The Trade: Elswyth

He glanced around the room and shrugged. "They are only my unwed siblings. The rest are with their own families."

"Siblings! As in, brothers and sisters?!? ALL of them?"

He looked at her in confusion again, wondering if she were joking. "Yes?"

She gaped around the room again, then turned and shifted uncomfortably.

"Tell me, little one," he father rumbled, leaning close to her. "Why were you sent for the choosing? Most of the royal lines send only those with a weakness of who are displeasing to them in some way. Why were you sent?"

Elswyth stared at him open mouthed, then scowled as she looked at Azazel who looked grumpy now. "Are you telling me there is something wrong with Azazel?" she demanded hotly. "You sent some..."

Azazel put a hand on her arm and she went quiet. "I had only the misfortune of being the youngest and... I volunteered. I... knew I would never find someone for myself so I meant to save the Water clan from her fate. I had a place to put her."

"But you didn't?" Elswyth asked, confused.

"No," he answered, looking away.

"You meant to save her, you meant to take her originally, yet you would not trade when..."

He flipped his wrist at her face dismissively and she flinched back at the gesture.

"Tell me why you were chosen," his father persisted.

Elswyth turned her glare on the man. "I was the only female in the royal line."

His mother sat up and there was shifting all around the room as everyone went quiet. "The only female?!? Are there so many males, or...?"

"Ranger is the only male. We had cousins who could have been sent in our place, but they are distant and would only meet the requirements because there was nothing else. None of them can tree speak. It should be taken into account, powers and what is needed where! If I MUST bond Azazel, why could he not come to the forest and Ranger or... no, umm, whoever Lilith ended up with could come here? It should be based on where powers were needed! Now my power is wasted and it is sorely needed above!"

"Powers are so few among your kind? And babies? Your kind do not reproduce as they should? Does that mean you cannot reproduce for Zay? Can you bear children?!?" his mother asked, genuinely upset.

"Of course I can! Our people can but it isn't ALL we do," she answered, looking around the room.

His father chuckled, a rumble that came from deep in his chest as he sat back. "The fire in this one, Zay. I am not sure she is well suited to you at all."

"That's not why he took her," the girl from earlier called, laughing again. "He doesn't care how she acts or even what she looks like! He cares that she doesn't smell like putrid, spoiled death like any girl who has been with a man does. He can stomach being near her for more than a few minutes!"

"This is so?" Bela asked him gently.

Azazel looked away from her, his cheeks red with shame. "Why should I not have someone for myself?" he finally demanded. "Her looks do not matter to me, that is so, but look at her. I earned my prize, I won their contest and I was allowed to choose! Why should I not have happiness?"

"No one said you should not, Zay," one of his brothers called gently. "Ignore Dabria's jibes, she is only jealous. She was glad it was Lilith and not her, but look at the prize you returned with. She might have had her own prize had she gone."

Azazel shook his head sadly. "No. She was among the last to be chosen. Her beauty did not matter, only what she was. What we were. None spoke to us, all avoided looking at us. Lilith will be fine where she is with Kieran in Dark Clan, they have less disdain than most do."

"Was Kieran handsome?" another girl asked, almost looking wistful.

"He was Dark clan with their pitch black skin and glowing eyes," Azazel shrugged.

"He was handsome," Elswyth volunteered. "He dressed as a lord in his fine clothes and he was very gentlemanly. His dark hair curled around his long pointed ears with their rows of earrings. His eyes were a pretty sea-mist color that lit up his face and made his full lips shine. His eyebrows were expressive and he seemed to be perpetually grumpy, but I think it was his expression and not his attitude. I saw him smiling while he spoke to Erebus and it lit up his face."

"He sounds lovely," the girl sighed.

"Who was Erebus?" Dabria asked.

Elswyth told all of them about Erebus and that opened other questions.

"Who was the most handsome of all of them?"

"Some would say it was Beacon from Light clan. Bray of Mountain clan was beautiful with his blue skin and hair, but for me... Wren from Fauna clan. He was as a..."

Azazel stood then, his face red. "We will have time to speak another time," he snapped. He pulled her up and out of the room as the other whispered and sniggered.

