Chapter 13: The Last Elf

The fire flickered.

But it was still cold.

Lily looked a Thorne. He didn’t meet her eyes, looking out to the distance instead. They were almost there. At his destination. She wondered what this meant for them; would they just go their separate ways, never to meet again? Or would he come back to the grove and take her on another adventure all over again?

‘Will you take me back home?’ she asked him, breaking his concentration.

‘Mhm,’ he said, turning back to look at her, ‘I suppose I have to, to repay everything you’ve done for me.’

The sky was dark and her heart sunk low. She stared at the ground, thinking back to everything.

‘Yeah.’

She didn’t know why she felt this way. It’s like she was stuck to him, like if someone were to pull them apart; she’d just cease to exist. Because, in a way, he made her feel like she could exist. Like she didn’t have to spend all of her life hiding away.

But she was clumsy and insecure, she was hardly the ideal companion.

Lily didn’t want to push but at the same time, she had to.

‘Could you,’ she began, opening her mouth before trailing off, ‘You…’

She wanted to stay.

‘Could I?’ Thorne asked, shifting his helmet to stare at her. Under his gaze she felt a fresh wave of shame.

‘Could you promise to remember me?’ she asked. That wasn’t what she’d wanted to say but she was too nervous to ask anything more. It felt as though the wrong question would have him disappear all over again.

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He seemed surprised.

‘I didn’t plan on forgetting.’ He warmed his hands against the flame. They licked at his fingertips. Lily had never seen him do that before, she wondered why he’d decided today of all days to try.

‘Why do you ask?’ he gave her a curious look.

‘Oh, I don’t know…’ she muttered.

There was so much to say but none of it was said aloud. Lily wished he’d just open his mouth, open himself up to her. But that was unfair of her to ask. After all, he knew next to nothing about her.

So, she decided to tell him.

‘I-I have a secret to tell you, she started, her voice shimmering. She didn’t let Thorne answer before she continued.

‘We’re at war, between us, you know?’ she said, he tilted his head at the word, ‘The humans and elves.’

‘Or, I guess, we were at war.’ She sighed. ‘You and I. The humans and the elves.’

‘Did you figure that out already?’ she looked to him.

‘Only partly.’ He shrugged, putting a hand onto hers.

‘You can guess who won then.’

He shook his head, ‘No wars are ever fully won.’

‘This one was.’

‘How so?’

‘Well for one,’ Lily pressed her finger to her chest, ‘It’s just me left here.’

‘But there’s more of you, surely?’ His voice had a shake in it.

‘I’d know if there was.’ Lily sighed, ‘They wouldn’t leave me in the dark like that, my mother had so many powerful friends and knew so many people.’

‘They might not have been able to contact you…’ Thorne suggested, trying to keep her hopeful.

But Lily had gave up a long time ago.

‘No. There’s no one left.’ she said even if she didn’t want to believe it,

‘It’s just me here.’

‘Oh Lily, I’m so sorry,’ Thorne sympathised. But she knew he didn’t understand it. How it felt to be the last of anything.

‘They killed us, like animals,’ Lily breathed. Their campfire flicker in her eyes. But it was a hundred times bigger and she was just a toddler standing at the center of her village, limp doll in hand.

‘And all the law-makers in the world couldn’t hold a candle to the bonfires that came after my family.’

Thorne didn’t answer, she wondered if he finally knew how it felt to not have all the words.

‘I wish I could fix it,’ he started to talk then stopped. He shuddered, unsure what to say next.

She stared at him, the void in his visor never giving her the answers she was looking for.

There was a stale quiet between the two of them. Lily’s feelings hung low but she still forced a soft smile.

‘So that’s my secret. You can keep it, if you want.’

‘I’ll keep it.’ Thorne sounded serious, ‘It’s as good as mine.’

‘That’s good then.’

Thorne looked up at the sky. Lily did too. One day, this same sky would be the only thing they shared.