Elara became so fond of the baby and stopped following Lirien to hunt, which relieved Lirien's anxious heart. Elara named the baby "Ireal" which means "Celestial flame". Elara feels Ireal looks like a goddess, a serene Celestial, but her fiery blue eyes say otherwise.
As Ireal grows, Elara and Lirien showered her with love and affection. They were quite affluent in the village. Lirien is the head of the tribe. So, whatever she wants, she gets. That did not make her proud. One thing she always wanted was to have friends, but no one wanted to have anything to do with her because she seems to know their deepest darkest secrets.
She excelled in the local studies given to them by the only literate middle-aged man in the village, Brynja. Brynja loves Ireal so much because she is the brightest student he has ever come across.
Ireal's mother was so proud of her, every mother in the village are always envious of her, because of her lack of friends, she tried to manipulate her father into teaching her archery and combat. She couldn't do it alone, so she brought her accomplice into it.
Ireal rushed home after their studies, she went inside their wooden house. "Mother, mother" she shouted at the top of her voice while running and her white hair flying in disarray.
Elara came out of the kitchen where she was kneading a dough, she was covered with flour. She smiled when she saw Ireal. "Slow down, love." Elara told her and steady her as she almost fell when she came near her.
"What is it that sends you running, pumpkin?" She asked with fondness written all over her face.
"Mother, I led the class again." She said with chest pumped forward to receive praises from her mother.
"Don't you always come first, love." She asked while patting her head and leading her forward to the wooden chair crafted out of the finest wood for her.
Ireal lifted her fur-trimmed garment up and sat down like a lady her mother taught her to be.
Elara sat down on the chair opposite her and tucked Ireal's snow-white hair behind her ear.
"What is it you want for coming first, pumpkin?" Elara smiled inwardly because she knows Ireal is up to something.
"Are you really going to grant me my wish, mother?" She asked mischievously.
"What is this girl planning on asking?" Elara thought.
"I can hear you, mother." Ireal grinned.
"Stop it, you little brat, I told you not to use your power on me. Use it again and I won't fulfill your wish." She chided her.
"Hope you haven't been using it on people in the village?" She asked suspiciously.
"No, mother." She chuckled, she knows her mother cannot bear to scold her and is only concerned for her.
She chuckled because she could hear her mother beating herself up for scolding her.
"Since you promised to grant my wish," She looked expectantly at her mother.
"Continue, you know there is no wish I won't grant you." She urged her to go on.
She nodded her head and smiled at her mother.
" I want to learn combat and archery " she said.
"How did you come up with that? You are still young, you just turned seven. That is so dangerous and not for children, I wouldn't agree to that
She looked terrified due to her wish. "Mother, you know I am not like other children." She said, trying to calm her mother. "I catch up very fast, and I promise if I feel it getting too dangerous, I will back out. So, please help me to tell father to teach me. He will only listen to you, mother."
Elara refused to be convinced. "Do you believe father can hurt me when he is teaching me?" She asked her. "No, you know, your father loves you as much as I do. You are a lady, and we wouldn't want you to end up with bruises on your skin." She said with concerns etched on her face. "Your skin is way sensitive to other children."
"Mother, everybody here are hunters, why do I have to be different? That is the reason I don't have friends. I also want to make friends, mother." She said with a sad look on her face and manipulating her mother's emotions to change her mind.
Ireal subconsciously entered into her mother's soul and tried to tweak her emotions. When she saw her emotions, she was already wavering due to seeing her sad. Ireal decided to stop and let her give whatever decision she wanted to give. She came out and looked at her with puppy eyes.
"No, don't look at me like that, you already know I would cave in." She said with a smile on her face. "Fine, I will tell your father."
"Yessss" Ireal jumped up and punched the air with her little hands.
"But, you will promise that when it is getting too difficult for you, you will withdraw." She continued.
"Yes, mother, I promise." She stood up and picked her mother's hand up in her bid to drag her up.
"Let go and cook for father." She said cheerfully.
"Yes, we will, my love" she said while rubbing her head. "Let us get his favorite, so he can grant us your wish."
