The Elven's Silent Girl

RINEI I speak, through the language of silence. "Good evening, dear." My mother says, giving me a quick glance before turning back to the countertop. There's a delicious smell of roasting meat in the air, and I can already feel my mouth watering as I take a seat. I want to ask her what she's making. But I can't, not without my brother. He soon comes lumbering out of his room, eyes drowsy and half-open from a nap. I quickly tap his shoulder. Aemin, I sign. Ask her what she's making. "Mom, she's asking what you're making." He says, rubbing out the sleep in his eyes. She doesn't hear him at first, too busy picking out the seasonings for the dish. I tap him. Again. She didn't hear you. He groans. And I frown at him— if he wasn't the only person that connected me to the world, I would choose to be much less nicer. Aemin was the typical older brother, who just loved to annoy me every single chance he got. Yesterday he'd dumped an entire bucket of cold water on me while I was showering, and I couldn't even scream the top of my head off to show how furious I'd been with him. I'd only been able to grunt in shock, which had made him laugh even harder. "Mom." He repeats. "What are you making?" "Your father brought bacon home from hunting." She replies. "An entire weekly supply." My eyes widen. From hunting? Where? The forests? Aemin repeats my question, looking alarmed himself. We didn't have to be children to know that the forests behind our home was home to the elves. And the elves were dangerous. "I understand you two." She says, putting her hair up in a bun. "But I made him promise a thousand times that he'd never do it again. He was lucky this time, that reckless man. He might easily get himself killed the next." She shakes her head. "Can you call him here? Your father's probably sulking outside." And he is. I find my father looking all gloomy on the front porch, his gun by his feet. This happened every time mother got angry with him and they had an argument. He loved her too much to ever want to argue with her. I tap his shoulder. Then I point towards the kitchen, and he stands up with a heavy sigh. "Did your mother call me?" I nod. "Is she still angry?" I shake my head. "Good." With a relieved breath, my father trots indoors. "I know that I made her worry, going into the forests. But food is running low and the only animals are the ones in there." He disappears inside. And I linger out on the porch, my eyes fixing towards the forest line. The trees are green as always. They've always stayed a vivid shade of emerald, even in the coldest winter. One part of me thinks that it looks too peaceful, to be the home to such dangerous creatures. But the corpse I'd seen last week was very much real. He'd been a hunter, just like my father. I remember the wailing of his wife and daughter when his body had been found, with an arrow straight to the heart. He'd gone missing just a day earlier. I'd heard the elves were beautiful. But they must have the darkest hearts, to do that to someone who'd just wanted to find food for his family. ________________________________ Father is sick. "Rinei— bring me some more cold water!" And I hurry, bringing my mother buckets of cold water. She's frantically trying to bring his temperature down, but it's just stayed so high for the entire night. Yesterday he'd been fine. What in the world had happened that could've made him sick like this in just a day? The front door jingles open. Aemin. I rush over to him, looking at his hands. And my heart falls when I realize he'd come back home empty handed from the market. "The medicine wasn't there." He says to mother, his forehead slick with sweat. "I asked everyone. No one had a single dose." How? My mother has the same reaction. "How? Usually the medics have plenty of the herbs for fever." "They said that those herbs were getting rarer and harder to find nowadays," Aemin says, his voice slightly frustrated. "I don't understand. They've been finding them just fine over the past years." "We'll just have to hope for the best, then." My mother goes back to caring for my father. And I stand there in the corner, my hands clasped over my front as my eyes land on my sweet, kind father. His usual twinkly eyes are tightly shut. Sweat still covers his entire face, even though mother has spent the last two hours trying to cool him down. Aemin and I exchange worried looks. He has to get better, I sign. Will you let mother know I'll be out? To get more drinking water from the river? He nods. So with an empty bucket in hand, I leave the house. Then I head for the river that we'd usually get our water from, near the forest borders. I have to walk farther than usual, to make sure I found the cleanest pool. The bucket swings in my grip as I walk. I'm about to make my way through the underbrush toward the pool when I hear a low, satisfied sigh. It's a sigh that makes a shiver run all the way down my spine. Someone's there. I instinctively take a step back. And through the leaves, I catch sight of a figure in the center of the pool. The currents of the river echo so loudly in the pressing silence. I would've gasped if I could've. I'd only seen him for a second. But I'd seen enough before I'd jerked myself back, bucket clutched tight to my chest. There's a shocked expression frozen on my face. A man. The most beautiful man I've ever seen in my life is bathing in the river. His hair is long. It's a rich, lush gold that comes down below the line of his shoulders, curling around his neck. He's slightly tan, skin golden in the sunlight. I'd only seen up to his upper chest, the rest of his body hidden under the crystal blue waters. He is dangerously beautiful. But I... Why do I feel like I've seen him before? And I nearly turn again, to steal another look. He had just been so gorgeous. But with sheer willpower, I press myself back and silently go back the way I'd come from. Leave him to bathe, Rinei. Gosh. But I can't stop wondering. I really do feel like I've seen him before. But I just can't remember— and when I try to remember, it feels like my own head is telling me not to. My footfalls are quiet against the grass. But that wouldn't make any sense. I'd never seen him around here before. And I was pretty sure that by now I knew every single person who lived in the village, and there had never been a young man with golden skin and long dark hair, a man who was as beautiful as he was. I retrace my steps back just a little, to find another place where the water flows clean. And I bend down to fill my bucket, struggling with the weight when I fill it to the brim. Just forget. My father was sick at home, and our family was going to run out of things to eat if he didn't get better soon. I had bigger problems to deal with, than to moon over a man.