"Can I help you with something?" I ask the smooth voluptuous body pressing me against a rough oak wall. A hand softly caresses my chest before sliding up my body to grip the side of my face lovingly.

"So it's really true. Ah, no I can't…" Kapi says leaning her face close to me before turning her face in a fit of sadness. "I'm sorry. I wish I could, but I can't."

"Ok?" I say lightly to the clingy elf. "Can I ask you to take your body off me?"

"Ah, my apologies. You are just, so much like Damien. I lost myself for a moment. I knew this would be hard, but this is so much more than expected."

Ah, she was the one crying at my rendition of Hallelujah wasn't she? Perhaps those lyrics struck a little close to home?

"I'm sorry. I hope I didn't bring up to many sad memories."

"No, no. The memories are the easy part, it's the distance that makes it difficult."

"I see."

"My apologies, I suppose this time I should offer an introduction. My name is Kaphiwyn Dark-Tree, but you will call me Kapi." The dark elf says with a smile and a polite curtsey. Although she has no hem to grip at.

She was another beauty, Damien could really choose em. Her smooth skin was juxtaposed by the bright eggshell leaves making up her covering. Her dark brown hair was also braided into a neat assortment with more ivory leaves peaking in and out.

"Ah the staring again, you are making me feel so..." Kapi says roughly biting her lip to hold back her urges.

This girl is terrifying. I thought Aquarou and Alice were scary. I should really not be alone with this girl.

Seriously where did all of them go? Come back, protect me.

"Captain? Captain? Where are you?" Aqua's voice calls out from outside the small storeroom.

Wait, no. Don't come back. Stop.

"I hear heavy breathing in here. Perhaps… Ah there you are." El says stepping in and smiling widely.

"Master? What were you two doing in here?"

"Yes Alice, a great question. And alone at that." Rou adds with a furrowed brow.

"Mhm, Mhm. Mysterious and the maid is blushing." Mirna adds pointing a finger towards Kapi's cheeks.

"No that's... she's just..." I begin to explain glancing at the Wendy who was glaring at her maid with mock annoyance.

Don't try and play dumb you saw her corner me and you didn't help! Collusion! Guilt by association!

But, in all seriousness, I can't reveal her secret to Wendy. I understand at least that much. If she wants to live her life in the open in this way who am I to stop her.

"So is it maids that do it for Captain?" Alice lightly whispers.

"Mirna's a maid!"

"Well, it seems it's not the outfit that does it for him, maybe it the skin co…"

"Enough lets just ignore this. For now, I will just say I was assaulted, although I won't be pressing charges."

But I may need a restraining order.

~ ~

"So this is the spirit of the world tree?" El asked after we had found a reasonable excuse for Wendy to depart.

"At your service," Kapi says bowing graciously to El.

"But you… Kapi you raised me, you told me stories before I went to bed, you taught me to climb tree's, you… Why didn't you ever tell me?"

"It wasn't my place to tell you. Although I must say I was worried sick when you were on that island, I was sure you would be rescued eventually though."

"So the world tree spirit was watching!" El says grinning with childlike glee.

"Mm, call me Kapi. I much prefer it, that name is too long."

"Of course, it's just… trying to see the two names as the same person is difficult. I don't understand, why?"

"It's a long story, but I wanted to stay close to the royal family for many reasons really. And its technically a part of the treaty that you all long forgot."

"Treaty?"

"Between the elves and dark elves."

"There was a war?"

"Mhm, it started not long after the first hero arrived."

"What? It has to do with Damien?" I ask suddenly with interest piqued.

"Mhm, he appeared on the outskirts of our villages with a flash of light and a crack of thunder. He warned us about the coming attack and of the way to prevent a full-blown war. Honestly, we were nervous to trust him but his powers were immense. We trusted that at least if the elves went back on their word, this person could protect the village."

So Damien was such a hero? A diplomat or something? I always saw him as sort of a bumbling fool.

I haven't upgraded my opinion yet but it's no longer set in stone.

"What did he tell you to do?" I ask honestly curious of his strategy.

"He told us to surrender three princesses into elf slavery."

"Slavery?"

What the hell? There goes my opinion of him.

"Mhm, slavery. We shared the same opinion but three princesses in exchange for the security of our tribe was hard to flinch at. It was a tempting offer, then we heard the reason that it would work."

"Oh?"

"The elves were on the verge of collapse. Eight males and four females remained. None had become pregnant in centuries. Dark elves, on the other hand, had little trouble giving birth, typically the limiting factor for our population is food, not biology based."

"That is how most creatures operate."

"Mhm, but not elves. True elves have trouble giving birth after many generations of interbreeding, but with the introduction of dark elf blood into the gene pool..."

"I see. So it was a win, win. Either be raped and pillaged or be given freely. It's a difficult offer to pass up I suppose."

"Mhm, since then my sisters and their families have long died but I still have some relatives to remember them by," Kapi says smiling at El fondly.

"Then I am… related to the world tree spirit?"

"Call me Kapi. And yes, your mother is my sister's grand-daughter"

Wait, this doesn't make sense. Why is she considered a spirit if she was given to the elves? How did she gain his power if he just abandoned her to this post? "I don't understand."

"Well it's complicated, you'll understand at some point. But to put it simply, I kind of ran away. I chased after Damien's scent, I found him on the outskirts of the forest waiting for me."

This person makes no sense. Why did he tell her to go to the elves if he figured she would run away? "Wouldn't that make it more dangerous for the dark elves?"

"The elves didn't care. In fact, they never planned the attack in the first place, it was apparently a ‘demon's idea'."

"You're kidding me."

"Mhm, he created the entire situation. Although I didn't learn that part for awhile."

"Wh… why?"

"To save the elves from extinction, among other things."

This Damien is he a genius or a madman? He created a war in order to form a treaty. What kind of actions are those? Isn't there an easier way to solve those problems?

Now I really need to know more about this person, I want to unwrap this enigma.

"Strange question, but do you know who his first harem member was?"

"Harem?"

"..."

Kapi smirks after a moment. "It was me, but it wasn't exactly a harem as you've heard, I'm sure. Harem implies sexual interactions."

"He really never..."

"Nope. Not any of us. It was very difficult. Especially for the others, at least I understood the reason for his chaste."

"Really? He told you?"

"Mhm, but I can't tell you."

"It's private?"

"Something like that."

It wasn't in the book either. I wish I could sit him down and have a conversation.

Oh, didn't a future me use time travel at some point? Maybe I could use that to have a chat with him.

I wonder if it worked? Shouldn't things have changed already? Assuming I never forget this idea a future me with the technology should have tried it by now.

"So he really never..."

"As I said a moment ago Cole, no."

Maybe I can't travel that far back in time? What was it a few thousand years?

Oh, I get it.

Yeah, going back that far and talking to Damien would probably irreversibly alter the timeline.

Shit, here Damien is creating wars to save races and I'm just over here trying to time travel because I don't want my favorite ‘ship' to sink.

The past has to stay the past. I can't go back to change his mind, But perhaps I can change the present?

"Where is Damien's body?"

"Hmm? Oh, I can show you. It's actually nearby. Although it won't do you much good."

We will see about that.