The Elvin Princess

The Elvin Princess

By

J.Lee McKenzie

The misty skies glistened by the silvery lined winds that whipped down from the heavens and caressed the face of the sweet little princess standing among the rolling hills high above the meadow. Below her the river sparkled as the sun played peek a boo behind the clouds.
âSpring has come to visit us for a while, little princess, we must greet her properly.â Her motherâs voice was as soft as her own.
âMay I go first this time mother? Iâve been practicing.â The princess of the Elves felt little bubbles of excitement as she gazed over the empty meadow.
For six years she came with her mother to the meadow to greet the spring, and watched her mother blow the breath of life over the dormant seeds within in the ground. It took only moments for life to spring from the ground filling the meadow with every beautiful fragrant flower imaginable. Princess Skyla longed for the day she would be the one to fill the spring with new life.
She glanced up at her mother to study her face. There was so much to learn from her motherâs eyes and so much to see. Sometimes the little princess felt she could read her motherâs thoughts by simply looking into her depthless eyes filled with the faint less blue hues of the sky. Much like this very moment. It was joy and something like pride that glimmered from her face as she smiled down upon Skyla.
âI believe that it is your time today, little princess. Iâm sure you will make the spring feel more welcome than any queen has before.â
Skyla couldnât help but to giggle. âBut mother, we do not die, which means there has been no other queens and I could never be better than you.â
The smile faded from her motherâs eyes but only a bit. âThereâs still so much for you to learn.â The queen caressed her daughterâs hair lightly with one hand and gave her reassuring nod before scooting her forward. âIt is time princess.â
What more was there to learn, she wondered? After all, she had already learned so much.
âYou will understand in time.â The queen assured her, picking up on her unspoken confusion. âRemember your mind must be clear of uncertainties.â
Her mother was correct, of course. She needed to focus on the spring and the flowers. She knew the flowers could bloom without her but the breath of life provided by the Elvin queen, or in her case the Elvin princess, ensured a long healthy life.
Princess Skyla stepped closer to the edge of the grassy hill overlooking the lake and shut her eyes. Sheâd watched her mother carefully over the years observing her every movement and designing it to her memory. First, she wriggled her bare toes in the earth feeling the grass and dirt from which all life begins, inhaling deeply the air around her essential for sustaining life, and from the heavens fell a light mist of rain, water to heal life, and the fire that sparks the energy within life. She let these elements fill her and whispered a prayer of thanks.
She felt her motherâs presence standing closely behind her. Her energy was radiant giving her the strength to proceed. Once again she whispered upon the wind. She would need the elements help to carry the breath of life far beyond her reaches. As the wind rippled suddenly around playing with her slivery blonde hair, she knew her tiny request had been heard and she almost giggled as the wind tickled her tiny body.
She heard her mother inhale deeply behind her and she followed her example. Skyla took one deep long breath that pulled upon her powerful spirit letting it pool in her lungs so that she may share it with the world and blew gently. The life that flowed gently from the depths of her soul tingled her lips and she had to concentrate hard to keep from giggling at the funny sensation it caused.
In great and powerful whoosh, the wind swirled around from behind her as she emptied her lungs and carried it away but she could still feel the cool breeze flowing steadily just above her head. With a graceful tilt of her head she looked up to see her motherâs still pursed and the silvery breathe of life flowing into the wind.
She smiled brightly as she watched her mother finish her breath and the wind around them subsided. The queenâs eyes stayed on the horizon but Skyla couldnât break away from the look on her motherâs face. She looked so peaceful and happy, but lonely. Even her happiest hours, loneliness shadowed the corners of her eyes. That was something the little princess could never understand. After all, loneliness was a human emotion. Her mother had spent some time with the humans a very long time ago and obviously brought back more than sheâd planned to.
The queen glanced down and smiled gently. âLook what youâve done, my little princess.â
Skyla jumped and jerked her head back to the meadow. Sheâd almost forgotten. Before their very eyes tendrils of greens and yellows wiggled free from the earth and opened into flowers. Red flowers and purple flowers. Blue and orange. Big and small. Life sprang from everywhere. Lilies appeared in the river. And then it happened. This was her absolute most favorite moment of spring. The creatures of nature flitted across the meadows, some crawled from the ground and many from the hollows of the trees.
