Chapter 2: Healing

She opened her eyes to see she was laying on a cot, in a large room with tall rafters, an open area, with plenty of bedss. An Inn, but how did she get there. Throwing her cover off she pushed herself up to get out of bed. Whoa! Everything went black, and she was very dizzy.

"Lay back down. There isn't anything going on out there that you won't see later. You need to get better first." The voice said, as it gently laid her back down.

"Jaden? Is that you?" She asked trying to hide how scared she really was. It didn't work, Jaden could see right through her. He laid his hand on her forearm, rubbing it gently with his thumb. "What's wrong with me? How did I get here?"

"The cleric said you just need to rest. He said you need to eat well and get plenty to drink. As for how you got here, I carried you."

"Thank You."

"You're welcome, now let me go get you something to eat." He said getting up and walking towards the bar. He looked over at her before he walked through the archway separating the tavern from the Inn. How beautiful she was, where did she come from? He couldn't remember ever seeing someone so beautiful. Even with her pale color he could tell that she had spent many days working outside. He finally walked over to the bar and asked the barkeep for some food.

Bryson met him at the bar. "How is she?" Bryson said, his brother standing behind him. Concern showing on both their faces.

"She's awake right now? A little confused. I'm getting her something to eat. Why don't you two go over and keep her company." He no more than got the words out and the twin brothers were halfway to the archway. He could never figure those two out either. They cared so much about everyone that they met.

She started to look around, this must be the Drunken Dragon Inn. A fabulous place, white curtains hanging at the windows. She laid on a single person cot, looking around she noticed many cots were lined up along the far wall under the windows. The walls had paintings hanging on them of the different seasons. She had just decided that her favorite was the Forest in the fall. When the twins came rushing through the archway.

"How are you darling?" Bryson asked, as he came over and pulled a chair by the bed.

"I'm fine. Thank you for taking care of me. I sure appreciate it."

"Not a problem. That's what we do." Grayson said looking in his bag for something.

"Here you are some of the lunch special. I think it's supposed to be pork stew." Jaden said carrying in a tray with a bowl, a cup of steaming tea, and a loaf of fresh bread.

"Uh! Not so sound ungrateful, but could I just have the bread?"

"Yeah. I guess so. Why?" he said looking truly confused.

"I guess because I was nearly part of the stew myself. I won't eat anything like that for a long time."

"Grayson, what are you looking for?" Jaden asked after setting the tray with the soup on the table.

"I was trying to find that parchment that I put in here. I want to ask this very lovely lady about her homeland." He finally pulled it out along with a quill and some ink.

"What do you want to know?" She asked sipping her tea. She had set the bread aside.

"Well, mostly about you. You're clearly Elvin and all legends of the Vale say that you shouldn't have left home."

"First, let us cast aside that ridiculous tale. True, the legend does say that elven women from the vale are forbidden to travel. That however doesn't make it true. We are allowed to travel, we just need escorts to do so."

"Excuse me from asking my lady, but where were your escorts?" Jaden asked.

"My gentlemen you are all formal. My grandparents are both elven. My father's mother fell in love with an elf when her husband was killed in the war. My mother's-mother fell in love with a human ranger and they were married. So I not being full blooded elf, do not need escorts."

"Atona, that ring your wearing, is that a royal crest?" Bryson said.

"Yes, it was my fathers. His kingdom was destroyed the day he died."

"It's the Manslinger Crest. Atona none of that family survived that attack." Grayson said looking at the symbol.

"Wait, did you just say none of them survived?" Atona said in shock

"To be honest Atona, you are the only survivor we know." Bryson said.

"So what happened to your parents?" Grayson asked.

"I'm not sure. I can't remember that day. I just know what I was told. My parents were in a caravan on the way here to Artol, to do some trading. They were ambushed by orcs, and the Elvin rangers came across the scene after everyone was killed. My sister and I were hiding, and the King found us and took us to his village."

"That must have been horrible you were there when your parents died." Grayson said, offering up a small prayer for the dead.

"Like I said, I don't remember it. I have dreams sometimes of my parents playing with my sister and me."

"So, what all did you learn in school?"

"I can speak five different languages. Along with other things."

"Wow! What languages can you speak?" Bryson asked sitting on the edge of his chair.

"I can speak Elvin, goblin, hobgoblin, some draconic, and some dwarves."

"Wait! You can speak draconic?" Jaden said turning from the window he had been starring out.

"Yes, Red to be exact, but it's a little tough. I'm still working on it."

"You can speak dwarven, I didn't know they talked to anyone outside their clan."

"Most don't. The story to this tale is long so to make it short. The king's son was trapped, I rescued him. A life debt was owed. He repaid by teaching me things about his culture. Along with some of the language."

"You've done a lot of stuff already and most of it while you were just a kid." Jaden said.

"The three of us have spent a lot of time training to adventure. You got to adventure and do training." Bryson said.

"You know you can't easily do one without the other. In training you are learning to handle a situation. But to adventure you have to already know what to do. If you're wrong then you pay the consequences. Therefore, you just trained yourself, that option is the wrong one." Atona said.

"You are so right." Bryson said.

"A bard is just a teller of tales. You don't necessarily know the meaning of the tales. Sometimes to find the meaning, you have to put one foot in front of the other." She said trying to hold back a yawn.

"You get some sleep. We'll come back again." Jaden said, ushering the other gentlemen out the door.