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Dawn squealed as she bolted through the forest, startling birds into flight and causing a few small animals to bound or scurry out of her path. "You can't catch me!" she called, giggling breathlessly as she heard her pursuers yell imprecations.
Soon after, though, she found herself tackled, and she let out an "oof" as she slammed to the ground. "You were saying?" Isobel taunted, grinning as she sat squarely on top of her cousin, who spat out some moldy leaves and conceded the point.
"Fair enough, but can you get off me?" Dawn protested, struggling to dislodge her slightly taller cousin. "You're crushing me, and don't tell me that extra weight is due to the lessons you've been wheedling out of Aunty Nyneve; it's those extra sweets you had last night, and don't you dare to tell me otherwise!"
Before Isobel could take umbrage at this, Ivar, Thorfin and Elena came running up. "We've guests," Ivar said, and the grim note in his voice killed hilarity. Dawn elbowed Isobel in the ribs and managed to wriggle free, worried at Ivar's tone. He gave her a tight smile as he continued. "They've turned heads already with their arrogant manner, and the elders are ready to spit them, no matter that they're our kin."
"Were they blond and dark?" Dawn asked, biting her lip.
Ivar nodded.
Dawn swore softly. "I knew this was going to happen," she said crossly. "Let's get back; I want to see them for myself."
The others nodded, and any remaining jollity was killed as they began making their way back to the clan lodges. Dawn's brow was furrowed as she trailed after her friends, teeth worrying at her lower lip in an effort to keep from screaming. Her mother had told her of the Pandoran council's so-called grand plan to breed a race of people who would not only eliminate their man-made disease, but who would also lead a grand expedition to begin taking over the known world. Niniane had told her harrowing stories of past relatives who had suffered under the wiles of the council, adding that her own plan, while similar to the council's, was also designed as a way to finally start getting even with the council for all the misery they'd inflicted on her and other members of her family for more years than she could count.
And now it seemed as if the council was finally ready to enact their next step; sending their latest "aquisitions" to the forest elves in hopes of drumming up willing support for their schemes. Niniane had prepared her for this day, but Dawn was still furiously angry, not at her mother, but at the council who continued to meddle in the affairs of humanity by using innocent men and women for their nefarious purposes.
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Niniane scowled at the two intruders who currently stood pinned under a circle of brislting broadhead arrows, designed to rip into a man's insides and kill him slowly from internal bleeding. Niniane felt no compunction over threatening her nephews' lives in this fashion; they were both arrogant as the day was long, and Niniane reflected that they deserved to sweat a little. The elders were already calling for blood, to eradicate the threat before it had a chance to roost in their midst; no forest elf worth his salt could forget the tragic history that had seeded their race, as well as the four other elven races who existed on Pandora, and no one wanted to see history repeat itself again with these two young men.
Cooler heads had, thankfully, prevailed, but the two young elves - one golden-haired and blue eyed, the other black-haired and, oddly, green eyed despite having a night elf for a father - were not helping matters with their cool, arrogant manner. Gwydion, the sun elf, was lordly and regal in his bearing, while his black-haired brother Mordred had a stinging sarcasm and a biting manner that cut to the quick and left smouldering resentment in its wake. Their loyalty to the council was unquestioned; having been separated from their parents at an early age, it was no wonder they'd been brainwashed into believing in the council's crazy idea, and Niniane's heart broke despite her anger. She knew the boys themselves were, at the core of things, innocent of the council's corruption, but their manner of behaving as mouthpieces for the council stifled pity before it had a chance to cloud her judgement.
Dawn and her friends soon arrived, and Niniane sighed in relief as her daughter came to her side. "I won't make you do this if you don't want to," she whispered. "Truth be told, I ran away and had you mainly because I wanted you to be free of the machinations surrounding and corrupting so many lives, but if you truly want to go ahead with this, then I won't stop you. Just tell me the truth; I won't be mad."
Dawn studied the two elves. "Why does Mordred have green eyes?" she asked. "And for that matter, how come they're not both night elves? I thought the geas was stronger than that."
"The council are corrupt, arrogant bastards who should all have been drowned at birth," Nyneve said sharply, glaring at her nephews with fire in her eyes. Nyneve was hot-tempered for a forest elf, but with good reason. Her elder sister Nimue had sacrificed herself to make sure her two younger sisters wouldn't be forced to bear more "talented" children, and the loss still stung more than fifteen years later. Nyneve could therefore be forgiven her temper and her foul lanuage, and Dawn did not blame her aunt in the slightest. "How they meddled is anyone's guess," Nyneve added, "but whatever it was, it's sunk its hooks in those two good and proper." She snorted in disgust and turned away before she descended into ruder phrases, and Niniane sighed.
"I wish I knew," she said to her daughter. "But my words still stand; you can do as you wish, but if you don't want to, then you don't have to, and we can send these two back to their masters with a flea in their ear that will leave them very sore for many days to come!"150Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYAalkFVxUY
"And the council will force Aunt Nimue to marry them and have their children," Dawn said. "I won't have her suffer anymore; I'll do it, if for no other reason than to show the council I won't be pushed around! That's why they came here; the council will either see them married to me, or to Aunt Nimue, and I'd rather spare her further pain if I can."
Niniane sighed and stroked her daughter's hair. "I had a feeling you'd say that," she said with a faint smile. "But the two of them? That's going to give the council ammunition it doesn't need!"
"Look, you had me partly to sow discord, and partly to prove you weren't going to be pushed around," Dawn insisted. "Well, now it's my turn. I'm taking up your mantle and sowing discord, and if I can kill two birds with one stone, then I'll do it and gladly. And I can always lie back and think of Earth."
"You've got a point," Niniane agreed. "And I've a feeling you're going to cause enough problems that will have the council sitting up straight and walking small for many months to come. Very well. I'll talk to the elders and get them to agree. They won't like it, but since you're almost an adult, they can't really gainsay your will. And they're in full agreement with my idea in any case, so I doubt I'll have to do much arm twisting."
Dawn nodded, thankful her mother had seen her point of view. But as her cousins were escorted away to be housed under guard, she had a bad feeling it wasn't going to be as easy a time as she'd thought. But she firmed her shoulders and dismissed her worries; if she played her cards right, she'd have her future husbands eating out of her hands in no time.
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