Chapter One
The Baroness Dreiven smiled after her daughter as the young girl obediently rose from her seat. The two other women with her, long time friends, fell silent briefly, looking at the little girl. She was twelve, about like a five year old human, and already very sweet and lovely. Thick golden hair curled down to her waist, soft eyes of a color midway between blue and green were large and wide, framed by thick dark lashes. Her skin was beautiful, fair without being pale, and her lips a perfect little rose bud She stood just a hint shorter than the other girls her age, but carried herself already with a certain dignity at odds with her youth. She looked at people steadily, as though actually seeing them, and talked to them as though she was listening, and cared what they had to say, rather than merely waiting for the conversations to come round to her again. Her needlework so far was extremely skilled for one so young, her reading was getting to the point of being able to actually sound out whole words, rather than just knowing letters, she had been tossed up on her first pony quite some time ago and was becoming quite a distinguished rider. Her posture was good, her voice soft and sweet, and her address correct. She was her parents pride and joy.
She curtsied politely to first one and then the other of her mother's guests, and smiled her captivating smile at them. "Lady Derija, Mrs. Ivrin, it has been so pleasant to visit with you again, but my mama is correct, of course, and I must to my bed," she stated sweetly.
The two ladies smiled back at her, "Of course, dear, sleep well, now," Lady Rayla Derija, a large and motherly lady in her third century, as were the other two ladies, replied, holding out her hand for the girl to curtsey over.
"Tierelle, my dear, it has been so pleasant to see you again," Mrs. Zanna Ivrin said, kissing the girl lightly on one cheek.
Tierelle curtseyed again to each lady, kissed her mother good night, and moved gracefully out of the room.
A smile crossed her mothers lips as she heard the ladylike steps cease once the door was lightly closed and her daughter run pell-mell up the stairs. She shook her head in amusement. "I can remember being her age," she said with a smile to her friends. "And so like her were all of us, do you remember? Always trying to be perfect ladies in front of visitors, but tomboys at heart, and always running when there was nobody to see, or wanting to ride our horses astride, or climb trees!"
Zanna grinned back. "And what trouble you led us into, Lirev! Indeed, had you not forced us every step of the way, Rayla and I would have been the perfect ladies you accuse us of acting! Do you remember betting the boys we could beat them up the clock tower, and then locking them in?"
Rayla laughed, "And then, my friend henwit, you managed to lose the key!"
"Well it was hardly my fault," Zanna complained with a smile. "Lirev did insist that we go running all over, and I knew not that the cord it was on would break!"
Lirev smiled nostalgically. "And we couldn't very well tell the adults we'd locked them in, of course, for they would have been furious. They were stuck there all night and all the next day before we could find the key and let them out."
"And too proud to admit to having been tricked by girls, they didn't tell the grown ups, and got a whipping for going camping without telling anyone!" Rayla dissolved into laughter at her memories, and the other two joined in. "Ah those days were fun. But there is one large difference between our young selves and your daughter, Lirev."
Glancing at her inquisitively, Lirev waited to be enlightened.
"I can't remember any of us ever not fighting to stay up just a little later, or not giggling half the night away rather than sleeping when we were staying together. Tierelle is always perfectly content to go to bed or even to take naps, and Irava tells me even when they're all of them together, Tierelle will generally stop talking almost immediately after lights out and be asleep shortly after."
With a nod of agreement, Lirev said, "True, and I've never understood it in the least! But it certainly is of no harm, and I have no objection. She doesn't seem tired during the days, to suggest that she needs any extra sleep, so I don't worry about it. I suppose she just learned earlier than the rest of us how marvelous is sleep. She started sleeping straight through nights very early on and seems to love sleep as much as we all do now!"
Laughing, the women continued on about their foolish youth for a time before conversation moved on to other things.
* * * * *
Tierelle dashed up the stairs then down the hall and almost threw herself into her room, standing impatiently as her maid undressed her and put on her night clothes. She cleaned hurriedly and all but threw herself into her bed, closing her eyes and letting sleep overcome her. She fell asleep almost instantly, as only one who has always enjoyed sleep and always looked forward to it can. Her dreams were always something she was anxious to return to.
Almost immediately she found herself on a beautiful hillside, covered in lush green grass, interrupted by the occasional huge boulder. A handful of large trees were scattered about it, green no matter what season the waking world lay in, and with lots of branches perfectly placed for climbing. She never really looked beyond the hillside. It was just a blur, which she never noticed one way or another. The sky was bright blue, occasionally spotted with a fluffy white cloud- though those clouds never seemed to pass before the sun.
