Chapter 3:

The Prophecy

Short & Short


After the bath, Edelgard was brought to a hut she could use for the night. The bed was soft and her sleep was deep. It was way better than sleeping on the muddy ground, though that's self-explanatory. She could've kept on sleeping when Claudia arrived to wake her up, but when she noticed the sun high in the sky, Edelgard forced herself out of bed.

She couldn't waste their hospitality for the sake of idle slumber.

"We will show you to the elders today," Claudia explained on the way. The bridges were still a bit weird to get used to, but Edelgard managed to cross them on her own now. She only wished there was some food... And 'show her' to the elders, what was she, an animal? Their destination was visible from a distance. Certain treehouses were more elaborate and larger than the sleeping huts, and the elders' home was one of them. Claudia stopped at the foot of a large spiral of branches, extending high above the treetops around them. At the top, Edelgard spotted a large house, with smoke emerging from a hole in the wall. Little dots she identified as birds landed and took off from the ceiling. "You need to look your best today," Claudia said, pulling and adjusting her clothing until it was perfect. "The first impression is important."

"I don't think I can go up there," Edelgard confessed, her legs frozen in place.

Claudia only chuckled, making her feel even more nervous.

"Even our oldest kin easily ascend. If they weren't able to do so anymore, they'd be judged unfit to make the decisions for our tribe, after all!"

"I still think-"

"I'll help you. Don't worry. It's actually easier than it looks."

Spouting such baseless optimism, Claudia took Edelgard by the hand and dragged her up. The first few steps were hard, the next ones were terrifying, and from then on, Edelgard desperately hung on to the bark and Claudia's hand.

At some point, she closed her eyes.

It got easier, though she asked "Are we there, yet?" every few steps.

"Almost, almost," Claudia said, trying to calm her down... but to no avail. Edelgard panicked the whole way until Claudia eventually stopped. "Edelgard-"

"Please go on! I might die if we stop too long!"

"But Edelgard-"

"I think it's too late! My legs are frozen stiff!"

"It's not even cold-"

"I'm afraid!"

"Edelgard. Open your eyes."

"But-"

"Open them."

Grasping Claudia's hand even closer, she embraced her fear. She saw... a door? Edelgard blinked a few times, trying to comprehend reality.

"We arrived?"

"We arrived. Come on, you should feel better inside."

"... Yes."

It wasn't exactly solid ground beneath her feet, but the inside of the treehouse was better than the slippery branches outside.

How did these people ascend them when it rained?

What about the winter?

It wasn't a good means to travel up and down in her mind. At least build a ladder... or better yet, don't build a hut so close to the sky!

Edelgard felt like she would just have to climb on the ceiling, then extend her arm to poke the clouds... not that she'd ever do that.

Beyond the usual cloth separating rooms were a group of young-looking people, all with the long ears she had gotten used to seeing.

They wore robes of thin silk, white and flowing in the wind that blew through the holes in the walls. Their expressions were calm and welcoming as one of them waved them closer.

"Come, come," he said slowly.

Where are the elders, though?

"We have arrived, honored elders!" Claudia announced, bowing with one hand on her breast.

Edelgard quickly mirrored her, then noticed the strangeness of her specification of this group. 'Honored elders...'

They don't look like elders, though?

For now, she decided to keep quiet.

"Please, sit down," they prompted, gesturing towards two pillows on the ground, just like their own.

Claudia showed no hesitation to follow their orders, but Edelgard, being new to this, blushed as she hastily mirrored her. This blush turned to a heavy tinge of red when she stumbled, crashing face-first into the wooden floor.

"Ow!"

Nobody laughed, which she was grateful for.

That didn't change anything about her not wanting to look them in the eye, though. She didn't want to find them desperately keeping their laughter down.

"Do you know why we called you here today?" the same 'elder' asked.

The words of the supposed elders carried no amusement, however, so she dared to look at them again.

"Because you want to judge my character?" she suggested.

The 'elder' shook his head.

