Part 21
61st January 351 SR

Outside Silverleaf Tavern: Smaed ponders his place in the world

Thalandor had once more left during the summer on a long journey, and Smaed had also been away for a number of scouting trips to fill the time. The years had passed, and after each trip Smaed returnd to Silverleaf, staying in the village tavern. The Silverleaftans had been friendly enough and had even tried to organise a hunt for him to join.

The summer and a glorious copper autumn had passed. Yuletide came and went and the first month of the new year had almost ended. Even so far north where the winter days were short the magic of the riven dell kept the climate mild. The valley was rimed with hoar frost so that it sparkled in the clear mid-winter sun: every bough and branch, every blade of grass, seemed to be etched in silver.

Smaed himself was ambivelent. He understood the Silverleaftans. He knew that the small settler villages of the Yew Forest were all very inward-looking. Leafsta had been, as were the other villages he had come across during his time as a militiaman. All were busy with their own lives and with their own village affairs, and had little time for strangers.

Smaed was also aware that the undying elves had a view of life coloured by their long view and that the doings of humans were but a temporary abberation that should be viewed with detachment.

But what of Smaed himself? He wondered if he had inherited his father’s eternal elven life or his mother’s human lifespan: or, perhaps something in between? What was it to be halfelven? Would he now not belong anywhere: neither among elves nor humans?

Part 22
69th March 351

camped ouside Silverleaf Tavern: Smaed's decision

Though the moors were still bleak and wintery, the first signs of spring were appearing. The beck in the Riven Dell was in spate and the snowline on the moors above was now clearly higher. Even this far north spring would come.

Smaed sighed. It was time to make a move. He had to get on with his life and end this time of what seemed like suspended animation, waiting, waiting, to see his father, to be accepted by the village and to sleep indoors. He would wait a little longer, but, he realised, he had made a decision.

It didn't feel right at this time to live in Silverleaf, however appealing. He had longed to sit at his father's knee and learn from him to be a ranger. He had longed to be part of a community where he felt at home and where he belonged. But he also had to accept his fate. He was neither man nor elf but something in between. And he had grown up and come of age.

He would wait a little longer for the ground to dry out and then he would take command of his life and make his own paths and ways.