With closed fists rubbing against tear stained eyes, the little girl looked up towards Aurelius as her lips began quivering in barely held back pain.

As she became closer to the verge of crying out, the hooded elven prince knelt down and placed a comforting hand over the top of her head.

“I’m sorry; I didn’t know that you were behind the door.” Aurelius offered up in apology as his fingers combed through the strands of platinum blonde hair. His gloved fingers were careful in their movements as they slowly combed their way through the silky smooth hair as he placed a gentle hand over his heart.

Curious as to why a child who couldn’t have been older than his oldest children, Aurelius wondered to himself if the little girl had become separated from her parents and had gotten lost in the expansive streets of the foreign city.

One of the girl’s arms lifted itself up towards her face and rubbed itself against the side of her tear stained cheeks, wiping away the glistening trail of tears as an astonishing sounding hiccup erupted from her throat.

‘Right,’ Aurelius chuckled to himself as he began to react in a more fatherly nature. ‘Let’s go and help her find her parents.’

“How did you get here all by yourself, are you lost?” Aurelius asked the platinum haired girl as he removed the hood from his head, revealing his elven features to the crying child.

Yet revealing the origins of his appearance was of no help in calming the crying child as her face remained hidden behind her arms as they continued to rub against her plump cheeks and reddened eyes as her body wracked itself in violent hiccups.

Aurelius dug through his pockets in search of a handkerchief or anything else that could be of use in cleaning up the child’s face, but none could be found in his many pockets. Unsure as to how he would be able to stop the young girl’s crying, the Dark Elven prince removed one of his gloves from his hands and offered it to the child.

Whether she was unable to see the offered glove or if she was wholeheartedly disinterested in the offered item, Aurelius wasn’t certain. Instead he dabbed the glove against the side of her face, wiping away the rivers of tears that stained the child’s puffy cheeks.

“My name is Hekator,” Proclaimed the elven prince as he offered the young girl a tender smile to atone for the fact that he had given her a false name.

It was in the best interest of his family if he was to be consistent in maintaining a false identity while in the lands that could potentially turn their ire towards his wives and children. He was well aware of the fact that he had made plenty of enemies while on his travels and the fact that the High Elves just so happened to be building up a relationship in Ranislava had infested his mind with paranoia.

“Can I ask you for your name? I’m sure that it’s a very pretty one.”

With one last great sniffle, the young girl steeled her resolve and wiped the last of her tears. “Who are you?” The girl asked as she looked up towards the golden haired prince. The polished bronze orbs of her irises which were surrounded by a sea of warm turquoise greeted the Dark Elven prince’s sea of midnight black and silver orbs with a youthful glint that could only come with a cautious, childlike curiosity.

“You aren’t from the Embassy, are you?” Uncertain as to who the stranger in front of her could be, the girl took several steps back as a look of fear overcame her chubby face. Yet the stranger’s sudden and powerful grip upon her arm forced her to halt, furthering her dismay.

“No, I’m not.” Chuckled Aurelius as his smile became brighter. “I’m something that many would call a traveler, if that makes any sense for you.”

Confusion filtered onto the young girl’s youthful features as she stared up at the golden haired man that rummaged his fingers through her hair. With a vigorous shake of her head she managed to free herself of the stranger’s grasp, leaving his fingers to linger in the air beside her face for the briefest of moments before they eventually found themselves resting atop of the man’s knee.

“Um,” The girl sheepishly said as she looked around the area, eyeing everything that was within her sight as she thought up what next to say. “So you’re not here to take me back to the embassy?”

‘So she’s run off to do her own thing.’ Aurelius thought to himself as he wondered about what to do next. ‘It probably wouldn’t hurt to play along with her sense of adventurism and see what I can pry from her ramblings. No matter how innocent they may sound.’

“I can assure you that I’m not.” Aurelius affirmed to the young girl as he offered up another of his alluring smiles. His wives would always comment about how deadly his lips became when his unfiltered emotions were laid out to bear upon them. “I’m sure you wouldn’t even begin to imagine how shocked I was to learn that Elves had come to such a strange land such as this one.”

“Are you a merchant?” The girl asked as she looked up at him with sparkling eyes as glistening excitement poured forth from her beaming features. She looked ready to burst and cover the strange man before her with an avalanche of questions about his adventurous lifestyle.

“No, I’m not.” Aurelius laughed as he watched the girl’s face fall into despair, but a gentle hand rubbing at the side of her face lifted her spirits as he continued to answer her question. “But I have travelled to some peculiar places. Would you like to hear about them?”

With a vigorous shake of her head, the young girl’s once sour mood brightened into one that was akin to fiery passion at the thought of being told tales of adventurism and exploration.

“That’s great. I’d love to tell you about them, but in exchange how about you tell me what you are doing here in these faraway lands.”

“These people wear funny clothes.” The young girl casually observed to her companion as she let out a light hearted chuckle. From their earlier conversations, she had introduced herself as Chara and that she had recently turned eight years of age.

