Laurion- Where We Come From

I think it can be said for many of us, the older we grow, the greater the desire to connect with our origins...………..The desire becomes stronger to learn more about our beginnings, to develop deeper connections with those that have made us who we are. What child doesn't like to hear their parents and grandparents reminiscence about their youth and tell the stories that begin with...…. "when you were young."  Laurion was raised in the Glade by his father, the King, but he was not borne of the Queen.  In fact he was born of a human woman, or so the stories go, in a village not many days travel from the Glade.  Born, if the stories can be believed, not even a fortnight  past the day the King and Queen celebrated the birth of their first child, Koehlon.

His father has always been very tight lipped about his mother.  It is said she died in childbirth and Laurion was brought to the Glade by an older man and woman traveling as a couple. The couple claimed Laurion as the King's offspring, and it was not disputed. Laurion was taken in and raised along side Koehlon as a brother. Although the Queen avoids him at all turns, he has been treated well and given every advantage in his upbringing. Koehlon is not only his brother, but a trusted friend. He gets along with his other siblings, and is respected by most in the Glade. Between he and his father however, there is a divide...…a divide that seems to increase year by year as Laurion's  NEED to know more of his mother, and any other family he may have through her, grows and his father's reticence on the subject stands firm.

Now that Rowena has come into his life, the aforementioned NEED has intensified. Rowena wants to marry. Even though elves don't "marry" like humans do, Laurion knows he wants to spend his life with her. Rowena's mother is pressuring her to marry another.  He can't let that happen. How can he pledge his life fully to hers however without  knowing the full measure of the man he is? The other part of himself?  Rowena doesn't understand this...………….his time is running out.