The Legend of the Seven

The elvish capital

Moving through the city took a bit more time, not that the five complained having not been among their own in months. The black stone streets were crowded with other elves, the buildings in the lower town were a mix of yellowing wood and white stone. Moving into the castle district the buildings shifted into beautiful ornate white marble, with a bright red stone on the bottoms and roofs. The five were quite as they entered the castle, as they moved up a beautiful spiral staircase Theoden suddenly stopped at a window "I think they already know about the attack in Asisari." he said. Arcaena raised an eyebrow "What? Why?" she asked coming to the window. Below a few miles from the city a major battle raged, elves and men fought with swords as fires burned around them. The c*****e spread as far as the eye could see. Fear fell over the five as they looked at each other, "Come on, we have to keep going." Theoden said. The others nodded and kept climbing the stairs.

Once they reached the top of the stairs, they saw a long hallway that led to the throne room. Theoden turned to the others "I say we do this like we did with the dwarves." he said. Arcaena nodded "That would be best, we're all pretty used to our roles at this point." the others nodded and agreed. With that they turned back to the hallway. Nerves were high as they slowly began walking down the long hallway, flowers and paintings of regal looking elves lined the walls. The last painting before the throne room was of the current queen, her long hair was a soft red color and her eyes were a light blue, her smile was gentle and welcoming.

Upon entering the throne room the five would find the queen's portrait was incredibly accurate. Falling to their knees in front of the throne the young elves waited for their queen to speak. She looked upon each of the young elves before saying "Rise young ones, and state your business here." she finished. As the five rose to their feet Arcaena began to speak "Your highness we've come here from Asisari, we escaped the night of the attack, we came here to give you that information. Though it would appear that knowledge is a bit outdated now." she said. The queen nodded "It would appear so. Though it must be said that you have much strength and knowledge to get here on your own," she motioned for two elves to enter the room "These are my sons Ailwin and Ayred, I'd like to offer that you five stay, train with my sons. You should also know you five are the only survivors of the attack on Asisari." she finished sadly. The five looked at each other shock and sadness etched in their faces, Arcaena collected herself for a moment "If we could, we would like some time to collect ourselves and think it over." she said.

The queen nodded "Of course, of course young ones. My sons will lead you to rooms for you to stay in, please join us for dinner later." she said. Theoden smiled "Of course your highness." with that the two princes approached the five Ailwin the older of the two princes was a few inches taller than his brother but was still shorter than both Wyn and Theoden, his deep black hair rested upon his shoulders, and his eyes were an icey blue that had something about them that sent a shiver down the spine. Ayred had short slicked back raven black hair, and ocean blue eyes, he seemed far happier than his elder brother. Ailwin lead Arcaena and Shael to their rooms, while Ayred lead Theoden, Celaena, and Wyn to their rooms. The five parted ways half way down the long hallway from before, Shael was dropped off at her room first, leaving Ailwin and Arcaena alone.

The silence was deafening as the two walked alone, drawing out the few minutes' walk from Shael's room to Arcaena's. Once they reached the door Arcaena turned "Thank you." she said. Ailwin nodded "I'll retrieve you and Shael when dinner is ready." he said as he turned around and left. Arcaena entered her room, it was bigger than the home she, Celaena, and their parents shared back in Asisari, her heart filled with grief at the thought of her mother and father, and everyone else she had ever known for that matter. She fell upon the huge, incredibly soft bed her thoughts turning to her friends and how they were handling the news. The energy left her as she rolled onto her side, her mind still racing with thoughts of her home and her friends, her eyes slowly fell shut.

THREE MONTHS LATER

Arcaena's golden blade crashed against Ailwin's silver blade, she laughed "You're going to have to do better than that Ailwin!" she said almost dancing circles around him. Ailwin smiled "You've come a long way in just three months, you all have." he said turning to the others "I'd say we're ready to join the war efforts." he finished. With that everyone separated to train Theoden and Ayred paired up, as did Shael and Celaena, Wyn trained alone with his bow, leaving Arcaena and Ailwin together. Ailwin smiled down at the beautiful Arcaena "There's something I wish to show you, training can wait." he extended his hand to her. As she placed her hand in his he began leading her away from the training yard and towards the castle.

Ailwin turned suddenly before they reached the castle, heading towards the dungeons, once inside Ailwin let go of Arcaena's hand he looked around before pulling a candle revealing a secret passage way leading to a staircase. Ailwin took Arcaena's hand again "This way." he said pulling her into the passage way. Descending the staircase together Ailwin lead her to the bottom which opened up into a small dark room, Ailwin lit a candle revealing a beautiful lilac and lavender hatchling dragon. Arcaena looked at the hatchling in shock for a moment before looking up to Ailwin "What in all the gods is she doing here?!" she asked almost screaming at him. He raised an eyebrow "She?" he asked. Arcaena looked from him to the hatchling again. She looked back to him "I asked you a question first." she said with less rage in her voice this time. Ailwin sighed "We found it as an egg, Ayred and I. We brought it back here to our mother, she wanted to keep it for the time being and think about what to do with it. We never expected it would hatch down here." he said looking down.

He continued "When it did, my mother decided we would keep it, use it as leverage in an alliance with the dragons. She knew they would do anything to protect one of their young." he finished looking back up at Arcaena. Rage was written on her beautiful face "How absolutely cruel. She belongs with her people!" she said, yelling again. Ailwin approached her and ran a finger down her cheek "I couldn't agree more." he said with a smile "You also never answered my question." his smile grew. Confusion washed over Arcaena's face "I honestly don't know how I knew she was a girl, I just know. I also know her name." she said. Ailwin raised an eyebrow "What is it?" he asked. Arcaena looked down at the adorable innocent purple hatchling "Her name is Elzae." she said matter of factly. Ailwin nodded "Elzae it is then. We need a plan to get Elzae out of here and back to her people." he said.