“Flashback”
Someone called out her name. There was a clear tone of panic in the voice. It was male. JT. Slowly Estel opened her eyes looking into JT’s worried face that hovered above her. Why was she laying on the ground? She tried lifting her hand to reach for the back of her head, but stopped moving it, staring at the scratch on her lower arm. Her glance moved onwards and she noticed Hoagie looking down at her as well. He said something and she felt how JT lifted her from the ground holding her close to him and taking her back to the nearby tavern. Somewhat dazed she leaned her head against him, remembering swiftly what had happened just before…
She had found a wandering man earlier asking her how to get to Trinsic. Apparently it was of great importance to him to get there, because after she had told him she did not exactly know how to get there he insisted she would find him someone who did know. The two of them ended up in the Tavern of Cove and while JT was talking to the man an Orc had suddenly appeared. The stranger and Estel had both hidden themselves quickly behind a table and she didn’t hear what the Orc and the others were talking about. Whatever it was, it resulted in all of them drawing their weapons and trying to chase the Orc away.
Just when she thought she was safe the Orc had come back to the tavern and attacked her merciless. Of course she tried to escape it, but she just wasn’t skilled or willed enough to escape him. Worse even… she had tripped and fallen, hitting her head against something and waking up just now. Stoopid ork.
Once back in the Tavern JT immediately attended to the wound on her arm and Hoagie prepared an icepack for her head. What if the Ork had come again to get her back? What would happen if an ork would hurt any of the Covians who had been so kind to her in an effort to retrieve her? How badly did her Master want her back? It stung. The realization that she could be the cause of having brought problems to Cove with her presence. Maybe she should return to them to keep the Covians safe from harm.
JT did not want to hear anything of that idea. She was a Covian now and there was no way they would let her return or let her be taken back. Then the one called Takamadda offered healing of a different nature. Neither JT or Estel refused it, especially after what they had experienced with the Elven Healer Ruadnit Troi. He chanted like her. A different language though. One she did not know. As she felt his magic flow into her, it felt like her her brains nearly exploded inside of her.
“You will come back to me.” It was the voice of the Orc mage speaking to her in her mind.
“You will be my slave untill I die.” It was as if she could feel his hand touching her cheek, but while that happened images appeared. The hand touching her cheek in her thoughts was not orcish, but white skinned, delicate. She looked on and looked straight into the face of a man, an elven man. Long blond hair like her own lay around his face, covering nearly all of his ears except for the pointed tips of them. His eyes… it felt like looking into her own eyes. She must have known this man, because looking at him gave her a feeling of great joy.
“Estel, you must run…” He spoke softly to her and a wave of sadness engulfed her. She reached out to him in her thoughts and surprised she realized it were definitely her own hands, but much smaller then they were now. She was remembering something from her youth! Her tiny hands tried to lift the man’s head.
“Atar, Atar!” Another wave of sadness. He closed his eyes and she instinctively knew it was for the last time he ever would. When she pulled back her hands they were covered with blood, his blood.
“Melamin?” JT’s voice brought her back to the now. Dazed she looked up to him.
“I remember something… What means Atar?”
“Atar?” Their eyes met.
“That means father in elvish…”