Freya and Kari went off together into their alcove and to their nest beds. Despite their constant bickering, Kari was very fond of his sister and often treated her as if she knew everything. This was mainly because she was there to answer his questions when he didn't dare ask anyone else for fear of sounding stupid. But, as well as that, she was a good student and he knew that she tried much harder at school than he did so he hoped she might tell him enough to get by.

“So, what is all this about the history of the elves and the humans? Why does everyone keep hinting about it and talking about secrecy being our salvation and stuff but never actually tell us the story or the reason?” asked Kari, when they were both snuggled up in their nest beds.

“Well, I don't know everything, you know that. But I think the reason they don't talk about it very directly is that I think it still hurts a lot of the older generation. The Council are always discussing ways to keep us safe and it's because of what they went through in their youth that they are desparate to protect us, not just from things going wrong but also from us needing to know things whilst we are still young.”

“Like what, though?” asked Kari, sitting up.

“Don't hurry me. Look, I know there was a big battle with the humans and that all the elves who were left had to find this forest and make this our new home.”

“Wow, Really. You mean we haven't been here for ever?”

“Not at all. I think we've only been here since our mother and father were a few years older than me. I think our grandfather had to fight in the battle and I know that father would have also had to if it had gone on any longer.”

“Oh, I can't believe that. It feels like this village has been here for ever. No, no. you're telling this all wrong. Start from the beginning and tell it like a story.”

“Oh, OK. Sorry. I'm not a story teller, you know. I just learn my lessons and listen to people. You should try it.” said Freya, snapping, before relenting and settling in to tell the story of their elven history.
Chapter Five

“OK, so it all started when our elves, who were the descendants of the famous light elves of the north, found themselves travelling from the north as a big tribe. They had to keep on the move because they were living alongside humans at that time and were constantly in conflict. It wasn't that our ancestors were bad, exactly. Just they needed the same resources and they found ways of getting things that meant the humans often got annoyed by us. Then what would happen would be that there would be a huge hunt for us elves. But because we were living so close, someone always found out and so we were always able to move on before anything bad happened.

“After many years of travelling on like this, some of the Council and other members of the Elf community started to grumble about always having to move on. Just because they needed to be close to humans surely didn't mean they needed to be so close that they always needed to escape. So they discussed this over and over again and eventually decided that they would settle down and make a proper home for everybody, close but not too close to the humans. So they found somewhere on a big plain with a river flowing through it, that was close but not too close to a human village. It was beautiful and they loved it. They built little huts and it was then that everyone in the community learned to have separate jobs and so the hunters and the gatherers and the woodcrafters started then. This was because the elves still had to go to the human village but they did this more secretly now and with more care so as not to be found seen. Although our ancestors had used their magic a lot, they had not been so careful as we are in how they used it and it sometimes caused more trouble than it was worth, and meant that they had to move on sooner because it drew attention to them.

“Once they were settled by this river, they almost stopped using the magic at all, apparently. It was like they had become scared of it and thought it was what had caused all the problems. So they tried to just be cunning instead and plan their trips to the village better so that they did not draw attention to themselves.”

“And did it work?” asked Kari, with eyes wide open. This was more than he'd ever learned about his ancestors before. He just hoped that Freya was telling him the truth, because she was actually proving to be a very good story teller, after all, no matter what she had said before she began.

“No, of course it didn't. You know I haven't got to the battle yet, so how can it have worked?”

“Oh yeah. Sorry. Carry on.”

“So this went on for a long while. Our mother and father were born by this river and grew up very happily there. It was quiet and generally everything was good here. Only a small number of the elves ever went to the village and the humans never seemed to bother with the elves, even if they knew where they were.

“However, one year there was really bad weather. Everything that had been growing died and there was much disease so even things like acorns and berries became inedible. So the elves were forced into the human village for more and more because, obviously, the humans had been able to collect more food than the elves could. So the elves started taking more from the humans than they ever had in this village and it became more obvious to the humans, I suppose, that something strange was going on.

“What happened then is just awful. The elves had no idea, because of living so far away from the humans. This could never have happened in the past because they were always so much closer. What happened was that the humans found out where the elven village was and came to attack it in the hottest part of the day, whilst the elves were sleeping in their huts. It was like the elves had driven them mad. What was strange is that the elves' magic had always driven the humans mad in the past. But this time, it was the elves' cunning and mischief that had got to them this time.