Princess Skyla bounced and clapped with excitement. She couldnât wait to meet every one of them.
âLook there!â the queen exclaimed leaning down over her shoulder and pointing toward the trees. âFrom your breath have come baby trees!â
The excitement in her motherâs voice sent shivers through her little body and a smile beamed across her face. âThat means I did good! Right, mother?â she jumped up and down.
The queen smiled and picked her up, flinging her around. âGood? Why thatâs superb! It took me centuries to produce enough life for the trees.â She squeezed her hard. âIâm so proud of you.â
Princess Skylaâs heart had never felt so full. Sheâd practiced so hard for so long and when the time came sheâd done her very best and made her mother proud. The joy and excitement was almost too much. If her Elvin eyes were capable of tears she would have cried a river of joy.
âOh,â she cried suddenly, âIâve forgotten about the water, mother.â
Speaking of the water made little bubbles bounce in her tummy. Sheâd only practice calling the waters a few times. It was much more difficult that giving breath to flowers. So far, sheâd only been able to call a small puddle.
âWould you like for me to call the water, my love? After all, youâve done so much already.â Her mother asked gently knowing the troubles her young one felt.
Skyla thought hard for a moment. She wanted so much to make everything right today and to make her mother proud but her faith in herself was dwindling quickly. What if no water came? What if she called a flood and drowned the poor meadow? She shuddered to think.
âSkyla?â her mother waited patiently for a decision. She would be proud of her daughter no matter what she chose to do.
Skyla looked into the iridescent eyes of her mother, desperately wanting her to make the decision for her but she knew this was something she would have to do herself. One day, she would take her motherâs place, as queen and she would need to be ready. With deep breath, Skyla slid back her shoulders and held her head up high saying, âI will try mother.â
Skyla could not see the pride shining from her motherâs face but it was certainly there.
Skyla quickly thought over everything sheâd learned from her mother about calling water but also remembering all the times sheâd failed. She closed her eyes and focused her attention, first inside herself, becoming one with the elements around her, then slowly moving her attention outward. Her gentle voice slipped across the meadows and through the trees as she sang to the elements of water, calling them from their slumber. She waited to feel a moist drop of rain as she sang, allowing her focus to slip when she didnât feel any right away. She tried singing louder but still nothing came.
Her disappointment rolled around inside her making her feel terribly heavy but she refused to give up. She continued to sing even after sheâd said the very last line. This time she could hear the melodious sound of her motherâs voice mingling with hers. As they sang together, mother and daughter began to feel a moist breeze sweep by them, followed by the gentle rain, and then the earth opened and let forth streaming watersârivers and lakes.
Together, they stood for a very long time and watched as the valleys and meadows drank from the heavens. When the rain subsided, they admired in awe the beauty of the world.
In the distance, the air rippled along the veil and Skyla watched as a human passed by looking rather lost. What her mother called a desert lay beyond the veil that cut threw the valley. Skyla had seen glimpses of tree-covered places and a few gardens within the human world through the veil during her travels but this place, this desert, was practically lifeless. There was not a plant or tree as far as the eye could see and it was terribly hot.
âThe veil is thin today, mother. Can you see it?â
âMy Elvin eyes are not that old.â She chuckled. âI see it very well.â
The veil separated the worlds, the elves from the humans. Skyla knew more about humans than most elves, mostly because her mother was the queen and thus required to have knowledge of all things but also because she found them rather fascinating and spent a generous amount of time observing them. Playing tricks on them was one of her favorite past times as well.
She thought back on some of things sheâd done and giggled to herself.
âNow you have to go visit your friends.â The queen said as she sat Skyla on her feet.
With a little squeak and jump, Princess Skyla rushed down the hill and into the meadow where the animals ran and played but not before giving her mother one more kiss.
