The priestess smiled. “Anything for Elysa’s chosen. I’ll have so priests arrange so food suitable for a journey.”
After those words, she walked off into the other room with what remained of the reagents inside the piece of fabric she’d folded. Cellestra finally managed to look at after we were left alone.
“Are you okay?” I asked. “I could literally see the weight lift from your shoulders.”
The elf nodded. “I am, and it did. To hear it won’t kill is just… I have no words.”
I saw a tear form in her eye again which she quickly wiped away once more.
“Don’t worry. I don’t intend to go anywhere until we’ve got rid of your problem.”
Cellestra nodded but remained silent. Little did she know that I didn’t intend to ever leave her, if I could help it…
In the anti, the head priestess walked back into the main room of the temple and took position behind the altar once more.
“We will have an assortnt of food arranged soon. Now, if you don’t mind, my curiosity is starting to get the better of . Would you mind explaining what happened?”
“I’d rather not,” I said. “It’s a long story and I’d like to forget a lot of it. All I want to share is that Elysa saved from a terrible fate.”
The priestess nodded in understanding, but I could see a hint of disappointnt in her eyes. Maybe I could share the full story one day when all this was behind us. The problem was that I’d be quite far away.
Maybe I’d visit this temple again soti. When and if we ever went back to Cellestra’s cabin in the woods, I’d definitely stop by.
A minute or so of silence passed before a priest walked out of the backroom. He held a large brown linen bag, one that rivaled Cellestra’s own backpack in size, and placed it on the altar before quickly walking off again.
“The best we have to offer,” The priestess said warmly. “Would you like to look at the goods?”
I shook my head. “That won’t be necessary. I’m sure we’d rather be on the way.”
“Alright then,” She continued as I took the bag with a pedipalp and placed it on my spider head, behind my elven torso, on top of the partially finished shirt. I would fix that later. “If that is all, then I wish you a safe journey. May Elysa light your path.”
I nodded and thanked her with a small bow. Cellestra did the sa and we soon exited the temple. As we walked down the stairs I could see the roaring blue flas slowly turn back to their usual color and size. Once we were at the bottom, I turned to Cellestra who was still mostly speechless.
Uncertain about what to do, I took her in for a proper hug and lightly patted her back. “Are you okay?” I asked softly.
The elf didn’t reply. Rather, she placed her own hands on my back and hugged back. I closed my eyes and enjoyed the warmth that this gave , even if the main reason was to comfort Cellestra.
“Co,” I said after a good while. “We still have a long way to go. We can talk about things on the way.”
The elf nodded and I let myself sink to the ground so she could easily step on again. After she’d placed herself on my back, I took out the silken shirt from under the bag and then summoned threads to fasten the brown bag properly. I then continued to circle the city.
“What did the goddess say? About your parents I an. They are in Len Asari, in a place called Thymhil?”
I nodded. “The way I understand it, they were placed in this world before . I do not know how much earlier. I know very little about the circumstances; it’s all speculation at this point, but I’m sure Elysa had her reasons for doing it that way.”
“But won’t they know this is a different world?”
“I would think so, but once again, speculation. It seems Elysa has placed sowhat of a curse on them that makes them not rember . Apparently, this curse will be broken as soon as I et them, which will cause mories to return. I do not know the extent of those mories. Maybe they don’t know they are in a different world right now, but they will when I show up? I have no idea.”
“She probably has sothing arranged.”
“What I do not get, however,” I said, completely ignoring Cellestra’s response. “Is why they were placed in a, in my opinion, dangerous place. I an, hostile demons? That doesn’t sound safe to at all.”
“Was your old world safe?” Cellestra said, catching completely off-guard.
“Well,” I started what I believed to be sothing that would be a good retort. I then realized I couldn’t finish that sentence. Nowhere in my old world was truly safe. I imagined my old life was a testant to that. “No,” I finally muttered quietly.
“I’m sorry for asking that...” Cellestra replied equally softly.
I shook my head. “No, you’re right. The priestess did ntion they have a formidable military. Maybe that’s exactly why Elysa placed them there.”
Upon further consideration, things did make more sense. Still, it was nagging , as always.
“And you don’t know if they are still there. That’s what I got from all that rambling you did earlier.”
I nodded. “I don’t know for certain. I would assu they would still be there, and if not, they couldn’t have gone far. Still, Thymhil would be the first place to look. I just hope the settlent will be… accepting of us.”
“The best we can hope for is a temple to Elysa,” Cellestra replied.
“That certainly seems to have quite the impact, as far as I could tell back there.”
“Issue is that I cannot stay in town for long. I’ll cause all kinds of trouble so I’d have to stay outside, preferably far away for the nights.”
“That’s fine,” I assured her. “We’ll find a way.”
“What were your parents anyway? You know, as in profession.”
“They were farrs. Tomato farrs to be more precise,” I said after a while as I had trouble recalling things from my early youth, both because the mories hurt, and that I seed to have forgotten a few things.
“In that case, don’t you think it would make sense if they did the sa? I an, it would make sense to .”
“Possibly,” I answered.
“If that’s true, we might not even have to enter the village. It might narrow down where we have to look at the sa ti.”
“I like your optimism,” I said with a sigh. “I hope you’re right.”
“I believe Elysa knows what she’s doing. If it’s any consolation, they’ll be fine.”
“Thank you,” I said candidly.
We reached the road leading north and I took a mont to look at the horizon. The dirt road stretched as far as all my eyes could see in a straight line through cornfields with green pastures behind those.
“If you don’t mind, I’ll pick up the pace a bit. I heard the journey is long, so I’ll go as fast as I can without making things uncomfortable for you.”
“Go ahead,” Cellestra said, smiling for the first ti since leaving the temple. “I doubt this will be uncomfortable for . You’re much more comfortable than sitting in my chair at ho, in case you were wondering.”
“I was not,” I said with a wide smile on my face. “But that’s still nice to hear.”
I started off with a fast walk and gradually increased my speed while paying attention to Cellestra as I did so. I found out I could easily run at the speed of a horse without causing the elf on my back any problems.
I passed the cornfields quickly, leaving many confused faces behind as I ran away from the city. I doubted they even had the chance to register what had just passed. The whole situation made chuckle slightly.
“Won’t you tire like this?” The elf asked after reaching the green pastures beyond the city’s outskirts.
I shook my head. “I don’t think so. I’ve run at nearly this speed before in the forest, and it didn’t tire in the slightest. With the terrain more even here, I think it’s going to make things even better.”
“I do hope that things continue to go as smoothly. We have no idea what kind of terrain we’ll have to pass to get to Len Asari,” Cellestra noted.
“We’ll be fine,” I said confidently. “I’m certain we can deal with anything we may co across. I worry about many things, but I don’t recall that being one. I think reaching the province won’t be too much of an issue. The real issue cos after that. We’ll have to prove that we co in good faith and things like that.”
The elf smiled again. “I’m sure we’ll find a way.”
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