It was dark when I finally woke up. I didn’t know how long I’d been out, or what time of the day it was. It seemed night, but was it really night, or was that just an illusion in the forest? I opened my mind as I made contact with the forest. Could this really be my lucky day?

I felt the forest calmed down. Something must have had a calming reaction on it. But what? Was it a natural reaction? Or was it a reaction that it was relieved that somebody had left? I stood up as I realised it. The soldiers were gone. The camp used to be close to the tree I was hiding in, but now there was nothing left. It looked as it was abandoned in a rush though.

The order usually cleaned their camping spaces really well. Nobody would be able to see the fact someone camped there. But now… Something must have caught them off guard. What was it? Or rather who? Could it be that someone felt me? That they had a wizard or wizard’s child working for them? I shivered by the thought. I rather hoped not. That would mean I couldn’t rely on my magic to save the two of them. The unknown wizard and Elda, Master Kenjio’s wife.

I thanked the trees as I grabbed my belongings, their branches slowly becoming branches again, and the leaves returning to them. It was time for me to get moving. I pulled my bag over my shoulder and adjusted the sheath to my right hip. I had to be ready to fight any time, and as I learnt how to fight with left first, since of an old injury, I was best with it. I pulled the bow and the tube with the magical arrows over my bag. I would never know when I needed them.

The sun slowly began to rise as I left the forest behind me. I’d come a long way, and I was supposed to go even further to reach my goal. But first, first I had to set up a rescue. It was time to save Elda and the unknown wizard. My mind pondered.

Elda… She replaced my mother when I arrived at their place. She took me in, without knowing anything of me, because she was the terror in my eyes. I came across her in a small village where I tried to get some food. It was no use though, I looked like a nomad, my clothes partly broken with loose ends, and my face full of mud. I had no money left and I was on the edge of starving. Elda originally came to the village to pick up some goods, but when she saw me her eyes flickered. She sensed something familiar, but at the same time not. Only now I realised she must have felt a small trace of magic my sister left me for protection. It was something I couldn’t get rid of no matter what I tried. A sort of wizard’s touch, you could say.

That time, I realised she was me, so I tried to hide but it was no use. She followed me to the forest, and even trying to hide in it didn’t work. I was too exhausted to get in touch with it. I couldn’t use my magic anymore. Elda carefully approached me as she tried to make me feel comfortable. I can still feel her arms as she wrapped them around me when she came closer to me. It was exactly what I needed at that time. It had only been three weeks since my birthday, and it was getting colder. Without knowing what to do, but feeling her warmth, her kindness, I started crying. Everything I’d been holding in came out.  All the pain, and sorrow from losing my sister, losing my little brother, even the fact my parents were gone. I screamed, I yelled but she didn’t give up. She held me till the very end.

Elda took me to the inn she was staying in and ordered a hot bad tube and warm food for me. I didn’t know what to do. How could this lady be so nice to me, while she didn’t even know me. When did I earn this. Why was she looking after me, while I had nothing to offer her. I was just an infant without a goal. Some sort of nomad who barely had clothes left.

At first I was really scared and didn’t know what to do. Elda kept me close as she tried to win my trust. It took her months. When the snow started to fall, she finally got me talking to her. And as we approached her home town a man approached us. He had a long sword in his right hand, and a fierce look on his face. His body build was muscular, but at the same time he was a bit fat. His grey hair waved in the wind. It reached till his shoulders, and it was braided in a warrior style. I assumed he must have been a great swordfighter, since not many survived.

When I looked back to Elda to hide behind her, I saw her gaze at the man. Following her eye sight I saw the expression of the man change. As if a light shined upon him. If he owned the brightest diamond in the whole universe. Who was he? And why did he look to Elda like that.

I shut down again at that point. I refused to talk. I didn’t know what to do. But the man took me in his house without arguing. He let me stare at him as long as I wanted, pretending that he didn’t notice. And Elda. Elda was great. She put all her work aside and put all effort in me. I trusted her. But did I trust her enough to tell the horror?

I slowly started to say small things. I followed her around in the house as she did her chores and followed her when she was practising with her bow. I was interested. I wanted to learn as well. And one time in the spring, I had the courage to stand up and ask her to teach me. That was my first step back to reality. The bow became a part of me. It protected me and I protected the bow. And with that, my confidence started to grow back. The training with the bow made me stronger, physically and mentally. I realised I had a long way to go. But I did it.

When I was confident enough, I sometimes spoke to the man in the house. I didn’t know anything of him, except that Elda loved him more than anything in the world. They didn’t have children, even though she loved them. It was a shame. But she had me now. And I had her. A person who cared about me. Yet I had not forgotten my own mother. But it was too painful to talk about.

The man told me stories about a war long ago. A war in which he was the advisor and second in command from the King of the Highlands. But that was long in the past. He left the war to marry Elda, the love of his life. Far up north, the war was still going on. It was one of the unending wars in the world. But soldiers wouldn’t kill. It was to remain practised. In reality the King of the Highlands and the Queen of the Mountains were great friends. Or actually, they were way more than that. They’d been in an argument where to marry for over years. They decided the battle would be symbolic for their marriage. And that soldiers would always fight each other, so they would become blood brothers in battle and name.

I loved these stories. I learnt about the King and Queen, and how they eventually married each other. It occurred thousands of years ago, but because of this, the Highlands, as what was the name of the country became after the marriage, lived in peace. The war went on. And everyone had to fight in it. Man and woman, didn’t matter. It was a tradition. An honour. And for that, everyone lived in peace. The sons and daughters of the King and Queen fought as well. And as their skills became better, they eventually met their love on the battlefield. Their offspring still ruled parts of the country, but the first in line always ended up being Queen or King, as the rules said.

