Advent Story 2012: The Fae World: Alder: On Earth (part 4)

[k_a_webb]

Willow

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

“Esra…”

“If you’re not going to look after yourself, then I am,” she said, glaring at Alder. “You may well be my older brother and the family elder, but that doesn’t mean that I have no say in what happens, because I’ve lost too many siblings to lose you as well. I will not let you work yourself into the ground.”

Feeling ashamed of himself, Alder nodded. “I’m sorry. I just…” He sighed. “If I stop then I have to think and I don’t want to think right now.”

Esra smiled at him. “I understand, but I know you haven’t eaten yet and keeping you alive is important. I’m not the only person who needs you.”

“I know.”

“Did you see Willow?”

“She came through the gate safely. I don’t know exactly where she went after that, but I know she was planning on going to see the Prime Minister soon.”

“I would have thought she went to check on her father.”

“Do we have any news about the King?”

“None of the healers think he’ll wake up.” Esra made her way into the kitchen of the tent. “I half hope he does, so he has to deal with the problems his stupidity has caused, but at the same time I’d like Willow to be Queen. She’s been amazing.”

Alder watched his sister bustle around the kitchen. Esra had been an accident, born six years after Alder, the last planned baby, and he was grateful that she had been born. Without her he’d have had no reason to stay after his elder sister died, because he wasn’t close enough to his younger cousins to care that much about what happened to them, so he never would have had a chance to meet Willow. He felt a little guilty at his lack of feeling, but they were the children of one of his father’s youngest brothers and they’d never really spent any time together until he gathered what remained of the family to make preparations for the move.

“She has,” Alder replied, turning his thoughts away from what he knew was going to make him feel sad again.

With a pan in her hand Esra turned to look at him. “She’s going to need you, Alder. If the King dies she will be the last of her bloodline.”

“How do you know that?”

“Father wasn’t the only one who was interested in family trees.”

“Seriously?”

“It’s a recent interest.” Esra smiled. “One that may come in handy in the future.” She turned back to the hob. “I read the book.”

“What book?” Alder asked, confused by the change of subject.

“The book that you left on your bedside table. It was harrowing reading.” There was a silence. “What’s Willow planning on doing with the information.”

“Esra…”

“You can be grumpy about it later.”

“How do you even know that Willow would have talked to me about it?”

“She gave you the book to read, Alder. If she hadn’t wanted to talk to you about it she never would have done that.”

“Maybe.” Alder stared at Esra’s back, wondering if he should tell her the truth or not. “I’m not entirely certain what Willow’s planning on doing,” he said finally, deciding on the truth. “I know she wants to tell the fae what happened in the past, because she thinks it’s something we all ought to know, but we never discussed how we were going to do that.”

Esra nodded. “Can you introduce me to her?”

“Why?”
“I think we might have a few things in common and right now she needs all the friends she can get, Alder. Even sixteen-year-old friends.”

Alder sat down, still staring at Esra’s back. The loss of their siblings had changed her, although she had always seemed older than her years, and he was certain that Willow would appreciate having friends around her. He just couldn’t be sure that he was doing the right thing for Esra. She still had an opportunity to be young, one that he didn’t have, and he didn’t want her to waste it, just because she thought a princess of the fae needed friends.

“Are you sure?”

“Am I sure about what? That I want you to introduce me to the princess? Yes, I’m sure.” Esra turned to look at him again, this time holding a wooden spoon. “Nothing is ever going to be the same again, Alder. There are four of us left and I can never go back to being who I was before, even if you want me to.” She bit her lip. “I’m not certain that I’m the person you thought I was anyway, although you may have seen more than Father did, and our older siblings. I just can’t sit around doing nothing when I know that there are things I can be doing. If it was anyone but you in charge of the family I never even would have had a choice, but I do, and I want to make that choice without you worrying that I’m throwing something away. It was never mine to throw.”

“Just take a couple of hours to think about things, please.” Alder ran a hand through his hair, feeling more than a little out of his depth. “I’m almost entirely certain you won’t change your mind, because I’ve never known you to, but I didn’t have a choice when I became the family elder, and I want you to have choices, Esra. That’s more important to me than anything else.”

“I know.” Esra smiled. “I think, with you here, I have more choices than I ever would have had before, and I’m not going to squander them. At the same time I know you. Sometimes I think I know you better than you know yourself. If you think I’m making the wrong choice you will do everything you can to convince me to make another one, but I know what I need to do right now, and that is do what I can to help Willow.”

Alder shook his head. “I don’t understand why.”

“Willow, right now, is almost entirely alone. She’s scared because she thinks she’s made the wrong choices, that the fae hate her, and there are probably numerous other fears taking up her mind. I can help her with those fears, be a friend to her, guide her into making choices the average fae will appreciate, and do things that you can’t, because of the position you’re in.” Esra looked at Alder, their eyes meeting. “She needs a normal friend and she’s not going to find one without help.”

Mirrored from K. A. Jones Writing.