The journey over the next three days was fascinating to Bree. Tenaril and half of his group were escorting them, having decided that they couldn’t stop the mage and that the best thing was to escort them to the Lothlienel in Loth’ardreila. There, the elven leader could decide what to do with them.

They walked as the horses followed as pack animals, which tired her out with their quick pace. Even though she wasn’t used to walking, she had toughened up and gained a lot of stamina since she had left her home, so she was able to observe as they traveled.

She’d always known that elves were evil creatures that were enemies of all intelligent and civilized beings, but she couldn’t match that description to what she saw. The elves passed on the road, though attired differently and using horses for pack animals rather than mounts, behaved in a similar manner to the travelers she saw while they had been traveling the princedom.

The first village was a particular shock. Rather than being built, the buildings were somehow grown. Most of them were huge hollowed trees, but other buildings were softer plants that had twisted together to create walls and roofs. Each building was unique, and she never saw the first sign of a cut board. Even with that, she could identify the functions of most of the buildings, which were the same as in human villages. There was a blacksmith, an inn, a weaver, and so on.

When they first got to the village, the guards went on alert until they saw Tenaril’s escorts, and then they waved the group through. Likewise, they got a lot of odd looks from the villagers, but all of them moved on to their own business after a slight delay. None looked overly concerned about the humans, and there didn’t seem to be any hatred or aggressive elves that needed to be warded off from attacking them.

Though they were very different in appearance, there was an odd similarity to the human villages they had passed that hung over her perception. Bree felt almost disappointed by the reaction, and it left her mentally off-balance.

At the end of their travel for the day, they stopped at an inn in one of the villages. Tenaril made the arrangements for their room, and she and Rendan were assigned to share one of the rooms. Three elves went into each of the other two.

When they went to eat, she was sent down with the elves with orders to bring a plate of food back up to Rendan. Bree was very pleasantly surprised by the food. The inn was serving roasted boar with a vegetable mix. The food was simplistic on its face, but tasted absolutely exquisite. The seasonings were unlike anything she had ever tasted, and everything, down to the last sliced tuber, was prepared and cooked perfectly. The bread that came with it was warm, soft, and incredibly flavorful. She had eaten similar food before in her father’s court, but the human versions compared very poorly to this.

“Good, isn’t it?” Tenaril asked with a grin as he watched her eat.

“This is amazing,” Bree answered between bites.

“The innkeeper loves cooking, and has run this place for over a thousand years while perfecting her skills. Most elves are a fair hand at cooking, but Luralil is a master without equal. I make it a point to stop here every time I’m traveling anywhere close. I’ve never had the same dish twice, and it has always been better than any food I’ve had anywhere else.”

Bree, fork with a speared piece of roasted pork approaching her mouth, froze in place and stared at the elf.

“A thousand years?” she asked incredulously. “That’s not possible.”

“It may not be for a human, but eledari can as long as they maintain interest. Luralil has a love and focus on cooking that I’ve never seen in any other. I think her husband wouldn’t mind moving on to other things, but values her happiness too much to make an issue of it.”

Bree looked at the companionable elf, for a moment. Like all the elves, he was spindly, but graceful. The shortest of them were a good half-head taller than her, and she was of well above average height for a human woman. Tenaril was bulkier than most, but still significantly thinner than the average human. Many of them, both male and female, wore their hair to their shoulders or below, as if to compensate for the lack of facial hair. Tenaril, like the rest of the elves, had slightly wider than human eyes with the white of the eye actually more of a light green color.

“Why are you being friendly to me?” she asked. “You seem to be enemies with whatever Rendan is, but you don’t act like that with me.”

“Rendan is,” Tenaril started, then hesitated for a few moments before continuing. “His situation is complicated, and I’m not high enough rank to know or understand all of it. Regardless of what the Lothlienel decides about him, however, you are innocent and needn’t worry about us.”

When she came back up to the room, Rendan was tracing symbols at various points around the room. He was using his finger, dipped in some sort of liquid that he held in a small bowl, to do so. He seemed completely focused on his work, even though his tracings didn’t leave anything behind. Rendan dismissively gestured for her to put his plate on the desk, but otherwise paid her little attention.

She laid on her cot and watched as he made his symbols, while wondering what he was doing. Shortly, though, the comfortable cot caught up to her and she began to nod off.

She was woken by a sharp pain on the back of her neck. She shot up in a panic with her hand slapping where she had apparently been bitten by some sort of insect. Her eyes widened as she looked about, and a series of unreadable symbols were glowing on the walls of the room. The door and window were particularly well covered, but there weren’t any large gaps anywhere in the room. Some of the symbols were similar, or identical to others, but the more she tried to look at them the larger a headache she got, and the more the bite on the back of her neck itched. She gave up and turned her attention to her companion.

The mage was carefully inspecting each symbol as she watched. She found she could watch him without causing her headache to flare so badly, even though she was still seeing the symbols indirectly.

