Chapter Two
“You are no sister of mine,” he said to her while leaning haughtily on the back of his father’s throne. “You have spent too much time cavorting with humans and you can no longer see the differences between our interests and theirs.”
“And you are surely no brother of mine if you cannot recognize the common danger to us all,” she replied, standing across from him with her hands sternly upon her hips.
“Danger? What danger do you perceive? We are safe here and we will always be safe here. That is as long as no one attempts to draw us into conflicts that do not concern us,” he said scowling.
“Do you really believe that we will be able to remain apart from these troubles? Can you not see that eventually they will reach us, even here? These changes affect the whole of the world. Just because we are safe now, does not mean we will be safe tomorrow. Caeltin D’Are Agenathea will not stop until the entire world is under his dominion, until darkness and dissolution overcome us all. You think that because we are far from the field of battle that he will leave us alone? Think again, little brother. You know not of what you speak,” Alemar responded, her pale blue eyes blazing beneath her thick, blonde lashes.
She hastily pulled a lock of her golden hair over her left ear and concealed the birth mark behind it that still made her so self conscious. When she was just a child, she believed that the misshapen star was a sign that she was destined to be a Chosen of the trees herself and she exposed it with a singular pride. Others considered her simply arrogant and presumptuous, and they scoffed at her when the tree passed her by for another. Now, she covered it with a powder that matched her skin tone whenever she was in public. It was painful to remember how hopeful she had once been and how disheartened she became when Crea was chosen instead of her. What had been her badge of honor became a mark of derision, and she henceforth scrupulously concealed it from everyone’s view.
“And we should take your advice? We should listen to the counsel of one who permitted a human to enter our lands? Who welcomed him surreptitiously and kept his presence secret from her own family? You cannot see past your feelings for this man, my dear sister, and your indiscretions shame your mother’s name,” he answered back more vehemently than before.
“That was cruel, Kalon. And what bothers me most is that you said it only for that reason. Do not speak of my mother. You soil her name by uttering it,” the Princess responded and she turned her back on her half-brother in order to hide the tears which spontaneously welled up in her eyes at the mention of Queen Aliana. “Besides, she would have understood. She was very close to the earth. She would have felt the same things that I feel,” she said despondently.
“She would never have divulged our secrets to a human— Never—And a rogue on top of being human. Had you not heard about that man? Did the rumors not compel you toward caution at the least?” he said superciliously.
“What would you know of honor? You think only of your self interest. If it happens to coincide with the interests of our people, then you claim the wreath of the hero. You do not fool me Kalon,” she said. “It is not my ‘indiscretion’ as you so callously call it, that you abhor, but the fact that my relationships bring us knowledge that may force you to fight for something for once. I wish Dalloway was still here. He would have defended this city without hesitation even though it was not his home. And he would have understood my concern. Was I ‘indiscreet’ with our cousin from Seramour as well? He left because of you, not me. As for Robyn dar Tamarand, what do you know of him other than the tittle-tattle that you yourself have helped to spread? He is a Chosen, for the First’s sake.”
Kalon turned abruptly to King Whitestar and asked, “Did you hear that, father? She accuses me of being cowardly and of spreading lies in the same breath, when I seek only to protect our people.”
He suddenly sounded conspicuously like a child.
“Am I not right, Father?” Alemar interrupted her brother’s supplication. “Mother would have agreed with me. She knew that we could not live in denial forever. She respected the Chosen more than anyone, and she would never have refused a request of the trees. If she were alive now, she would be doing everything she could to aid the cause. I know it,”
The beautiful girl smoothed her silk tunic and with both hands, drew her long blonde hair behind her head and pinned it with a silver pin. Kalon continued to stand beside the throne, his face as red as a winter beet, waiting for his father’s response.
The elder man grimaced, creating uncommon wrinkles in his flawless elfin skin.
“Enough, the two of you. I have tolerated your bickering for far too long now. Kalon, speak no longer of my dear departed wife. Her death was sad enough and untimely too. Your mother, my Queen, would not wish you to speak unkindly of her predecessor,” he admonished his son. “And you, dear Alemar,” he spoke sternly, turning to his firstborn. “You know better than to suggest that we become involved with the world outside of our kingdom. You are right to suspect that your mother would have felt the rumblings of one such as the Dark Lord, but she would never have risked our safety by involving us in matters that do not directly affect us. She would have reinforced our boundaries and made certain that no forces of a kind not our own would have been able to enter here.”
