The friends thanked her again before Eldana called to the Elf Queen one last time,
“Mother. I can call you that, right?”
Fraweyni stopped, her hand holding the infirmary’s entrance flap open. Without turning, she smiled.
“You can call me anything you want, Eldana. If I have deserved that name, then I am the happier for it.”
Eldana smiled.
“Okay. Mother, you did not tell me anything about who I am meeting at the Piece Island.”
Fraweyni paused for moments before speaking, “The person you are going to meet is like yourself.”
Eldana did not understand what Fraweyni had said immediately, but her eyes widened an instant later when comprehension dawned on her.
“Are you saying the person we are going to meet is a being of Balance and Chaos, like Eldana?” Siem asked She had a surprise all over her face. And it was not just her. All of them.
“Yes,” Fraweyni replied.
“How?” Hermon asked.
“My question exactly,” Eldana said. “How?”
Mikko and D’rmas stood at the periphery, no less interested in the answer to Hermon’s question. The birds seemed to have stopped their singing, hanging overhead on tree branches, and the wind made the grass beneath them bend towards the mother of the elves to hear what she had to say.
“I do not think I am in the best position to answer that,” Fraweyni replied. “However, I think that when you meet her, all questions you have will be answered. I should leave you now. We may meet again, just before you leave.”
Bidding them a pleasant rest, Fraweyni walked off into the night, leaving the friends to stare helplessly at themselves.
At first light, Eldana, and Siem were already up and prepared. They had slept in a different place from the men and wondered if the men were up already or still sleeping where they were.
“How are you feeling?” Siem asked Eldana as they sat together on the bed. Siem still harbored concern for Eldana’s well-being, especially after yesterday.
“Siem, I am fine. Really.” Eldana replied.
Just then, they heard the snap of fingers in rapid succession just outside the tent. Eldana and Siem snapped to attention before they heard Meko’s voice.
“It is me,” the elf said. “Can I come in?”
“Yes, please,” Siem said.
“I was not expecting you to be awake,” Meko said as she came in. “Not with the stress you all went through yesterday.”
“Well, we decided that the earlier we move on, the quicker we get all this over with,” Siem said.
“I feel the same way too,” Meko said. “If you are all set, we should be on our way. Kochob went over to the boys. He will be coming with them.”
“This is goodbye to a comfortable bed, a roof over our head, safety, and proper food!” Eldana said.
Siem sighed, “Indeed.”
“Perhaps,” Meko said, “You should garner solace in the fact that if we all survive this, we can be as comfortable as we want to be. If you find and end to this chaos thing, we might have a chance to live in peace forever.”
The early morning air was cool and gentle, carrying the humble and silent demeanor of an infant child. The trees bowed gently, ruffling their leaves in response to each gust of wind. Where Eldana and Siem’s footfalls constituted part of the symphony of early morning sounds, Meko’s was noiseless. Like her feet were not touching the ground at all. Eldana and Siem followed Meko through a few clearings that contained a scattering of tents. If the elves were awake, they did not indicate. The entrance to the tents flapped, but other than that, revealed nothing else.
They took a turn, then ventured into the woods. They walked on in silence, boots squashing against shrubs wet from early morning dew.
“How long till we get there?” Eldana asked. She had not seen any of the men. They had probably set off before them to see the ship, letting their curiosity get the better of them.
It was not that she had grown tired from working, far from that. In fact, since her healing session with Meko, Eldana felt extraordinarily strong. Like some new pocket of health and vitality had been discovered inside of her. They walked for a few miles under a cloud of silence, until Eldana sought to dispel it.
“It is not too far away now,” Meko said, and then a cunning smile grew on her face. “You know, if you both want, I could carry both of you in my arms, and run towards our destination.”
Eldana and Siem shared a small laugh at the joke.
Soon, Siem detected a change in the atmosphere. A fresh gust of cold pervaded the air, spreading through it with calm. Eldana recognized the change of air as coming from a body of water nearby.
“I think we are close to the river.” She spoke in a low voice to Siem.
In the next few seconds, Eldana’s conjecture was proven right. They broke out of the trees, and into a riverbank. There was a fine line of light on the horizon, which was beginning to spread out into the rest of the sky. Not too far away from them, there was a small group, standing close to a ship in the anchor.
“Wow,” Siem exclaimed.
The ship had been so unexpected that Eldana just stared wide-eyed. They did not need the light of the sun to reveal the sleek nature of the ship or the fact that it seemed to have a glow that was inherent in its timber planks.
“Is that it?” Eldana questioned after a short while of standing and gaping.
“Yes,” Meko replied. “That is it.”
“Do you have a name for it?” Siem asked.
“The family that gave it to us named the ship Marta as they