She giggled as she chased a butterfly through a bed of tulips and spoke with a bee about the sweetness of nectar. She picked up a Paralip, with its cuplike bloom and took a sip of the nectar, smiling delightfully. The nectar was sweet this season indeed. She continued to dance and play with the new life in the meadow until she heard a most unusual sound.
Crying? She wondered. Once she had seen a human crying but was unable to hear them through the thick veil but if things in the human world sounded just as it looked then this noise had to be crying.
But how was she able to hear such a noise if she was still inside the veil. She took a quick look around her to make sure she hadnât stumbled across the veil while playing. She was on the hill now. Sheâd been chasing a silly mole back and forth into his hole. The misty grey substance that made up the veil was within touching distance but sheâd not crossed the barrier.
She stopped and listened curiously, focusing her superior pointed ears toward the noise. The cry was distant maybe two full garden lengths away but she could hear it clearly. She moved forward cautiously. Her mother didnât like for her to play so closely when the veil was so thin least she draw the attention of the humans. Normally the humans couldnât see the veil at all but every once and a while when the veil was thin humans could see bits and pieces of her world if they looked hard enough and Elves didnât trust humans.
Skyla, however, never found a reason not to trust them. To her they seemed rather silly and often confused, always scurrying back and forth as if the element of fire was sparking under their feet wherever they stepped. Mother calls it busy. The humans are busy.
Skyla giggled to herself. Busy was such a funny word to her.
Skyla eased over the dew-covered grass nearing the veil and peered through with her Elvin eyes. She gasped at what she saw. The sky was many cloudy puffs of black and grey. The humanâs sky was never has colorful or bright as the Elvin sky but she had never seen it so dark, not even under the cover of a storm. But then a clap of thunder rang out cutting through the veil. She jumped back covering her pointed ears with both hands. Sheâd never heard thunder like this. It exploded in the sky bringing with it more dark clouds of smoke. As she focused all of her attention, she picked up sounds of continuous popping, much like the fire works humans use for amusement but they did not sound amused now.
The popping noises and claps of thunder masked cries. Many cries, Skyla thought feeling terribly uneasy. She could hear screaming, men speaking loudly, using words sheâd never heard. So afraid the humans were in pain she threw herself across the veil and landed in the midst of a sand mound, the wind blew swiftly around her, sending the granules into the air making a cloud of its own.
It was much louder here. So loud in fact, her ears throbbed. Even with both hands pressed firmly against them, the noise filled her tiny head with an awful ache. She could see humans running in panic. They were not just the humans she was use to seeing in the desert, with their loose clothing and fabrics wrapped around their dark heads. Other men, stormed across the sand, grabbing the sand people by their clothing, pulling them to the ground, throwing themselves over the frightened people. These men were most different, she realized. Dressed in a garb sheâd never seen. Different shades of greens and browns covered their jackets and pants. Even their boots blended in. If her eyes were not so superior to humans she might have overlooked them against the colors of the sand. They carried various instruments in the hands, across their backs, tied to their legs, and she realized quickly one of the instruments were what caused the popping noises.
The heart inside her chest became heavier and heavier the longer she watched the chaos with her hands covering her ears. These people were afraid, so afraid it seemed as though their very lives depended upon the level of their fear. It was so intense she felt it seep into her own veins, a pure bloodline that had never before experienced pain or fear. Her heart filled with pity. A mist caught her eyes and rolled down her cheeks, something she didnât recognize. She was leaking. The humanâs misery had made her leak. What did this mean?
She squeezed her eyes shut, holding back the unwelcomed water, when she heard a man scream.
âA little girl!â His strong voice boomed over the bedlam around him.
A strong force flew down from the sky with a screech, striking the sand beside him, sending his body flying away from the impact.
The shock stole little Skylaâs breath away and she ran to help him, forgetting about the terrible noise in her head. Her feet sunk in the sand with every step she took, bringing her down deeper and deeper but she pulled herself through watching the injured man push his shaking arms away from the ground.
He was moving, getting himself up. Skyla could not believe her eyes. Mother told her the humans were frail, weak creatures. Sheâd felt the impact of the blast and she was much further away. A human child would have immediately transformed. A human child would have⦠died. That was their word for it. He should have died. But he didnât.
