Old Grudges

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"You, elf." A gruff sounding human man was seated in a tavern in the human village of Earlestown. It had once been a bustling market place, a meeting place for merchants and scholars. But now... It was lucky if a handful of hunters passed through on their way elsewhere. The people here lived close to the neighbouring kingdom that boasted that is was the seat of all civilisation, Elven, of course. The exact border was somewhat of a foggy issue, meaning battles often broke out over ownership of land. Elves passed through, most of them simply wishing to look down upon what they considered the uncivilised and rather boring humans, before returning to their own cities of silver.
"Elf?" The dark haired female asked, spitting that one word back at the man who had called it to her as she walked past his table. "You do not address the other women here as 'human', so not call me by my race either." She added rather haughtily.
"Well la-di-da! Ain't you just lady of the manor!" The man sneered, banging his glass down on the creaking wooden table. "Your kind aren't welcome here! You never will be! Get your knife ears back to your own side of the border!" 
The elven woman sighed heavily and with silent and sudden movements, she was in front of the human, her ornate elven dagger slammed into the chair all too close to his privates. "Do not test me, human. I have no humour for your kind this evening."

"Our people value all life, do they not?" Abalas asked coolly. "Should it matter what form it took, now that it has returned to the great cycle of things?"

It wasn't working. "You could have just let her disappear, but oh no! He had to drag her back here so she could take you away from me too!"

"I have never seen you value the life of a dwarf." Eirwen snorted, shaking her head. "Or that of any other human except for hers." She spat. "Do not try to play that game with me. Why did you bring that girl here anyway? What are you thinking she can offer you? She is certainly of no use to the rest of us unless you were thinking we needed a new maid." 

"Your father is king. We have to honor him no matter what his decisions may be." Rothain said gently, watching the cook out of the corner of his eye. The elder elf was listening to their every word. She would take it back to the king. "We honor our lord as we should. It is our duty as elves." He told Gwen firmly.

"Perhaps I was." Abalas replied, giving nothing away. "However, as king I have every right to make decisions without running them by you first, my queen!"

Gwen stopped her pacing and looked at Rothain as though he had just declared he never wished to see her again. "So that's how it is? If there was a choice... It would always be him, and never me?"

Eirwen narrowed her dark eyes, again showing him just how much she had grown to hate him. "It is hardly fair that you are allowed to take a lover and I am not." She hissed, her fingers on the door. "Play with your new toy all you like, but do not presume that I will make her stay easy for her." 

"Indeed." Rothain said, his own words twisting a deadly dagger deep into his gut. He was sure this was how the dwarf had felt when he had killed her. "You are his eldest daughter. I would think that you would know that well enough by now. He is our king. His smallest wish is our command. And happily so."

"I never said you could not." Abalas replied quietly, already turning away. "I think perhaps you are having trouble finding a man who can tolerate your vanity."

Gwen had not thought Rothain would ever hurt her. She had been very wrong. That emotion played out in her crystal coloured eyes the moment before she fled the kitchen in tears.

"Don't sound so jealous. " Eirwen snapped, stomping to the door like a petulant child. "And don't bother with the funeral. They have already dumped the ashes."

Rothain closed his eyes and sighed. There was no other way. The king's wishes would be satisfied. No matter the cost.

"Perhaps one day Dahlia can return you the favour!" Abalas roared in reply.

The youngest child of the king was sat by the place where he mother was buried. It was in the rose garden, as the queen would not permit the other woman's body to rest with the elves. It was an odd occurrence however, as the roses that grew on top of her remains were rainbow coloured.

"Dahlia will be dead before I am. I will see to that!" Eirwen shouted back, slamming the door to his room. 

"Your sister keeps trying poison those." Rothain said, having found his future bride out in the garder.

Abalas suddenly felt three thousand years old, three times his actual age. He was king, shouldn't everyone else be trying to keep him happy?

"Gwen poisons everything she touches." Dahlia whispered without looking up at Rothain.

Iris had gotten herself lost in the forest. She was at the point of swearing that the trees were moving around her on purpose.

"And you do not?" Rothain snorted. "Things die far more quickly around you than they do anyone else. Even the small herb plants in the kitchens."

Abalas had allowed Iris to run as far as her human legs would take her. He had eyes on her the entire time, a midnight coloured bird soared across the tree tops, relaying her position to its master.

"Did you want something?" Dahlia asked thinly. "If you're looking for your darling Gwen, you won't find her here. Just... Go. You're not welcome in this place!"

Iris finally gave up, sliding down the length of a tree trunk and burying her face in her hands. Her grief had over taken her and she again sobbed into her hands, feeling alone in a way she never had before. 

"You and your sister are more alike than you think." Dothan snorted, shaking his head at Dahlia. "None of yourunhappiness is ever your own fault. It is always mine."

"I don't think an apology is quite enough for what has happened..." Abalas breathed when he came across Iris some time later. 

"Of course it is!" Dahlia practically sobbed. "I didn't want to come back here! I don't belong here... and you dragged me! Saul was offering me protection from an eternity with you!"

