18 My daughter brought back a child? (1/2)

(Small cottage in an unknown part of the northern dukedom)

A black raven crowed harshly and landed on the open palm of a middle age woman tenderly stroking the flowers in her garden. The cottage nearby was humbly built with a small road of dirt leading to the nearest house which was roughly two hours away.

Surrounded by trees in the middle of a forest, it was a scenic site to behold. The woman was clearly once a great beauty in her youth and the small ravages of time did little to diminish her sense of grace and dignity.

Perhaps what would startle anyone who looked at her would be the sharp violet eyes that bore traces of guilt and sorrow. Elise was the splitting version of the woman's younger self, but she had not seen her daughter in years.

Caw! Caw! Caw!

The raven rubbed its black head on the woman's shoulders with small beady eyes staring lovingly at his master. The woman listened to the calls of the crow while swaying her body from left to right gently as if she could understand the creature.

Numerous other crows swarmed the roof of the cottage with a sea of black feathers and red glistening eyes peering at the woman silently standing amongst the flowers.

”I see my daughter has returned to home,” she muttered quietly to herself.

It was a bad habit, almost an obsession but every time her daughter would leave the dukedom, she would track the number of days Elise had gone. It made her feel like she was a proud mother watching her child go forth into the world eagerly counting the days till she returned.

One could hardly believe this woman was once the esteemed wife of Duke Blackwolf, one of the most important and powerful nobles in the north. Outsiders only knew that twelve years ago, the duke announced that she had passed away and the funeral was held privately among family members.

Her heart was filled with anger and fury when her own husband declared that she would be banished to a small corner of the dukedom never to return to the mansion and the life she enjoyed.

But over the years as she recalled what she had done, the anger turned into bitterness and regret. Sleepless nights were spent trying to convince herself to go back to Elise and tell her daughter that her mother was alive and sorry.

Every time she made the choice, she would simply recall the broken look and the scar on her daughter's shoulder and would slink back under the blankets like the coward she was.

That night, she told herself it was just the tradition of her people, that her daughter would unlock her mana circuit if she could just push her enough. That her daughter would thank her in the future for a single unpleasant night.

When the mana circuit did not show itself, well that was when she made the biggest mistake of her life.

The raven cooed gently in her ears and the woman frowned slightly.

'Elise had brought back a child?'

(Main story)

Elise rode swiftly through the open roads of Arcadia pointing out the sites and places to visit to her daughter. Ashley was open eyed with excitement and asked questions non-stop all along the journey.

”Mommy what's that funny statue of?”

”That is the ancestor of the high elves sculpted to look like a court jester, apparently the dark elves aren't too fond of him and erected that statue as a bit of a joke”

”Won't the high elves be unhappy?”

”It is unlikely that they will ever see the statue in the first place, high elves are mainly found in the Amelneis kingdom and guard the sacred tree of life. They tend to see themselves as the physical embodiment of nature and are pretty prideful. Their interactions with other races are limited.”

Speaking of dark elves, Elise glanced backwards to see the Valkyries following her closely although Servia was clearly getting distracted by the food stalls lining the roads. Her poor sister Luxia kept pulling her shirt trying to get her to pay attention to Ashley.

Elise contemplated briefly and gave a short command,

”I will take Ashley and Elena with me to the castle to get them settled in. The rest of you disperse and go visit your families, it has been a long couple of weeks!”

”Aye Aye My lady!”

Cheers rung out from the remaining Valkyries as they immediately split up and headed to different directions.

”Bye bye little duchess”, Servia and Luxia winked and smiled at their favourite small human.

Servia soon pulled her sister towards a steamed bun stall and the twins began to eat with great enthusiasm. Elena rode her steed and drew level with Elise, she was thrilled to be able to stay longer as a personal guard.