Elswyth lowered her eyes to the floor as he pulled her along impatiently. "I should not have said that," she told him as they entered the large anteroom. "It was true I did speak to Wren and think him handsome, but you were not there to speak to. I spoke to most everyone there that night. I would have talked to you as well and you are handsome, Azazel. You..."

"I do not need your words," he told her, not looking at her. "I know how I look. Go," he demanded, opening her door for her.

She went in and he shut the door behind her and locked it.

She let out a breath she had been holding and wilted as she climbed up in the bed. She curled up in the blankets and cried into them as she fell asleep.

A hand in her hair made her jerk awake and she looked up sleepily.

"Do not sleep with your lamps on," Azazel told her, his fingers still holding her hair gently. "It is time to eat, are you hungry?"

"Yes?"

"You will not speak of things you should not," he told her, looking at the wall.

"I won't," she agreed.

He helped her off the bed and led her back out to the same huge room. It wasn't full yet, but it was filling up. Azazel sat her in the same chair as earlier though his parents weren't there yet.

"I thought we were eating?" she asked Azazel in a whisper.

"The food will be brought once we are all seated," he told her.

"You don't eat at a table?"

"A table?"

"Dining table? Where everyone can sit and eat? Serve themselves from large dishes?"

"No," he shook his head. "A table that large would require a lot of room and it seems a waste of space. When your plate is served, put it on the arm of your chair and turn like this. Draw your legs up under you like this. It is a sign of familiarity and comfort and not formality. It comes easy to you with your size."

Elswith shifted in the large chair looking uncomfortable. "Are there no cushions or blankets or comfort items for these stone chairs? They are so hard and cold."

He canted his head as he looked her over. "You are cold?"

"Freezing."

"I will see that your seating is altered for you," he told her with a small nod as his parents came in.

Bela gave Elswyth a smile, but Damon was speaking to one of the many sons. They all looked so much alike, Elswyth knew she would never be able to learn all of their names or who was who.

As soon as the two of them sat down, everyone sat and people began pouring into the room with plates and trays of drinks. Azazel handed Elswyths to her and she had to use both hands to hold the huge plate up on the arm of the chair. She also had to get up on her knees to be able to actually look down at it to eat it properly.

She stared down at the mass of... something on her plate.

She sniffed at it, but did not recognize the smell.

She poked at it with the skewer and bits moved around in the brown gel. Different things, different colors.

"What is this?" she asked Azazel in a whisper as he started eating.

"Stew. Do you not eat stew?"

"Stew? Is... I... I know a Stew... Stewart... is... is this?"

One of his brothers choked on nothing as Azazel stared at her in open mouthed disbelief. "Stew! Stewed meat and vegetables! Beef, El, not people. We do not eat people," he said almost angrily. "Try it before you scoff!"

Elswyth bulled up as his temper flared at her. "I only asked! I have not seen or heard of such a thing and I DO know a man named Stew! Why would I not think of him first when you said it when I have never heard it any other way! You don't get to yell at me for being ignorant of your ways when you have not educated me!"

There was outright laughter all around the room now as Azazel stood up, his nostrils flaring.

"Zay," his mother chided. "Have patience. It was a misunderstanding, not an accusation. Sit, please. El, it really is good. It is beef and vegetables cooked together in a broth and simmered until it's tender and in a gravy. What do your people usually eat?"

"We grow our own food and fish in the river," she answered, still grumpy. "We bake the fish until it is light and flaky and put butter and spices on it and squeeze a lemon over it."

"Lemon?" Bela asked.

"Yes, the tang of it brings out the flavor."

"What is a lemon?"

"Oh... a fruit. It's sour and bitter, but the juice is used in cooking and it's delicious when used right. We use it in tea too, along with honey. When it's sweetened, it's very good."

"We do not eat fish here," Damon spoke up. "It doesn't travel well. Beef can travel on the hoof, but fish cannot," he smiled. "We only bring things here that can be brought in alive. Same with fruits and vegetables, we only get things that travel well."

"Why?"

"We have to have things brought down to us," Bela shrugged.

"Where are we, exactly?"

"Some would call this place underground, but it is more than that. It is a transitional place," Bela began.

"It doesn't matter," Azazel cut in quickly. "What she wants to know is how she can get out. How can she go back to where she was."

