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 Posted: Wed May 22, 2013 7:04 am
Ilyra was about to say something back to Briella when the cloth covering the entrance to the elder's council room opened.
An Alkidike prentice opened the cloth and ushered them both in. "They are waiting for you inside, Briella." She let the cloth fall back over the entrance after they had entered and the young girl resumed her place near the door.
Ilrya tugged on Briella's arm and pulled her further into the council chamber. Waiting for them wasn't the whole group of elders like Ilyra and Briella had anticipated, but simply Yansa, Eshe, and one elder.
"Come forward, Briella. An Ilyra. We understand that you have a story to tell us and questions to ask." The elder spoke up. Yansa and Eshe stood quietly; Eshe with her far-off look as always, and Yansa with a permanently serious stance. Ilyra wondered if Yansa ever looked happy.
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Posted: Wed May 22, 2013 9:12 am
Well this was not what she expected, and seeing Eshe and not Kadriye was a bit of a let down. But oh well, they were allowing her to tell the story instead of judging them right away. This was something she was thankful for.
"Yesterday morning while alone in my tree I heard crying. I was worried, it was obviously the cries of a youngling, so I went to go investigate what was wrong. When I got there I found Ilyra." she paused, looking down at the younger girl with a smile. "Of course my first thought was to bring her here, back to her family, after all a youngling has no place in the forest by herself. But as I talked to Ilyra she told me about her life her. How she wasn't taken seriously, and how because of her differences she wasn't growing up properly. Then she told me that she has been gone for a long time and no one came looking for her. At first I was astonished and thought she couldn't be telling the truth. She is one of ours, surely at the very least her mother would have come looking for her." Briella's expression wasn't a pleasant one at saying this. She was very unhappy that someone wasn't sent to look for her, or that at least they could have told the sisters already in Jauhar to keep an eye out. "But she was so hungry and just from her appearance you can tell she hasn't been cared for a while. Together the two of us came to one conclusion. I will be her new guardian." Briella said it as clearly as she was saying the sky was blue, or that Aisha was their creator and God. hopefully it would make as much sense to them as it did to her. "So instead of just keeping her at my tree, I came to speak to you about it. To tell you our story. I can be a good mother, a good guardian. I've helped Maya teach her unique youngling, and I think it would be good for both her and Ilyra to live together and be around another their own age that is also unique. I'm ready for this, and I won't let her down."
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Posted: Thu May 23, 2013 9:16 am
The elder looked contemplatively from Briella to Ilyra, silence filling the room after Briella had finished speaking. Her final words and their weight seemed to hang in the air.
Eshe snapped out of her daze long enough to reply to Briella's sour look. She held eye contact with Briella with a small frown on her face. "We didn't know she was gone before today." Her eyes turned to Yansa and the elder before continuing. "Ilyra doesn't often leave her home by her mother's orders. We found this morning that her mother had looked over the island for her daughter by herself, and when she couldn't locate her, she came to me."
Eshe closed her eyes and exhaled. Yansa took over from there. "Briella. We have seen how you look at Ilyra and we know the troubles you went through as a child. We think it is right for you to take Ilyra and to care for her under the same home as Teiluj. These two, though completely different, are similar in their strange appearance and would do well to grow together."
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Posted: Thu May 23, 2013 10:05 am
Eshe's comment didn't make Briella any happier. Ilyra's mother should have gone to the Elders right away. She should have had help in looking for her, it was most likely at least four or five days since she went missing. After the first day of not finding her daughter she should have tried getting help to look for Ilyra. However she wasn't one to speak back to Eshe. Even though she had changed many things since leaving her home island, the rest for her Elders and Mystics had not changed. She simply nodded at Eshe before turning to Yansa.
As Yansa spoke the smile spread across her face and the grip on Ilyra's hand tightened. They were letting her stay? She could keep Ilyra. Oh she could run up and hug all three of them women in front of her, and most of all Ilyra. She was already thinking of all the things they would do together, the most important things that she would teach the youngling. "You don't understand what this means to me. Thank you." she said with a bow of her head.
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Posted: Thu May 23, 2013 10:38 am
The three women could see how elated Briella had become at the news, and could only guess at the relief that she felt at how easy it must have seemed for her. The mother of Ilyra had found her a handful and a strange child and was more than willing to let Briella look after her. It was under sad circumstances that such a happy thing could occur.
The elder sighed and looked at Briella as if looking into her soul. "Briella, this trial has not only shown me that you are mature enough to become a mother for this child, but that you are mature and independent enough to further your training."
She stood from her seat in the council room. "From this day forth, you will train as a blade."
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