"I shouldn't have brought her here. I should have stayed with my brother. He. .would never have allowed this to happen." Iris whispered, no longer able to even cry. "I don't know why I came..."

"And how long would you have extended your time?" Rothain asked her. "He is exactly what your father said. He is frail human. You will spend more time mourning him than loving him."

"Your brother was stifling you." Abalas breathed, daring to reach out and brush away some of Iris' tears. "Can I ask something... personal?"

"Rather that, than trapped for eternity in a marriage to a man who will never even touch me!" Dahlia shot back. It was that moment that it finally dawned on the young princess; she loved Saul, a man she barely even knew.

Iris lifted her eyes to Abalas' face, nodding ever so slightly. "Anything, your grace." The forest around them had gone still as night had started to set in. But it was not because things were settling in, it was in simple reverence of the king. 

"Is that what you want?" Rothain growled. He grabbed he upper arms and hauled her against him, pressing his lips to hers. He knew the moment he'd done it that he could never care for the king's youngest daughter. Even a little. Her taste was wrong. It was not the sweet taste of summer that came with his Gwen. This taste was like water. There was nothing to it. He regretted it already.

"The father of your child, was he a dwarf?" Abalas asked softly. This would seem very much like th sold king to Dahlia, the gentle soul who cared for the feelings of others.

Dahlia shoved her hands roughly against Rothain's chest, her violet eyes filled with a sudden fury. "That was not what I meant, and you know it!" She too was feeling it was wrong. He entire body had tingled the second Saul's lips had touched her own, Rothain's... They tasted like nothing at all.

This only seemed to anger Abalas, causing his fists to ball up by his sides. "Then it would seem disposing of that runaway slave was no real tragedy!" He snarled, now pacing like his eldest daughter had done. "Iris... No one should have had to go through that. Ever." It never even occurred to him that he was potentially putting Dahlia in the same position.

Dahlia was not versed in the delicate kind of mind games her sister was, when she was angry it was very clear. Rothain got a slender fist to his nose for his trouble. "No amount of enchantment could hide your ugly heart!"

"It was my place as daughter of the king. To secure an alliance. Giving my body was what I was born for." Iris told him, wondering why he seemed so angry. "I have no other purpose in life, your highness."

"Nor can it hide how human you are!" Rothain roared, grabbing her by the arm and tossing her into the multicolored rose bush. "You are something only someone who feels shame could love." He hissed, wiping the blood from his nose.

"And what did your brother sacrifice?" Abalas asked, his blood still boiling at the thought of not just a man abusing Iris, but a dwarf, no less.

"Funny, because I don't love myself." Dahlia breathed, the thorns piercing her skin in many places. "I look at you, and I see everything that is wrong with the elves. I'm ashamed that I could not run far enough to escape every damn one of you!"

"My brother was groomed to be king. Isn't that sacrifice enough? Giving up freedom to rule, not everyone carries themselves so gracefully like you do." Iris answered, watching him pace.

"And you never will. Get over it." Rothain hissed, turning to leave.

"A king can choose as much, or little, freedom as he wishes. Unless of course your brother relies upon advisors to make his decisions for him?" Abalas asked. "Iris, you shouldn't be so accepting of what was done to you."

Dahlia remained where she had landed in the thorny rose bush. She had no loving mother to turn to, her sister hated her and her father was a stranger now. The young princess felt utterly trapped, knowing that any action she took would give Rothain cause to push for war against the humans.

"It's all right. It kept peace between the borders for awhile. As long as I kept Bartrand happy every one was happy. It's the least I could do for the man that gave me life." Iris said gently, wiping at her eyes.

"You shouldn't have to though." Abalas breathed, offering out a silken handkerchief. "If something happened to your brother, would you not be queen?"

"Oh heavens no. I'm not smart enough for that. My father and brother ensured that I would never take the throne. There is an heir apparent in the wings should Saul pass. I am nothing more than a brood mare to ensure that the blood line stays royal. Isn't that how it is done?" Iris asked, her tiny fingers toying with the silken fabric.

"Not for elves." Abalas disagreed. "My son is the eldest, but should something befall him, the throne would pass to the next in line, my eldest daughter, Gwen." He replied, wondering if talking was helping Iris at all.

"Odd that you would set that in place when you yourself said that an elf is eternal." Iris said, finally she managed a tiny smile. "Your children are lucky to have you, Abalas. My own father was not so kind to his daughters as you are. I have to admit that I'm jealous." She got to her feet, swaying ever so slightly. "Why did you come to find me? You would have been free of me if you'd simply forgotten I'd gone..."

"There comes a time when an old man no longer wishes to be troubled by the lives of an entire realm." Abalas chuckled. "These woods are not for a human woman to walk alone." The king added quickly. "Any further from the palace, and the nymphs would have taken you for themselves."

"Nymphs are female, they have no interest in me." Iris laughed softly, tucking a strand of tangled hair behind her ear. 
From out of nowhere a young man's hand appeared, along with a bone white brush. "I shall help you with that." He purred, daring to push his fingers into her golden curls.