An Elven woman emerged. When she saw me, she did not smile.
She looked a little frightened actually.
“Have you come for me?” she asked in a fatalistic tone I couldn’t quite figure out.
“Yes,” I said, “I need your help, your healing glamour.”
The woman visibly relaxed, her shoulders dropping from their tensed position.
“How can I help? Are you injured?”
She craned her neck from one side to the other, inspecting me.
“Not for me. I'm traveling with a human… friend,” I explained, electing to keep the details vague, “who is in tremendous pain. I'm fairly sure he has only days remaining, and I was hoping your glamour might be able to help ease his journey into Alfheim.”
“Where is your friend?” she asked, leaning out of her doorway to cast a glance down the road.
“Down in the valley. I was wondering if—”
Looking at Bryon and still applying my Sway, I asked, “Do you mind if I speak to Solfrid alone?”
“Of course not.” He smiled and turned to walk back toward the village center.
Solfrid’s posture and expression tensed again. “You're traveling with a human, you say? Who’s a friend?”
“Yes, and he’s important to me. I know it’s unusual, though I suppose you’d understand better than most.”
“I certainly would,” she said. “Come in.”
When I stepped inside, she offered me some saol water, which I gratefully accepted.
“I understand your reluctance to bring your friend here, but this is a safe space. Obviously my own situation is unusual,” Solfrid said.
“Have you lived here long? Among humans?”
“Since the Rebellion. I’m not welcome among our people anymore,” she explained. “I was branded a traitor after choosing to heal humans wounded in battle. For a long while I just wandered from place to place, alone. The people of Havendor welcomed me in. They’ve offered me a sense of community I never expected to find again. And I’m safe here.”
Pouring me another glass of saol water, she handed it to me and took a sip from her own.
“As you saw, there are no roads in or out of the village. It almost never has a visitor, and you’re the first Elf, other than me. The King’s tax collectors don’t even pay a visit—which means he doesn’t know about it. Too far off the beaten path. It’s a safe refuge. That’s why I’ve stayed.”
No wonder the town and its people had seemed so healthy and happy. They were living here unbothered, invisible to my father.
“On the rare occasion some human does happen upon the village, the people don’t mention me,” Solfrid said. “They love me and treat me as one of their own.”
She took another sip from her glass. “You must have swayed Bryon.”
“I did. I’m sorry. I was desperate,” I told her.
Rising from her chair, she walked to the door. “I’ll be happy to help your friend. Bring him here, and I’ll do what I can.”
“Actually, I’m not sure he can travel.”
And I was reluctant to bring Raewyn and the girls here where they’d be seen. I’d purposely not mentioned them.
Solfrid looked at me in confusion. “Then how can I help him?”
“Actually, I was hoping I could… that is, I want toborrowyour healing glamour.”
