Memory

By Yesnaught • 2017 • [Elves] [Humans]

"When first we met, we were both young; I was but an infant, and he a newly-blooded warrior. He saved my life that day, and we have never forgotten.

When next we met, I was still young, but he was older, with wife and child, and fleeing monsters; our village offered them shelter without hesitation.

When next we met, I was old enough to travel. I bore witness to the birth of his third child, and the honor of being named godfather.
Our paths diverged, but when word reached me of his illness, I made haste across the land, and counted myself lucky our paths would cross one last time.

His children, now grown and themselves dispersed across the land, sought my aid as a mediator with my cousins from the north, which I gladly gave, and so bore witness to a new alliance.

When my kin called for aid against the Gray Dragon, they were the first and loudest to respond, his children and his children's children riding forth, without thought for their numbers. It was their blood they shed to save ours, and we have not forgotten.

When his children's children sought deepest knowledge, I spoke for my people and gave it to them, entrusting them with a legacy that was now as much theirs as it was ours.

But their children's children in turn forgot us, believing knowledge and power to be their birthright alone.

Pacts barely two centuries old were sundered, and as they burned, my kin called me fool for ever trusting them with our secrets.

To meet with the breaker of my people, I rode forth alone under banners that bore more weight than anyone realized. I put his descendants to the same sword that had saved me and mine many times over.

I alone remember. He wouldn't have it any other way."