts someone and she kills herself because of it, you can take this knife," she put the knife in front of him and added the threat. "And kill yourself, or i will kill you with it."
She smiled and turned to the kitchen. Chief Quigley blinked at the knife and the other men sat the plates down.
"I believe this is were I tell you, you might have made a blunder."
"Yeah. And you wonder why i dont like the house a lot these days."
"I thought it was because of the queen. You know losing her i thought made you hate this house." Dalton added taking the spoon out of his mouth.
Both men looked at Dalton who seemed clueless over the fart he just let out of his mouth.
"Go back to your steel. Please." Bristol whispered to him. "Go talk to it."
"How about we discuss what we came..." he stopped and thought about something. He turned to Bristol. "Is Darren really sure he wants to marry her?"
"That is what he says, but I think that is between him and her." Bristol replied. "I do not think I want to force the marriage into her."
"That would be a good idea, if two metals do not go well with each other, forcing them together might weaken both of them or destroy themselves." Dalton added his forge knowledge earning a look from the others who couldn't understand what he meant.
"Forcing the marriage with someone good enough for her might soften her like the queen softened to you, or it might destroy both of them and you will wake up one day without a son." He looked at Bristol.
"They'll marry if they want."
Illyra looked at them as she cleaned the kitchen and saw her sister walk up to them with her bags and sticks inside.
"What's that?" Dalton asked as he saw the odd patterns on the sticks.
"These?" She took the sticks out and connected them into one to make a full length staff. "They are my staff. I prefer a staff over a blade. But i can still use a spear or a trident."
"Huh?"