Lynnithe, the runaway Bride
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"Lynnithe!" A voice screamed loudly, a stern looking elf stood on a balcony, searching the garden below for something. She was a very old looking elf with pure white hair falling down the back her body. She wore a loose silky robe and walked with a royal grace. "Get your human side here quickly or you will be sorry!"
A small rustle was heard in the garden below and a child of 12 summers stepped out. She looked like a human, but the slightly pointy ears and green eyes showed the others different. She looked down at the ground, waiting for the punishment to start.
"I wish to speak with you child, and I want to you hurry up!" The older elf shouted. Lynnithe nodded and ran, but not too quickly to speak with the older elf. She entered a grand room and heaved her self into a chair that was to big for her, her small legs just able to hang off the edge of it. The elf walked in and sat down opposite her, looking the young girl over and sighing.
"I am getting weary of you running about playing with the stable boys and maids; they have jobs to do and chores to get on with!"
The young girl looked down at her clasped hands and murmured a sorry.
“I’ve decided that when you come of age, you will be married, it may help you to settle down, and it will bring more money to the family.” The elf told Lynnithe. “That is all, and you are late for study, move along now!”
The girl bolted from the chair and ran off out of the room. The old elf sighed and stood up to look at some pictures hung on the wall. There, hung portraits of her family and ancestors and a painting of her self as a child. In which she liked much liked Lynnithe.Lynnithe sat on her bed reading a book, filled with great pictures and many stories, of knights and dragons, of maidens and spells of sleep, of treasure and pirates. Treasure, the wide sea, the open world at one’s feet. The girl lay back on the bed and slipped into another day dream, just one of many to keep her somewhat happy in this life.
The next day however brought some surprises for the young half-elf, her mother had called a small ball: to pick the right husband for her. She had been scrubbed, bathed and made up to within an inch of her sanity!
Many parents walked in with both men young and old to meet the young girl, she couldn’t take all of the attention. A rather fat old man didn’t stray to far from her either, he seemed to scrub up alright but the lingering smell of pig filled the very air about him.
This may not have seemed to be torture to a few spoilt girls but for Lynnithe, this was the worst of all: culture, society, parties, and social occasions. She felt herself drifting again, smelling the fake salt air of her dream, the steady dreamy roll of the ocean under her bare feet.
The evening passed quickly in the end, Lynnithe tucked into bed, silently dreaming away as she always did. The mother sat on a plump chair, looking over letters of agreement and offerings for the young girl; she had captured a few hearts that night.
Lynnithe sat on the edge of her bed, sighing as she kicked her shoes off and lay back on it. She reached for a book and began to read, drifting into the pages once more: commanding the crew, fighting on the decks, telling stories and songs at night. Double gold Jill they’d called her, she wore the best of gold and held two swords like they were part of her soul, her long brown hair let loose in the wind, fighting and finding treasure, all she could and wanted to be.
It wasn’t long after that she left one warm spring morning; the young man whom she was meant to marry had beaten her up, looted and wrecked a few things, then blamed it on Lynnithe. Her mother had broken into a rage and sent to her room for punishment.
She just climbed from the window and was gone from the place. In her mind she had suffered a lot, but she knew others had suffered much worse then her. In some ways she was selfish, some ways not though her suffering had only begun……
The angered elf slapped her hand hard on the table, making the wine glasses and plate wobble and clink.
“What has the foolish girl done this time?!” She sighed and fell back into her chair, looking over the wanted poster of the girl. At the door were a line of parents with girls much like Lynnithe, trying to earn a few coins.
“Mother, please do not worry, she will return, we are her only family.” A soft voice chimed next to her, a pale young elf appeared at her side. The mother smiled and stroked her soft black hair, proudly saying this child was her favourite.
“Come child, let us go for a ride, I need the fresh air.”
“But mother I have study, if I am to follow in your footsteps surely missing it will harm my future?”
“Nonsense my dear, you are working hard, you need the reward, come now let us go.” She took the girls hand in hers and left with the giant meeting room. The queue of parents and children were turned away and the door closed once and for all.
“Eh! Watt are ya do in’ in da cargo!” A gruff man yelled and waved his arm at a girl hiding in a box; he dragged her out and sighed. Not another bloody one.
“Well en? Explain!” he yelled at the girl. She just looked down at her feet and muttered in elfvish.
“Ye what?” He asked again, and then he felt his heart soften at the young girl. He took her hand and led her to a cabin, letting the girl stay on the boat.
Time passed for the ship, the girl learnt how to speak common, fight and fish. But the glory she wanted never came for her.
It was a cold night when the boast was silently taken over by pirates, by then she was becoming a young woman, very appealing to some of the pirate crew. Barely kept alive on the ship she was passed around like a rag doll to please next man after next. One night she entered a rage and killed most of the crew, the remaining few threw her over board and left her for dead to the sea.
But lady luck was watching over her, she washed ashore a beach. A kind family took her in, fed her up and helped her to heal. By the time she was 16, wind of her leaving home caught up with her.
“Lynnithe we need to speak dear….” The mother hurried in and wiped her hands on her dirty apron, the girl sat in a corner playing with a child.
“Yes mam?” She put the child down and looked up her second mother beaming. The mother just pushed the wanted poster under her nose.
“ I don’t want to lose you love, you’re the daughter I never had.” The mother started to cry, Lynnithe stood up and wrapped her arm around her mothers neck and sobbed with her.
“We can give you a new name, hide you, and cut your hair, anything.” The mother whispered.
“We both knew it would catch up with me some time mam” Lynnithe replied.
“Please, if you go, let me give you a new name.”
“Anything mam, I hate my name.”
“Tris, Tris of the Dy’ner family.”
Lynnithe tested her new name on her tongue, it sounded good, it felt like her.
So Tris went left home the next day, packing all she could carry and jumping aboard a ship again. It was going ever forward and fast, to a new land. Narfell.
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Reviewed - XP Pending.
Btw, next time try including the exact character name and your nwn account name. This time you're lucky I know your account name