Unedited/ First draft

"Kolvar, what are you..." Lithoniel started to say when Kolvar suddenly hugged her.

She blanked out and then squirmed, trying to get free. However, he didn't budge, and squeezed her even harder, holding her as his life depended on it.

"Kolvar, what are you doing? Let me..."

"Let me stay like this...just for a moment" He said, and Lithoniel froze at the sound of his voice.

It was broken, emotional like he was about to weep or maybe he already did. Lithoniel felt uncomfortable, but without knowing it, she started to pat his back gently like she was coaxing a child.

When he finally backed away to look at her face, Lithoniel noticed that his cheeks were flushed, his eyes a little red. He looked very young, even more childish than usual.

"I-I'm sorry...I..." He started stuttering when he realized what he had done. "I missed you" He managed to say at the end. Then he looked down, avoiding eye contact.

Lithoniel sighed.

"Kolvar" She said, but he still didn't look at her. "Kolvar, look at me" She patiently repeated, though she really wanted to force him to look at her, maybe slap him a couple of times to knock some sense into him.

At the end it worked, though he still looked embarrassed.

"I'm happy to see you, but what are you doing here?" She said, unable to hide the concern in her voice. At the start she had felt abandoned, but knowing Kolvar's behavior unless someone didn't allow him to come, he surely would have visited her. And that someone could only be Naevys.

Which mean, he sneaked in here, and doing so, violated the Loremaster's order.

That's why she was worried.

"I wanted to know how you were."He said, squinting his eyes to look at her face. "You're thinner."

Lithoniel furrowed her brow and glared at him. She was heartened by his concern but at the same time, she knew he was trying to change the subject.

"I'm saying the truth." He said when Lithoniel kept staring at him. "I'm worried about you. I would have looked for you sooner, but they forbid me."

"They?"

Kolvar nodded, a scowl on his face as he thought about it.

"It was Rolim" He said, but hesitated, which of course made her just more suspicious.

Looks like I was right.

"Just Rolim?" She urged. "Who else, Kolvar?"

Kolvar bit his lips.

"Naevys."

Bingo.

"Kolvar..." Lithoniel said, closing her eyes and shaking her head. "You really shouldn't have sneaked in here.  Do you know what could have happened if you got caught?"

"But It didn't happen and I didn't sneak." Kolvar answered, a stubborn look on his face when he saw Lithoniel furrowing her brow. "I really didn't." He insisted. "Listen, do you remember Mor? Morlarn father?"

She thought about it for a little and nodded. She remembered him. He was an old elf in his late fifties working as a guard inside the village like all the others retired hunters.

"Well, he is one of your guards and he always liked my old family heirloom. Do you remember it? The dagger  with a blade close to a crescent moon?"

Lithoniel squinted her eyes and glared at him. Get to the point. 

Kolvar cleared his throat.

"Anyway, I knew he liked it and though his son, Molrlarn, was killed by the Zaruk, his niece was saved by you. So I..." He trailed off and scratched his head like he didn't know how to say it. But the meaning was clear.

"Do you bribe him?" Lithoniel asked, unable to hide her surprise.

Kolvar looked a little shy but didn't try to deny it. Lithoniel shook her head. She really didn't see this coming. It seemed completely out of character for him.

"I tried to include to bargain for your freedom but..."

"Don't worry about that." She said.

Naevys couldn't decide about her fate, let alone a simple guard. Besides, she didn't want to run. Why should she? Among the elves, only betraying the tribe or colluding with the human was punishable with death. Since she'd done neither, at worst, they would just exile her.

Wait a second...

"I saved his niece? Who is she?"

"Liara. It's Liara, Lithoniel."

She opened her mouth wide. So she still had a living relative. Damn you, Garluin.

"She is staying with him now, though she didn't get any better. After they...well, you know, imprisoned you, she tried to find you for days. But she seems a little calmer now."

She is with her family. Lithoniel nodded. That's good.

"Kolvar, do you know why they keep delaying the Conclave?"

Kolvar thought about it for a while but shook his head at the end. "I don't know for sure, but..."

"But?"

"I suspect they are trying to help you."

"Helping me? What do you mean?"

"They are spreading rumors about what you did after the Nighstalker died. You should listen to the story, Lithoniel. It sounded more and more like a heroic tale" He smiled but she winced.

"They who?"

"Rolim and the other survivors."

They are trying to increase my reputation, or better, get rid of my infamy.

Lithoniel was moved but at the same time a little baffled.

They really think this will work? She first wondered and then asked it.

