We sat silently in the balloon, floating gently this way and that - slaves to the mercies of the wind. Mother sat silently with tears rolling down her cheeks. I sat silently – desperate to comfort my mother but not having the faintest idea of how to do so. My father sat silently – unrepentant, and the balloon floated this way and that.

I looked at my mother and thought of all that she had done. She had raised me as a child. She had loved me as a child. She had protected me, when our home was gone. She had guided me through the mines, when our protectors were gone. She had found a way out of Hafen, when all hope seemed gone. She had loved me and she had protected me.

We sat silently in the balloon, floating gently this way and that - slaves to the mercies of the wind. Mother sat silently. I sat silently. My father sat silently. And the balloon floated this way and that.

I looked at my father and thought of what he had done. He had abandoned us. For years, he had lived a life of luxury and done nothing to see how we were and when we had arrived he had sacrificed our two closest friends – our guardians who had guided us up the Schwer to Nirvaasan. He had sacrificed the two souls – without whom we would never have reached him.

I looked at him and I wondered to myself, who was this villain who wore my father’s face.

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“When the elves came, Father Leiter, Brother Dezent, and Sister Gutig came to protect us. We left the house at night and-” but that was as far as I got in telling the story to my father as he started to shake. I was scared to look at him. His face was contorted and he was shaking uncontrollably. His shoulders were heaving up and down. “What is it?” I asked, concerned for him in spite of his behaviour since our arrival. Tears were rolling down his red face as he sobbed – but no he wasn’t sobbing. He was laughing!

“Lei- ter!” He managed to get the name out through the tears and the laughs. “Leiter came to protect you – that coward.” He roared again with laughter. “Leiter thought he could protect you from the elves!” He thumped the table with his fist. “I notice he’s not here now. How long did he last before he fled to save himself? Did he make it through the night?”

“No.” My mother answered him quietly from the curtain.

“Scheren,” My father said her name – cruelty dripping from his voice. “Nice of you to rejoin the conversation. You were always quite the Leiter follower weren’t you. You always wished I was a little more like him didn’t you. That must have hurt you mustn’t it. He left you before the night was out – that’s impressive even by Leiter’s cowardly standards.”

“He sacrificed himself for us.” My mother spoke quietly, “The last thing he said was that we should find you. He’s the bravest goblin I’ve ever known.”

The room went silent then for a moment that seemed to stretch out into an eternity. Eventually, my father lifted himself from his chair, drained his glass and flung it with all his might at the opposite wall. “Leiter,” he roared at my mother, “is nothing but a coward who was never prepared to make the sacrifices that needed to be made to protect our kind.”

“He’s the bravest goblin I’ve ever known.” My mother repeated – quietly but determinedly.

“He. Is. A. Coward” My father roared back at her.

It was at that moment that I felt the light building up within me. A tingling sensation burst from deep within me and ran all across my skin. There was nothing I could do to stop the light from coming. It didn’t matter that I wanted my mother to see me conjure light in a joyful moment. The light was coming and there was nothing that could be done to stop it. It started with my body glowing and I felt the room fall silent and all their eyes lock onto me. But the light didn’t stop there, it lit up the whole room. I saw my father’s face painted white by my light. My mother shone ethereal in the light I provided. The light forced itself upon Handeln and Manquer and the light continued to grow. It threw the door and the curtains open. The curtain fluttered in the light. The light grew brighter and brighter and brighter until suddenly I had no more light left within me to conjure and collapsed back in my chair.

The room fell back into silence but only for an instant. My father now looked panicked.

“There’s no way they won’t have noticed that. The elves will be coming. We need to be ready.”

“What are you talki-” My mother was asking him.

“Scheren,” My father spoke again, calmly but firmly – there was no cruelty in his voice this time. “I am sorry. I am sorry for – for everything I have done.” He paused, “I am sorry for everything I will do but right now I need you to listen to me. The elves will be coming and when they see that our child can summon the light, they will – they will - I can’t say it. You all need to listen to me. Dwarf, Manquer get behind me. Protect Scheren. Protect our child. There is a balloon in the middle of the yard. It is our only chance of getting out of here alive.”

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“Send for!” The voice was disbelieving. It came from behind me. It was my mother’s voice. “You did not send for our child!” She emerged from behind the curtain. “You’ve been away all these years!” Her voice had cracked a little and had a faint madness to it now. “Away from us! Away from your child! Living here as some elven prince! All this time you send for things! And you never once ‘sent for us’! Your family! How dare you Lehre!”

My father did not seemed in the slightest troubled by my mother’s accusation. Nor did he seem remotely concerned by Handeln and Manquer following my mother out from behind the curtain.

“They call me Betrüger now Scheren.” he said coldly.

“Betrüger!” My mother spat the name at him in disgust. “Was your goblin name not good enough for the elves? You’re pathetic! You’re a traitor! You’re – You’re a coward!” Her voice rose with every insult.

“Scheren,” He replied, as evenly as ever, “I know I’m none of those things but right now that is immaterial. You need to calm down.”

“Calm dow-” My mother began to scream but my father cut her off before she had the chance. In a flash, he’d crossed the room impossibly quickly to hold his hand over her mouth.

“Yes, you need to calm down and keep your voice down or the elves will here you. You may think I am their ‘prince’ but I assure you that I would be powerless to stop them from harming you, from harming the child, should they find you all here.” He paused before adding. “Why have you come here?” He frowned down at me emotionlessly. “And why did you bring our child?”

When he took his hand away from my mother’s mouth, she turned away from him and walked back to the entrance to the tunnel.

“They came to free you.” It was Manquer who spoke. Her hood for once was pulled down and her eyes blazed with hatred as she stared at my father.

“Hello Manquer,” my father replied emotionlessly. “It’s been - quite - a while.”

“Not long enough.” Manquer replied – her voice strangely calm and yet simultaneously boiling with rage.

My father poured a golden liquid from a decanter into a small tumbler on the table in the middle of the room. A table that I noticed now was covered in grains of a fine black powder. Looking around, I saw black powder seemed to cover every surface. Whatever my father had been doing here, this black powder must surely be at the heart of it.

“Would anyone care for a drink?” My father frowned as Handeln shrugged and took a glass from him. “And who are you?”

“Handeln.” Handeln replied in his usual gruff voice.

“Have you kept my child safe?”

Handeln shrugged before nodding at Manquer, “Haven’t done as much as she has.”

“Thank you,” my father nodded at Handeln ignoring Manquer entirely. “But, I still don’t know why you have come. Scheren, please stop this nonsense. You must talk to me at some point. Why are you here? Why have you come? Why didn’t you stay in Ruraux?”

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