Chapter Fifteen

Istelle had been lying awake on a couch for twenty minutes now, though it felt like longer. She just couldn't sleep.

Carefully, quietly, she stood up and made her way across the room to the front door.

When she opened it, a strong blast of wind hit her, shocking her so badly that she jumped back, crashing into and nearly knocking over a chair, as the door banged against the wall.

Horrified at the noise she was making, Istelle hurried outside and shut the door behind her.

Brrrr. It really was quite cold and windy. Istelle wished she had brought at least one of the sweaters Gwanwyn had made out of Nayana's scarves. Now she shivered in her light Lette uniform made for warm weather. Perhaps, she thought, it might be warmer on the other side of the cottage, perhaps the building might block the wind?

As it turned out, Istelle had been right, the cottage did block the wind, but she wasn't the first to think of using it as a shelter. The space was already occupied by none other than pegasi, a group of about six of them. Some standing, others slaying down. A couple were awake.

Istelle froze, seeing their eyes on her. What was she supposed to do now? She knew about horses but had no experience with pegasi. Were these tame creatures like horses, or monsters like unicorns? Should she show her hands so they would know she was weaponless, or keep them behind her back and pretend to be armed? Or should she just back away…?

Well, she reasoned, Brooke and Asher wouldn't have created a pegasus habitat if pegasi were monsters right? And didn't Asher come out here all the time? If Soren were here, he would go right up to them, she thought, smiling a little, then shivering. She frowned. Why was she thinking about Soren now of all times?

Istelle slowly approached the pegasi, hands dangling at her sides. One of them snorted and she stopped, then resumed slowly walking towards them, then raised her hand…

Two minutes later, she was sitting against the cottage wall, surrounded by half-asleep pegasi. The ground was cold and the wind blew strong around but she sighed contentedly. Soren would be proud. Him again. Constantly intruding on her thoughts, she longed for him…

Nearly all her best memories were spent with him, and her worst without him. She thought about how different everything would be if he were here...she would let him lead the party, he would do much better than she, and she would be so happy. Not stressed, having difficulty sleeping, but feeling safe, determined, and so happy. Because what could go wrong when they were together?

When she was with him she could laugh, she could dance, she could sing. With him, she was so alive.

But without him, what was she?

She hated being the leader of the Ennell, so serious and stoic...this was not the true Istelle. She wanted to be comforted now, to feel Soren's strong arms around her, to feel his warmth…

And suddenly Istelle found it too cold here, outside. She stood up, startling the pegasus next to her. After an absentmindedly apologizing to the creature, Istelle strode through the wind around the cabin, yanked open the door, and entered. The wind slammed the door shut behind her.

Candles around the room illuminated Istelle's friends, gaping at her from the floor and couches.

Her cheeks colored. "I- I'm sorry."

"What happened?" Nayana looked concerned.

"Ah nothing, I...just needed some fresh air, that's all."

Gwanwyn studied her. "It sounds like there's a wind out there. How long were you out? You'd better bundle up so you don't get a cold." The ashy stood up, gathering the blankets from Istelle's sleeping couch.

"Gwanwyn, I'll be fine. I'm not Arin, remember?"

"But you can still get sick, and that's the last thing we want right now."

"Right, sorry."

Istelle let them bundle her up and set her on the couch, guilty for waking them all, though Talion was able to go right back to sleep at least. It was two o'clock in the morning.

"You guys should all sleep. We have a long day ahead."

After a little, with nothing else to do, they did go to sleep, but Istelle sat awake on her couch, bundled in Gwanwyn's blankets, staring out the window across the room, watching the sky slowly light up as the sun rose.

***

"Hack, hack! Creak, groan! Crash, boom! The tree separated from its trunk and fell to the ground!

Squeak! The mouse jumped off a little branch and started to run away!

Clank! The boy dropped his axe!

Pound pound pound! The boy ran after the mouse!

Bam! The boy threw the little wooden box over the mouse!

Slide, the boy slid a little wooden blank under the little wooden box!

And the boy picked the box up! Up!

Flipped it all the way around, removed the little wooden blank, and peeked inside!

And there was the mouse!

The boy boldly reached his hand into the box, and pluck! Plucked the cheese from the mouse's little paws!

Peep! Peep! The mouse pleaded, it was a hungry mouse!

So the boy broke the little cheese in half and gave the mouse one piece, and ate the other in two bites!

Yum, yum, it was good cheese!"

Evan finished telling the story.

Arin smiled happily "I would clap, but-" she gestured to her right hand, which was lightly wrapped in cloth bandages.

"Your hands will be completely clapable in no time, don't you worry," said Evan, standing up, "but your hair is a nightmare. We'd better brush it before you get the dreadful dreadlocks."

"Okay!"

"I had the dreadful dreadlocks once...when my hair was long," said the wizard thoughtfully.

"Long like Jude's?"

"Longer!"

"How much longer?"

"So long that I could climb to the very top of a big oak tree and my hair would still be in a heap at the base of it!"

Arin's eyes widened and she shook her head "Noooo, that's not possible!"

