Surrender by Rhiannon Paille Page A

She turned onto her other side and hugged her pillow tighter, then she rolled onto her back and stared at the ceiling.
    One last time, she thought as she threw off the blanket and pulled on her slippers. She padded down the hallway to the staircase. Luenelle was passed out in the rocking chair across from the hearth fire. Kaliel thanked the stars for her last endeavor to see the merfolk. She slipped out the front door, past the porch and broke into a run through the meadow. Her heart soared with passion and exhilaration as she hit the break in the trees and began winding down the path towards the lake. This time she didn’t trip. When she ran her hands along the trees they whispered to her in a voice she missed hearing. She smiled. It was gibberish, they were speaking all at once, and she had no time to sit and listen to them. Still, it was wonderful to hear. The path narrowed. She pawed around in the dark, looking for the dead end and then her hand touched the bark, and she let it sink into the tree.
    “I have returned,” she whispered with a smile. She slunk to the ground and sat against the tree.
    “I cannot allow it,” the tree boomed.
    Her heart dropped. “You won’t let me pass?”
    “Nay, you may not pass.”
    She thought for a moment, the comfort and freedom dissipating. “Why?”
    “They have forbidden it.”
    “Who?”
    “The elders of the merfolk.”
    Kaliel gasped. Suddenly she realized how much her treachery had cost her. They didn’t follow the laws of Avristar; it wasn’t their place to save her life. “Will they be reasonable?”
    “They will withdraw.”
    Kaliel nodded. She understood. They would leave the shores of Avristar and find a new home. There was no point in facing them; their elders would force her to suffer the consequences of her wrongdoing. There was no way to fix it. She pressed her hand to the tree in apology and hoped for a flower to sprout at the base of it. When her hand brushed across the grass in front of the tree she felt the prickly sting of a leaf. She gasped.
    Bloom the weed of temptation.
    Pangs of guilt hit her as she stumbled away from the dead end and headed towards the House of Kin.
    • • •
    The ride to Orlondir was dreary and slow. As they passed the wide path between the trees, Kaliel heard their whispers of goodbye, and it broke her heart to think she might never return. Long silences ensued and once Evennses was a memory behind them, Kaliel inched up to the front of the carriage, poking her head through the canvas.
    “Do you know what the lady thinks of my parable?” she asked. Some conversation was better than the bitter silence. Apprehension of meeting the Lady of the Land pressed on her temples.
    “I cannot tell you, Kaliel,” Desaunius replied as she kept her gaze on the path.
    Kaliel sat back with a huff and then leaned forward again. “Why?”
    “Because I don’t know,” Desaunius said.
    The carriage pulled into Orlondir and the smell of apples hit Kaliel full on. Her lips spread into a smile at the sweetness of it, and she sighed. Everything about Orlondir reminded her of Krishani. Being in the place they met a year and a half ago only made her more nervous. She wondered how she could distract herself from the pull of the waterfall, the longing to see the merfolk in the pond. It would be impossible. All she could hope for was benevolence or ignorance from her new elder.
    Orlondir stretched on for acres. The trees weren’t as tall as the ones in Evennses; they thinned out to allow for grass, small ponds and springs to sprout from the land. They passed a break in the trees where a smaller path led to one of the many villages in Orlondir. Kaliel could smell the smoke from the hearth fire and let the scent comfort her.
    She poked her head through the canvas again. “Does Lady Atara have any other apprentices in Orlondir?”
    “No,” Desaunius answered, her shoulders tightening.
    Kaliel frowned. The prospect of friends was out of the question.