He rose from his silver throne and stepped slowly off the dais. Whitestar was an old man now, far older than he appeared to be. He loved Alemar’s mother more than anyone could ever know. He also loved and respected his second wife, Kalon’s mother, Emerial. She was a good woman too, although she did tend to baby her son too much. Kalon was not the man Whitestar hoped he would be. But he was young still. He was not a bad boy, just an immature one. He was a better statesman than he was a warrior, a better talker than he was a bow-man and he did have a tendency to seek safety rather than conflict. Except when it came to his half-sister, that was. Whenever the two of them spent more than five minutes together, the result was always the same. It was not that he disdained her, but rather he recognized certain characteristics in her that he was immensely jealous of. He envied her courage in the face of his own lack thereof. And he envied their father’s love for her. The rivalry grew stronger in his mind as he grew older and it began to eat at his heart more and more. His outbursts masked a deeper contempt the likes of which neither the King nor his Princess suspected.
Alemar on the other hand, was mature, intelligent, insightful, sensitive and highly charged. She could warm his heart at almost anytime and she could also cause his blood to boil with her persistence and stubbornness. She had an impulsive nature, just like her mother. She was born of the earth and when she was a child, Whitestar truly believed that she would be a Chosen of the trees as well. Alas though, no new trees burgeoned and her dreams went unrealized. Perhaps that caused her restlessness and her need to reach beyond her own borders for fulfillment. He was uncertain, but he knew that he could not contain her forever.
The Chosen she befriended was an honorable man. Whitestar knew that the moment he met Robyn dar Tamarand. He was also a powerful one. But nevertheless, the King did not wish to be lured into a struggle that did not involve them. Caeltin’s reach was broad, but not so broad as to touch Eleutheria.
“I sincerely wish the two of you would learn to get along with each other. It grieves me so to hear you argue constantly. It is unbecoming. Besides, it makes it impossible for me to concentrate upon the issues when you carry on so,” he finally said.
Alemar turned her beautiful face toward the King.
“I apologize, father. And I apologize to you too, Kalon,” she said in a tone of voice that sounded sincere.
Kalon scoffed under his breath and looked down at his shoes impatiently.
“But, father? How can we not at least make an attempt to gather more information? Would it not be prudent at the least to know what is happening around us?” she asked, unwilling to give up the cause.
“I have never had the desire that you have, dear daughter, to know anything about the world outside of Eleutheria. I do not even inquire as to the well being of my own brothers and cousins. I have always believed that in order to remain pure and healthy, we must remain isolated. I have never wavered from that conviction. We cannot allow the corruption to infiltrate our realm.”
“But father, there is much good in the rest of the world as well. What of the trees, the Lalas? Are they not bountiful and kind and wise beyond measure? Were they not born of the outside world?” she asked. “Does ours not communicate still with others without our realm?”
“The tree belongs to us all. We do not need to fraternize with humans to communicate with our tree,” he answered.
“But Robyn tells me that they are dying, father. The trees are dying. What power could be so great as to kill a Lalas? Have you spoken to Crea? Has he told you anything about what is happening?”
“Crea has never discoursed with me. As you know Alemar, when he was chosen he withdrew from us all. It is not for me to question the ways of a Lalas and its Chosen.”
“May I approach him, father? May I ask him if what Robyn tells me is cause for us to be concerned?” she pleaded.
“If he will speak with you my child, then I give you my permission to ask whatever you wish, if that will satisfy your hunger for knowledge,” he said reluctantly. “But it will not change my belief that we must remain aloof from the ways of the world if we are to survive. That was my father’s opinion and his father’s before him. Their ways have served us well all these tiels, have they not daughter?”
She could barely contain her glee at the prospect of approaching Crea, the Chosen and his majestic tree, Wayfair.
“Thank you father. Thank you so much. They will talk to me, I know they will,” she said confidently. “But promise me that you will at least listen to what they say,” she entreated.
“Why do you think a tree will talk to you? You still believe your childish fantasy that your birthmark is a sign of something?” Kalon stung her with his questions. “Just because some rascal Chosen from the world of humans fancies you are a pretty trophy to add to his shelf, you think that our Crea will honor you too? Do not be heartbroken sister, if they ignore your appeals. It is time you face the fact that you are as ordinary as the rest of us and climb down off your haughty, high horse.”
“You really are vicious, you know? Do you enjoy hurting me, brother? At least I will have tried something, Kalon. That is certainly more than you can claim. If I were you…”
“Enough— Do you two never grow bored with this prattle?” Whitestar interrupted. “Go now and for the First’s sake, leave each other be,” he said as he shooed them both out of his chambers.
As Kalon was walking down the broad hall, his back to the two of them, the King said quietly to his daughter, “Alemar, I will listen to you when you return, but I make no promises.”
With that, he sighed a tired sigh and shut the heavy door behind them.