Chapter 2

The day came and went, and we were back in the cell again. They gave us some food, what it was I didn't know, but it wasn't particularly pleasant tasting. It was like some sort of meat, except it wasn't very good. If it was the actual meat or the cook that made it bad I didn't know, but it was one of them, or possibly even both. Alys hadn't reappeared again. I felt bad for the guy; who knows what that witch was doing to him. Just thinking about what she did to Elaria made me shudder in fear. Zath was left to do everything on his own. He was oddly quiet, too quiet. I mean, he was usually quiet, but was more quiet now. He no longer attempted to stir up a conversation, and rarely responded to his name. He looked lost in thought. 

The next day Alys wasn't there. It was only Zath. He didn't say anything, just walked to the room full of plants again, standing in the corner like usual. We didn't dare ask what was wrong, he looked like he was on the verge of snapping at us. His fists were so tightly curled that they were turning white like a crumpled sheet of paper, and his face was in such a tight scowl I was surprised it didn't fall off. I felt sorry for him, Alys was his friend after all, and I'd be the same if that happened to my friends. 

After who knows how long, Alys walked through the door, barely holding it open to let himself pass. He ended up opening it, dropping it and pushing it open again with a combination of his shoulder and elbow in an attempt to step inside. He looked dead; his eyes were almost glassy, and his facial expression was just… dead. There were no other words I could use to describe him. 

"Are you alright?" Elaria asked, noticing his zombie-like state. 

Before he could respond, he fell to the floor with a loud thud. Elaria let out a small shriek, grabbing my arm and almost pushing me in front of her. Zath shook his head, walking over and placing his finger behind his ear. Why I didn't know, but he did. 

"He hasn't slept in a while," Zath mumbled, grabbing his friend. "It'll do him good,"

"What do you mean?" Elaria stayed behind me, peeking her head over my shoulder, which was a hard feat considering she was roughly the same height as me. 

"Didn't you hear me?" Zath snapped back, glaring at Elaria. When he realised his harsh tone, he looked away sheepishly, dragging his friend to the corner and removing his cape. "Sorry. He hasn't slept too much, so his body gave in. He'll be out for a while,"

Elaria nodded slightly, and kept her eyes on the elf. Zath lay the cape over him, shaking his head. He mumbled something, something I couldn't hear, and stood back up. 

"Does this happen often?" Elaria asked, slowly letting go of my arm and stepping to stand beside me, not behind. 

"Yeah, happens a lot," Zath replied in a sorrowful tone. 

"Poor elf," she mumbled, shaking her head from side to side. 

"Does it have something to do with the glove?" I asked, curious. 

Zath ignored my question. I took that as a yes, that it did involve the glove, since his ears twitched so I assumed he heard my question. 

A long time passed in silence, longer than before. At this point I was able to produce the glow that Elaria did after a while of practicing. It came significantly harder to me than her. I suppose I hadn't used magic before, so it would be more difficult. After the significantly longer time passed, Alys began to stir. We didn't notice; we were too involved in our magic and attempting to perfect it before we got hurt, but Zath did.

"You good now?" He asked, drawing our attention to Alys, who was now sat up, his cape on the floor beside him. 

"Yeah," he replied sleepily, rubbing his eye. "I'm good,"

Elaria let go of the petal she was holding, and walked over. She went to grab his wrist to stop him rubbing his eye - which was now bright red - but jumped back with a shriek as soon as she touched his wrist. She sounded like something hurt her, which was odd since there was nothing there to hurt her. She held her hand, looking at it and Alys in disbelief. 

"What?" I asked, almost running over to her to make sure she was alright. "What is it? Are you hurt?"

"Argenti," she mumbled, barely audible or understandable through her accent. "Let me look,"

Before he even had chance to respond, she had grabbed his hand and pulled down his sleeve. Underneath was what looked to be a bracelet, maybe a couple inches long, and was a deep black colour. Elaria seemed shocked, and Alys looked away sheepishly. Elaria loosenedher grip, giving Alys time to try and pull himself away. His attempt was futile, since Elaria just tightened her grip. 

"Why?" Elaria asked, a hint of sadness in her voice. "Why?

"Why should I tell you?" He replied, sounding more tired than intimidating. His lips turned into a slight frown at his tone. 

"Because," she paused, trying to fathom a good enough reason. "Never mind. Just please, answer the question,"

"You didn't tell me they were giving you that much," Zath scolded, crossing his arms like a parent. "No wonder you haven't been sleeping,"

"Oh shut it," he mumbled, keeping his eyes away. "Get back to what you're doing before she notices,"

He yanked his hand from Elaria's and pulled his black sleeve down. He kept his eyes from her gaze, avoiding it at all costs, even when she tried to force him to look. 

"What did you do?" She asked, sitting down in front of him and crossing her legs like a child, her hand outstretched as if she was about to touch him. "Is it because of that glove?"

"No," he replied, shaking his head slightly. 

"I know it is," she mumbled. 

"Then why did you ask?" Alys retorted, glaring in the direction he was looking. 

"Because I wanted certification," she replied, pausing for a couple seconds. "I'm sorry. It's my fault it fell off,"

"Don't blame yourself. It was my fault for wearing them," he replied, his tone completely different, more mellow.

"No, I pulled it off. It's my fault," Elaria moved her hand back, laying it over her other for a few seconds. Without warning, she hel£ her hand out, her gaze on her hand. "Give it here,"

"What?" He snapped to look at her. 

"Give them here," she looked up at him sternly. 

"No," he shook his head, moving one of his hands back. "This isn't your fault, so drop it,"

"Clearly it is," she replied, finally looking up at him. "I pulled it off in hopes someone would find it. It's my fault, I deserve it,"

"Stop blaming yourself,"

"Why? I'm simply saying the truth,"

"Stop lying to yourself," he replied, his voice slowly getting louder and angrier. 

