Chapter 3: The Invitation

Alleria stirred in the night. She awoke and sat up. The night was still, so she wondered what it was that had awaken her. She glanced toward Dauri’s blankets to see them thrown asunder and empty. Getting up, she heard a noise in the yard, just beyond the back door. Slowly she got up and picked through the crack in the door. Dauri stood there in his yard, looking up, over the trees.
She was going to call out to him, but before she could, he clenched his fists resolutely, and walked into the trees. Quietly, Alleria followed. It was dark but Alleria utilized her hearing skills and made her way. She already knew where he was going, but her question was “why”? Why would Dauri return to the place he hated?
Finding the porch, Alleria saw that the was already open a bit. Before she entered she peered in to make sure hat Dauri was not stopped just inside the door. He had not remained in he entrance though. So she entered quietly, being sure to pay attention to what was in front of her, because she didn’t want to fall over something and alert Dauri to her presence.
To both of her sides were the same two doors that she had gazed upon the first time she visited the Arow House. To the right, the door was still shut, but on the left the door stood slightly ajar. She squeezed through the door, through the kitchen, up the stair well she had explored before. In the familiar hall all the doors stood open. So, silently, she treaded he hall looking in each doorway before passing. In the room where Alleria had glanced at her reflection in the mirror, the woman’s room. There, Dauri knelt, by the bed, simply staring. After a moment his shoulders shook, and Alleria realized that he was crying. He bent his face over the bed and stretched his arms to the middle of the bed, gripping the covers in his fists.
He stayed very still for a moment, then suddenly breathing heavily, and with a mighty yell he ripped the quilt off the bed. In a fit he stood and swiped everything off of the vanity. Alleria’s hands raced to her mouth as Dauri picked up the wooden chair beside he empty wash basin and began to fling it toward the mirror. He was but a moment away from smashing the mirror to pieces, when he spotted the reflection of the frightened elf in the mirror. Dropping the chair he turned to her and very quietly said, “What are you doing here?”
Shaking, Alleria answered, “I followed you. You woke me up. Why are you here?”
“Because I own this house! This is my mother’s room! Where she and my brother lived, and my bastard father…Damn him,” he said, shaking his head, “Damn him.”
“Dauri, don’t let this hurt you anymore. It’s over, he’s gone. This is your history, and your home. Your mother would have wanted you to be happy… here, no in some maid shack. Forget your father!”
“I can’t forget my father! Everything he’s done!? And all the pain he’s caused!? How can I forget? You don’t know what it’s like! You never had a father!”
Alleria’s face fell, and her eyes swung to the floor. “You’re right. I never knew him. I’m the bastard. Just a stupid girl… right?”
Dauri too examined the blue carpet below him. For a moment he was silent.
“That’s not what I meant,” he said, “I just… you don’t…”
“No, Dauri, I know very well what you meant.”
“Alleria I’m…”
“Dauri…don’t, I’m leaving. It’s ok, really. I know that I can never understand.” She looked up and smiled at him. “It’s time I moved on anyway. I’ve been here too long. I should never have stayed again.”
Alleria turned and started down the hall. She made it down the stairs and to the front door before Dauri caught up o her. She opened the door before he spoke.
“Alleria, wait a minute,” he said.
She turned toward him and searched his face. His eyes skimmed the room as though searching for some hidden clue as to what to say. On the fourth step from the bottom, he stood, trying to say something…anything.
“Stay with me…here.” The words were cheap, and they were out before he could stop them. “I mean these past few days, it’s been nice having someone to talk to. And I could use…someone to talk to. If you want…you can stay here, with me…to help with…cooking… and cleaning…and stuff.”
“Dauri, I can’t, we’ve both got too much. You dealing with your past, me dealing with mine. I don’t think…”
“But, we could help each other. Isn’t that what… um…friends are about?”

When Alleria met Dauri: Chapter Four