Life in Ilyoluna

The outside world was unknown to her, but she could see a glimpse of it through the window in his room. Flurries of ash fell diligently on the already ash covered ground just as it has for the past 10 years. Mount Narroux had been steadily erupting for the last 15 years, but 10 years ago it had turned for the worst. The underground magma caverns that lay, and encompasses, the whole of Kaglesh had been building in pressure and vast amounts of magma releasing it all through all of the previously dormant mountains all over Kaglesh. There was so much built up tension that it sent the nation into a volcanic winter when the volcanoes all blew.

Aimee was born in the midst of the volcanic winter eight years ago and has only ever known her home and the connecting tunnels to and from the trading post. She was born a lot smaller than the rest of her cousins and friends; making her the smallest in her community. Despite being born the smallest, she growing to be the tallest in her little group of friends. Other than this she looks like a normal elf; she has long pointed ears that grow at a horizontal to her head rather than out and up, much like her mother, she has her father’s bright green eyes, and her mother’s long silvery locks. What really sets her apart from her friends is her thirst to know more about, well, everything. She longed to know more about the world before the winter, how her family gathered food, clothes, and any other household item, what they did for fun, how other creatures faired. However, with no end in sight everyone in her life had decided it was best not to fill her head with any hope.

Her father, Elliot, felt particularly guilty withholding knowledge from her. Aimee reminds him so much of himself curious of the world and all it’s inhabitants. He just wanted to protect her keep her from becoming disappointed, but it was increasingly difficult to father her as he fathered his other two children. It was difficult enough to teach her the basics that she would normally learn in school, but with her thirst to know everything and her desire to leave the home, he knew she would still find disappointment.

She would sit for hours at the window watching the flurries gently fall to the ground thinking of all the different things people used to do when they were allowed outside. How her mother, Elena, would garden outside rather than tend to small plants in the windowsill. How her father would tend to the animals Aimee heard from the barn just next door. The friends she’d make if she wasn’t confined to her small elven community.

Some days she would be alone just watching, dreaming. Others she was joined by her great-grandfather, Theo, who would sit in his beloved rocker, and they would silently stare out the window. She would dream of better days to come and Theo would silently think of the family he lost. Reminiscing on the good times, praying they had made it to paradise. More often than not Aimee would be joined by Theo. The only window in the house that wasn’t boarded up was in Theo’s room after all.

The room was covered in a sickly, pastel green wallpaper that was fraying and curling at the edges. Grey doilies, that were made from the fleece of a pure white sheep, covered the dresser and end tables. The carpet was a dingy, beige color from all the foot traffic that took place over the years, the family had given up cleaning it a few years into the quarantine. Theo’s rocking chair sat in the corner near the window, it was well loved as is evident by the deflated cushion. Yellowing lace curtains covered the nailed shut window. It was not an attractive room, but it was Aimee’s favorite room as it, and Theo, allowed her thoughts to run wild.

Theo was one of the few elder elves that was still alive in the community, and it showed. His pointed ears drooped slightly, from aging and the years of battle he had seen, one had a chunk missing from a particularly nasty battle he had against a troll. His, once nicely tanned, skin was now paling more and more as the days go by. His long white hair sat over his shoulders at all times so it was easier for his grandkids and great-grandkids to braid it, but the most notable feature of Theo’s was the three long scars he had on the side of his face. He received those after a chance encounter with a hippogriff, an accident truly, but it was his favorite story to tell.

He didn’t have much longer to live, not with the emphysema and liver disease ruining his organs. While he missed the world he lived in before he was content with just reliving his memories staring out the window of his family farmhouse watching the flurries with his great-granddaughter until his time comes. That was until one day, they were the only two home looking out the window, as usual, and Aimee had decided to ask Theo more about life before the winter.

“Grandpa?”

“Yes Aimee?” Theo wheezed taking in a shallow breath.

“Will you tell me about our family?” Aimee sat back in her chair in order to look at her grandfather, “From before the winter.”

Theo sighed as he continued to rock and look outside, reminiscing on his life from before. He weighed his options in his head. He knew his grandson would be upset with him, but he always loved to tell his grandchildren about his life. He believed there were always lessons in his stories even if they disagreed.

“It all started when I was a boy,” He wheezed as he threw caution to the wind and told Aimee the story of her family.