Lobek wakes up as the church bells ring, notifying the town that morning has begun; he can feel his legs burning from last night. As he lays in bed, his mind drifts to the dark elves. He recalls seeing their blood-red eyes scanning the forest and the ashen hair braided tightly to keep it out of their eyes. Their dark skin is almost purple; being from underground, one would think they would be pale. Not much is known about the dark elves; the only thing anyone knows about them is that they are the strongest enemies anyone has ever faced.
Lokeb gets out of bed and saunters to the sink to clean his face before mother superior comes in and yells at him that he is late for breakfast, but breakfast will need to wait. He and Lavi need to speak with the town lord. He grabs a tattered old shirt; he doesn't care much for the hierarchy of lordship. To him, the lord is just another person with too much hubris. Half of them are always drunk or gorging themselves on the food that should go to the people and steeling to the coin of the shop owners to fund their lifestyle.
Lobek's political opinions aside, the lord is the only one who can send word to the capital for help. Pulling on his shoes, he looks over to Lavi's bed but does not see her sleeping there. "She must be eating with the other kids," he whispers. Before he leaves, he grabs the knife under his pillow if someone tries to rob him. Sliding the blade into the sheath on the back of his belt, he looks up and sees himself in the mirror. He can see that his chestnut hair is wild and needs to be combed so that he can look somewhat like an average person.
He grabs the small comb he got for his ninth birthday. He runs it through his hair, feeling it getting caught in his long hair; he can't help but think that he needs a haircut. He removes all of the knots in his hair. He puts the comb down and makes his way to the church's dining room. He enters the dining and sees Lavi and one of the nuns severing the four other kids; all of them are younger than Lobek and Lavi by five or seven years, so he and Lavi see them as family. Lobek looks at Lavi and waves her over so they can talk in private; she looks at him and walks over to him.
"I have a feeling I know what you are about to talk about," Lavi comments.
"Kinda thought that you would know what I want to discuss. We need to speak to the lord about the dark elves," Lobek looks at her and rubs his head. "It's going to be a pain trying to convince the lord that the dark elves are this far south, but we need to try," Lobek can feel a pressure form behind his eyes thinking about speaking with a glorified politician.
Lavi nods in agreement, somehow knowing what Lobek is thinking, but luckily, she is much better at the ins and outs of politics. So Lobek is lucky to have her on his side, or else nothing would get done, just a lot of Lobek fighting with the guards.
"Oh, my dear younger brother, you would be locked up in the dungeon if I wasn't with you," Lavi laughs loudly and bumps her arm into Lobek's shoulder.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, I get it. I'm the hot-head one with a problem with authority," he can feel the pressure in his head spread around the rest of his head.
"Oh, please take a breath; the faster we get this done, the easier we can take care of the dark elves," Lavi looks at Lobek knowingly.
Lobek looks away to see the four other orphans and thinks they are too young for war; in the eyes of the lord, he and Lavi are the perfect age for the army if it comes to it. Lobek can feel the war coming to his town, and he doesn't like that feeling in the slightest. The fight should not be here; the war should not have started in the first place, but from what we've been told by the kingdom, the dark elves started it, and we are the ones defending ourselves.
The war has been long and draining on the kingdom and people within it; everyone is suffering from the high taxes and food shortages. Taking it all in from the backwater town of Tyer, it is unreal that no one knows what is happening with the war now. The news of who takes which pieces of land that mouth it's not like it was at the beginning 25 years ago. The war isn't Tyer, so why would it be their problem.
Lavi tells Lobek that they need to leave.
"This is going to be a pain in the ass," Lobek says with a loud sigh.
"I know, but this is the only thing we can do," Lavi continues. "let's go," with that, they leave and make their way to the town hall. "Hopefully, the lord isn't drunk yet."