Ancient Watchtowers Ch.02

***

Just a name thing.

Naïsa = NahYEEsa

The other odd word, never mind it. They have another, easier name and it's about a paragraph farther in. 0_o

***

-----------

A strange cave in Wyoming

------------

Whenever an equation changes, the result just has to change along with it.

With the addition of Bolga and Chicha, things just had to.

Little Chicha got into all sorts of mischief with her new playmates, but on the plus side of things, she now had almost three mothers, well, one mother and a pair of females who just loved her and her host of her misadventures to bits. They really couldn't have helped it anyway.

But other things changed as well, not that any of them really minded all that much - at first.

Nila and Loriel found much more time for each other, but Loriel's own quiet hopes dimmed because it seemed to have more to do with teaching as Nila taught the elf how to live without much of anything and they never again spent any time alone with each other where the things that Loriel hoped for might happen. They often went hunting together and always took the cats along, since they still seemed to want to tag along anyway.

The elf's frustrations grew, but she didn't think that she ought to say anything. She'd made one hopeful overture, which Nila had rebuffed instantly.

She could take a hint, though she tried to understand.

Nila was upset and concerned, and she spoke little of it because it bothered her.

Even just being alone out walking or hunting could cause her to have the insane thought to bite Loriel.

It didn't matter that Loriel herself would probably have wanted it, Nila had to fight her own urges.

Having the cats along helped to a degree. Their presence could help her to force the feelings down and if one or the other was tired, they could ride on the large one's back, though never at more than a walking pace, if there was some distance involved.

He and his sons could be placed in hiding with Loriel as Nila moved into a position which would allow her the best shots, once the elf climbed onto the cat and they noisily started the stampede.

Gradually, they even developed a wardrobe out of the clothing that they crafted for themselves from the hides, since they had no fabric.

The good thing was that Nila found that she could share the cat's attentions with Bolga freely a lot of the time. She even turned to the wolf to join in with them sometimes.

None of them saw it, but Loriel noticed and drifted away to be alone then.

But that all changed one day a couple of months later.

Nila had seen the odd fish while out swimming and that led to her thoughts of building a canoe. The trouble was, her people knew of the plains mostly, and she had little knowledge of that sort of thing, since she'd never learned much about it.

She'd known people who'd had canoes, but she'd never seen one being made. So one trial after another, her efforts were slowly getting them to where they could fish farther out. In the meantime, they fished from the shoreline if the fish were a little accommodating.

Of the three of them, Bolga became the one who most often spent time with the cat late at night. Loriel and Nila would often babysit little Chicha and the boys, waiting for them to tire themselves out.

Not being a real fox kit, Chicha grew much slower than one, so they treasured this time with her, just because she could make them laugh themselves to tears with her antics tussling with the boys, while in another chamber, Bolga was giving her large male friend as good as she got and it often happened that they just wore each other out at the same time.

-----------

On the day in question, Chicha was nosing around in the grasses of the dunes, trying to hunt herself up some shorebird eggs. She hadn't really noticed how far away she'd wandered from the entrance to the cave which they all shared.

But she sure noticed it when the pack of wild dogs found her.

The three females seemed to notice her absence at about the same time, and after worried glances to each other, they set out looking for her. Nila changed to give herself more speed and though she was silent as she rushed around looking, the others weren't and often called to each other as well as to Chicha.

Chicha was sitting, trying to look small, while wanting to appear ferocious at the same time. She was facing four dogs and even to her young mind, she didn't know why they'd taken this long to decide.

But the dogs had heard the cries of the ones who were searching and it was coming to them that it might be better to just grab the kit and run. The trouble was, which of them was going to make the snatch?

Wild dogs aren't like a pack of wolves. Each one is greedy, knowing that the rest all see things in the same way - what can I get out of this?

The little fox would barely make a satisfying meal for one, eating slowly. To have to hang on while another grabbed opportunistically and pulled to tear a piece of the kit off, hoping to get the whole thing just wouldn't work out for somebody. For something like this, there could be no sharing; only fights until the fox was just a wet rag of bloody fur.

