It had been two weeks since the camp was destroyed. Ellylw had spent the first two days hovering around the area, spying on the pillagers and searching in vain for Natanalie. No signs of the girl child, but Ellylw learned enough about the people who killed her "family".
The had no women, save for one matriarch. She rules them all, like a mother, and encouraged rape and murder against others. They had killed all the men of Ellylw's clan, and most of the women. From what she gathered, two remained alive, and hidden somewhere deep within the cluster of raiders for their own amusements. Ellylw couldn't do anything for them-although she felt a stab of regret over losing Unar, and despite herself, Jeskian.
Then she had moved on, combing the area in circles growing ever wider and wider; and every night she prayed to the very ground beneath her-a wild plea that would send Natanalie out of harms way and back into her mother's arms. And now Ellylw herself was starving, out of food and resources as winter was setting in. Natanalie was even more ill equipped for survival, and Ellylw forced herself to realize this, as it may help her find her baby girl.
Natanalie knew enough to go to water, and to start a fire out of sight of anyone-so places where both these things could occur, did Ellylw go. Right now she was following a dry creekbed, her feet wrapped in the remains of her nightgown, and the rest of her dressed thinly. She stumbled along, frozen and tired, keeping an ever watchful eye out on the horizon. Natanalie would recognize her, and come forward.
But Natanalie didn't come that day, and as night settled Ellylw knew she would have to eat something in order to keep going. But there was nothing to eat. If she set traps for the smaller animals, she'd have to keep in the same area for several days at a time-and all the berries were gone for the winter. There were no other real options out here-unless you wanted to eat the very leaves off the trees themselves. Ellylw considered this, and decided, tomorrow she'd find a non-poisonous specimen, and see what she could make with it. Leaves boiled in some water, to make a soup? They'd have to be very green leaves to be useful to her. But she'd worry about that, along with everything else, tomorrow.
She dreamed that night that she went to the Hold and turned herself in, so she could eat. They wouldn't feed her, and instead threw her in the dungeons to starve. The dungeons were made of gold, and Natanalie was there, but she didn't recognize Ellylw, and instead called another woman "mother". Ellylw woke up with tears on her face.
She wasn't usually given to this kind of sentiment, and was angry with herself. It was only a dream afterall. She quickly got up, and was surprised to find that she wasn't too stiff. She took that as a good sign, did some stretches to loosen her muscles, and began to comb the area looking for edible vegetation.
She piled it up in armloads, and she did consider going back to Farnon Hold, but that would mean turning herself in, and possibly being jailed. They would be hard with her-especially since she was so old. They probably wouldn't even help her find Natanalie, so it was a lose-lose situation in Ellylw's mind.
For lunch she stewed up the various plants she'd found, and drank the liquid eagerly. It tasted horrible, but Ellylw finished it all, and took note of the plants she'd found. These were ones she knew to be unharmful. She only hoped that Natanlie was somehow getting food.
If only I hadn't missed the cave the first time. Ellylw thought morosely, but forced herself to shrug the feeling off. It couldn't be helped, and each hour that passed spoke worse and worse for her daughter. She musn't linger on anything for too long.
