Fiu

The day the elves found a child in their midst will never be forgotten. It was a babe really; Tiny, pink, and foreign. The wrinkly chubby infant didn’t cry when Morgana, Queen of Shishtar, picked him up with her cold white hands.

Whispers bled through the castle about the recklessness of the Queen who brought the thing home with her like a stray jinga pup she found in the woods. Many shook their heads and agreed that the human was dangerous, not to be trusted or left to live, and they were right.

But Morgana, third wife of King Lattaire, never bore elflings of her own. The helpless naked babe pricked at her lonely heart when it cooed at her razor toothed smile.

“Look at him, Lattie. He’s just a baby. What could he do to us?” She knew how the nickname affected her husband but the shaded wrinkles on his white face never moved.

The king’s long grey hair shimmered down his back like a waterfall and poured over each of his shoulders like a headdress. “It’s when he’s not a baby, Morgana, that I worry about. Where did he come from? How did a human end up in our land? All our work to keep humans ignorant of the part of land they share with us could be ruined. What if someone came looking for him? What then?”

“You’ve said so yourself what we lack in numbers we make up for in power. There’s no human soul in possession of magic like ours.”

“You forget the indian tribes that moved south when their chief deemed the land cursed. They seemed affected enough by our crystals.”

Morgana looked at the walls of their chamber. She held the infant close to her bosom as if she could protect the child from the interference of their tinkling rocks that grew from the ground. The purple tinted crystals were the source of their abilities. It’s true that humans seemed to take on certain talents when living near the invisible elf metropolis.

“Nothing was proven,” she said without looking at her husband. “Only sightings of small unexplainable tricks, that’s all.”

“And so when they come tearing down our walls you would have us fight the human race over a child that belongs to them? He’s not like us, Morgana, and if we don’t get rid of him now he may get rid of us.”

“Oh shush.” It was unclear if she shushed her husband or the babe as she bounced him and twirled his brown curly hair on her long spindly fingers. “You suggest we leave him out in the forest then, to be eaten by the snagboars or freeze to death in the night? Or would you rather just toss him over the border and say good riddance?”

The king sighed and rubbed at his gray forehead. “Of course not.”

“Then let me care for him while your guards search for a village to place him in. They can report to me and when a suitable place is found we will drop him in their care.”

Lattaire stepped closer to his wife. Pulling her to him by her elbows he forced her to look into his yellow burning eyes. “And what until then? What of the village of elves who seek to kill this baby tonight? They will see me as a weak king who cannot control his queen. This thing will never be accepted here.” He shook her as he looked at the sleeping baby in her arms with fear. Morgana wrenched herself from his grasp as Lattaire continued.  “It will never be safe here. If you care about this human life at all I suggest you get rid of it quickly.”

Her Golden eyes bore into her tortured husbands soul as she mulled over his words. “Of course,” she whispered.

In her mind she had every intention to follow her husbands orders. He was right after all. He was always right. It’s why he was chosen to be King, because he was of sound mind and judgement. He could keep the people safe no matter the problems brewing at home.

Morgana did care for this child and did see that it was not safe for it within the walls of Shishtar. But in her heart there was a chamber of hope that her people would, over time, see what she saw. She could keep this strange babe safe just as her King kept the people safe, couldn’t she?

Without acknowledging that sliver of hope even to herself she nodded to her king and agreed. “You have my word, Lattiare. He won’t be a burden for long.”

The king had no reason to hear the careful promise or to examine the hidden meaning in her words. He simply spun on his heel and left her to tend to the human angel baby.

                                                                 ***

“Look Ama! Look what I can do!” The boy with strange blue eyes clapped his hands and made beautiful rocks spout out of them like bubbles. His brown curls cascaded down hisl pink back instead of the stiff straight hair of an elf. His arms were no longer soft and pliable but rounded with budding muscles. Though he had grown much he had never reached the height of the elves and never would.

“Not at the table Orom,” Morgana chided with a smile.

“Yes, Ama.”

To hear the name Ama, Mother, on the lips of the boy made Morgana’s heart soar everytime.

The door to their dinner chamber swung open like shattered glass and it pained Morgana to see the transformation on her son’s face. He feared the king and oh how she longed for her husband to accept this life she loved so much.

“Good evening, Afa,” Orom said politely.

Morgana could tell he knew how much Lattiare hated to be called Father, but also knew she insisted upon it. Orom made the title quiter every time he spoke it.

The king grunted. “What’s this?” he said, pointing to the jeweled rocks on the table and along the floor.

Knowing the king forbade it, Orom’s eyes widened making the white in them more visible as he stared down at his new magic trick.

Morgana jumped to his rescue. “I found them in the river today,” she said quickly. “Aren’t they beautiful? Orom and I were just picking our favorites.”

On que, Orom picked up a golden yellow pebble and held it up to Morgana. “This one matches your eyes, Ama.”

She took the stone and then grasped the hand of the young boy. She bent her head forward and Orom who already knew the traditions of the elves closed his eyes and let their foreheads touch.

Lattaire cleared his throat with a grumbling in his chest and a snarl on his lip. “Another group was lost today.”

Morgana lifted her head to the words.

“I still don’t know if they’re just out of range or gone for good but we can no longer hear their reports through the crystals.”

“And still no sign of human life?”

“None. It’s as if they disappeared and this babe is the last of it’s kind.” He looked at Orom then but not in a loving or even worried sort of way. He looked at Orom with a sense of dread and obligation as if the kid were a parasite he couldn’t get rid of.