The closer she got to the man, the stronger he seemed to become and soon he was on his feet. Red fluids were running down his face. His eyes found her where she ran through the sand and with all the strength his body had left he ran to her calling for her to âget down.â
What did that mean? Skyla wondered.
Another loud crash and many people screaming, the man through his body over hers and they crashed into the sand. Without a moment to spare, the man jumped to his feet pulling her into his arms. She could hear the sound of his heart pumping wildly behind his chest and his labored breathing. His life force was fading. Being an Elf of life, Skyla could feel it. He had no more life left in him but yet he ran with a strange girl in his arms.
Skyla did not have to wonder why. He was saving her, or at least he believed he was saving her. Heâd used the last of his precious breath to tell her so as he tumbled over a hill far away from the struggle. She and the man both knew he was done as he hugged her close turning her away from the ground below so that his broken body would take the blow and spare the small child.
And they fellâ¦
The last impact came to the little Elvin princess with swift blow and she found herself once again, beyond the veil, rolling down a grassy knoll into the flowers below. The crisp clean scent of spring filled her nostrils and the ache in her head eased.
âSkyla!â The queenâs voice cut through the air. âWhat have you done?â
She jumped to her feet in such a great haste it startled the queen. Never before had her daughter used her Elvin speed. âMother! I must help him.â Skyla used the voice of her mind, for she had no time for words, she had to save the man whoâd given his life to save her.
It took all of the queenâs power to stop her daughter from crossing the veil once more. She caught her just as her small foot cut through the boundaries. âSkyla, you must not.â She insisted.
All of the fluids poured down her shimmering cheeks as she pleaded with her mother.
Her mother touched her cheeks with her fingertips wiping away the moisture on her young oneâs face. âWhat is this?â she asked, a hint sadness creeping into her voice.
âMother, I must help him.â she cried, âI must save him.â
âSave who, my love?â
âThe manâ¦â she gasped, her body shook, âin strange clothes with the instrument that pops. Mother, please.â She begged.
âSkyla,â her mother spoke gently, holding her daughters shoulders, âthere is a war waging beyond the veil. That man was a soldier. His instrument was a weapon of destruction.â
She heard her motherâs words but she did not listen. There was more to this story. She just knew it. The man whoâd saved her gave all of himself to her, even when heâd had nothing left to give. She refused to believe his plight was one of destruction.
âHe was helping the people of the sand, Mother. I saw him. He gave his life to save me.â
âMy darling, you are Elf people. You can not transform by the hands of mortals.â
Skyla was frantic now. Pulling against her mothers hold. She was running out of time. âHe did not know that mother.â
The queen thought genuinely about her daughterâs request but her mind remained unchanged. âElves are not to meddle in human affairs, my love.â She released Sklyaâs shoulders, âCome. We must go.â
She had no desire to disobey her mother. âForgive me mother.â
The queenâs eyes widen to pointed spheres as her daughter lifted her hands and with a one swift clap of her tiny hands a great gust of wind lifted her daughter into the air, throwing her across the veil, just out of her motherâs grasp.
The wind released her onto the sand. âThank you.â She said to the wind as it left her alone in the desert.
She had no time to lose looking around for any sign of the fallen soldier. The desert was a vast wasteland. Everything appeared the same, even to her Elvin eyes. She ran in the sand without loosing her balance and called out to the soldier with a song sheâd hoped would comfort him until she could find him.
She ran atop a hill, sanding oozing down the side making rather difficult to navigate. There in the distance she saw the clouds of smoke from the ensuing war. He had to be close. Her eyes scanned each hilltop. The wind must have blown away the tracks theyâd left from the fall. For a moment it seemed hopeless. Once again her heart began to hurt.
Search the valleys below, beneath the sandâ¦
Her motherâs voice came to her on the wind filling her with joy. The queen had chosen to help her daughter. Being the Elvin queen she was not permitted to cross the veil but sheâd the wind.
âThank you, mother.â She whispered.