“So, the humans took the village completely by surprise. They didn't seem to have any care for life and just started burning huts and were basically trying to kill all of the elves. The elves fought back, though. The Council members were immediately awake. Some other magical sense meant that the wisest amongst us are always aware of imminent danger and they roused the village quickly. Many elves were not lucky and could not escape from their burning houses but others were in a position to get out and they started, for the first time in a long while, to use their magic. Because the bonds had been broken, it took a while for the magic to take hold but with the concentrated efforts of the Council Elders who stood close together by the riverbank and focussed all their attentions on the approaching humans, they were able to summon a wall of light fire in response to the humans' own fires all around. But this wall moved towards the humans and they turned and fled, having no other option. There was nowhere else to go. The Council Elders had made their wall as wide as they could and with the light fire and the river now between most of the humans and all of the elves, the retreat began.

“So it could be said that the elves won the battle. However, there were so many losses that it didn't feel that way. The humans who had made it to the village and who were, therefore, beyond the light fire wall, exacted their revenge and even some of the Elders were slain before the elves could muster up enough magic to dismiss even these last humans.

“Oh, that's horrible.” whispered Kari. He hasn't predicted for a moment that the story of his ancestors could be so sad.

“I know. Isn't it? Anyway, the day after it all, the elves realised that their time in this place was over. Can I tell you about the rest tomorrow? I'm tired now.”

“No, no.” said Kari. “I need to know the rest. I need to understand.”

“Oh, all right then. But don't blame me if I'm horrible to you tomorrow. It'll be because I'm exhausted.” Freya grumbled but Kari thought she didn't mind really. She was obviously quite enjoying telling her story.

“So the next day, the elves arose to assess the scale of the disaster. The village had been so much larger than today's village. We've never really recovered from the impact that the battle had on our population. Half the village was lost that day. So the Council elders had to decide on what to do next. Obviously, there was a period of mourning but it was clear that the elves could not stay there any longer. Although they had been able to avoid going to the village after the massacre, because of stocking up on provisions just before the battle. And with less mouths to feed, it was possible to make the food last until the Village Council had come up with a solution.

“The pressure on the Elders was huge. They absolutely had to get this right. The community had moved on again and again within the lifetimes of the older generation and none of them wanted to go back to those travelling days. The younger ones, like our parents, had only ever known this river and were worried about the thought of moving somewhere else. The mistake had been to be close but not close enough to the humans. They were close to food and resources but not close enough to be able to see when danger was coming. So the brave decision was made to change the whole way that the elves worked. No longer would we interact with humans with any mischief or magic. We would keep away – it was in our interests to be more self – sufficient. However, it was also decided that the other mistake made by that generation of Council Elders had been to let the magic go. There was to be a concerted effort made amongst all of the older people to bring that back, thus allowing the community to use magic for its own benefit, rather than just as a tool for getting what we wanted from humans. This is why the magic is now so important in our village and why we are taught about how it works so early. It's because our parents grew up without it and weren't able to use it to fight. Only the elders had been able to save us all from being wiped out and even they had found it hard to fight like that because it had been so long.

“So the magic that we use to disappear was always within us, it's just that no-one within living memory at that time had used it for that purpose. So once we were settled in this forest, the Elders began to work with families to build the bonds that allow us to use our magic. The stronger our bonds are, the stronger the magic, the stronger the light and the easier it is to disappear if we need to. That's why our families are so important; without them we are lost and in danger as we are unable to protect ourselves.”

“Yeah, I know all that bit. But, how did we end up here?”

“Well, I think that everyone left started to pack up quickly and were making a move within days. No-one knew where they were going and so the Elders led everyone on a long walk, staying safe asleep during the sunlit hours and walking on under cover of darkness. This was when they started adopting the dark elves' practice of sleeping underground and when we started to become our own sort of elves, I suppose. However, once a fairly safe location had been sought, the Elders spent some time scouting around for permanent resting places for the community and on one such trip, an Elder found this forest. It was perfect. A long way from a human village and good ways of hiding were possible. The elves moved in over the next few days and over time, the whole way of life that they had known began to change completely. We are neither light elves nor dark elves. Somewhere in the middle and our Council are rightly proud of what we have achieved in making a safe environment for us. And that's why there is such fear about being out alone in the forest when it's possible to get caught by a human. You couldn't disappear. The magic doesn't work if you are alone. And you could give away our existence to the humans and risk another battle worse than the last.”

Kari had no sharp comment this time. He realised why his parents had been so disappointed in him last time he went missing and started to make connections in his head about various things he had heard and understand the relevance.

“What a story, Freya. And you can't say you don't tell stories now. You enjoyed telling that, even if half of it was in your teacher's voice.”

“Yeah, well, he told it well!” Freya admitted. “And now, I really am going to go to sleep. I'm so tired.”

And with that, she turned her back to Kari and snuggled up into her nest bed.