"As living legends go, while most everyone knows of the Silver Maiden, the Sage of the Ether Road is also believed to still be alive. He is an elf, and would be… nine hundred by now, so it's reasonable for him to still be around.

Too bad he's always been reclusive. Other than a select few scholars he worked together with on some research projects, few had ever seen the man in person in the past few centuries, and he rarely ever travels around." - Excerpt from "Living Legends of the World" by Jonas Legios of Levain, circa 604 FP.

"Mart'avriel," greeted the elf calmly from his seat as he looked at Martha, who was approaching with languid steps. His hand kept stirring what Cal assumed to be tea leaves in the wooden pot, judging from the brewing fragrance and rising steam.

"Naht'anavriel," replied Martha as she seated herself directly across from the male elf. The disparity between their physiques would make people not think of the two as siblings at first glance, as Martha was rather short - a little shorter than Cal - for an elf and on the chubby side.

Her brother on the other hand was tall and lanky, easily a head and a half taller than his sister, sporting a trimmed, neat mustache and a well-groomed goatee. His hair had long turned white with age, but his face still looked rather youthful otherwise.

"Come, please have a seat," he said with a calm voice. Around the wooden table, which looked naturally grown into such a shape rather than carved or otherwise made artificially, were several protruding boles of wood, which served as backless seats.

Cal lowered herself onto one such seat, to Martha's right, and found that the wood, while solid, had some give that made it quite comfortable to sit on. Vernon took the seat on Martha's other side, while Kyara and Kino sat next to Cal and Vernon, respectively.

"Celeysria Ambervale, is it not?" asked the elf with a dignified look while he poured the fragrant tea into several wooden cups, one for each of them on the table. "It has been a while since I last saw you, during the conclave," he continued. His next words were directed to Kino. "I presume you're taking her around to meet the others then?"

"Pretty much. Any idea where Thelos is these days?" replied Kino. The name she mentioned was one she once mentioned to Cal as the Champion of Earth, who favored solitude and often walked the lands on his own.

"I'm afraid I haven't the foggiest idea, my dear," replied the elven man with a shake of his head. He scooped up a dollop of what looked like honey and mixed it into his tea, before he snapped his fingers. "Nobody can find that old boar if he doesn't feel like being found."

To Cal's surprise, the wooden cups of tea were teleported to each of them, as was the small pot of honey, which appeared close enough for any of them to reach at. Martha's brother being the Champion of Space was not for nothing, it seemed.

"Though I don't have the slightest inkling where Thelos is, I do know where Roban, Gerhard, and Nimvee are," said the elven man with a smile as he sipped at his tea. Those names were similarly once mentioned by Kino, the Champions of Magma, Lightning, and Rot respectively.

"They're still busy with that research from last time?" asked Kino with some disbelief as she scooped two large spoonfuls of honey into her tea. "Sheesh… those research maniacs never do change, don't they?"

"You can say that again!" said the elf as he barked into laughter at her words. "But yep, they were busy in the underground lab until last week. Been almost twenty years since they've been cooped up there, methinks."

"Bloody nerds," complained Kino as she drank half of her sweetened tea in one gulp. "Dammit… every time I come over and you treat us to some of this goddamn excellent tea, it just makes me hate it that we can't bring some out for our own use."

Cal sipped at her own cup of tea - unsweetened as she favored it - and quickly understood what Kino meant. The fragrant tea had a strong taste, yet somehow was also refreshing. It warmed and cooled at the same time, an unusual yet pleasant sensation to say the least.

"Hah! We've been trying to export this tea ourselves to no avail for centuries," said the elf with another bark of laughter. "We still haven't found a single way to preserve the taste. It's like the tea's flavor just withered away when it's taken out of the mana vein's area. And it's gotta be this specific mana vein too at that!"

"Yeah, I know. I still remembered that batch we tried to brew in Paradise back then," said Kino in reminiscence. "It wasn't that bad, but it's nothing when compared to what it used to be. Guess this will remain something only you forest-dwellers get to enjoy."

"Anyway, we should return to the topic at hand. Celeysria, right? I assume you are still dithering on the offer, since we didn't have a conclave to welcome a new champion already," said the elf as he looked at Cal with a more businesslike face.

"Yes, that is indeed so," admitted Cal as she took another sip of the tea in her cup. "I was thinking I'd finish my travels first, before I make my call… Naht'anavriel."

"You can call me Nate if you prefer. Many do have difficulty pronouncing older names like mine," said the elven man with an amused chuckle. "And that made sense. I myself dithered, probably for a bit too long, when I was offered the same."

"You bloody waited for half a century, man," chimed Vernon in from the side, with a toothy smile that showed familiarity between the two. "Honestly, we were bloody lucky we rose as Unliving back then, otherwise that'd have been it."

"What do you mean?" Cal asked while she extended her cup for a refill, which the elven male did from across the table, pouring the tea from the pot into a small portal that exited just above Cal's cup.

"Martha and I died before he made his call back then," replied Vernon with some old regret, but no anger or distaste. "Probably what pushed him to take the job, to be honest."