"But it is working, Lithoniel. After they knew how you risked your life over and over to save lives, the general opinion started to change. Besides, even if Naevys didn't explicitly support you, many still think she is on your side. Otherwise, why would she keep delaying? And you know how important her opinion can be for the tribe."

She knew that well. How could it be otherwise? For many, probably for most of them, Naevys was the only leader they ever had.

What she didn't know was why. Granted, Naevys was her teacher, but though she never loathed her like the other elves, she still kept the distance from her.

There is something fishy here. If that's their plan, why did they forbid Kolvar from visiting?

"The tribe now is divided." Kolvar continued in the meanwhile. "Tinesia wants to advance the Conclave date. She knows she could lose if this goes on. She wants the Nightstalker's election to be held quickly, especially now..." His voice wavered and he looked alarmed like he said something he shouldn't have.

"Now? What is happening now? What aren't you telling me, Kolvar?"

"I-I can't talk about it."

Lithoniel glared at him.

"Especially now, what? Answer me, Kolvar" She asked, her voice dangerously low and threatening. She didn't want to intimidate him, but she had no choice.

Kolvar looked down.

"Especially now that the tribe is in danger."

In danger? Lithoniel opened her mouth wide.

"What kind of danger?"

Kolvar looked troubled, scratching his nonexistent beard.

"People are missing Lithoniel. Folmon, Thadar, Ilyana and a dozen other. They are all missing. It started just some days before we came back."

"Are there any leads?"

"Just one. We know outsiders are responsible. A small group, probably half dozen outcasts."

As Kolvar said it, Lithoniel remembered what she saw when they came back to the plateau.

The footprints?

"However, we are no way close to catching them. Garluin is acting like the Nighstalker at the moment, but since no one elected him, only a few hunters follow him." When Kolvar said that, Lithoniel finally realized why Rolim and Naevys decided to hide all of this from her.

They fear I will do something stupid.

And they were right. She was no saint, but she couldn't stay here, safe and sound when the tribe was in danger. Besides, she could imagine the reason why Tinesia wanted a new Nighstalker in command and fast. It was the only way to use the hunters effectively since only the Nighstalker could command them. It might seem strange or stupid---and probably it was---but the tribe worked that way. It was a rigid hierarchy where rules could be occasionally bent but never broken.

The real problem was Lithoniel's nomination for Nightstalker's title. 

I have to thank Garluin for that.

The tribe couldn't elect the new Nighstalker without including her, and they couldn't include her without first holding a Conclave to judge if she really failed to uphold the vow.

Tinesia wants to hold the trial, banish me and then select the next Nighstalker. Which will probably be her husband's protegee, Garluin.

Now it made perfect sense why Rolim didn't want to tell her.

But what about Naevys? The tribe is in danger, what she is waiting for? Why is helping me in the first place?

She had no answer to that question, but now she knew what she had to do.

She looked at Kolvar. Luckily he didn't realize what he let it slip. And that's probably why Rolim didn't want him to visit me.

The young elf wasn't really good at keeping secrets, though, apparently, he was a good liar.

"Kolvar, you should go now. I don't want you to get into trouble."

"But..."

"Don't worry, I'll see you soon." She said and smiled, trying to sound reassuring.

Kolvar sighed but nodded at the end.

"Please, take care of yourself Lithoniel." He said, looking at her with such affection that Lithoniel's smile cracked a little.

When he was gone, Lithoniel took a peek outside. It was dark, maybe a couple of hours after sunset, but she could see the two guards.

And if I can see them, they'll see me if try to sneak outside.

Lithoniel frowned. Unless she had no other choice, she didn't want to knock them out. Actually, if she tried to escape and they caught her, she knew for sure they would hold the Enclave immediately. But even though she wanted to help the tribe and resolve the situation quickly, she wasn't suicidal.

If I try to escape, it means I'm guilty. I can't get caught.

However, no matter how much she thought, she had no way sneak past the guards.

If only I could be invisible or merge with the shadows...

She was thinking about it when she felt something strange like a weird itching spreading all over her body. It was close to that uncomfortable and terrifying sensation she felt when that black brand, the dreadful tree appeared on her skin for the first time.

Lithoniel frantically looked down on her stomach but stopped seeing the image reflected in her mirror.

Or better, the absence of it.

She opened her mouth wide, an explainable fear spreading from the pit of her stomach like a rising tide. She couldn't see herself in the mirror. It was like she wasn't even there.

However, as she walked closer to the mirror, she saw something moving on the rough floor.

A shadow---tapered and elongated---mirroring her movements.

Her shadow.