There Be Dragons

"Aoife, I'll race you to the river!" Celebriän cried. " Gildor, I'll race you too!" I leaped up and ran after her, my legs flying. My two best friends were far ahead of me, of course. All elves were fast. I was no elf. But I knew a secret that Celebriän and Gildor did not.

I tucked myself into a ball and rolled as fast as I could down to a quiet, sun-dappled glade. Celebriän and Gildor were far ahead of me. They would not hear my secret. I pushed my middle finger into the hollow between my collarbones and let out a soft coo. It pulsed through my bloodstream and filled my stomach with heat. I felt the air turn syrupy and warm. I smiled, then stood and ran towards the river.

As I ran, I looked at the land surrounding me. Graena Timbur, the land of the elves, was beautiful and wild, full of creatures and plants that were seen nowhere else in the kingdom of Lethanona. Everything was still, which I had caused by my secret cooing. The colors of the forest and mountains surrounding me were vibrant and deep and beautiful. I loved my home deeply. I knew that I was not meant to live there - as a human, I was meant to live in the one of the Provinces - but the elves had found me as a baby and taken me in. I still do not know why.

I passed Gildor, who was frozen in a comical position. His long legs were both in the air. His sleek raven-wing hair was flying back behind him. His mouth was wide open - he had been shouting to Celebriän before my spell froze him. I laughed and raced past my childhood friend.

Soon I overtook the other elf. Her eyes were bright with victory and her bright red hair was tangled and wild. I slid to a stop at the bank of the river and sat a minute, catching my breath. Then I cooed again. The air returned to its mountain briskness. I braided my ice-blonde hair with dandelions while I waited for Celebriän and Gildor to arrive.

Celebriän skidded to a stop a few meters down the bank from where I was sitting.

"I win!" she shouted. "I win again, Gildor!" She danced about for a moment, her skinny arms waving.

"No you don't!" I called. Celebriän whirled around to face me.

"Aoife! How did you... What?" she said, bemused. Gildor crashed past the undergrowth and stopped short, his narrow chest heaving.

"Aoife won?" he asked, his dark eyebrows raised. I nodded smugly. He frowned. Celebriän stomped her foot.

"You did that spell!" she said angrily. "That's cheating, Aoife!" I shook my head vigorously.

"No, no, I didn't!" I lied, scared of how angry Celebriän was becoming.

"You did, you dirty larien tathar," Celebriän spat, turning away from me. I flinched. Larien tathar was a cruel Elvish phrase that meant outsider. I tried so hard to be like the elves and I always failed. I turned away from her, trying to keep the lump in my throat and the stinging behind my eyes from turning into tears.

"Celebriän, that was cruel," Gildor admonished.

"I don't care!" Celebriän cried. "I don't care! I'm so sick of her! Idiotic, clumsy, foolish human." Celebriän's words were like arrows, flying straight and true into my heart. I only wanted to win. I never won, not against Celebriän. She was too fast, too clever, too beautiful. She was an Elfish princess. I was just a little orphan human, a larien tathar who belonged in the Provinces.

A pebble hit the back of my head with a loud thunk. I cried out in pain and whirled around.

"Get out of here, larien tathar! Get out of Graena Timbur! Get out, you don't belong!" Celebriän screamed, her eyes wild and her pointed ears red with rage. I winced and ran as fast as I could away from her. I could hear Gildor trying to calm her down. Soon I was out of earshot. I sank to the loamy ground and buried my face - my horrible round human face - in my hands - my stubby indelicate human hands. My body - short and solid and human body - shook with stupid human sobs.

Celebriän was right. I didn't belong in Graena Timbur. I needed to leave.

So I stood and wiped my salty human tears from my pale human face and began the long trek back to the Village.



It was a festival night. The elves were celebrating the birth of the King's heir, a robust boy with hair the color of amber named Aarthon. I stayed tucked away in my adoptive family's hometree, packing up the belongings that I would need for my journey to the Provinces. My knife with the saviorstone handle. Dried herbs for healing. Boy's clothes. A water skin. My bow and arrows. Dried fruit. Traveler's biscuits.

Fortunately the elf woman who took me in as a babe, my Mader, was the Village's JourneyWoman. She supplied the warriors with the food and supplies for their journeys and quests. We had stacks and stacks of traveler's biscuits laying around our hometree. Mader wouldn't notice if I took some.

As I was wrapping up the biscuits, the door of our hometree creaked open.

"Aoife, what are you doing? Why are you not celebrating Aarthon's birth?" Mader asked. Then she saw what I was doing. Her delicate face went pale and she rushed to my side.

"Daughter, what are you doing?" she asked, her voice quick and panicked. I turned away. I couldn't meet her eyes. Mader wrapped her long arms around me and held me close.

"I knew this day would come, I knew it, I knew it," she whispered. She let out a loud, keening wail. I winced.

"You...You knew what day would come, Mader?" I asked. Mader sank to the floor and clutched her pointed ears, an Elfish mourning position.

"I knew you would one day feel the pull to leave," Mader whimpered. I felt my stomach twist.

"No, no, Mader, I -" But there was no excuse. I was taking traveler's biscuits. A bulging knapsack sat at my feet, full of supplies. I was garbed in thick journeywool clothing and sturdy dragonskin boots. Wearing dragonskin on my feet made my skin crawl, but they were the best boots to be had for questers and travelers.

"Mader -" I tried to explain again, but Mader leaned forward and leaned her delicate forehead against her knees.

"Please don't go yet, Aoife, please," she whispered. I frowned. Mader was an extraordinarily stoic woman most of the time. This breakdown was nerve-wracking and unusual. I wasn't sure what to do.

"Mader..." I said, then sighed. "Fine. Alright. I'll stay, Mader." Mader gave out a cry of joy, leapt up, and pulled me into her arms.

"Oh, Aoife, amin liy ilie," she crooned. The Ancient Elfin Tongue spilled out of her mouth and into my ears. I didn't - couldn't - comprehend it. I couldn't speak it, either. It wasn't in my blood. But I knew that she was saying that she loved me.

"I love you too," I said. The together we went out into the Greengrove and joined the revelers to celebrate the birth of the Elfin Prince.