Elaine Margrave Wilson

The sun had not yet reached its prime, but the road was busier than ever. Young and old, men and women, every single living human in Mathe had their hand helping each other clean the road that's gone buried under the snow after three days of a dreadful blizzard. While in the corner of the market, five children wrapped in gunny cloaks gathered around forty-five inches girl hidden under her red wool cloak contrast with the snow surrounding them.

"Just like that? Was the old man just dying like that? Aren't you fooling us enough Lady Elaine?" said the boy in front of her. He seems to be the eldest among the five, around ten or eleven and clearly the one most invested in the story.

"Eeii, the old man is not dead but sleeping, right Lady Elaine?" the red-cloaked girl was startled by the other girl's opinion since she once thought the same.

"No! The old man asked for wine, the dead man asked for no wine!" said the youngest boy innocently

"Yeah! My dad drinks a gallon of wine every day for a living. He said alcohol made him alive!" the other one agreed

Her eyes widened full of wonder at the questions she herself had yet answered.

Elaine's thoughts wandered around those innocent minds. Their physical age might be similar, but their mind sang a different song. It's hard to measure the age of a soul that remembered her previous life and the one before. Should it base on both lives or one of the end?

"That's why we called it an open ending!" she added

"Open ending?" the curious eyes of the oldest boy seem to shoot her excitement

“It means... everything is possible. Just like our life, we are yet to know what’s ahead. That old man seems to have abruptly done what his heart desired despite knowing his own limit. In the end, whatever happened he was satisfied and content with the result. Maybe only the skeleton remained from the mighty Marlin, but the honour that skeleton brought with it was remarkable!”

“But my father said only by being a knight, I could bring honour to our family. Since when being a fisherman is equal to being a knight?”

Giggled then the little lady responded, “It’s the price of knowledge you know. The more knowledge you learned, the more you realised that the worth of you laid on yourself. Only you the one have a right to measure it. Being a knight is just as honourable as being a fisherman.”

"Aeehh, Lady Elaine, you must tell a crap again! Those things only a lady like you could understand! For people like us sword is the best!"

Elaine was dumbfounded by their expected response. In whichever world she lived in the rule to change the world was always the same, it required one life as the price. She refused to be the one to pay. Then she walked away, leaving the children to fight with their arguments.

Four years and a few months had passed since she got her first memory along with the other from another space and time. The shock make her spend seven months and eleven days locking herself inside the library after a year of denial and found nothing could relate this world to the one she used to live in. Gave up or not based on her point of view, it was more favourable for her to at least get knowledge about the world she belongs to now. And as if the lingering of the past drives the fear to forget what is not supposed to be forgotten. Elaine wrote all things she could remember and created dozen of books, fiction and non for all twelve seasons after that fall. Most of them were secretly stored in her room and even her nanny couldn't find them. Apparently, there was a secret underground chamber next to the cabinet. It was her father that built it the moment he heard about her unexpected existence. Wilson's patriarch told no souls about it including the daughter he made it for which led to suspicion that he might forget about it himself. Gradually, her old soul seems to accept the reality she faced today.

If it was in her old life, this much coldness was enough to kill her. Yet the body she owns now considers that cold weather as if it's nothing. She breathed naturally and even energetic enough to fool her knight guards and stroll through the market’s alleys all by herself. Elaine knew with or without her knight guards, as long as Morigrad still the land she stood, her safety was absolute. The Raven belongs to her older brother and spread all over Morigrad like spiderwebs. Her silvery-blue hair and dark grey eyes worked as signatures of her identity. If she couldn't get privacy, at least she deserved freedom, her actions spoke louder and travelled to her oldest brother Casper's ears.

"The little lady seems like a noble but why did you walk all by yourself? It's dangerous out here, should I escort you back to your house?" said a friendly man that seems genuinely concerned for the little lady's safety. The gaze of other onlookers was stunned by the man's bravery.

"Is it your first day here sir?" Elaine asked firmly, her voice full of pride and dignity affirming herself as an elegant lion cub.

"How did you know?" the man was surely simple. His intention and emotion written right on his face, Elaine read him with no difficulty as if she read a children's book.

"Seeing your incapability to recognize me and your bravery to stop my way talked directly to me without even bothering to give any greeting. Your action was more dangerous to yourself than this town to me. But I appreciate your kindness, may God bless you! " Elaine might be bothered by the class system in this world, but she got used to it. After all, it’s how the society works here, she thought.

"Who is she?" asked the man to the stall merchant nearby

"What a lucky man you are! hadn't the lady spoken loud enough, you're a dead man by now!" said the old merchant

"She's Lady Elaine Wilson, the fourth of the Wilson family." tell the red-haired woman

"A lady from a such family without a single knight?"

"ye outlander! just because you can't see it didn't mean it doesn't exist!"

"Still, she's quite a rud..."

"SSSStttttt!!!!! Shut your little mouth! It's lady Elaine you are talking about! The jewel of the Wilson family, so says those things somewhere else! don't drag us with you!" said the old man while shoving snow into the outlander.

It's not strange for the townspeople to prescribe Elaine that way. She’s well known to be kind and merciless at the same time. Although all citizens of Morigrad had professionally trained to recognise each of Wilson's children. It was rare for her to roam around the town like today. However, based only on the rumours and how tight the Raven controls the talks about Elaine, it showed how precious the only daughter of the Wilson was. Nevertheless, the people wild imagination added fuel to her reputation.

Enough of being distracted by those kids, now her focus is back on finding her soon-to-be teacher. Her father, Cedric Wilson, the patriarch of the Wilson family offered to invite whoever teacher she wants. Though Elaine stubbornly refused and stated that she herself must find her teacher and decide whether they deserved to be invited in and teach her the knowledge they had. Flabbergasted by his daughter's words, Wilson's patriarch gave his permission to see whether her words were based on confidence or arrogance. Recognition or repudiation would be determined once she's back in the manor.

Far her little feet stepped away from the crowd with shadows trailing her as tranquil as possible. Little Elaine had finally seen the salix tree her brother described. The leaves swung gently blown by the breeze hardly reaching the ground longing for it. It’s mesmerising to witness the green unshakeable by the harsh snowy night before. Two houses from the last alley, a yellow gate with a lemon tree. There was she standing, adjusting her breath and bravery for what comes beyond the gate.

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