Chapter 414 - 414

Please read author's note at the end!

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Their little adventure lasted a whole week. They had managed to escort his mother's aunt out of the village in safety and during the whole time his mother had been an absolute typhoon. Allias was well aware of his mother's dynamic personality, her charm and her unwilling spirit but as a child he always saw a more reserved, more royal-like side of her. In those memories Atalanti was simply wild and the funniest thing was how his father would react to it. In the king's memory Tallin was silent, kind and patient but as a young man he was completely different. 

"Move your feet Tallin, we have no time to waste." Atalanti scolded him while holding her sister's hand.. They had just gotten out of the main village and were entering the forest surrounding it. 

"Well we have been walking for a while now and it's already dark so why don't we…"

"No." she said strictly, turning her head to look at him. "First we get to safety then we rest."

"Who made you the boss?" Tallin asked her with a frown and she smiled. 

"Myself. If you disagree feel free to leave, you've served your purpose." 

"What am I to you anyways?" he asked her, stopping on his track, forcing the two girls to halt too. Atalanti turned around, pushing back a few strands of curly hair and scanned him with her judgemental eyes from head to toe. 

"My dog." she answered and the man's eyes widened, his jaw dropping almost to the floor. 

"Your what?" 

"My dog but a cute dog." she mumbled, her cheeks turning a faint shade of pink when Atalanti's sister interrupted them. 

"She means she likes you, she really adores dogs." she informed Tallin and the man smiled., satisfied with what he had heard.

"Is that so? All tough on the outside and melting on the inside, well I didn't know I had that effect on you but…"

"Shut up Tallin and you.." she said pointing at her sister. "Another word and I am sending you back." she told her but the girl giggled, knowing that something like that could never happen. 

It was moments like these that made Allias' heart break. His father had died so early, his mother devastated by it never talked about it to the point that when he was young he wondered so many things. Now his mother was dead too and the precious image of him sitting on the food at the throne room, between his boots while his mother smiled was the only one he had. Allias wasn't a part of those memories, he  was not even an idea back then but as he watched them unfold in front of him he tried to memorize them. Their movements and the tone of their voices, the way they looked at each other. He wanted to remember it all. 

The pages of the magical book kept being flipped on their own showing a very unexpected story. After they had returned Tallin confessed to his mother again and this time she had accepted. He took her back to Kardia but the people weren't so pleased with them. She went through so many hardships there, having to deal with the fact that she wasn't one of them. Kardia elves viewed themselves as better, since they had been entrusted with the honor of keeping all knowledge safe. His mother had not been raised there, she did not know their ways and they made sure to remind her all the time. 

That and the fact that he knew how corrupt their royal line was urged Tallin to run for the next king. Usually the throne was hereditary, no elf was powerful enough to be able to hold the kingdom going but his father and mother, they were something else. Tallin wished to change things, he wished to take Atalanti away from the blue shores and bring her to a place where no more young girls would feel threatened by the whims of powerful men and that was exactly what he did. He went through a huge amount of trials, he got exiled by his people and denied his name until he finally made it. He was strong, so much stronger and his mother, she was bright and intelligent, people slowly took a liking to them and the girl who had always been a pariah had turned into their queen. 

Atalanti loved him, even through her cold exterior Tallin was the only one she looked at as if he knew her. He was the only one she trusted and the only man who had seen her cry. His father adored her to the point of wanting to give her the moon, he had actually attempted it once, getting into a nasty fight with some moon gods. But some things sometimes were better left alone. 

Allias couldn't help but wonder, had his mother cried? When she watched the end of their people, when everything came crashing down. Had she wept, had she looked for him, had she called out for his father? Allias wasn't there, he hadn't been by her side. 

After a while he decided that it was time for this beautiful story to end and by his own will he closed the book. He smiled, tracing his fingers on the cover noting to himself to never forget. Never forget his people, of his family and where he came from. The book had been placed on his lap when Milia stood up, a faint smile on her face. 

"What do you think?" she asked him and took the book back. "Here we keep everything, One day, your story will be stored too, for the later generations to see." 

"Well that would be very unfortunate." Allias told her. 

"Why is that your highness?"

"Because I have screwed up many more times than my mother and father." he said and the woman laughed. 

"It would simply make a much more interesting story wouldn't it?" 

"You could take it that way too, I guess."

"So would you like your arm to get fixed?" 

"My arm. I did not lose it by accident. It was a punishment I must endure. There is nothing really that can be done about it." Allias said. He really wanted to get his arm back, that was the cruel truth but he also couldn't allow himself too. Everyone had to pay a price for their actions, him too. 

"You know, sometimes I think that people forget. The greater the person, the bigger the mistakes." Milia told him. She was pacing, close to the edge of the room, looking down. "Maybe what you did was bad but would you be able to forgive yourself if something even worse happened if you weren't strong enough?" 

"What do you mean?" Allias asked her, tilting his head to the side. He walked closer, standing by her side as  he tried to read her expression. 

"You are a king. I am sure you know that. Wallowing in self pity is not what you should be doing. You will make mistakes but your mistakes are always pardoned because at the end of the day your people will always need your power." she said. 

"I don't really like this kind of point of view."

"You might not like it but that's how the world works. Strong people do make mistakes, the weak simply choose to overlook them so they can survive. You need to fix your arm." 

" Why are you so fixated on me getting healed?" 

"Because I need you to protect someone. I know she is coming to you." she said and looked at Allias right in the eyes. 

"What are you talking about?" 

"My daughter. She was stolen by demons a long time ago. I didn't know about the war or their plan. She just disappeared one day out of nowhere. But a few weeks ago I sensed her magic again. She is traveling, she is coming to where you live." she said and Allias's eyes widened. 

"Your daughter. She was the last Avgee woman they told me about." Allias said. 

"I...don't know what that means."

"Who is your daughter?"

"My daughter is Rayla. Your fiance" Milia told him and Allias froze. The girl they were bringing. The elf that had been stolen was Rayla, the woman his mother had wanted him to marry a long time ago. Allias bit his lip, troubled by what he had just learned. 

"I will send her back to you." he told her but she suddenly seemed to get distressed. 

"No, no. You can't. Rayla has been gone for a long time. The elders here are still cruel and old fashioned. They won't accept her, they will think she changed, she has lost the ways of our kind. You have to keep her there. You have to marry her." she stated. 

"I...I can't." Allias told her. Her eyes were filled with tears and the king felt a sting on his chest. "I already have someone, I can't betray them like that."

"Please, you have no idea the sorrow I went through. Thinking that my daughter was dead and then one day, I felt her magic. I could feel her alive again. You need to keep her there your highness. Here, her life will onlybe torture." she begged him. 

"I can't marry your daughter."