Her eyes focused on a spot beneath a far mound where the wind had made a small funnel, throwing sand this way and that until something solid and light brown emerged. Excitement shot through her body and she tumbled down the hill. The swirling had the soldier completely uncovered by the time she reached the bottom. A just small amount of life emanated from the spot around his chest although his heart was no longer beating.
She knew what she had to do and she knew without a doubt she could do it because sheâd done it already. She got to her feet, feeling the earth beneath her feet and the air thickening around her skin. She breathed in deeply, closing her eyes, focusing her mind on her lifeâs energy. With each inhale she watched as her energy glowed brighter and brighter filling the space around her, engulfing the sand beneath her, as well as the man laying at her feet.
When she was finally ready she filled her lungs with the life surrounding her and exhaled with her all her might into the soldier, not just feeling the energy but becoming the energy. His body jerked, as she inhaled once more and sent more life to him, until she heard the first thump of his heart.
Excitement filled her but she knew she had a ritual to finish least heâd lose what sheâd given him.
He will need more than a just beating heart to sustain him⦠his spirit is weak.
She would surround him with life. Once again, she wriggled her bare toes in the earth feeling the grass and dirt from which all life begins, inhaling deeply the air around her essential for sustaining life. It took longer this time and much more concentration. Her little body was growing weak. Sheâd already done this once today and her energy hadnât fully recovered.
She lifted her arms above her, asking the heavens for help. Surrounded by a lifeless desert and asking life to spring forth was no easy task.
The soldier shifted beneath her feet, his life force recovering slowly, just as her energy was starting to fade. âYou are so beautiful.â He whispered, looking towards the heavens where the princess Skyla was breathing life into a world of death. âYou look like my daughter. I always said she had the face of an angel.â
She listened as he spoke to her. Her little legs wobbled and she felt like giving up.
âThank you for coming for me, little angel.â He said.
The water wasnât coming, she could feel no grass beneath her feet, and she thought she was failing until she listened closely to his kind voice. Heâd said thank you and called her an angel. Angels were special to the humans. She was special to him. That gave her strength.
âNo, thank you, soldier.â She smiled down at him and they breathed in together.
Grass rooted beneath her feet, the man cried out in surprise as a new world sprung from the ground right before his eyes. A tree sprung form the ground over his head, shielding him from the sun. Rain fell from the heavens, water to heal life. She watched it splash against his face, relieving a years worth of burns from the harsh sun. Fire sparked the energy inside him and he called out to sky above saying thank you, thank you until he was too tired to speak loudly anymore. The elements filled their bodies and the space around them.
Together they whispered a prayer of thanks.
She lowered her arms and looked around at all that had sprung to life. Palm trees. A small puddle of water. Lots of grass. She smiled to herself. All she needed was a few flowers but then, it was perfect just as it was. It was an oasis. Thatâs what they called a place such as this in the desert. An oasis created to save a life.
Her eyes lowered to the soldier lying in the grass. His eyes were solemn and she became concerned. Why was he not happy?
âAm I dead, little angel?â he asked.
That made her giggle. She liked for him to call her that. âYou will not be transforming today,â her smile was so bright it rivaled the sun, âmy hero.â
This made him smile.
The sounds of water dripping in a small pool behind her got his attention. He would be terribly thirsty. Once again Skyla closed her eyes and said a little prayer sending the quiet stream moving out further until reached the soldiers outstretched hand so he could have a drink.
Skyla was happy to see him drinking the element of life she giggled and bounced with joy. He was going to be all right and her heart would be changed forever, having learned a different type of love from a different type of being. This is love she would use to rule her people when it was her time.
You have done well my princess but it is time to goâ¦.
She turned to leave but he called out to her, âAre you leaving me, little angel?â
Her happiness was uncontainable. She ran to him and threw her arms around his neck. âIt is time for you to return to your little princess.â She kissed his cheek and skipped away toward the veil but not before waving one last goodbye.
Her heart was filled with so much joy she had no room for despair. She would see the soldier again, maybe when his own daughter was in his arms. If Skyla could find her she would tell her the stories of her father, the bravest man a little Elvin princess had ever met.


                             
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