k_a_webb | Advent Story 2012: The Fae World: Alder: On Earth (part 3) (Reply)

Alder watched Sorrel walk away. Until then Alder hadn’t realised how close to the medical tent he was and knew it was going to take him a while to get used to the way the camp was set up, even though he didn’t think the camp would last long. The majority of the fae weren’t going to be comfortable. It didn’t matter that the tents had all been created with magic, and when they were compared to human tents they were amazing, because they always wanted something more. He couldn’t help being grateful that the magic of creation had mostly faded away, with the only known wielders of the ability still on their old world. Knowing that there were many fae who had stayed behind, preferring to bury their heads in the sand, made him feel sad, and he wished he had been more persuasive.

Sighing, he pushed away the feeling, and continued on his way to where his family were. Alder’s mind turned to Sorrel, and Sorrel’s sister, and Azalea, and Azalea’s daughters. Every day Alder was grateful that his sister had survived, because he couldn’t imagine what his life would be like without her, but losing his other siblings, his father, and the rest of his family had been almost more than he could cope with. There had been days when he didn’t even like his father, but Alder still missed him. Thinking of all the people he’d lost was always hard and knowing that he’d left them all behind made it harder.

Tightening his arms around the book Alder forced away the memories he was certain were going to overwhelm him if he let himself think of the people he’d lost. It took his what felt like forever to get to the corner, because he found himself looking at everyone who passed him, wondering who they might have lost. Having work to do had been the best way to stop himself from thinking too much of what had happened and not having anything to do was making it too easy to think about the things he’d been doing his best not to think of.

On the day Alder’s elder sister had died, after being the youngest elder on the council for twelve days, he’d done the only thing he could do: planned to leave their world behind. It wasn’t something he’d wanted to do, but he knew the only way he would be able to survive was to leave. They’d talked about it before, because the elders hadn’t been doing anything, and there had always been someone who’d wanted to wait, just in case they were wrong. Just before his sister died it had been their elder cousin, who had died three days after Alder’s sister, which had made Alder all the more certain that it was time to move, certain that he didn’t have much time left.

It had been three days later that Willow had stormed into the council hall, wanting to know what the elders were doing, and when she hadn’t liked the answer she’d made things happen. Without the Princess nothing would have happened. The King hadn’t wanted the fae to move from one world to another any more than the elders had, although he’d never given a reason why. A book had been found, on the King’s desk, that didn’t explain any better than the King had done, because when Alder had read it he knew that his choice would have been different. Knowing that his race was unlikely to survive what was happening, because they hadn’t before and it had taken millennia to repopulate the planet, would have made him find somewhere else for his people to live, even if it wasn’t something he particularly wanted to do.

Breathing deeply Alder looked at the tent his sister was, hopefully, in. If the King had made a decision sooner he wouldn’t have been the family elder, he would have still had siblings, cousins, and maybe even a couple of aunts and uncles. A single tear, the first tear he’d let free, trickled down his cheek. A part of him wanted to hate Willow, because of who she was related to, but she’d been the one to make the decision that it was past time they did something and then made it happen. He didn’t know if she’d have done the same thing if she’d been trained to take the throne, so he was glad she was the youngest sibling, thrust into the same position he’d been thrust into, because she was the only person who could understand what he was going through.

Arms still wrapped around the book Alder stepped into the tent. His sister smiled at him from her position on the bed, where she had been scribbling in her journal, and he couldn’t help breathing a sigh of relief. The look she gave him made it obvious she knew what was going through his mind, understood entirely, and yet was totally exasperated at the same time.

“I’m fine, Alder,” she said, closing her journal as she did so. “We’re safe now.”

Alder shook his head. “We’re not really safe yet,” he replied, putting the book on one of the empty book shelves. “There are still things that need to be done if we’re going to be truly safe, but we’re not going to die either.” He shook his head, wondering why he’d just said the things he had. “Sorry.”

“Is there anything else you need to be doing right now?”

“No. Willow was going to visit the Prime Minister and talk to him about our arrival, but until that happens all I can do is wait.” Alder sighed. “I don’t want to be sitting around waiting.”

“You need to relax at some point.”

“Maybe, but right now there are still things that need to be done and there’s nothing I can do to help them get done.”

“Alder…” Esra bit her lip, staring at him. “You were the one who did the work to find this world, you set up the camp, and you’ve spent the whole day working.”

“I know, Es. It’s just…”

Esra nodded. “Take some time to eat, then if you really want to go out there to find more work to do then I’m not going to stop you.”

Mirrored from K. A. Jones Writing.