"It is too possible! So long that I could walk all around a town and come right back to where I started my hair'd be in a big circle all around the town!"

"No Evan, you can't walk around with so much hair, it'd be too heavy!"

"My friend, hair is much lighter than you'd think," he laughed, brushing Arin's. "But my it did become too heavy after it grew too long, why do you think I cut it!"

"But wouldn't it also be very dirty after you were playing outside?"

"Yes, very dirty. And when I would play games with my friends, they would always grab me by my hair and pull me along like a cow on a rope!"

Arin giggled, "but wouldn't that hurt?"

"Not at all!"

"But you really never had such long hair, did you," she twisted around to look at him, standing behind her with a comb.

"Of course not. My hair has never been any longer than it is right now."

When they finished with Arin's hair, Evan and Arin made their way back outside where the others, just finished with a game of tag, were pleased to see Arin looking so happy and groomed.

"I believe now it is time to be taking Adalyn home," said Evan, turning to Addie, "wouldn't want your parents to worry."

"Yes," the girl nodded, obediently gathering her little bag from the cabin, then coming back down to her friends, ready to go.

"Good," Evan nodded his approval, "I'll walk you down to the creek today.

Five minutes later, the old wizard returned, without Addie, but with some wildflowers that he handed out to Liz, Lina, and Arin with the suggestion that they go out and gather some themselves by the creek.

They were about to go when Jude said "wait a second guys...am I seeing things or is there-" he pointed ahead with his arm. The others looked.

First, they saw only a few figures emerging opposite them on the farthest hill opposite the Cabin in the circle of hills the Cabin was built on.

But as they slowly came closer, more and more appeared, in all kinds of shapes and sizes.

It was the Ennell.

Halfway to the base of the hill, the person in the very lead turned around and told the troops to stop. A minute later, Istelle and Gwanwyn were at the base of the hill Arin and her friends stood on.

"Gwanwyn!" the little girl took off down the hill, barely giving the ashy enough time to prepare herself before Arin jumped into her arms.

Istelle greeted the others, then went over to talk quickly and quietly with Evan. Then, she ran back down the hill.

Jude looked at Lina. "We are so not prepared for this."

Several minutes later, the Ennell was standing in the valley below.

The children, Arin still hugging Gwanwyn, watched as Evan went down to the base of the hill to talk to Istelle and a handsome and strong-looking centaur.

Finally, they turned to the crowd. Istelle shouted out at them, "We are going to split you all into nine groups. Please wait for Talion to come around and give you instructions."

The centaur went into the crowd sending the creatures in different directions, giving them instructions.

"This is getting boring," said Lina after fifteen minutes of watching the chaos below, "I think I'll go back inside."

Jude stood up. "Maybe the grapevines instead?

"Well, I'm kinda tired, so I'll stay here for now," said Liz, "but you guys can go if you want."

Lina stood still for a second, debating where to go, then ran after Jude who was going around the cabin.

Arin wriggled out of Gwanwyn's arms, "I'm hot."

She took Gwanwyn's hand, "won't you come inside with me?" She dragged the ashy into the house.

They went to the kitchen and Gwanwyn set a pot full of water to boil, "so how did everything go while we were gone?"

"I got this!" Arin proudly held up her right hand, bandaged up, then pointed to the scrapes on her right leg.

"Oh my! How did it happen then?"

"I fell off of a grapevine."

"Well, Evan did a wonderful job of patching you up, didn't he?"

"Yes. But I had to miss a game of tag," she added a little sadly. Gwanwyn grinned, "I bet I can tag you now!" she lounged for Arin who squealed and ran out of the kitchen. The ashy only followed her to the door, then went back to her cooking.

Arin ran around the house, not looking to see if Gwanwyn was behind her. She rounded the corner and ran down the hill to the grapevines, then stopped.

Jude and Lina sat on the ground behind a bush, talking quietly.

A rare opportunity for Arin to play Spy.

Quietly, Arin crept up and hid behind the bush. Their backs were to her, but she could see through the bush. The two weren't looking at each other. Their eyes were on the ground, Lina was drawing in the ground. Both were silent.

Finally, Jude looked up at Lina. "I like you too."

It took a few moments for Arin to understand what was going on. Then her heart started racing. She should not have come here. She felt her cheeks reddening.

But of course. Linaria wasn't all that much younger than Jude. Arin must be just some little kid to him. And of course, the two had known each other for so long...

Arin wanted to run. Back to Gwanwyn, to forget that any of this had happened. But of course, she couldn't forget. And if she tried to escape now, they would surely catch her. So she just sat there and waited.

"How long have you?" Lina asked Jude.

"Since the day you offered to help me with my shark project back in third grade."

"That's a long time."

"Yeah."

There was another pause.

"Well," said Linaria, "if I had to be here during a war in the far past with anyone, I'm glad it's you."

"Yeah. Same."

They were quiet again. Just go, please. Arin thought miserably. And after another minute of silence, finally, they did go, leaving her alone behind the bush, where she stayed, slumped, unmoving for several more minutes before finally getting up and going back inside.