The same age as Aurelius’ oldest children.

Their hands were locked together as the two of them slowly made their way through the city, taking in the many sights and sounds of the bustling streets as they wandered about in an aimless passion.

Her words had forced a light chuckle to escape from Aurelius’ smiling lips, twisting his head from one side to the other as he eyed the clothes of those around them.

Most of the women wore conservative, long flowing dresses that concealed a great portion of their bodies while leaving little room to express themselves in even the slightest way. A great deal of the women around the pair of elves wore hats that while similar in style, bore enough differences between themselves that their appearances made up for the blandness of the dresses that clung to their bodies.

Aurelius suspected that such style of headwear was the latest fashion trend in Ranislava for the women around them, and come spring time there would be something else that would manage to take hold of the interest of those who took pride in their up keeping of fashion trends.

The men however, wore all manner of masculine styled clothing. Those who were working wore something that was tightly fitting, but comfortable enough so that they weren’t burdened by the sensation of having a second layer of skin covering their tired and worn-out bodies.

For those born into higher statuses however, the clothing bore a more aristocratic air around them as their appearances greatly differed from that of their feminine counterparts in terms, yet were still similar to the point where the aristocratic world’s sense of fashion felt stifling and sometimes obtuse to even look at.

Most likely this was because the men all expected themselves to be judged greatly by the calculating eyes of their peers.

Compared to the fashion trends of the various elven cultures of the world, the people of Ranislava were of a more alien origin and appeared to be covered in a baffling array of multicolored, yet incredibly dull fabric.

“They do wear some funny stuff, don’t they?” The prince replied as he guided the young girl through a tightly packed crowd.

At the front of the crowd was a man, whose appearance and excited gestures pinpointed him to be something akin to a roaming merchant as he listed off a great many number of items that he had for sale as well as how much they were going for. Unless any potential customers had something to bargain with, of course.

A few of those nearby slowly made their way through the crowd as they slipped through the densely packed crowd, but many more were content to stand their ground as they waited for other items to be listed off.

A good many within this crowd appeared to be unimpressed with what was on offer.

“Did you ever have to wear such funny looking clothing?” The girl asked of her custodian, curious about what else there was that she could learn about his exciting adventures around the world.

“I don’t really know. I never really paid attention to how my clothes could look to other people.” Aurelius shrugged as he spoke, keeping a guiding hand over the young girl’s shoulders as the two of them stopped to watch a passing carriage make its way down the busy street. The young girl’s head strained itself as her eyes followed it for every second that they could until she could no longer catch even the tiniest glimmer of the luxurious carriage. “But my wives always said that I don’t really have an eye for that sort of stuff. They’ve even banned me from buying any sort of clothes.”

The two of them looked at one another as Chara scanned the elven prince’s outfit for every little detail that she could see.

It was an outfit that many would claim to suit the golden haired prince, but the little girl said nothing as she kept her judging eyes upon the unbuttoned colored shirt that left a great deal of his chest exposed. Similarly to his dark blue colored shirt, Aurelius wore a hooded coat that had remained undone for as long as she had known the towering elven prince.

Winter was coming to Ranislava, but it appeared that her companion was ill-prepared for it.

“Yeah, my brother sets out clothes for me to wear too.” Chara proclaimed as she took a step forward, leading her companion hand in hand to their next destination. A destination that she had no idea of what or where it was.

Aurelius threw his head back with laughter as he reached out to ruffle up the young girl’s hair. He was reminded of the time that his children had once said that same thing back at home.

“It sounds like that your brother is keeping an eye out for you.”

Suddenly, the girl stopped dead in her tracks. Her fingers gripping tighter around Aurelius’ larger hand as a solemn expression casted itself upon her features as she looked down at the ground.

“What’s wrong?” Aurelius asked as he turned to face the young girl, kneeling down to look her in the eyes as her body began trembling.

Tears had begun rolling down the sides of her face once more as she kept her free hand clenched tightly by her side.

“He doesn’t care about me.” Chara uttered in a dark tone as her gaze remained casted down towards the ground.

A frown overtook Aurelius’ expression as a calming hand reached out towards the girl, planting itself over the sides of her face as he began to wipe away the tears that rolled down her cheeks.

“Don’t say that. I’m sure that your brother would be greatly disheartened to hear you say that.”

“It’s true!” The girl’s voice cracked as she stomped her feet on the ground, throwing what little weight she had in her tiny body in her attempts to break free from the golden haired elf’s grip. Yet the older elf remained defiant in his grip and he regained control of the little girl in a relatively quick manner. “He doesn’t care about me at all! All that he ever does is to tell me to study and stay inside while everyone else gets to go out and have fun.”

Upon the child’s outburst a few heads turned towards the pair of elves, curious as to what all the fuss was about. Yet their curiosity was all for naught and they quickly lost interest in the child’s tantrum as the two elves continued to speak in elvish.

