Vash says goodbye

Iylaine nearly sank down onto the snow when Vash helped her down from her pony.

“You were half-​asleep in the saddle, weren’t you?” he laughed. “I wondered why you were so quiet all the way. I thought perhaps you were angry at me,” he teased.

“I couldn’t be angry at you.”

“With your temper?” he grinned. “I’m simply happy I’m not made of wood. Well, it’s dawn, and there’s your castle, as I promised. Now it’s time to say goodbye.”

“Oh, no!”

“Oh, yes. Let’s say it quickly. I don’t want to see you cry.”

“But won’t you come to see me sometimes?”

“I shall come to see you, but you won’t see me, I’m afraid.”

“It’s not fair!” she pouted.

“No, it isn’t, for it means that I shan’t forget you, and you will probably forget me.”

“Oh, no, I never will!”

“I’m happy to hear that. Now give me a hug and say goodbye, cousin.”

He bent to embrace her, and she clung to him, saying, “I don’t want you to go.”

“Don’t you want to see your Da?”

“I want you to come and meet him too, and show him not all elves are bad.”

“I have met him, although he doesn’t remember. And I shall meet him again. Don’t worry, Iylaine. Someday everything will be better. For everyone.”

“But I will miss you now.”

“I hope I haven’t made things harder for you,” he sighed. “I fear it will be very hard for me. Especially once my father gets his hands on me. Now, you had better let go of me, or I shall tell you something you won’t like to hear.”

“What?” she asked hestitantly, loosening her hold.

“You do still smell like bluebells—and also a little like sweet grass, and honey, and beech smoke, and even myself, after having slept the night on my arm. That’s a lot of things to remind me of you.”

“That’s better than ugly old toads!”

“I think you will be fond of toads now,” he winked. He smiled down at her, and she smiled up at him, but suddenly his face fell, and his brow wrinkled in indecision. “Help me, cousin. Tell me quickly: which is harder—wishing you had done something, or wishing you hadn’t?”

She thought for a moment. “I always think it’s wishing I had, ’cause if you don’t try then you don’t know what would have happened.”

“I thought you might say that. You’re right, though. Here, I want to give you something. It’s forbidden, but I don’t care.” He took a small flask from a bag on his saddle and held it before her. “Your father is planning to go out when the moon is dark again to meet a bad elf, but he has no idea what he’s doing. And more people are going to be hurt, and one of these days it’s going to be somebody you love.”

“You mean my Da?” she asked, tears gathering in her eyes, but she took the flask.

“Not him, but someone else. Your noisy little friend Bertie or someone.”

“Bertie?” she wailed.

“I don’t know who it will be. Listen now. There’s water in here. You can call it magical water if you like. When he sees that bad elf, he needs to throw this magical water at her. Then she won’t be able to hurt anyone for a little while. Then right away he needs to kill her, and then—”

“Oh, no!” she whimpered. “Not my Da!”

“She can’t really die, Iylaine. Not forever. But he needs to kill her right away, and put her back where he found her. She will wake up again, but she won’t be able to get out.”

“Where?”

“He knows where. You must tell him what I told you. But you mustn’t tell him who gave you this water, or who told you what to do. You mustn’t tell him anything about me. I know you will have to lie, but it’s very important. Tell him it’s… tell him it’s something you remembered from when you were a baby. Or—no, tell him it’s something your Mama told you. Something Elfleda told you. He might believe that. But please, please don’t tell him it was I. Don’t tell anyone, ever. Don’t even tell me. Understand? And don’t tell your father right away, because I don’t want him to realize that you got this water on the night you were lost. Wait until a day or two before the new moon. Can you remember all of this until then?”

“I don’t want to do it,” she said with a trembling mouth.

“Iylaine, be a brave girl. You are an elf, but you must help the men for now. You love some of the men, too, don’t you? Your Alwy, and your little friends?”

“Aye,” she said, wiping away a tear.

“And if the bad elves are gone, then people won’t be so afraid of you, I think. Now, I know you can be brave, because you are an elf, and because you are my cousin.”

She nodded.

“That’s a good girl. Now I must go. The sun has already risen on the other side of the hills. I think they can see it already from your castle up there. Let’s get you back up on brown old Blackie here.”

“I don’t want you to go,” she whined as he lifted her into the saddle.

“I shall watch you from the trees until you are with the men again.” He mounted his own horse and rode up next to her. “I think you will miss me at first,” he said softly, “but not for long. Someday you will wonder whether you didn’t simply dream me, and some time after, you will forget me.”

“No, I never will. I promise.”

“Oh! Listen to me. I’m beginning to sound like my father. It’s better if you do forget me, until I see you again. But don’t forget what I told you about that water. I’m counting on you to do it well.”

“I will.”

“Now, goodbye cousin. Go on, Blackie.” He leaned down and smacked her pony on the rump, and the little beast began plodding on towards the castle at the top of the hill.

He said something then that she couldn’t understand at all, and she twisted in the saddle to ask, “What did you say?”

“Another thing I shall tell you someday, when you’re older.”

“Is it elf language?” She tried to halt Blackie, but he would not be slowed.

“Yes. I shall teach you someday. Goodbye, cousin!” he called as she drew away.

“Goodbye! Oh, goodbye!”

Just then she felt as if she could never be happy again, even with her Da. She tried to turn in the saddle so that she might look at him until he was too far away to be seen, but he gave a short whistle, and her pony began to trot. This was not a gait that Blackie and his stumpy legs managed with much grace, and for a while it was all she could do to stay in the saddle. By the time she could slow her pony to a walk and turn to look again, Vash was already gone.

The edge of the sun had appeared over the horizon now and brightly lit the keep. She could see the little dots of men and dogs and horses moving before it on the pink snow, and she watched them instead as her pony climbed the hill.