“He’s not a babe anymore,” Morgana said as she stroked the boy’s cheek with a soft hand. “He’s growing to be a fine young man.”

Orom smiled at the words.

“Yes, a man,” Lattaire clipped the top edge of his empty glass chair with his hand and a shard flew through the air. He walked across the room to the open window. “What are we to do with a man?”

“These soldiers have families,” Morgana said, ignoring his outburst. “Could we not stop the hunt for now?”

He turned a hard face to Morgana. “You would wait for danger to find us then? Whatever took the humans could come for us too. It’s about more than just finding his family now. It’s about being ready for what’s out there.”

“How is sending elf after elf out into the unknown, never to return, preparing us?”

Lattaire stomped forward, “How is holding onto this thing,” he swung his arm out to Orom but glared at Morgana, “not the contributing to the problem? Perhaps he is their King and there are wars being fought for this lost heir. Or he was a curse they threw into our territory to rid themselves of.”

Lattaire took several more stomping steps. Orom hid behind Morgana as she bared her teeth and hissed.

Lattaire stood in place his eyes blazing.

Morgana stood her ground and shouted back holding Orom close with one arm behind her. “You may be failing your people but you will not take your anger out on this innocent fiu.” She noticed her slip as soon as it left her lips. The elf word for boy. She called him her elfling in front of Lattaire.

The king straightened taller and taller until he towered over her with his blue cape billowing around them. The air stirred stronger through the room and lifted the kings hair off his shoulders. His booming voice made the crystals in the room tinkle and sing. “He is not an elf! You forget yourself, wife.”

The cold words and wind made Morgana shrink.

“You are too attached. You would really rather see our people’s lives in jeopardy than have this one human released into the world he belongs to? I’ve let this go on for too long.” He stepped forward but as soon as his hand touched her arms he was thrown across the room.

Morgana looked down to see Orom peaking out from behind her skirts. Could he be the power behind the attack?

“Don’t touch her,” the boy said. His voice was confident and clear not an ounce of hesitation wavering across his flushed human lips.

Lattaire took command of the force that pushed him and descended calmly on the floor just before hitting the window.

“You’ve been teaching him the elements,” Lattaire shouted in disgust.”You’ve been showing him the very tools that will aide him in defeating us?”

Morgana shook her head between husband and son. Her white hair hitting her in the face as she spoke. “I showed him nothing. He lives here among us peacefully why shouldn’t he be able to practice our ways? He’s done nothing to earn our mistrust. Nothing to hurt us.”

For a moment the room was still. The air calmed and the walls were silent. The eyes of the King and Queen battled a silent match, neither one of them willing to give in.

“You’ve chosen who you serve.” The king's voice was nothing but a whisper. “With this misplaced love, you’ve already destroyed us. He goes before a council in the morning.”

Lattaire left on a cloud of ice wind that pushed the crystal door open as he approached.

The room shook when the door closed behind him and so did Morgana. Had she really chosen to serve this human boy above her people? How had she let things excelate to this? She was so certain that the elves would learn to love him as she did. But now she saw her love differently. It tore people apart instead of bring them together. Not only had she brought hardship to her land and divided the people but she held back this human boy as well. What opportunities did he miss by being with them instead of his kind? What horrors does the rest of his world now face and could her son have changed their fate? Could he save them now?

Before she could change her mind, she spun and knelt in front of the young boy and took his hands in hers.

“You’ve learned much while with us, Orom.” she couldn’t look at his strange eyes, the color of the sky. She couldn’t look upon the confusion that was surely there.

“I’m sorry, Ama. I shouldn’t have-”

She put her fingers on his warm mouth and shushed him. “You will always be my fiu, my little elfling.”

“You’re sending me away? No, Ama. I’ll be good. I promise I won’t-”

Morgana took the boy in her arms and pressed him to her bosom as she did on that first day so long ago. “I would never send you away. You will always be with me as I am with you.” She leaned over and stretched out an arm toward the wall. Wrapping her long white hands around a large purple crystal she broke one off with a loud snap. A tear rolled down her cold cheek. “But I feel it in my heart just as I felt it when I found you that you are needed elsewhere. I needed you then. Someone else needs you now.”

Morgana pulled back from Orom and looked at him. She placed the crystal in his hands. “Your people need you, Orom. With the magic you’ve learned here you can help find them. You can save them." She pushed the brown curls off his shoulder. "I'm so happy fate sent you to me to love for just a little while. But Lattaire is right. I must serve my people. And you must serve yours.”

Was there time for Orom to save his people or was it too late? Morgana didn’t want to admit how much she hoped the humans were all gone and someday her son would come back to her with no where else to go.

Would her people accept him then? Was there time before then to make amends with her husband and her kingdom as well?

She wiped at his wet cheeks one last time and memorized the contours of his angelic pink face.

“Someday I’ll bring our people together, Ama. Someday I’ll make even Afa proud.”

Morgana’s heart bubbled and she hoped to the crystals that he would succeed.

But as she watched the retreating back of the human boy she raised, dread wrapped around her neck like a strangling wire. It intensified and burned. It was more than dread it was a poison. Instantaneous. Firm. Real. As invisible as the wind.

Morgana scratched and scraped at her throat and fell to her knees. She reached out a silent unnoticed hand to her fiu, her boy, before falling lifeless to the ground.

The day the elves found a child in their midst will never be forgotten. The boy left death in his wake and held magic in his hands.