Jewels from the Dark

PART 3

As Laoise worked her way toward home, she tried not to think about the events leading up to her getting lost in the Woods all those years ago. Yet sometimes, on days where she succeeded in finding a lost one and on nights where she could hear the distant howl of the Waste Wind, she couldn’t help but remember.

Laoise had been little older than the boy she returned to the Light today. It had started as a cruel joke, some of the children in her class wanted to see if she was really as brave as she said she was in the dark. It was silly, really – they were all so young, so stupid. But that one stupid decision had changed her life forever.

A group of children had grabbed her after school and dragged her to the edge of the Shadowlands, saying they would not let her return until she walked into the Woods, far enough that she could neither hear nor see them. They found her odd and as she did not fit in with what they thought she should be, they had always pushed her away. Now, they were pushing her into the Wilding Wood, a place where shadows swallowed the light. This was the typical way that children became lost in the dark of the Wood – pushed forward by those who did not know or care about the outcome.

While she had been terrified, she was also no coward. She straightened her back, lifted her chin, and walked into the dark…

Laoise closed her eyes at the memory, feeling the weight of the darkness close around her again, as she had that day. She had heard them for a bit, as she walked between the trees, feeling her way forward slowly. As their voices finally faded, she turned to go back, knowing she had done it – she had braved the Wilding Woods and the thick dark.

Yet she did not now recognize where she was. She had tried to walk straight in the Wood, feeling her way through the trees. As she tried to make her way back, she had a sinking feeling growing deeper inside her.

It would be years before she found the Shadowlands again.

PART 4

“Thank you for the Shadow and the Light,” Laoise whispered as she made her way deeper into the darkness. She found the bundle tucked against the tree, where it always appeared. There was no explanation, at least none she knew. Since she was a child, Laoise found bundles around the Woods. Some looked like they had been abandoned by others lost in the dark. But sometimes, like this one, it looked new and like it had been left for her alone. It brought the words to her mouth, almost unbidden.

Before the Woods, she had lived with her family in Grian. It was light and beautiful and warm. It was also overwhelming to her. The old prayer – “Thank you for the Light” – had been a constant reminder that it was good and right to love the Light. But Laoise also felt drawn to the Shadows.

They did not incite fear in her – quite the opposite. Even as a young child, she would spend hours under the branches of the weeping willows or tucked up in the hollows of the lilac bushes. She was always finding the hidden, cool areas, while others basked in the full light of the day.

Looking back, it was probably why the children took her to the Woods. She was the odd one in Grian. She was supposed to love the Light – and she did…to a point. She was grateful for it and was able to take it in small doses. But it was also too much at times and the beauty and cold of the dark offered her relief.

Laoise had been raised on the stories of those who loved the Dark. Those were frightful, cautionary tales meant to keep people safe and away from the Nefas. They were a band of people who used the Dark to harm and destroy. They worshiped the Waste and drew strength from the Void. They lived in the Wilding Woods and came to Grian in the night. She was sure they went to other cities as well, all along the Liminal Border.

But Laoise did not love the dark of the Waste or Void. She loved the beauty in the way the Light and Shadow danced together, both morning and night, one chasing the other. She had loved the peace and stillness of the dark, the cool relief of the shade. She loved the way tendrils of lights flickered between the swaying canopy of the willows. She loved the dark for the still, deep reverence it held, even as it danced with the light.

It was why she gave thanks for both the Shadow and the Light. She was not consumed by the dark, as the Nefas were. She found her peace in it and now, it was her home.