Coming Of Age

[Caranir Elmheart]

Caliyen slowed to a walk, breathing heavily from the run through the forest. The trick now, she decided, would be to change direction and find somewhere to walk where she'd leave no tracks for a while. The rocky ground near the mountains to her east would be the best place, she decided, settling into a more cautious stride and concentrating on leaving no sign of her passage. This part of Darkshore was quiet again now, the air still apart from the sound of her steadily slowing breathing.

There was no sign of her pursuers now, three other kaldorei from Auberdine, all close to her mere hundred years of age and restless from sitting obediently through their tuition in night elven lore. The four friends often hunted together, but found frustratingly little success of late, so Caliyen had been nominated to play the deer tonight. She knew the others thought her the slowest and loudest, but tonight was going to be different, she decided.

Pressing onward, she tried to work out how much of a lead she had after the ten minute dash, there was no way they could have followed her tracks at the same speed as she'd been making them, so she must have at least five minutes to lose them now, Caliyen reasoned. Darkshore looked fairly small on a map, she knew, but they roamed it often and the forest was definitely big enough to allow her to elude them forever if she was lucky. That was a good dream and she gave it a few more moments thought as she picked her way through the undergrowth, before a twig snapped under her feet.

The cracking sound was deafening to her ears, jolting her from her reverie. Freezing, Caliyen stared around as silence descended back over the forest, but Darkshore was aptly named and the long evening shadows cast by the trees were enough to hide a hunter, she knew. She waited in place a moment longer, fixated on a dark shape amongst the trees a good way behind her before the wind blew and the shadow wavered as the leaves fluttered, revealing no kaldorei shape inside it.

The stone came from a second, much closer, patch of shadows as she turned to continue on her way. It looped just over her head, the unknown thrower misjudging the range. Not stopping to check who'd missed her, Caliyen sprang away and started running north again, directly away from her pursuer. Picking up speed, she could hear the sounds of pursuit starting to recede again as she pulled away from the other elf, identified as Tyril by her warning shouts to the others.

Caliyen smirked as she came onto a small game trail through the forest, pushing herself still harder. She couldn't walk as silently as a beast, but she could certainly run like one, she decided. Caught up in that thought, she missed the flicker of movement in a bush to her left and yelped in surprise as she was abruptly tackled to the ground. She couldn't see through the faceful of mud, but knew from the weight on her back that it must have been Derrin who caught her; the son of one of the town's elders was several decades her elder and considerably heavier.

Kicking and squirming, she tried to force herself upright but found a knee in her back pressing her down. A deliberately swung elbow caught a good blow to the ribs of her captor and bought her a few more seconds to struggle but it was ultimately pointless. Finally, the larger elf got both arms around her and pinioned her arms to her sides, ending her resistance.

"You fight like your sisters," Derrin intoned quietly, sounding just like his father did at public events, "but all sentinels start as outrunners and you are too loud and clumsy for that."

Caliyen blushed, hurt and angry that the game had suddenly turned serious. Several retorts started to form in her mind, but they all blended together as she opened her mouth to speak them and she found herself unable to respond until they were interrupted by the arrival of the other two.

Both were out of breath from the chase and Daelyth was limping slightly, the younger male nearly as muddy as she was. Wriggling free, Caliyen scrambled to her feet as Tyril spoke.
"You ducked as you turned or I would have got you. Then he tripped as we came after you." She pointed at Daelyth, who grimaced.
"I was looking back to see if you could keep up, that was why."

Derrin climbed back to his feet, dusting himself off.
"If you were a deer we would eat you now," he declared, before looking around at each of the other two. "But since these two are poor hunters and I have no appetite, we'll spare you."
"If it were ancient times, we'd eat you half-raw. I heard some elves still do that now.", Daelyth joked, before the older boy silenced him with a haughty stare.
"Those ones are savages. Now, we need to head back to Auberdine, we are already late.", he proclaimed, ending the discussion there.

Tyril slung an arm around Caliyen's shoulders as they followed their magnanimous leader back through the forest towards town.
"Don't worry, we have plenty of time to learn.", she murmured reassuringly. "Besides, it was Dae who figured out where you'd run, he just didn't think he'd be able to catch you."

[Caranir Elmheart]

There was a nightsaber outside the family home when Caliyen had made her way back from the forest. Fully grown, the great cat stood as tall as her shoulder and probably triple her weight or more under the saddle and armour which adorned it's neck and flanks. It pawed the ground and rumbled as she approached tentatively, hands outstretched to feel the creature's fur and powerful muscle beneath. It continued to rumble quietly, exuding arrogance and power as Caliyen stood beside it awestruck.

"You're lucky he's not hungry." remarked a female voice from behind her, the arrogance and elegance of the saber's purr a little echoed in the easy tone.
"Serane!" Caliyen turned to hug her older sister, a task made difficult by the sentinel's platemail armour which pinched in several places.
"Sister, you're covered in mud," Serane admonished as the two untangled themselves.
Taking Caliyen by the arm, she started to lead the younger elf toward the door.
"Mother said you'd need feeding before I could start telling you tales anyway."

Dinner was standing on the table of the ground floor room of the well-furnished house; cold meat and roots left over from a previous meal. Despite its fairly uninteresting nature Caliyen was soon gulping down the food quickly, watched critically by her eldest sister.
"Father's out in the woods doing something again, if you wondered. Mother said she'd take him food so he wouldn't forget to eat." Elissa remarked.
Also a sentinel, she was more reserved and more practical than her sisters, putting the repairs to a damaged garment even as she spoke.
"I suppose you're quite taken with the saber already?"

Caliyen nodded quickly, chewing furiously as Serane interjected from the doorway.
"I was going to take her riding before mother comes back to forbid it. That is if you don't try to forbid it first."
The tone of the question was a challenge which the eldest sister met with a scowl.
"I won't. But what if she falls like..." Elissa trailed off, the meaning clear to all three of them.
"She's more likely to fall out of a tree than from riding with me." Serane declared, before turning to head back outside. Hopping to her feet with a mouth still full of food, Caliyen offered Elissa an apologetic grin before scrambling for the door.

Five minutes later and they were thundering along the road through the forest, Caliyen perched in front of her sister on the saddle and watching the trees disappear past on either side as the saber ran. Leaning backward, she struggled to make herself heard over the thudding of heavy paws and the beast's occasional jubilant roars. "I thought sabers were quiet?"
Laughing, Serane pointed to one of the pieces of armour protecting the creature's shoulder.
"What do we have to be afraid of?"

"Look!" she called, dragging one of several spears from it's sheath behind the saddle. Sitting up straight, she thumped the spear home into a tree stump as they passed.
Spotting another stump ahead on the road, Caliyen reached backward for a spear but her hand was slapped away.
"It takes instruction. Get it wrong and you won't need to fall off to break your arm."
Taking up the second spear, Serane lifted it high with a proud grin before touching it to the tree stump as the saber passed, the momentum of the charge leaving the weapon standing bolt upright in the wood.

Squeezing her younger sister's shoulder with one hand and slowing the saber with the other, Serane smiled fiercely.
"This is how all warriors should fight, no?"
The younger kaldorei couldn't help but to agree.