He was already here, she knew. She could feel his presence, knew she wasn't alone. Glancing eagerly around, and catching no sight of him, she moved as quietly as she could and began looking. At last, certain she knew where he was, she scrambled up the largest tree, the one with the densest foliage, and found him, crouched between two large branches, looking at her through laughing eyes.
With a happy cry she threw herself into his arms nearly knocking him out of the tree. "Shar! I haven't seen you in ages and ages and ages and ages and ages!" she cried.
He hugged her tightly and one corner of his lip quirked up. "Heya, Tierelle, miss me?"
"Lots!"
He was a handsome boy some years her senior, a sea elf forests elf mix with hair the color of her eyes and eyes of pale gray. His features were strangely serious for a boy of his years, and his smile little more than a twist of the lips, often appearing cynical. She didn't remember the first time they met, but he said it was years ago, when she was only a baby, and he'd found her here and they'd been here together ever since. He said he'd never been here until that time when he found her. He'd been pretty little then, a little younger than she was now, and he hadn't known what to do with her, only he hadn't really had to do anything with her, so he didn't. He was a little tall for his age and the only thing that took away from his looks was the fact that he was almost gaunt he was so slender. All whipcord and bone, not an ounce of fat, which was extremely odd in one his age.
Together they climbed down out of the tree and sat side by side in the grass.
"So where've you been?" she asked curiously, looking at him.
He shrugged his shoulders, staring up at the sky. "Nowhere really. Sorry I haven't been here- I just haven't had much time to sleep recently."
"Why not?" she asked curiously.
"Oh," he shrugged. "Just been busy, I guess."
She pouted at him in annoyance. "But I missed you!"
With a laugh, he shrugged again, looking steadily over at her now. "I can't sleep all the time, little one."
"But-"
"Tierelle, mira, I'm sorry. But I can't be here all the time," he stated.
Her lower lip trembled slightly, and he smiled at her, a full smile, for once, and gave her a quick hug. "I'm sorry, little one, but it is as it is. I have things I must do outside of sleep, and at times I must do them even when I would prefer to be here, with you."
"But if you would prefer to be with me," she objected, "why don't you? And why doesn't your mommy and daddy make you go to sleep at night? I always want to, because then I get to see you, but my friends, they have to even when they don't want to."
There was the slightest hint of pain in his eyes, as he replied, "I don't have a mother and father like you do."
The girl's big eyes grew very wide at that, and she stared at him. "But- how could you not have a mommy? Everybody has a mommy!"
Slowly he shook his head. "I'm afraid that's not so, Tierelle. My mother ... she died a long time ago. I don't remember her."
Putting her little arms around him, Tierelle hugged her friend as hard as she could, burying her face in his side. Not knowing what to say to help, just that he didn't have anyone to take care of him.
"Heya, mira, it's okay," he murmured, ruffling the little girl's hair. "It's okay, Tierelle, mira."
She looked up at him anxiously, little face very serious. "But it's not, Shar. Really it's not. You need a mommy. Or else who makes sure you eat enough and tucks you in at night and kisses you on the forehead, saying she loves you and sings sometimes and holds you when you feel all hot and horrible and kisses your knee when you hurt it and-"
He lay one finger gently across her lips. "Hush little one. Nobody does those things for me, but I don't need them done. I take care of myself, and I get on well enough. Truly, Tier. It's okay."
She shook her head, almost angrily. "But it isn't!"
"Tierelle, my little one, you mustn't worry about me. I've been taking care of myself since I was even younger than you are now, and I promise you, I do a good job at it."
"But you need somebody else to take care of you! That's the point!" she cried out. "If people could take care of themselves, there wouldn't be mommys!"
"But I can take care of myself, since I don't have a mother," he replied softly.
"No!" she shouted. "You can't!"
He put out one hand to calm her, but she leapt to her feet, glaring at him. Tears had sprung to her eyes, and he watched helplessly as they flowed down her cheeks. "Tierelle, please..."
She glared down at him, "You gotta have someone to take care of you, Shar, can't you see?" she asked.
"But, Tierelle, little one, there is nobody!" he murmured desperately. "There's nobody who wants to take care of me."
That made her stop. She froze, staring down at him in horror. "What?"
"There's nobody to take care of me, little one. I have no family. They had no friends. There's nobody."
She sat down, face troubled. Then, abruptly, she cheered, her face lighting up as she smiled. It was, Shar reflected, rather like the first day of spring after a long winter. All the more lovely for the fact that it always came when least expected. "I shall take care of you," she announced.
Surprised, he laughed.
A cloud passed once more over her face. "What's so funny about it?"
