| Prelude: | |
| Date: 12-20-22 | Key Locations: Selḗnē |
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It is morning and a young Lyla Silverridge leaves her home early to get in some bow practice. Still in her pajamas. Her grandmother, Beatrice, comes and finds her, scolding her lightly. A quick bath and breakfast, Lyla is dressed in her school uniform and ready for the day. Her mother joins breakfast, already harried by the demands of the day, and explains that today is a special day. That something important is happening today, and that she will even receive a present that evening. There will be a special lesson at school today, too, so pay extra attention.
Lyla leaves with their household guard, Apollo, through the trees towards the school.
In the school yard, Lyla meets up with her two best friends: Hristos Remiadis and Alkis Mellatos. They banter a bit, as children are wont to do, before Hristos shows them the present he has already received from his family - a crystal with a bird seemingly etched from the inside out, and flying within. It's a wonderous thing that all three are fascinating by.
The classes teacher, Prokopos Antoniilis explains to the class that today is also a special day and that they will have a special instructor for the day, Alushee Valdithas. Alushee explains to the children that they will be taken out as groups into the forest. Once they have found their piece/peace, they may return. If they do not find it, it may mean that they have already found it. In the meantime, they have to attend their regular lessons, an unpopular announcement to children who thought they were getting out of it all for the day.
When it is Lyla, Hristos and Alkis's turn, Alushee leads them to a cave. In here, he informs them, will they find their connection to the natural world. While all three children can see in the dark, they quickly become disoriented and turned around. Reaching into his pocket, Hristos's bird breaks free of it's crystal confinement and leads the children deeper into the cave. It eventually comes to a pool of water and dives in. Alkis approaches the water and finds that she can manipulate it to her will, creating a tunnel for the children to travel through. While walking the water-tunnel, Lyla finds an ancient bow unstrung and picks it up. It is one of the finest weapons she has ever seen.
They come to an opening where a shaft of light leads up and outwards. While the children are scaling the wall to climb out, Hristos discovers he cannot be hurt by falling onto stone (a trait of his House). He tests it again by climbing and jumping. Neither girl tests it, knowing instinctively this is part of his own connection to nature. They all eventually crawl out of the cave system into late afternoon.
They see smoke on the horizon of Selḗnē.
This children, thinking the smoke to be a part of the celebration (a bonefire? fireworks?), they rush in that direction to get home. Quickly they come across a troop unit, dead by Esten arrows. They are Bellkind troops. Hristos plucks out the arrows from their bodies while Lyla restrings her bow with a line she's found from a broken Bellkind bow. The children debate what to do, ultimately deciding on going home rather than hiding.
Along the way, they come across a second troop unit, this one setting up a trebuchet. All three take to the trees and begin an attack: Lyla shooting with a bow, Alkis throwing burning pine cones and Hristos throwing rocks. Hristos is lost in the combat, though a huge boulder falls from the trebuchet, killing a solider. Reinforcement troops are approaching, forcing Lyla and Alkis to flee further into the forest.
In the forest as they run through the trees, they see Apollo on the forest floor. Two horsemen are coming towards him. Lyla is able to shoot one of the horses, allowing Apollo to take down the second rider on his own. He tells Lyla that they must get her back to her mother, but Lyla insists that they must find Hristos first. They debate and eventually Apollo wins, Lyla and Alkis running with him towards the city.
They run past Lyla's childhood home and see it has been demolished by a trebuchet boulder. But they also run into Errol, Lyla's uncle. Apollo hands the children off to him, saying there are other children still in the forest that he must return to find. Apollo is not seen again.
Using shadow magics, Errol is able to get them a fair way into the city undetected. Eventually, they come across a Bellkind Crusader who he knows can see through his magics. They exchange barbed words, prompting Lyla to attempt to shoot the Crusader for his cruel words. She misses, but is in return shot with a crossbow bolt into the left arm. Alkis stops the bleeding by using her water magics to prevent the "fluid" from rushing out. Errol charges into the fray, taking as many blows as he's being given. When he collapses under the weight of the attack, Lyla shoots one of the two men left, leaving only one alive with a severally wounded Errol at his feet.
Alkis hides them in a well with the use of her water magics. While the children do not recognize it for what it is at the time, they find themselves standing on one of the leylines criss-crossing the city. They wait an hour before emerging from the water, determined to find their respective families.
They stop first at Alkis's house, finding both her parents unarmed but arming a militia with a hidden trove of weapons. Alushee comes to them, saying he must get Lyla home to her mother. They head towards City Center, where they come across heavy fighting between Bellkind and Esten. They find Celia Silverridge-Talmert on the roof of the city hall, surrounded by her troops as she shoots down into the aggressing Bellkind knights.
A reinforcement of Bellkind come up to the building, empowering the morale of the battling invaders -- until those knights turn on them, running them down with their horses and slashing at them with swords. It is Rory Silverridge, having heard of the impending attack and riding hard with troops of his own to help defend Selḗnē.
Rory says the city is lost. He's witnessed at least 200 more troops behind him, coming towards the city, and that Celia must flee now. Celia does not want to leave but is eventually convinced: if she does not leave now, she could be captured or murdered, truly leaving nothing of Selḗnē.
They flee into the night towards Crystalwood.