Wild dogs do not share meals unless it's big enough for them all to eat at the same time and even then, they eye one another constantly.

In the end, they took too long with it and when the largest two decided - and collided at the same time as they rushed forward, one of them ended pinned down to the sand with a long arrow mostly through him.

His chief competitor didn't make good on his opportunity at that instant, needing to see what had happened and wonder about it for a few seconds.

That used up his own cushion of safety and he was skewered the next instant and struggling feebly. The rest took off and ran straight into the jaws of the pair of young males, who'd sensed that something was wrong and were on their way back.

They were young, but they were far faster and more deadly than a pair of dogs and it was over in seconds. The dogs each died with the long fangs of a cat through their windpipes, held down until they either suffocated or bled out, whichever happened first.

By that time, Nila and Bolga had gotten there, Nila shifting as Bolga scooped up her little one.

But she turned then as Loriel came running up and they all looked at each other.

None of them held bows.

Nila saw the angle of the arrows and looked back, figuring out the trajectory.

She had to squint into the sunlight, but after a moment, her eyes adjusted a little and she saw a lone figure up there on the top of the long rock outcropping which they lived inside of.

The others looked and saw the figure as well.

A long, dark, heavy cloak fluttered slowly behind and they could see that the cloak there had a hood, but that it was back. As well, it came to them after a strong gust of the shore wind that the figure was female.

Loriel stared the longest, for she had the best sight out of the three, being an elf, after all.

"Who is it?" Nila asked her and Loriel had to stare a little longer, not believing the details that she thought that she could discern.

"I don't know," she said, "But I know WHAT she is."

She lowered her gaze and took her hand away from her brow, "That's a she-elf or I'm a goat."

The figure remained up there, not moving for a time as if trying to come to her own decision. Finally, she lifted her bow and hung it on a holder over her back next to her quiver.

She nodded once and then put up the hood as she turned away to stride out of their sight.

Loriel began to shout, wanting the figure to return, but she turned back when Nila told her that all she had to do was wait, and whoever it had been would come down.

It just might take a time, that was all, due to the long walk to get down from up there and back over to them on the beach.

"How do you know all that?" Loriel asked.

Nila just pointed down from where she stood.

"I've used a bow from the time that I was big enough to draw the one my father made for me to learn on. I've always been a strong archer and as what I am besides, I've had to learn not to draw too hard because I can't make a bow that will stand my strength. They always end up too thick to be supple enough and they break whenever I try to make one strong enough. There is a real limit to what I can do.

Look at these arrows. They're longer than mine and I've never seen arrows made this well. I can feel the magic on them from here. These are not ordinary arrows, and I'll bet that whoever she is, they're worth enough to her to want them back.

Look at how far away that is," she pointed, "Even with the fall of them because of the height, I could never have made those shots, not without at least one to test things and even then, it would be a gamble that I wouldn't want to have to depend on."

She looked back up at the top of the rock, "Yet she did it in a breeze with no testing shots - two shots, two kills."

She looked to where Bolga stood, holding her baby as though there was some unseen threat here which might snatch Chicha out of her arms if she wasn't watchful.

Chicha herself saw the boys not far off and wanted down then to run over to the slightly roughed-up pair who stood a little proudly over what they'd done. Chicha seemed to know it and she rubbed herself against each one, so happy to be alive and to see them again.

They began to play but after a few moments of it, the larger male tried to do his dominance thing to the others. Normally, this annoyed Chicha severely and she'd turn and show him that she didn't agree with his interpretation of things.

But this time she just allowed him his moment, since it was just a sham which pointed to when they'd grow up. It was over in seconds and nothing had happened - just like it never did and Chicha rolled over and stood up to lick the smaller one's face while he held still for his brother as well. Then they ran back to where everyone stood.

Bolga had seen it and yet she knelt on the sand to thank the young cubs in her way, rubbing their heads with a grin. "That may turn into something real one day, "she smiled to the larger one, "I hope you are ready if she decides."