"I'm not, I know what I did so hand them over," she pushed her hand out further, making Alys move back and almost fall over. He leaned back, leaning on one of his hands for support. 

"Just stop it," he said, his face slowly turning into a scowl. "You have no idea what I've done, the things I've done. This is my punishment for that, for the horrible things I've done. It's not just for the glove, so drop it. This is for me to wear, my burden to carry, not yours,"

Elaria stood up, stepping back slightly. Instead of the usual black eyes, they were tinted heavily with red. She turned away sheepishly, walking back to me and shakily holding a petal between her fingers. Alys looked away from her the whole time, I couldn't see his face but I assumed he was remorseful. 

"What's the word you said?" I whispered after a while, curiosity biting at me. I kept forgetting what the word was, no matter how many times I tried to remember it, I couldn't. 

"Argenti?" She asked. I nodded, recognising the word immediately. "It's a form of metal," she began, "It burns, yet leaves no marks. It also infects the wearer with dark magic, taints them as we say. It's extremely painful, and in such a big quantity…" she looked back at Alys. She clicked her tongue once, and snapped her gaze back to the glowing petal. She said no more for however long it was. Nobody really did. I think we were all scared to. Alys was constantly glaring in front of himself, his arms wrapped around his legs. 

Time passed, and we got no further with the magic. Elaria's hands kept shaking, and she wasn't concentrating. I could tell, she kept staring blankly at the plant. I made no attempt to stir a conversation. There was no point trying to, it'd just waste time and air. I just tried my hardest to concentrate on the plants, to try and make my powers work. They didn't do much. They just kinda made the plant glow a bit, that's all. Elaria was making them grow and be brighter, but I was just making them glow. 

Just before we left, a drop of water landed on the plant. I looked at Elaria. She was crying. I had no clue what to do. The other two hadn't noticed; Zath was preoccupied with getting Alys to rest and Alys was, well, trying not to rest. Another tear fell. I decided it was my duty to make sure she was alright. 

"What's wrong?" I asked her, making myself sound almost silent. 

She snapped her head to look at me, wiping a tear from her eye. "It's nothing, honest,"

"Something's bothering you," I stated. "You can talk to me, yknow?"

She took a deep breath, letting go of a petal she was holding. Her hand stayed near to it, as if she wanted to grab it again, but she didn't. "My old lover used to love these flowers,"

"Oh," 

"He used to think they were beautiful," another tear dropped. "We always used to make them glow like this, to make them more beautiful. I'm named after them, since he found me beautiful too,"

"If you don't mind me asking, what happened?" I asked, my curiosity taking over. I knew I shouldn't ask, but I did anyway. 

"It was his coronation," she began. "He was about to become Altiorem, the highest position an elf could ever have," she paused, her hand moving to grasp the blue petal once again. "And then he was kidnapped, taken away before our very eyes. He was so protective, sacrificing himself so me and his brother could live," she wiped a tear from her eye, sniffling. "It's been six years, almost seven now, and I still miss him,"

"I'm sorry for asking," I immediately regretted my decision. I thought it would be something horrible or heartbreaking, but I wasn't expecting the story she gave me. 

"It's fine," she turned to look at me, rubbing her eye. "It's not like nobody knows about it. You go anywhere and they're still talking about it,"

"He was supposed to be a great leader, wasn't he?" Alys asked from on the floor. "The best there ever was,"

"Aye," she nodded, turning to him. "He was,"

"It's a shame it happened," Zath chipped in. "He would've improved many lives if he hadn't have gone,"

Elaria just nodded, wiping her eye. "Now we just have to wait for Gael to become Altiorem,"

"What about you?" Alys asked. "Can't you become Altioreum?"

"Hycis doesn't trust me enough," she replied. "He makes out like I'm not a good leader, even though I'm much better at it than him,"

"Anyone is to be honest," Zath replied, shaking his head. 

"You're right," Elaria laughed slightly, smiling. "But still, he has to hand it down sometime soon,"

"He's reluctant to, doesn't want anyone to undo his work," Elaria told him. "We just have to wait for Gael,"

"It's a long time, he's only about eight now isn't he?" Alys asked. 

"Yeah," 

"So that's about ten more years, isn't it?" Zath added. "Let's hope nothing bad happens again,"

"Let's," Elaria nodded. 

A moment of silence passed. I pondered the new words they said. I had no clue what they were, but they sounded important. And Gael, he was only eight now, and seven years had passed since Elaria's loved had been taken, so how old was her lover? I assumed he would be around Gael's age, but apparently not. There had to be a large difference in age for the brothers then. I wanted to ask, but Elaria still seemed upset, so I didn't pursue it any further. 

Alys pulled a pocket watch from one of his pockets and checked the time. He seemed to move fluently even with the metal burning him, which was odd. He must be used to it. It made me feel ill just thinking about it. He looked over to Zath, showing him the time too. 

"You two should sleep, it's getting late," Zath walked to the door, staring sternly at Alys. "Don't move. I'll come back soon alright?"

"Geez, I'm alright," he went to stand up, but sat back down when he noticed Zath's death glare. 

"I'm being serious," he scolded. "We don't need you passing out and scaring us again,"

"Fine, fine," he rolled his eyes. "I'll stay here, sat down,"

Zath gestured for us to follow behind him. We did, and walked quietly back to the cell. We didn't speak at all other than me quickly checking Elaria was alright now. She was, she just said she was tired and needed to sleep. We both slept almost immediately, I assumed it was late at night since it took no effort to.