“I’m sure that he does care about you by a great deal. It’s just that you can’t see the love that he holds for you.” Aurelius said to the child as he placed a calming hand over her shoulder.

While it was true that he was a father. Aurelius knew very little in the ways of calming an aggravated child as he had very little experience in dealing with the frustrations of little children. He could do nothing, but blame the actions of his now deceased first-born brother for being the direct cause of his lack of experience.

“No, he doesn’t!” Chara yelled out once again as she stomped her feet for a second time whilst throwing her hands into the air, smacking the underside of Aurelius’ chin in the process. She either didn’t care about what had just occurred or wasn’t able to process the fact that she had hit someone else as she continued to vent her frustrations and anxieties. “I never knew he even existed until after my mommy and daddy died! But all of a sudden, he shows up and says that I’m his little sister. Then he takes me away from our house and all of my friends and tells me to stay inside while he and his friends look for some weirdo that did some bad stuff!”

Aurelius’ heart sunk upon hearing about the child’s loss.

He had experienced a similar loss eight years ago after his first-born brother had committed a massacre that had claimed the lives of his father and nearly the entirety of his mothers and younger siblings. Yet as the days turned into weeks as he wracked his distraught mind over the events he realized that there was very little, if anything, that he could have done to lessen or prevent such a massacre.

The only option he really had upon learning of such a realization was to move forward and find his oldest brother.

Yet hearing that the High Elves were looking for what the girl claimed to be a weirdo had piqued the prince’s interest more than reminiscing about his journey to track down his oldest brother.

“What sort of weirdo is this guy?” The prince asked, wondering if he would really be able to gather any relative information from the distraught child.

“I don’t know.” The girl huffed as she crossed her arms across her chest before looking away from the golden haired elf with a look of frustration on her face. “He did some bad stuff that made a lot of people angry and now some other weirdo thinks that he’s somewhere around here.”

“Huh, well then.” Aurelius had a lot to think about now that he had heard such things. “I hope that they find whoever it is that they’re looking for.”

A lot to think about.

“-Eventually we snuck onto the island where my friends and I decided to part ways for a little while and find out whatever we could about the isle.” Aurelius proclaimed as he spun a mixture of half-truths and fabricated lies into an elaborate dramatization of his foray into the near-mythical island of Minos, an ancient island that is said to be the location of one of the first elven city-states.

He had been purposely vague in the timeline of his travel to the island as well as the whereabouts about the how when he had first set out to Minos and while in reality he had gone to the island to return with his long lost brother, Aurelius had decided that it was best to alter the story that he was telling to the young girl who was now clinging onto his body as he carried her around the city.

In this fabricated reality, he had been looking for a lost treasure that was said to have been in the possession of the island’s former mistress. A mistress that he had since killed upon learning of what she really was.

“What’d you do then?” The girl asked with a tired voice as she nuzzled her head against the top of Aurelius’ shoulders. A tired sigh escaped from her lips as her eyes became heavy with sleep. “Did you meet with that one lady? The one that everyone says is super pretty.”

Chuckling at the girl’s question, Aurelius steadied her head as he readjusted her body so that it was more stable in his arms. “Just a small glimpse of her. There was a festival going on at the time so the entire island was filled with all kinds of excitement.”

“Was she pretty? Everyone keeps talking about how pretty she is.” The girl shuffled her body around as she tightened her grip around Aurelius’ neck. She had felt herself slipping free of the golden haired stranger's grasp for quite some time, but the stranger would always readjust his arms so that she would be in a somewhat comfortable position as he held her up in his arms.

The two of them had ventured around the city for quite some time now and the sun was finally beginning to set beneath the horizon. With the girl’s adventurous spirit exhausted and her body shutting down so that it could rest, Aurelius had claimed that it was time for the two of them to head back to the embassy so that Chara could return home and sleep.

“Do you want me to be honest?” Chuckled Aurelius as he smiled towards the girl, ruffling her hair as she sleepily nodded yes. “Despite how strong of a commanding presence she had over those around her, she wasn’t all that impressive to look at.”

“Why not? Everyone always talks about how pretty she is.” The girl asked of her custodian, repeating her question for a second time.

It was said that the fabled beauty of Minos’ mistress was beyond reproach and that only the Gods could compete with the physical beauty of such a mortal woman.

For how could such a woman not be proclaimed by the Elven world as the world’s most gorgeous woman if her mother and her mother before her was said to be of equal beauty as well?

To such a question, Aurelius wasn’t sure how he could best explain what he meant when he had said the truth about his wives. To such a young and innocent child, only the truth of his personal reality could be the only answer that he could give.

“I consider my wives to be the most beautiful women in the world. And during my travels I’ve met plenty of women who were said to be extraordinary beautiful, but no matter how many people claim that such a woman would be able to steal away your breath with just a simple glance of her eyes, none of them were capable of being able to light a candle next to how gorgeous I view my wives to be.”

And with that the young girl fell asleep in his arms, laying her head across his shoulders for one last time before slumber took hold of her body.