"No, little one," he said, "don't attack me for laughing. It's only I was surprised. But how shall you take care of me? We are together only here, and this effects nothing real."
She glared at him for a long moment, lower lip jutting out. "I can tell you what to do to take care of yourself," she replied firmly.
Rather than risk another of her fits of depression, he nodded. "Very well, little one."
"And will you promise to do what I tell you to to take care of yourself?"
"If it is in my power, Mira, I will do as you advise me," he said solemnly. "I promise."
She studied him for a long moment, then nodded sharply, looking incredibly like her mother for a moment, though neither of them realized it. "Good."
The little girl sat back down and almost immediately moved on to other things, curling up and leaning against her friend. "What shall we do today, Shar?"
Glad to have left behind the other conversation, he considered that question for a moment, then his eyes lit up. "We could make a treehouse!"
With a cry of glee, she bounced to her feet. "Oh lets, Shar, shall we?"
Nearly as excited as she by the idea, he nodded, standing as well. "Of course we shall! Come, let's see if we can't find some boards or something."
Together they glanced about, looking, for the first time, beyond the edge of the hillside. Off to one side, where minutes ago there had been nothing, now lay the edge of what appeared to be a deep forest. They could just see a little tumble-down woodshed, almost out of sight in the trees.
"Race ya!" She shouted, and ran for it as quickly as she could, knowing by the delay before he started that he was giving a head start.
Despite the head start, he caught up with her while she was still some feet before it, and, with a laugh, grabbed her up and twirled her around, then setting her down and kneeling beside her, tickling her mercilessly.
Shrieking with laughter, she struggled to get out of his grasp, then struck up hard with one hand. It barely brushed him, but he fell back with a mock cry of anguish, and with another delighted shriek, she leapt on him. He groaned and let his head fall back, eyes falling half shut. "I'm murdered," he murmured, allowing his eyes to close the rest of the way and his mouth to go slack.
She looked at him doubtfully for a long moment, standing up to stare down at him. Lips pursed, she toed him in the ribs. He rolled slightly, then settled back, making no other sign. With another shriek, this time of terror, she knelt beside him and shook him with all her strength, though that was barely enough to move him. "Shar? Oh, Shar, you can't be dead, I didn't mean to kill you, really I didn't!" she cried, tears starting to her eyes. Then, looking at him through her blurred eyes, she saw his lips quirk just a little, as though he were trying to keep from grinning. With an outraged shout, she hit him as hard as she could right in the nose.
"Dammit, Tier, that hurt!" he shouted, leaping to his feet to glare at the little girl.
Pouting as she stood up, she glared at him. "Well I'm glad! You shouldn't scare me like that, Shar, it's not nice!"
Shar, seeing that he'd really scared his friend, dropped to his knees and looked her in the eyes, setting his hands on her little shoulders so he could look her in the eye. "Tierelle, I promise you, you will never hurt me. And I will never hurt you. I'm sorry for scaring you, little one," he said seriously.
For a moment she continued to pout, but then her smile came out again, and was once more bestowed upon him. "That's okay. Come on, I wanna build a tree house!"
Lips quirking at her lightning change of mood, he helped her pull some loose boards from the deserted wood shed and lug them back to the hillside to the best tree. Then he looked at it doubtfully for a long moment. "I think we need a hammer and some nails, or something," he commented.
"Why?" she asked, curiously.
"To hold everything together. Otherwise it'll fall down and break up."
"Oh." She looked disappointed. "Can't we do it, then?"
He considered for a moment, then his eyes narrowed in thought. "That shed- what was in it?"
Her brow wrinkled as she considered the question. "I dunno."
"Well let's go take a look, huh? Cuz it must've been put together, and we can use the nails we broke out of these boards, if we can find a hammer."
With a delighted smile, she clapped her hands. "Of course we can! Oh, let's see, Shar, I'm sure you're right!"
They ran back to the shed again, and looked around inside. Then he found a hammer tossed in one corner, smaller than average, which made it rather convenient for the children. They collected all the nails they could find that were fairly loose and then ran back to the pile of boards. Then they began work on the treehouse, which they kept up until Tierelle began to grow fuzzy.
"Oh, no, it's morning!" she called out. "Oh, Shar, I'm waking up, but can't we keep working on it tonight?"
His lips quirked and he gave her a hug. "Of course, little one. Have a good day."
She kissed him, and nodded. "Yupyup, always, and you take care of yourself," she added, with a fierce glare as she suddenly remembered their earlier conversation. Then he felt her disappear from his arms as she disappeared. A moment later everything else disappeared as well, and he finished the night with the more common types of dreams shared by everyone.