“But Father, there has got to be a better way!” Yera’s voice echoed through the cavern that her home had been carved out of. It was the third time they had taken part in the exact same argument, something which found the little chirot family of three crowded around the kitchen, her parents across from her with their arms folded and Yera standing on the opposite side of the kitchen with her little fists clenched at her side.
“Yera, darling, we’ve been over this again and again. The Kiroan are a threat to our people, they always will be. I’m not going to end our city’s participation in this war because my daughter is squeamish. Could you imagine what that would do? I’d be elected right out of my position, you know that don’t you? No right minded chirot would vote for a Kiroan lover.” Her father stated in a cool and collected voice as he looked over at his daughter and noted the red heated color in her cheeks from their argument.
“I’m not asking you to leave the war, I’m just asking you not to attack their city! How do we know that they aren’t peaceful? Nobody has even bothered to try to talk to the people in their city. What about their children?” Yera protested, as her eyes began to water, a release of the tension and frustration that she felt. “Edgar told me that he met a Kiroan, a good one that didn’t want to keep trying to kill our people. What about them?” she sobbed a breath then as she looked through her watering eyes at her father and mother.
“Edgar?!” her mother shrieked. “I won’t have you mentioning the name of that heretic in our home! How dare you! He has renounced Sheara and our people, is that what you want to become of us Yera? Do you want us all to give up our ways? To renounce Sheara and all that she has done for us, for our people? Edgar has been tricked by the Kiroan. Don’t you think that our people have tried to be peaceful with their kind? They will lure you in Yera, lure you in and turn you against your own people and your own faith, just like they did with Edgar. Is that what you want? To become like Edgar?”
“Maybe I do!” Yera hollered back at her mother before she stormed out of the room to leave her parents in the wake of her fury. It was a short distance to her room, and through bleary eyes the chirot began packing her bag, only bothering with one change of clothing and what she had of her coins, sure that she wouldn’t be able to take much with her if she wanted to fly to somewhere else, anywhere else. She took her time and wrote a note to her parents, explaining that she was going to leave and that she was going to prove them wrong, that she would find somewhere that chirot and Kiroan could live amongst each other in peace.
As Yera packed her bags she couldn’t help but think about how her life hadn’t always been this way. She had been a privileged child, the sole daughter of one of the elected city elders and a priestess. She had grown up wanting for nothing, told of the stories that all young chirots heard about the evils of the Kiroan. Like many other youths she had been convinced that if she was naughty an evil feather winged one would come and whisk her off into the night to be eaten up by the others. She had been raised with a healthy dose of fear of the Kiroan, like any other young chirot. That being said however she was a lonely child, with her parents busy as they were she was often left in the care of her mentor who saw in her the spark of magick and helped her to nurture her abilities, encouraging young Yera in her dream of becoming an aeromancer.
It was difficult to pinpoint when things had changed for Yera. Perhaps it was one of the late night exploits that Yera made into the elder’s library, one of the places she most loved to sneak into and read all the things that she shouldn’t. Perhaps it was near her 18th birthday when she met Edgar, another boy in her city who claimed that he had been meeting a Kiroan secretly out in the mountains and had fallen in love with her and was convinced of her kindness. Or maybe it had just been the constant encouragement of her mentor to follow her dreams that guided Yera away from the teachings of her people. As she thought about Yera couldn’t even decide on the moment that her thinking had changed, and yet it had, an event that lead her to the point where she was at now packing her bag.
The fact was that this war was becoming unbearable to her. Edgar told her about all of the stories that his lover shared, that when the chirots attacked their cities that children and the weakest of their workers would fall in the war alongside those who were the armed fighters. Somehow, despite the way she had been raised these stories just sounded wrong to her. With her father’s involvement in the local council it made everything seem even more personal, knowing that he could change the way the war was fought, to perhaps only attack those who attacked them first, but he would hear none of it. Both of her parents were the steady rocks that refused to move from their hard fast beliefs.
She didn’t bother to say goodbye when her bag was finally packed. If she waited any longer she could be convinced to change her mind and to stay, and while she wanted desperately to go and say goodbye to her mentor she knew that there was a strong chance she would never quite make it out the door. Instead she avoided the kitchen and left through the rear entrance of their cavern home until she was out in the city. It wasn’t unusual for young adults to go flying at night and so she did, flying straight out of the city and off into the darkness of the night sky. She would return someday when she had experienced the world that Edgar had told her of, when she could prove that chirots and Kiroan could live together peacefully. She’d have proof then, and once she had proof maybe they would finally believe her.