by Christine Schulze
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Chasmira Eriz (as seen in The Hero Chronicles) interviews Lily from Lily in the Snow.
I sit with the young Earth Elemental maiden, each of us in too comfy armchairs beside a cozy fireplace inside my castle at Loz. I have invited her here to interview her about her life’s story, for although she has hardly lived sixteen years, her story has been told throughout many worlds, including my own, quickly becoming a classic tale of how love conquers all.
Her emerald eyes glance about the room with a serene curiosity, and I, in turn, watch her with my own curiosity. She is a lovely thing, long, lithe, graceful, limbs, and every inch of her, from her hair to her skin to those jewel eyes, is green. Many different hues and shades of green, as though someone painted her beauty into existence. A perfect portrait sitting before me.
“So, tell me, Lily,” I begin, “if it doesn’t offend you, why you look as you do? We don’t really see many Elementals in these parts, and I can’t help but be intrigued by your lovely emerald skin, hair, and eyes.”
A soft smile lights her face. “I am an Elemental, yes. I am an Earth Elemental, to be exact. One with the earth, easily able to grow new plants, to help make the forests and gardens of my world flourish, and I can also speak freely with the trees and their spirits, understanding their pains and needs.
“It wasn’t always so though, I used to be a Rock Elemental, as I am sure you’re aware.”
I nod, trying not to stare too hard at her, already fascinated. Fingering the small bit of green crystal I held in my palm, a gift she’d sent me before coming to meet me, I said, “Yes, that is a great part of what makes your story so renowned amongst our world and others. What was it like before, being a Rock Elemental?”
“In some ways, much like being an Earth Elemental, save that I was one with stone instead of earth. I could easily latch on to the walls of the caves I lived in, scurrying along the ceiling like an insect, exploring and hiding in the smallest crevices. The minerals and crystals were my sustenance, and they and the caves which housed them and the bats and Pierson, my guardian, were all I knew of the world.
“That is because then, as a Rock Elemental, I was a very rare sort. A fragile sort. My body was covered in delicate crystals which made going into the outside world dangerous for me. Touching against the bark of a tree might cause me to lose many crystals. And while I felt no pain in this, if I lost all my crystals, it would mean my life…
“So my life was a lonely one…til I met Jewett…”
A reverent smile lit her face, and her gaze shifted to the book lying on the small table between us. My gaze followed hers, and I couldn’t help smiling myself. I’d looked the book over many a time; it was full of the most wondrous drawings and paintings of every kind of flower imaginable, many of which I had never even seen in my own world.
“Jewett,” I whispered. “And how did he save you from your loneliness?”
“He loved me,” she returned, softly but not without a deep love and admiration; she almost sang the words. “He loved me for who I was. He showed me freedom, a choice to live in the outside world. I was only fourteen when I met him, but I think, deep down, that I knew from the start he was the one who would love me forever, and I him.”
“Yes, that is why I was so interested in meeting you. Because my love story shares some similar links with yours. Is that what you would have others learn from your story? That Jewett’s love for you is what saved you?”
“Yes,” she said, “I think so. And that loving another for who they are is one of the greatest kinds of love. It wasn’t easy for either of us, the sacrifices we had to made. But, now that our trials are past, here I am.”
“Yes,” I agree with a smile. “Here you are.”
~end
Guest post created by Christine Schulze, author of Lily in the Snow and Other Elemental Tales
© 2012. All rights reserved.
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by Christine Schulze
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READ more about Lily here...
by Christine E. Schulze
- fantasy, YA
Jewett ran.
He and the earth carried her, the earth granting a gracious speed, as if it could feel through his arms, the rarity of the gem he held, the urgency of its protection...
Mica Schist, a rock Elemental, has always felt secure in her caves high in the snowy mountains. Protected by her adoptive older brother, Pearson, and befriended by the bats of her cave, it is the only life she has ever known.
Until an outsider, Jewett, an earth Elemental, arrives, illuminating Mica not only to the possibility of a whole new world outside hers, but of a life with the young man who opens that world to her.
When Jewett unmeaningly brings great danger to Mica, her only chance of being saved is to escape with him into the woods he loves so much; it is a dream any girl would have, to flee danger with her newfound love.
But upon entering his world, she realizes how fragile she truly is, why Pearson always seemed too obsessed with protecting her. Jewett's world, though beautiful, is harmful; no longer connected to her rocks, their security and oneness with her, she finds that the smallest things in his earthern world hurts her. The simple scraping of her skin against the bark of a tree, her falling on the forest floor--even Jewett's touch. All of these, so harmless to anyone else, make the soft mica crystals covering her from head to toe shed away too easily.
And when an Elemental loses all of her crystals, it can only mean one thing: death.
How can Mica choose between saving her life and saving her new life with Jewett?
Four Elemental novellas and two short stories weave magic, romance, and adventure into a brilliant new collection of coming-of-age tales in Schulze's debut YA anthology with Old Line Publishing.
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* image source Lily girl
