An End to Madness

Olan awoke the day after the interview and found a fresh pair of clothes and a meal in his room. He had been put into the room of the guest chamber typically given to a nobles page or a knights squire. He dressed, ate, and than left the room. The clothes he now wore seemed very similar to the clothes he had seen while being in Kalpa, and were more light and comfortable than he would have thought.

A guard outside the door escorted him back to the grand hall, where Ker-Kues and King Sterk stood alone. The king seemed taken aback by the conversation, and when he approached his expression became serious. Ker-Kues, in front of the king of Helder, announced that as the duly appointed representative of the Elvish council he sentenced Olan to a life of servitude in his household. Olan was asked to kneel and swear an oath to accept this sentence and to serve Ker-Kues in all things until the punishment had been fulfilled. Olan without hesitation kept to his vow of the previous day and swore the oath.

Ker-Kues lingered in Helder for a week, meeting every day with the king, sending Olan on various tasks, fielding reports from his small band of elves, and devouring all the knowledge he could find of the world outside Kalpa. His first order to Olan had been to attend him as a squire would a knight and to keep everything he heard to himself. Olan was sent on the most mundane of errands, and at the age of 25 soon found himself again sharpening swords, polishing armor, and reciting childhood lessons to his elf companions over and over again.

A week turned into a month, a month into a year, and a year into 3. Olan executed his duties as he swore he would do, and watched as Ker-Kues traded his small band of elves for a larger one, transfer men and women back to the forest, and finally bring in priests of all the God's to Helder to preach the words of the Dragons. Olan taught Ker-Kues everyday about the human world, and what he knew of the dwarves and Goliath peoples, but he also learned the Elvish ways and language. Finally after nearly 5 years in service to Ker-Kues, Olan was told that they would be heading back to the forest of Kalpa.

In the forest, Olan found himself is an odd place of honor among Ker-Kues's servants. While most elves looked at him with either shock of disdain, Olan was respected and even deffered too in the household of Kues. Olan

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