When the legend, or the so called story ended one time and all the stories about the war were over it was summer. The heat shone upon us as the two of us looked up at the stars. It was then, when I finally spoke up to him and started asking questions. “Who are you? Why are you living here? Where do you go every day? What do you do?”

The man was patient and spoke. “Who I am, youngling? I am the last descendant from the King and Queen out the story. Their blood flows through my veins. My older brother is the current king of the Highlands, and I used to be his advisor. I was the one who made sure the battlefield stayed a playground. It was just a honour to fight there after all. There wasn’t supposed to flow blood. As advisor I travelled through the land. I was undercover, and let my brother know how his land was doing.

On one of my travels I came across a young lady. The most beautiful lady I’ve ever seen. But she was out of my reach. After all her father didn’t know who I was. And she was promised to another man, but as soon as she looked at me, she loved me. It was love on first sight. Not something, but amazing. Her father was one of the wizards that flew from the south, so I had to be careful. But her skin was the most beautiful I’d ever seen. Her smile concurred mountains and it melted my personality. I knew immediately, I wanted to marry her. So I sent my brother a letter, and within a week, he came himself. He got in touch with her father, and revealed who I was. It was nearly immediately settled, but her father asked one thing. Please go back to your home country. I know you’ve always missed it. And this is the chance to do so.

Elda told me something once we were alone. She wasn’t able to give birth. Even though I had a child wish, I immediately said it was alright. After all, I loved her and nothing would get between. We got married in the Castle while looking at the stars. Her father gave her a magical bow, and arrows who would always find their way back home. As he was The Nature Wizard.”

I looked at him with big eyes. The Nature Wizard. I nearly screamed out. And that one moment I let my guard down. My protection of nobody being able to sense I was a wizard. But At that moment, Elda came towards us. She looked at me, and instantly knew her father was dead. After all, there couldn’t be more than one wizard of each element. It was a sort circle. A circle that couldn’t be broken.

The devastation in Elda’s eyes was too much for me to handle. I loved her and I made her cry. Even though I nearly didn’t use magic for a year, I created a flower in front of me and picked it up. I ran after her as she disappeared in the woods. I called the nature to show me the way towards Elda. It the end, it turned out she hid in a tree deep in the forest. I decided it was time to travel in the sky. I called a vine, and I swung from the one tree to the other. As if I had never done something else.

After what seemed like two or three hours I reached her tree. I heard her crying by herself as I approached her. “Mum? Are you alright? Please, don’t be afraid. I can’t help it either.” I reached out to her as I gave her the flower. It was created with all information I heard from Nim about the last known Nature Wizard. He loved his wife and children more than the world, and that’s why he disappeared. He didn’t want to be a wizard, he wanted a quiet life. Which he got in the end.

As I didn’t know what to do, I gave her a hug and left her with the flower in her hand. I traced my way back to the exit of the forest and saw her husband watching over me. All I did was looking at him, and he gestured me to sit. And then he carried on as he never stopped talking.

“The two of us decided to settle down here. It was a nice place for fighting and close enough to the forest to escape. There, we dropped the seed her father gave us as well. it was magical. When we did that, the house we’re still living in built itself from the ground. It was fully made of leaves and branches, but it felt like coming home.

As me and Elda were both fighters, she a archer and I a swordsman, we decided to set up a school for self-defence in a nearby city. It’s where I go every day, to teach the pupils how to defend themselves. See it as the way I cope with the fact I don’t have children. I am glad I am able to learn them something useful. They call me Master Kenjio, as that used to be my title during the unending war. Kenjio comes from Kenji, it means sword of time in the old battle symbols. They added the o out of respect for me. And that’s how I left my old title as prince and advisor behind and became Master Kenjio.”

Master Kenjio finished his story. I looked at him with great respect. He followed his wife to her home country. His love must have been very strong. And that they are still together, amazing. I didn’t know what to say. I heard the grass tell me Elda was on her way back to us. I decided to wait. It was time for me to tell my story. But only once, and both of them had the right to hear them.

Elda threw herself in Master Kenjio’s arms when she returned. She was partly crying but felt comfortable so close to him. It was only when most of her tears had dried, that I started talking. I told them my horrible history, how The Order killed my family, how my parents abandoned me and how I became a nomad of the streets.

Their faces were shocked. I could read the horror in their eyes. It wasn’t something I liked talking about. Let alone to tell someone the whole story. But it had to be done. They gave me trust, and had faith in me, they cared for me as their own daughter. I felt strong enough to tell them.

When I finished, tears rolled over my face. Elda pulled me close as she let me cry. She put aside her own grief for me. I let it all out. I cried to the moon and sobbed all over her clothes. But from that day on, I started to talk normally again. I would ask things, and I would practise with my bow, as I’d never done any different.

One day, I decided I wanted to learn how to fight, hand by hand combat, and sword fighting. I wanted to be able to defend myself other than just being an archer. So I asked Master Kenjio to teach me. At first he didn’t want to but then he saw the determined look in my eyes, and he gave in. Yet on the day we were supposed to start, I was helping Elda in the garden, when I cut my right arm deeply. As a reflex I ordered a plant to wrap itself around me and to stop the bleeding. I cried out and Elda immediately was what the problem was. She ordered me to stay while she rushed into the house. It took her a long time to convince me, but in the end I let her have a look at the wound. She removed the leaves of the plant, and replaced them with a long strep of fabric. It was her sort of bandage and she also put some wool on the wound, so it would suck up the blood.

Master Kenjio refused to teach me like that as first, since I was right handed. But I said that I could learn with left as well. That it didn’t matter which side I started with. After all, a real swordsman had to be able to fight with both hands. And with that, my training to be undefeatable started.