Elves and I
"What do we do? What do we do now that something so serious has happened? There's no way we'll be able to hide it. How do we explain this to the other elves? We're doomed if all elves know. It's fine if we die, but everything we worked for will be destroyed after we die. We'll return to the era of imperialism, and a new monarch will be born! All of our efforts will have been for naught!"
Lucia's brother clenched his teeth, grabbed his head and racked his brains. It all happened too abruptly for he, himself, to know what to do. It was arguably the most shocking event in elven history. The elves were a race that highly valued tradition and never permitted killing each other unless the other was a traitor. Else, those who killed fellow elves would either be exiled or join the fallen elf in the other word. With that said, the incident was attributed to him. Actually, it shouldn't have been attributed to him, but all of his friends around him and everything else. The elves' fury wouldn't be directed at him, but all of his friends.
As a revolutionist, everything that he did would result in his undoing at the hands of the elves' fury. In fact, not even his friends would support me. He would be exiled. The consequences of the incident weren't something he could bear. He wasn't afraid of death; what he was afraid of was all his efforts up until now being for naught as the Queen he went through so much effort to have exiled would be replaced with another. He did everything he did to help elves reach a higher state of prosperity. He didn't want it to all end there.
It wasn't easy for the elves to live in freedom as they once did in the forest. He fought to earn them that privilege. If the Queen's faction leveraged the incident to betray elves' freedom and dignity, he wouldn't be able to die with his eyes closed.
"It wasn't our soldiers' fault; our soldiers are reasonable people. None of them would willingly shoot down a fellow elf! It was definitely the work of that human! It was definitely him who instigated it! His aim is to sow discord amongst us! It was unquestionably him!"
Lucia's brother angrily glared at the enraged elf and coldly responded, "Don't just randomly blame people. He wasn't present; he was at home."
"How do you know that?"
"Because Lucia told me so. I trust my sister. Moreover, I can distinguish between humans and elves. I can confirm that he was not present. While I think that this might not be a one-off clash and might be some sort of plot, it is still unlikely to have to do with him."
Lucia's brother shook his head, "Let's put aside how it happened for the meantime; we need to think about what we're going to do now first and foremost. There's definitely no way of hiding this. It's bound to be spread. We need to announce it. We need to be the first to announce it; we'll claim it was the Queen's faction's scheme with humanity involved behind the scenes, too. Then we'll prepare to attack humanity's small town."
"Attack humanity?!"
The other elves were stunned. They looked at him with disbelief. The elves' numbers determined whether or not they could wage a head-on war. They had energy to spare in the forest, but fighting on an open field or assaulting a city would result in more losses than they could tolerate. Initiating an attack on humanity was a death wish. The elves couldn't say their prayers enough when humanity chose to not continue with their attacks after their first failed attempt.
"Correct. Isn't that why I mentioned it? We can just attack a small town."
Lucia's brother knew where to draw the line. His plan was very simple. In essence, he wanted to redirect the elves' conflict away from them. It was proven in the last battle that elves will unite to face foreign threats. Therefore, he wanted to get the elves to fight an imminent war. Although the calamity of war might've buried the elves if a war broke out, if they sat on their laurels now, they, without a doubt, would be destroyed, as well. It was all the same in the end.
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Current time in Lucia's room…
I looked at Lucia and continued, "Lucia, is this the world that you wanted? Look at the dead elves outside; is that the sort of rule you desire? Do you honestly think that elves can prosper more and have more freedom under your brother's lead? Lucia, think about this carefully. When the Queen was in power, did you kill that many elves? How many elves were killed by other elves when she ruled? You might say that she might destroy elves owing to her fondness for humans, and you, therefore, had to exile her. But think about it carefully, Lucia, did more elves die to humans or did you kill more elves?"
Lucia's body trembled. She extended her arms to try and hug me. She was on the verge of crying. She stammered, "I didn't… I didn't… I… I… I didn't want to hurt them… I don't know… I… Please… Travor… I beg you… don't say anymore…. Give me a hug. I'm scared. I'm cold. Please… Hug me…"
I stopped Lucia's hand. Lucia's tears began to course down her face. She pulled her arms back to wrap around herself. I gave her no retreat path. I seriously asked, "Do you honestly think that this is right? Do you honestly think that your brother can lead elves to greater prosperity?"
"I… I… don't say any more… please… Travor… we're… we're getting married… don't… talk about this anymore… Brother… Brother… didn't… it… it wasn't our fault…"
"Lucia, think about it carefully, Lucia."
I grabbed Lucia's wrists and didn't allow her to cover her face with her hands: "Lucia, I know, Lucia. Look at me and honestly answer me. Between elves and I, who will you choose?"
Lucia's body jolted. She yanked her hands out from my grip while her tears flew off her face. She loudly wailed and refused to speak as a child would. She avoided the question. I clasped her face with one hand and demanded, "Lucia!! In a loud voice, answer me!! Look at me!! Lucia!! Tell me!!! Answer me!! Between elves and I, who will you choose?! Lucia! Answer me!!"
Lucia trembled and turned her head away. She was truly afraid and overwhelmed with despair. Regardless, I threw more difficult questions her way. I knew how much I hurt her, but I wanted her to hurt.
"Sorry… Sorry… Sorry… Sorry… I… I don't know… I… elves… that… I…" Lucia loudly cried…
Lucia tightly gripped my arm; she gripped firmly enough to almost stab into my flesh. As she cried, she curled up into a ball… I knew she was heartbroken; however, that was exactly what I was after.