Her shoulders drooped.

Edelgard had thought it to be a good guess, too.

"Did you notice anything different about you? A feature, maybe, that clearly differed from those around you?" a woman with a wooden necklace asked.

Edelgard found it hard to answer these people's gazes. They carried a form of authority that was hard to deal with, conveyed through their neutrality. These 'elders' showed no emotion, no opinion with their words.

They were unpredictable, and that scared her.

"I noticed something," she revealed, desperately looking on the ground below her.

"Go on," the woman said.

"You... they... the ones who found me had a dignified grace about them that I'd never dream to achieve," she said, glancing at Claudia. Her face was stern, an attempt to emulate the behavior of the 'elders'... some emotion remained with her, though. One of her brows twitched, and her eyes widened just a bit. "Their movements, their actions carried meaning. They moved so easily, they have no fear. It's as if they don't have any reason to fear..."

Silence engulfed the room.

Edelgard noticed their heads turning, communicating silently with their eyes. They deliberated something that wasn't meant for her... ears.

"Do you remember anything? Before we found you?" the woman with the necklace asked.

Edelgard slowly shook her head.

"I woke up nearby, without any memories of before. I remembered how to walk, what my surroundings were... but nothing of my personal life remained. I can't explain it... I'm sorry."

She bowed her head, her nose almost touching the wooden floor.

"That's a shame," the woman noted.

"In our tribe, a certain prophecy has been passed down for centuries," the male elder from before said. "It tells of certain change and the inevitability of our persistence."

Many of the others nodded, giving their assent.

"The most important part is the one about change, though," another man, his long, brown hair covering the floor behind him.

"A thousand leaves shall fall, and a thousand leaves shall grow," a woman smoking from a pipe recited dreamily.

It covered the ceiling, as there was no hole in it.

Edelgard only now noticed this layer of fog above her head.

"One look at you is enough to ascertain your part in this age of change," the woman with the necklace stated.

"We don't know what will happen. Will you cause a thousand changes? Maybe there are a thousand of you? We can't possibly know as of this moment," the long-haired man said, shaking his head in defeat.

"Some theories suggest that a thousand will die because of you," a red-eyed woman added, just a hint of animosity in her words.

"Those voices are rarely heard, though," the woman with the necklace assured, holding out a soothing hand towards the red-eyed woman.

"We shall see," she said, closing her lids to hide the fires.

"While those voices are rare, they do exist," the long-haired man added. "As of this moment, there is no way to find out the truth. Since change is inevitable, we decided to take you in. We want to see where this decision leads us, and what it will do to our kind."

"Thus, you are one of us," the woman with the necklace said.

"For now," the fire-eyed woman added.

"Should you present a danger to us," the first elder who spoke explained, "we will have no choice but to dispose of you. We would give you equipment and clothing, but you'd have to leave... and survive on your own."

Edelgard shuddered.

She knew nothing of this world, how should she survive on your own?

"I'm scared of crossing the bridges, and I almost didn't make it up here... what dangers could I pose to you?"

"..."

"..."

"..."

Most of the elders joined together in a choir of silence, thinking about her question. Edelgard just didn't understand how anyone could judge her dangerous.

"You said it yourself." The words that broke the silence were from the red-eyed woman. "You don't remember who you were, what you thought, what you did... who can guarantee that you aren't dangerous?"

Uneasiness spread throughout Edelgard's body.

It was true.

She didn't remember.

She had no way of proving her innocence!

"May I add something?" That was when Claudia asked for permission to speak. All eyes fell on her, and she was prompted to talk. "I haven't detected any ill will from Edelgard. I don't believe she is dangerous at all!"

"... Would you vouch for her? Keep an eye on her?"

It was still the fire-eyed woman who asked, but the animosity was gone. When she spoke to Claudia, she talked as calmly as the other elders.

"This would mean taking her into your home," the long-haired man reminded her.

Claudia nodded resolutely.

"I wish to vouch for Edelgard!"

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