"That doesn't mean, he will listen to you, no matter what you say, because he can't resist my beautiful mother." She praised.
"You and your father are the same with your sweet mouth." She smiled with fine lines marring her beautiful face.
The mother and daughter were different shades of beauty. One a pale beauty with fiery blue eyes and snowy white hair complementing her skin. The other, a tan beauty with brown wavy hair braided into elegant braids on her head.
The duo looked like outcasts among the villagers, who had bulky bodies. They were busy in the kitchen when they heard footsteps on their doorstep.
"It is like your father is back....."
"Father, father" Ireal cut her mother off before she could complete what she was saying. Ireal ran off to meet her.
Elara was still stirring the soup in the pot when she heard a bang on the wall, and the house vibrating.
"Mother" Ireal screamed in pain.
Elara ran out, "Pumpkin, what is wrong?" She rushed towards Ireal without giving a glance to the door.
"Pumpkin, hope you are fine?" She said while checking her body from head to toe, that was when she saw the blood dripping from her head.
Her eyes turned red, and turned towards the assailant, then she saw a snake man.
"What are you doing here, you filthy creature?" She said with disgust.
"You know you are not allowed among humans, the dragons made that rule." She said.
"Why am I still speaking to you? A dead person tells no tale." The serpent man said snarkly and charged towards her, leaving no room for her to retaliate.
He swept her with his tail and charged forward to Ireal.
"What do you mean when you said you saw a dark soul? Well, I don't need to know, and the dragons must not know also. So, keep quiet forever." He said and raised his talons and drove them into her without hesitating, but he didn't hear the cries of a child, only the grunt of a woman.
The serpent man was shocked; he didn't know when a man drove a spear into his heart. He collapsed and withered away.
"Elara, Elara, answer me, love" He said as he turned her to face him and extracted Ireal from under her.
"Pumpkin, what happened to your mother?" He said while trembling.
He held Ireal close.
"That bad man drove his hands into her." She said while clutching her mother's hands tightly.
"Mother, where are you going? Do you want to leave us?" She said with fear evident on her face.
"What are you saying, Ireal? She is not going anywhere. My love will not leave me; she promised never to leave us." He said with tears in his voice.
He carried Elara in his hands, his bulky frame filling up the house. He dropped her on the bed and cleaned up her wounds, but the wound kept oozing out black blood.
"Pumpkin, I love you so much, and I wish I was able to spend more time with you. Take care of your father for me and make sure he doesn't hurt. I also want you to know I am always here with you, do whatever makes you happy and never deprive yourself of your joy for anyone. Call your father for me, let me see him before I go. I do not have much time." She spoke to Ireal through her mind since it was difficult for her to speak without coughing out blood.
"Father, Mother wants to see you." She called her father, who was taking water and drugs to clean up her wounds and sobbing because he knew she couldn't survive the venom.
"Can she talk now?" He asked without waiting for an answer. When he got to the bed, he knelt down beside her and held one of her hands. Elara raised up her second hand and touched Lirien's face gently.
"Take care of Ireal very well, and I love you." She whispered.
"I also love you, but you and I are going to take care of Ireal till she gets married, remember you always wanted to see her get married." Lirien said while weeping like a little child, snot dropping from his nose and tears marring his brown, good-looking face.
Ireal sat down near her bed, playing with her mother's hair and listening to her emotions.
"Mother doesn't have much time, the light is dimming, father." She told her father, her eyes fixated on her mother,but the father was too deep in his sorrow to hear her.
"Pumpkin, come here. My love, come nearer." She coughed up blood after saying that.
"Pumpkin, make sure you tell your father our little secret, only your father." She whispered.
Then she looked at the both of them with love and affection.
"I love you, pumpkin, I love you, Lirien." She smiled sadly at them.
"The light is dead." Ireal said soberly.
Elara's eyes closed. Lirien cried so hard. Ireal found it unbearable and wanted to capture and keep her mother's soul, but Elara's spirit told her not to do that an
d dispersed.
Ireal edged closer to her father, held his hands, and then her father drew her closer into a hug and wept like never before.