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Chapter 7

Jonathan left them at the river after saying a quick goodbye, the wooden bridge large and sturdy under their petite forms as they crossed in a hurry, hoping to make it to a small village before nightfall so they wouldn’t have to sleep rough. Wasting no time, tuviel took them through every cluster of trees possible, worried that should they be out in the open for too long they would be spotted by those who pursued them.

The trees ranged for what seemed like a hundred miles in all directions, the ground littered with the dying leaves of autumn, informing astria that the nights would continue to grow colder until the first snows of winter, though she worried they would never make it to theirdestination before they struck.

Astria stopped. Slamming her pack against the ground as she stretched her back, the muscles screaming in agony.

She needed to rest and no longer cared what her mother said, or if she was scorned for her actions.

They had been walking for most of the day and she wasn’t sure that she would be able to continue without a moment to regain her composure.

She made sure that her hair was still neatly in a ponytail, and pulled the handcrafted animal skin flask from her bag, drinking deeply, the water soothed her throat even as it burned.

Tuviel turned back to see that her daughter had stopped and sighed, making her way back to where she was. Placing her own pack onto the ground, she also stopped for a short drink, knowing that if they didn't make it to the village soon, they would have to rest.

“we cannot stop for long astria, we don’t know how close our enemies are.” She warned, searching to trees for any sign of threat.

“i know.” She said, “i just needed a short rest, we have been walking for hours.”

“yes. We have. But we don’t have much further to go before we can rest.”

“where are we headed?”

“to a small village by valle mountains. It called resina.”

“will we be safe there?”

“i suppose not, but it is a good place to stay for the night, the staff at the inn are ... Discreet.”

“do we have the money to stay in an inn?” Astria asked, knowing that they never had a use for money in lacus, but that the world away from the swamp was much different.

“yes. I have a little over four thousand gold pieces. It will be enough to get us to your father.”

“where did you get it from?”

“i have saved it for nineteen years, well, for this exact moment.”

“you knew that we would have to leave?”

Tuviel sighed. “eventually yes.”

“you could have told me.”

Tuviel shook her head, her tone harshening. “no, i couldn’t. If you would have known you would have lived your childhood looking over your shoulder and that is not what i wanted for you. I only wish that we could have a normal life.”

“but isn’t not knowing worse?” Astria countered, “my entire life has been a lie.”

“no, it was as normal as i could make it with what i had, maybe it wasn’t perfect. But you had a childhood away from what we will find now that we have left lacus.”

“but you never even told me about my father. Why?”

“because it was too painful, i love your father with my entirety. I was lost when he left to bury his father and that’s when they took me to the temple and told me what they would do once you were born. I immediately had to escape. But i never knew the way to astrial andni was afraid, that is when i met jonathan.” Tuviel paused, picking up her pack and swinging it onto her back. “he is the reason that we are alive.”

Astria picked up her own pack and nodded. “what would they have done if you hadn’t have escaped?”

“they would have bound me naked in the street and allowed the people to stone me to death. And you would have been sacrificed to the god of fertility.”

“they would have killed us? But why?”

“because you were never meant to be astria, it is against our laws to love someone of another race. I knew the consequences, but i fell in love and i married in secret.”

“forbidden love.”

“yes.”

Tuviel glanced at the setting sun,

“we have to go.”

Astria nodded, “will we make it before dark?”

“i don’t know.”

The woods seemed treacherous and menacing place as the sun set beyond the horizon, savagely ripping all the

light from the world and plunging astria into a silent fit of panic; paranoid that the enemy mimicked her every move.

She feared that they would have no other choice but to set up camp out in the open, where they would be vulnerable to the limitless elements and weak to the will of mother nature. Forced to kneel before her.

Tuviel however knew different, she had made this journey many times before and could clearly see the expanding light of the village, relieved by the promise that they would make it there unnoticed.

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