“What are those symbols?” she asked. She forced herself to pull her hand away from her itching neck. The pain and itching from the bite were fading, and she knew that scratching would just irritate it more.

“They are wards,” he said. He finished his inspection as she watched and sat down at the desk. “With the tension here, I wanted a little bit of protection in place. It won’t stop any eledari strong enough to face me, but it will give me enough warning I won’t be caught unaware.” He began eating, though he seemed to enjoy the food far less than she had, and simply tucked it away efficiently.

“The wards will fade away at dawn. Don’t attempt to leave the room or open the door or windows until then. The wards would be very dangerous for someone like you without any magical protections.”

****

When she awoke the next morning, the dawn had just broken. As always, Rendan had woken before her. They cleaned themselves up and repacked the few things they had unpacked the night before, then headed downstairs.

The elves were already eating when they got to the dining room. She sat down, and one of the servers was quick to bring them some juice and breakfast.

Unlike the night before, the food was not something that she had seen before. It was some sort of casserole with tubers, ground meats, and cheese in an egg mixture. Like the night before, it was incredibly delicious.

She was part way through her breakfast, enjoying every bite, when she felt a presence fill the room. She looked up to see an elvish woman standing at the doorway from the kitchen. Every eye in the room looked up at the new woman, but the woman ignored them all to focus on the two humans.

Unlike other elves she had seen, this woman bore dreadful scars. Her arms, only covered by her outfit past her biceps, were covered in dark scars that clashed with her pale skin. One scar near her left elbow, in particular, looked like the flesh around it had been diseased at one point and then poorly healed. She was missing half the joints on the ring finger of her right hand. There were several more scars from poorly healed cuts on her face, and little of her left ear remained where her ear had been shredded.

Setting aside the scars, the main thing that Bree took in from her was her presence. It was hard for her to define, but the woman carried herself in a way that forced everyone to pay attention to. It was more than just carrying herself with an air of authority like her father, or the easy confidence of Rendan that he knew he could deal with whatever came his way. It was a combination of those things and more. When Bree looked at the woman, she saw someone that not only could deal with anything that had come her way. That she had already faced those battles and come out the other side stronger, and would lead those around her through their challenges with unyielding, if necessary. The feeling was an unyielding pressure that she could not shake.

“I know you,” the woman said to Rendan. Rendan gave a curt nod, but otherwise didn’t react. “I was at the last battle of Kil’Arkimon, and my kindred held the western line while you and the Lothlienel fought the demon lord.”

“I remember you,” Rendan said. He brought his fist up to his chest in a salute. “The demons outmaneuvered us that day because of our arrogance. You led your people with amazing bravery and skill in standing against that ambush. It was among the bravest things I’ve ever seen. I’m disappointed that the Telienel didn’t raise you to a high rank as I suggested. You earned much liniar that day.”

“He tried,” she said. “I turned him down. I did what I had to that day, but it left me with far deeper scars than what you can see. I needed peace to heal after that, and my ambition was left a poor shell of what it had been before.”

“I understand,” he said softly. Gently. “Is that why you haven’t had your physical scars removed?” She looked at him for a moment, and then nodded.

“At first, yes,” she explained. “I’ve healed enough that they are no longer necessary for myself, but I keep them for the younger ones. The hubris of their ambition needs a reminder that a cost must sometimes be paid for power. Until they have enough winters under their belts to teach them some wisdom, it can help remind them that their liniar may come with a steep cost.”

“You do them great service by attempting to teach them that lesson, even if it is futile trying to open the eyes of the young. I hope you have found some of the peace that you needed. No one deserves it more.”

“Tell me truly,” she said gravely. “Look me in the eyes and tell me you didn’t betray Elarond and our people.” The tension in the room ramped up intensely. Everyone’s complete focus was on the exchange.

“Elarond was among my greatest friends,” he said solemnly. “I truly do not know what happened, but I did not betray him or the eledari. Now that I’m back, I intend to find out what did happen.”

The woman stared at Rendan with a deep, judging gaze. Finally, she nodded.

“It is the Lothlienel’s decision what to do with you,” she said. “However, for what it is worth, I believe you.” She turned her focus to Bree then.

“Are you enjoying your meal?” she asked, smiling.

Bree wanted to enthusiastically agree, but the presence, now focused on her, was too much. She could barely nod, let alone speak. The woman’s brow furrowed for a moment, and then an expression of realization crossed it.

Suddenly, the oppressive presence dissipated. Bree could still sense the authority and the sense of weary power that came with it, but it was no longer overwhelming her.

“I’m sorry,” the woman apologized. “I stopped reigning in my liniar long ago to chase off most of the ambitious young hotheads. The travelers and the people around here are used to it, but you humans need to adapt to unrestrained liniar.”

A little wide-eyed, but mostly under control again, Bree nodded.

“Thank you, I’ve never felt anything like that.”

“Do not worry. If you are around elves long, you will gain enough resistance to deal with all but the most powerful liniar. Now, I hope you are enjoying your food!” Bree felt her smile light up as they came to the topic of the food.