She stood up then and looked off down the beach, "So you are sure that she will come?"

"I want to meet her," Nila said as she nodded, "And I think that all of us need to thank her - whoever she is. None of us could have gotten to Chicha in time."

Nila and Bolga talked of pulling out the arrows to clean them as their way to show a little thanks, but when she reached for one, Nila felt what was there in the magic and drew her hand back.

At the same time, Loriel was quick to gainsay the idea.

"I'm coming to a thought about who she is. I read something about ones like that, though I don't know much about it, really. It was just a reference to ones who'd stood guard over a falling civilization a really long time ago."

She shook her head, "It can't be though. Those ones were sung about over their last sacrifices and they were supposed to have fought on to the very last elf.

And anyway," she said, "That was far away from here. It happened ages ago where I grew up and before the humans came in any numbers."

They waited for a good half-hour before they saw her coming down the beach at a long-gaited, striding walk, looking around as she came.

The cloak was blowing more down here in the real turbulence of the lake breeze. She walked on, wearing long boots which came high up her bare thighs - almost to her hips - but they weren't attached to anything that any of them could see. There was a breastplate there cupping breasts, so they knew that their earlier guess had been correct. She wore gauntlets, but it could be seen that they were supple as well as armoured.

And she wore the hood up, as well as a mask so that only her bright blue eyes could be seen and there was something there ... something about the little bit of her face which could be seen above the mask.

Her midriff was bare from below the breastplate to the top of her very narrow girdle. It looked to be more of a belt, really, but there was nothing there to hold up. It was just something with a few pouches hung on it which dipped a little perilously under her navel, plunging deeply toward her mound, which it still hid from their sight. On the skin which was visible, there were markings, lazy swirls which looked like flames, though the marking themselves were a little faint.

Nila's eyes widened a little and then narrowed as she peered at a detail which most might not have seen. The woman walked on the sand, and as she came on, it could be seen that while she never walked into the surf, her path often took her through where it was wet. As well, she also walked through the dry sand.

In either case, something didn't add up to Nila's eyes. This person wore boots and they had heels, not especially high, but there, nonetheless. Yet this person walked through both wet and worse, dry sand - without any apparent difficulty whatsoever.

Nila noticed that she left no tracks regardless where she walked.

She mentioned it to Loriel who chuckled, "Pshh. I can do that too, you know. Haven't you ever noticed? That's how you can always tell about an elf. I just don't do it very much, unless I've got a reason.

I'm thinking she's got to be a High Elf. They're direct descendants from the days of the ancient Elven empire which once stretched all over. High Elves don't walk like me. I only hide my tracks when I want to. High Elves always walk like that. It's supposed to be in their blood or something.

Ok, she's got more grace about it than I have, but then, I'm just a gutter elf. I've just got to get a look at her face, Nila.

There's something about her. I need to find out what kind she is for sure. I'd bet that I'm right."

Nila looked over, "What kind?"

Loriel nodded, "Yeah, what kind of elf.

There ARE different kinds, you know."

She looked at the one approaching, "Like this, I've got no real clue. She's lighter than me, so for sure, she's no Wood Elf. She's not a Night Elf or a Moon Elf, not here in this sunlight. Not even the Sylvans come this far out of the cover of the forest.

She's tall for an elf too, no matter which kind, that's for certain, and see her hips? They're not wide or anything, but I've never in my life seen an elf with hips like that."

Nila looked for a moment, "She does have longer legs than you do, and now that you've told me what to look for, I see what you mean about her hips."

The woman walked the last ten yards to them and Nila heard Loriel's quiet gasps when the newcomer drew back the hood of her cloak and her ears stood up fully. Nila said nothing, but they were a lot longer than Loriel's.

Nila herself had to stare a little because she'd never seen blonde hair. Well she had, she thought back, but not as light as this one's. In the bright sunshine, it looked very near to being white, though there was still gold to be seen in it, so she knew that it wasn't white, but just a trick of the sun.

