Rabbit Knight and Sprite walked ahead of the group, careful to keep their eye out for anything that might bring harm to the rest of the Party, Yvlena sighed, trying to keep her nervousness at bay. Her eyes darted around checking empty window frames for signs that someone dwelt amongst the houses.

  They were heading deeper into the town when they passed by a building that had once been a shop and heard the sound of a voice trying to get their attention.

  “Psst! Psst!” Yvlena spun around to see a small hand emerge from behind a corner. Her hand strayed to her weapon with practiced ease but paused to see who had called to her.

  “Who are you?” A young face peered around the corner and Yvlena could make out the pudgy face of a child wearing rags and a hat made entirely out of old sacks.

  “What are you doing in the street, don't you know those monsters will get you?” The kid said.

  From the voice, Yvlena could tell she was speaking to a little girl and released the tension from her shoulder. She dropped her hand to her side and sighed in relief that they had not encountered another person infected with the Miasmic sickness.

  But the girl’s expression clued her into the harsh world she was currently in.

  “We’re looking for someone.” Risel said, looking around for any sign of danger as they approached the child. “What’s your name?”

  “I’m not supposed to give my name to strangers.” The kid said, she looked back and forth, checking for the aforementioned monsters.

  Yvlena couldn’t help but feel sorry for her.

  “We’re looking for my friend’s brother, his name is Freude, I’m Yvlena and this is Risel.” Yvlena said introducing herself. “And these are my summons, Sprite, Rabbit Knight and Kuti.”

  Sprite flew over to where the girl was hiding and rested on her head.

  “Don’t be afraid, Yvlena would never do anything to hurt you.” The winged being said, causing the little girl to giggle. Her look of apprehension slowly vanished as she turned her attention back to the two elves.

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  “Since we’ve given you our names, it’s only polite to tell us yours right?” Yvlena said gently, she didn’t want to pressure the girl and scare her off. Even a child would know a thing or two about the town she had lived in, even if it was for a little while.

  “I’m Marla.” The girl said softly, Yvlena almost couldn’t hear her from where she stood by the corner of yet another crumbling building.

  “Pleased to meet you, Marla. Do you know what happened here?” Yvlena asked.

  “It’s always been like this as far as I know.” Marla said, shrugging and stepping out from behind the building she was hiding. “I try to avoid the scary monsters, this is the first time I’ve seen new faces.” she cupped her hand and Sprite took a moment to sit in the little girl’s grasp.

  Risel and Yvlena exchanged worried glances, it had been a long time since Rael had been here. They would need to find someone older to find the answers they needed.

  “Do you have a family?” Risel asked.

  “Uh huh, I live with my Mama and my Nana, that’s where all the people live to stay safe from the monsters.” Marla said.

  “Could you take us there, we’d like to talk to your mother.”

  The girl suddenly panicked, nearly dropping Sprite in her surprise. Her eyes looked at Yvlena with wide startled eyes.

  “You’re not going to tell on me are you?” Marla said, nearly shrieking. Yvlena figured at her age she wasn’t supposed to be out of her mother’s sight or any of the survivors for that matter.

  “Of course not, we just want to ask her if she’s seen my brother.” Risel said in a soothing voice. “I used to visit him back when everything was alright.”

  “You remember the time before the monsters? But that can’t be right, you look so young.” Marla said in awe.

  “Elves live a long time without growing old, have you ever seen an elf where you live maybe.” Yvlena prodded gently, if she had seen another elf then most likely that person would be Freude himself or someone who might have known him.

  Marla held her chin and hummed in thought.

  “I think I have.”

  Risel exhaled in relief, even if Marla didn’t know who her brother was there was a chance that if another elf resided with the survivors they would know of Freude.

  “Please take us to your town, it’s too dangerous to stay here.” Yvlena said. The little girl nodded and ran to Yvlena’s side to drag her along.

  “Alright just come with me.” Marla said pulling Yvlena towards the corner, the elf stared down at the girl’s tattered clothes and wondered if she could weave some of the old linen she had into new clothes for her.

  To Yvlena, it couldn’t have been easy living like this. In the ruins of a crumbling town and if they tried to leave the Guardian of the Verdant Vale would easily strike them down. The elven girl found herself missing the comfort of Bloom Haven or even Corr’s inn but she had to stay strong.

  Risel and the summons followed closely behind them as Marla led them through the wreckage, they squeezed through broken wooden beams and broken awnings to get to the other side of the Verdant Vale.

  Yvlena noticed as they walked, that Marla’s path led away from the blackened leaves of the great Verdant Tree and towards an area under it which had a little more life.

  “Marla, do you know anything about the Great Verdant Tree?” Yvlena asked, Risel nodded to her letting Yvlena know that the girl approved of her question.

  “That big tree? Uh...not much. Though Nana said it used to be a source of endless blessings! People would come from all over to eat its fruit but somehow the tree went bad.” Marla said, she squinted her eyes a bit as if trying to recall something.

  “I can see that.” Risel said with a nod, the blonde looked up at the tree again in pity, she wondered how the inhabitants of the town felt seeing the thing that once gave them blessings go bad.

  “Yeah, but I never got what the big deal was, it's just a stinky old tree.” Marla stuck her tongue out at the tree making Yvlena and Risel burst out in laughter, Marla and Sprite joined in while Kuti and Rabbit Knight shook their heads in fondness.

  A short howl caught their attention, piercing the air with it’s terrible sound. As the girls tried to find the source of the sound, something large moved through the area.

  Marla froze, hiding behind Yvlena.

  “It’s a monster! What are we going to do?!”

  “Don’t worry Marla, I’ll take care of it.” Yvlena said, narrowing her eyes in the direction of the creature.

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