"I see," Bela said softly as Elswyth blushed.

She poked at her stew and tried a bite, but she felt sick as Azazel stared down at the floor in anger and ignored his food and her. She didn't know how to deal with the temperamental boy.

Finally she had enough and she got up. "Fine. Lock me back in my room," she snapped angrily. "Being alone is better than watching you sulking like a child!"

He gave her an incredulous look as he stood, toppling his plate and making a huge mess on the floor. He ignored it as he looked down at her. His look of shocked outrage turned to rage as he clenched his teeth. He reached for her and grabbed her by the throat, yanking her close to him and starting to lift her as her hands grabbed his wrist fearfully. Her wings fluttered frantically as he lifted her, taking weight off her throat.

"Azazel!" his mother shouted, horrified.

"Bela, do not interfere," Damon said calmly. "She has to learn to control her temper or she won't survive his."

Elswyth looked up at Azazel in terror as he lifted her all the way up, his long fingers almost completely closed around her throat. He pulled her closer, his eyes locked on hers and she watched as black pools spread across his eyes and they were a solid liquid black. The soot around his eyes began shifting and growing, spreading down his cheeks and across his temple. It wasn't make-up, it was a part of him. Coldness began to creep into her neck and shoulders, radiating from his hand as he held her there, his teeth clenched.

"Zay?" one of his sisters called.

Elswyth let go of his wrist and drew her fist back and punched him in the mouth.

He was so shocked he dropped her and she almost fell to the floor, but she flew instead. She flew up as high as the ceiling allowed and took hold of a hanging lamp as she looked down at him, trying to catch her breath.

"Come down here," Azazel demanded with a snarl.

"No! I won't until..."

She cut off as he blinked away, hands closed around her and she was sucked into rolling darkness again. She came twisting out on her bed, him behind her and sitting on top of her.

"You do that again and I will slice these off," he hissed, pinning her wings down and pulling one of his knives out to show her.

Elswyth went still under him, panting fearfully. "You were hurting me!"

"LIAR! I was not hurting you, I was scaring you. You were in no pain at all, I put no pressure on you and I had complete control. It was you who hurt me! You who put a harmful hand to me!"

"Let me GO!" she screamed in terror and anger at the same time.

To her surprise, he did. He got up off of her and off the bed, slamming his knife back into its hidden sheethe. "You will NEVER raise a hand to me again," he seethed.

"You raised a hand to me first! I don't care what you think or say, you were hurting me! And I was terrified!"

"You were terrified, but that was all. I never hurt you," he hissed, the blackness spreading across his face again.

"You can't know that!"

"I DO know that. You think I have so little control of my own power? Do you have such small control of your own? You can stay here until you learn to be civil," he snapped, then left, slamming her door and locking it.

As soon as the door locked, all of the lights went out and she knew he had done that somehow. "Real mature!" she yelled, then fell back to the bed and let go of her anger and gave in to the fear. She curled up and closed her eyes and tried to push him out of her mind. She thought to Wren and wondered what he was doing now. Talking to Brooke. Getting to know her, smiling at her. She wouldn't like his house in a tree much, she was sure. He would find her a place near the water.

Maybe he would take Brooke to the water and let her go, let her go back to her home. He would come here and save her from Azazel and take her back with him and they could live in his house in the tree.

She got lost in the fantasy, falling asleep to his smile and his lips. It wasn't his lips she dreamed about, it was Rangers. The kiss she had given him. In her dream he had kissed her though and convinced her to stay home with him, bond him. He would come to her while she was working with the trees and bring her a lunch they would eat together above the canopy of trees with the sun shining on them.

She was smiling when she woke up and she blinked and jerked, her smile turning to a scowl as Azazel looked down at her from less than a foot away.

"You are less unpleasant when you sleep," he informed her. "What did you dream of that made you so happy?"

"Move," she demanded, wanting to get up.

"You smell of sunlight and life... vitality," he whispered, leaning closer as he closed his eyes. He drew in a deep breath as his nose brushed her curls and she went very still under him. "No... send the fear away. Bring back the light and happiness. Go back to your dream," he commanded, his face still too close for comfort.

Elswyth squirmed and swallowed hard as her discomfort grew.