The woman reached up and pulled her mask down with a very pleasant-looking smile for them, especially for Bolga and little Chicha as she pulled her arrows from the bodies of the feral animals. A detail caught Nila's eye and she watched but said nothing.

"I see that my shots were well-spent and the small one lives yet."

She turned then and looked at the family of cats, since the huge male had wandered over by then. She grinned and looked over at Nila and astounded her with her compliment over such a handsome family.

The others blinked in surprise, but Nila was gracious about it, knowing that it had been a way to tell her that this one had the sight of truth, which oftentimes revealed things lying otherwise well-hidden, not that Nila was ashamed of it anyway.

She looked at them all, still smiling and bowing a little, "I am Naïsa."

Loriel gasped out loud, staring openly at the other one's lovely face and the markings that she saw there - smoky shadowlike things which seemed to speak of fire and magic. She looked for a moment to be trying desperately to decide on whether or not she ought to be bowing.

She gasped once more, "A High Elf! And - and a Fell Archer or I'm a cow!"

She did bow then, though it seemed to make the other one a little uncomfortable to see it.

"I thought you said you were a goat," Bolga said in an amused way.

"Please, do not make so much of nothing," Naïsa smiled, "You are more the elf than I, surely."

Loriel looked confused.

Naïsa beamed a little in mirth, seeming to think it a little funny. "Please friend, tell me of your own kind. I am so pleased to see another of us here."

Loriel seemed to be at a loss for words at the moment, something which Nila noticed because it hardly ever happened. It annoyed her a little, that this stranger could make someone she cared for very much seem so ... humbled, in a way.

"I'm only a gutter elf," Loriel began, but Naïsa shook her head at that.

"I know of all elves - all of the sorts which there are, were, and have been written of. I know all elves, but I also know of no such kind.

If you mean the ones who lived under the heels of men long ago, then I take it to mean that you are from the Wood Elves who lost their knowledge of their old home, after it was taken from them when they were forced to live as almost slaves.

You look as a Wood Elf to me, and you carry all of the healthy beauty of that kind to my eyes.

Such ones are mostly gone now, and most of the free elves of any sort have gone to the west. Now it is a rare thing for ones like us two to meet, and since you live here still, I think it is I who must bow to you."

"B-but you're a High Elf!" Loriel stammered.

Naïsa shook her head slowly, "Only half - at best, friend.

And if the High Elves had bothered themselves to bow to others of other kinds a little more, perhaps they'd have had more friends toward the end. When most of our kinds left, those who did not stay behind and mix with the humans, many of the other kinds went along with others that they met and it turned to friendships on the road to the sea.

The High Elves always traveled alone, only their kind together, and likely wondering why there were so few left.

I am no full High Elf. My father was such a one. My mother was human. You are far more elven than I."

Loriel seemed quite shocked to hear it, "But you're a Fell Archer. I can see that.

I see it on that bow behind you and I see it on the hafts of your blades back there." she pointed.

"It's written there in your armour.

On your boots and gloves, even on your face!"

"In that," Naïsa nodded, "you are correct. I am such. The last of them all.

Though I did not live through the terror which took all the rest when the Empire fell long ages ago, for I was not born for thousands of years after."

She smiled once more, "But let us not speak of it much. I came to it by chance and it was taught to me in the space of a few moments by the barely surviving spirit of the last one who stood before that nameless terror and lived - in a way.

By her actions, the last of the ones in her charge were able to gather as they could and they became the ones that you call the High Ones.

But for all of their lordly habits, they were fallen even then.

The one I knew, she taught me and lived for a time within my breast as a spirit, guiding me until she saw that my own tests out of my need were done.

She departed then to seek the peace that she sought and I have wandered since, from then until now, the last of the Fell Ones."

She turned to the others, "But please forgive us," she smiled, "I am happy to have found others, and especially such a sweet little huldra child."

Chicha soaked the attention right up, wanting to be free from her mother's grasp to see the beautiful newcomer. She was in one of her growth spurts now but for a little huldra, it could be a dangerous time of not having complete control over her form.