Emerald And Aharon

Chapter Ten

Things settled into a routine relatively quickly.  Emerald fit into the household well. Fire adored her and Alleyne asked her if she was trying to replace her mother.

I stayed back and watched the two of them. Emerald placed her hand on Alleyne’s shoulder and knelt down so they were eye to eye, “Child, I can’t take her place, nor do I want to. She will always be your mother, no matter what.”

Alleyne studied Emerald for a few moments before throwing her arms around Emerald’s neck and hugging her. After a moment, Emerald hugged her back.

I shook my head slightly and headed out to do a patrol around the area to check for Isilk.

Emerald took the girls regularly to see their mother, and I made no move to stop her.  Emerald was right, Desiree was their mother, no matter what I said or did.

A few months after our separation, I heard she was getting married again.  I shook my head, it didn’t take her long to find herself a new man, but deep down something felt wrong about it.

When Emerald came home after meeting him, my unease about the man grew. “With Desiree marrying again, I’m not sure I want the girls near her new husband.”

Emerald nodded her head in agreement and the visits for the girls stopped, but Emerald continued to visit.

While Emerald was visiting Desiree one day, I was working outside and I heard a voice call out my name.  “Aharon!”

I looked up and saw Khaliem standing outside the front fence and approached him. “Khaliem! What are you doing here?”

Khaliem grinned, “No bad news to report for once, been one of the runners for messages. But the Isilk seem to be gathering for an attack.”

My stomach sank, that meant I would have to leave to try and keep them away from the village. “How close,” I said quietly.

“Not close, it’s far to the south, but the message to move out could come soon if they start to move.”

I nodded my head, “message received loud and clear Khaliem.”

Khaliem clapped a hand on my shoulder, “don’t worry so much! We’ll kick their sorry tails back and they’ll pull off and lick their wounds, they always do.”

I didn’t answer as Khaliem walked away, while he was so sure that we would win this war, I had long ago stopped being so sure.

A few months went by with Desiree married to her new husband when she approached me in the Marketplace.

“Aharon!” she cried as she hurried over to me carrying a large basket, when she got closer to me I could see that the left side of her face was swollen and discolored. 

“What do you want, Desiree?” I asked, eyeing her with caution.

“I need help,” she whispered, “Kaelin, he beats me...” tears pooled in her eyes that focused on something that only she could see, “one of these nights he’s going to kill me.” Her eyes focused back on me, “please, help me!”

“I cannot help you any more, Desiree, I’m not your husband remember?” Though the sight of her shocked me, she was thinner than the last time I saw her, and she did look like someone was beating her.  She watched my face for a few moments but I stayed silent until she finally turned and walked away, a defeated slope to her shoulders.

The scene stayed with me long after I had left the marketplace. I went over to Auron and Aurianna’s house to tell Auron about the Isilk.  And I finally approached Aurianna about the scene at the market place. “Auri, can I have a word with you?”

She glanced at me before pulling back the drawstring off her bow. “Sure, what’s on your mind?”

“Desiree, I saw her at the market today,” I started and hesitated.

Desiree released the drawstring and the arrow flew, hitting the target in the bulls-eye. “And?” she prompted as she notched another arrow against the drawstring.

“She looked like hell; she approached me because she thinks her husband is going to kill her.”

Aurianna let her shot go and got another bulls-eye, she looked at her daughter Auirella, “go get Daystar.” 

Auriella nodded her head and ran looking for Daystar and soon returned with her brother.

“Yes Ma?”

“It’s time; I’m not going to let some bastard beat my sister to death. You know what to do,” Aurianna said to Daystar as she lined up another shot and let it fly.

Daystar nodded his head and left, the exchange between the 2 of them making me wonder if they already had a plan of action. It turned out they did, 3 days later Desiree was a widow. Her husband died in a bar fight, with a few of Daystar’s less respectable friends.

After the funeral I went to Desiree’s house to speak with her.

I found her outside setting her dead husband’s stuff on fire, as the flame caught she watched it burn and I came closer, “you can’t stay here anymore Desiree, only more trouble will come to your doorstep.”

She eyed me, the light from the fire making her red hair seem to be burning, “what’s it matter?”

I frowned slightly, what did it matter?  I had left her because she cheated on me and our marriage had been falling for a long time. In my mind’s eye I saw Alleyne talking to Fire about Desiree, making sure Fire had memories of their mother.

“The girls miss you, and you are their mother. If you stay here it’s not just trouble, but possibly your own death at the hands of another man like Kaelin.”

Fear flashed through Desiree’s eyes before she finally nodded her head in agreement.

  “Good, I’ll be back for you in a few hours, have what you want to take packed.” With that said I headed back to my house in Seran. Outside in the garden I could see Emerald talking with a woman I didn’t know and as I looked at the woman an uneasy feeling settled in the pit of my stomach.

Emerald spotted me and smiled, “Aharon! Come meet an old friend of mine.” I walked over and stood next to Emerald, eyeing the woman up and down, the uneasy feeling in my stomach growing, I didn’t know the woman but something about her put me ill at ease.

“Aharon, meet Talatiana, a fellow immortal that I have known for a very long time.  Tala, Aharon, a friend I have recently made.”

Tatiana eh? I had heard the name before, but not from Emerald.  The villages in the south whispered dark tales of a woman named Talatiana.

Talatiana eyed me up and down with her 2 different colored eyes, “well, well,” she drawled, “A druid, aren’t you supposed to be off chasing Isilk tails or something like that?”

Annoyance flared through me, Talatiana didn’t like me and the feeling was mutual, “no more than you’re supposed to be off beheading fellow immortals,” I shot back.

Talatiana opened her mouth to retort but Emerald interrupted her, “Tala say one more word and I’ll cut out your tongue!” Talatiana glared at Emerald but said nothing more. She grasped Emerald’s wrists and the two said their goodbyes.

I waited until Talatiana was gone and turned my attention back to Emerald, “Desiree is coming here, she has no place left in Selllan. She doesn’t have anywhere else to go,” I paused and hesitated for a second before saying, “but that doesn’t mean I want you to leave.” I stopped again, I definitely didn’t want her to leave, I wanted her to stay.

I pushed that aside and continued, “Another thing, the Isilk are starting to stir, I may have to leave.”