He let out a sigh of loss and let her hair go, sitting up. His face and eyes were normal now, but he looked sad. "You do not have to fear me," he told her, turning enough that he could lay on his back next to her. "I will never harm you truly."

She did not reply as she quickly got up and slid off the bed, getting away from him. She went to the dresser and looked down at the top as she brushed her hair. She flexed her wings slightly, nervously, wondering if he would truly do something so awful as taking them from her.

"Come and sit," he demanded. He sounded strained, like he was trying to ask her but unable to keep it from coming out a command.

"I have sat enough," she told him, struggling with a tangle.

"Do not turn me away, El," he called gently. "I have never thought to be in this position."

"You should consider that before you act," she snapped back. "Before you try and terrify me into submission. I am not some wilting flower who will ever submit to you, Azazel. I don't know what you thought you were getting when you chose me, but you were obviously wrong. Let me go. Allow the trade."

"The Bond is done."

"It isn't complete yet. If they haven't..."

"Do not speak of it again. I will not release you, El."

"My friends call me El. You can call me Elswyth."

"Do not pout. I won you by rights."

"You cheated."

"It is not so, I did not. Even so, Mountain would have had you, not your... Fauna," he spat the word as if it were a curse. "And had I completed the course as they imagined we all would, it is still possible I would have won by another standard. They did not exclude translocation as a bound power and therefore it was allowed. They all agreed unanimously that I won. You cannot deny me that."

"You knew going into it you had a power you could and would exploit!"

"Everyone going into it hopes to be able to exploit their powers. It so happened that mine was more helpful than most. I will not have this circular argument with you. I won, you are mine by rights and I will not hear more of it."

"Go away and leave me alone. Send someone nice to talk to, or some books to read, or something. Just, you. you go away and leave me alone."

He stood up off the bed and closed the distance to her. "You are my wife now, bound to me," he threatened, hovering. "If I wish to seal the binding..." he began, but faltered and trailed off, shaking.

Elswyth only hunched in on herself and closed her eyes, trembling, waiting for the words.

Instead, she heard the door open and close.

She looked back and he was gone and she let out a breath, then sat down. Why was he so hard to understand and talk to? Why wouldn't he just let her go? He didn't really like her, she was just all he could tolerate.

After a couple of hours, she went to the table and picked up an apple to eat, then went to bed with another sigh. She was going to go insane trapped in this stone tomb.

She jerked awake to darkness and blinked. What had woken her? She rolled and there was movement on her bed when she moved. She sat up and felt around her but her bed was empty. She was sure she had felt movement... maybe she had been dreaming and it had lingered?

No.

Azazel could translocate. He could have been there and left when she woke.

She felt around the bed, but felt no warm spots to give him away.

She growled and laid back down, rolling over again. She smelled the slightest scent of leather, there and gone again as she lifted her nose to smell.

When she drifted back to sleep, she dreamed of Azazel.

He stood before her in nothing but his black pants, pacing in bare feet as he grinned at her. "You keep leaving yourself open!" he called to her, then raised his fists and turned slightly as if he were preparing for a fight.

Elswyth was confused... this wasn't a dream, it was someone's memory.

A dream?

That was a ridiculous thought.

She looked across the floor to Azazel who was starting to bounce on his toes and circle her. "I don't wish to fight with you," she told him, feeling ridiculous.

"No?" he asked, lowering his hands and canting his head the way he did. "You asked to come to the sparring room, but if you do not wish to spar then you must want to be alone with me?"

Elswyth blushed. "No!"

"No? So there is no one you wish to speak of? A certain boy, perhaps? One who..." he moved closer, then blanched back. "You were with him? Already? Lilith! If they find out, they will send you away to the Trade!"

Elswyth shook her head, confused.

Lilith?

Who?

"Azazel?" she asked, looking up at him.

He looked confused for a moment. "El? You have come to me?" he asked softly, almost smiling. "How? I mean... I do not mind. I practice here, sparring. How did you know where to find me?"

"I didn't really?"

"You asked?" he asked, looking more pleased. "You asked where to find me?"

"I must have..." she answered, shaking her head in confusion. "I don't remember what I wanted."

"To learn to spar?" he asked, moving to pull his shirt on.