I scoffed at Emma's previous remark about how long it took me to realize her real identity. I don't know why but on some level I felt emotionally hurt even though I was the one at fault. I stared at her and said "Hey! It's not like you don't make mistakes remember when you first learned to shapeshift? You had the appearance of a ten-year-old, but you gave yourself C cup sized boobs thinking I wouldn't notice the sudden change." Emma's face flushed a deep purple, and she struggled to find the words to fight back. It was super cute, and I had to struggle to slow my heart rate down. I'm pretty sure it was a panic attack. It was a panic attack, right?

"Just tell me one thing, why me? I'm a heavily flawed looser."

She gave me the most pitying smile and replied "A diamond doesn't see its worth. A gem pulled from the earth is worth more than one created in a lab. The reason why it's worth more is that it's a diamond's flaws that make it beautiful! You're the gem I chose, and I'll be your light and together well shine."

It was the most eloquent thing I'd ever heard, and I could feel her love for me. Being the snarky jerk, I am though I couldn't resist a witty comeback. "You should write Hallmark Cards," I stated.

We both shared a slightly awkward laugh that helped cut the tension a little. The fact was that I didn't know how I felt about her. When it came to others emotions, I was daft, but when it was my own, it was like I was emotionally retarded. I knew I loved her, but I didn't know if it was a potentially romantic love or like a friend zone love.

Emma knew what I was thinking, "It's ok, I know it's going to take us a while to figure this out. So let's just take it slow and one step at a time." Emma got up and walked away to help with clothing the children. There was a victorious swaying of the hips I didn't understand.

Grillo who I hadn't noticed was standing by me had said: "Damn, you just got played!"

"What do you mean Pops?" I questioned. Pops was Grillo's nickname and what he preferred me to call him.

"One step at a time means now you two are officially in a relationship son," Pops said as if it was a fact.

Surprised, I looked back at the still victoriously and sexily swaying Emma and said: "Well Played!"

***

The rest of the day had been spent naming the children and finding them accommodations. It wasn't as hard as I initially thought it would be. We had lots of cloth and food thanks to Grillo, and many of the elves were happy to take in a child as they had none of their own. My parents themselves had taken in the baby girl that Emma had when we first found them. She was now named Shelly, and it was like having a baby sister.

I was surprised to find out that after the curse was broken the regular goblins got sick and died. They couldn't sustain themselves without the curse. From instinct and their limited intelligence, they knew the high goblins were important and desperately tried to protect them. Even lions love their cubs, and they showed this love knowing they would all die even though they were beasts. I was a little moved by this knowing that they were beasts only because of a curse. Even without a soul, there was at least some nobility in them. It made me think that this was all that damned Dark Gods fault!

Some of the villagers were still laughing about an incident that had happened when I had helped teach the fully grown males how to wash. One of the boys now named Stanley turned out to be Homosexual. He had been standing next to me as I undressed next to the river holding a bar of soap. He must have liked what he saw because right as I bent down and was removing my trousers, the boy got an erection and almost poked my eye out.

I used [Soul Speak] to tell him he had nothing to be ashamed of, but I don't swing that way. He, However, absolutely should be embarrassed just like me. It's how we learn what's appropriate in society while in public. Elves not surprisingly weren't bothered by nudity, but the event was cause for immense laughter for everyone but me. Even Emma poked a few good jabs at me that day calling me a "cock tease."

***

After the commotion Finally died down from the children we addressed the other issue at hand. Our scouts had finally come back, and the far group turned out to be the slavers we had been looking for. They had seemingly come looking for the green elves that had started appearing in the wilderness as they had several in cages. There were also other Elven men and women that Luna later confirmed had been from her original group. She believed they must have used the spy I discovered to ambush them. She assured me that someone with that skill would be a rare individual and that they should only have had the one.

As we plotted how to ambush them my dad was worried about the sheer number of slavers. There were about 50 heavily armed slavers and although we could wipe them out they had hostages. If we ignored the hostage situation and killed them, then some elves could be saved, but most would die. What we needed was a way to separate the majority of slavers from the camp. It was then I had a brilliant idea to use my greatest disadvantage to my favor.

My Golden eyes made me worth more than ten thousand elves combined. I would appear and lure the majority of slavers away from their camp. My dad would slaughter those that remained to guard the captured slaves. I would lead the slavers chasing me into another ambush where Emma and Luna would make light work of them. It looked like our village was going to get another influx of villagers! Maybe we should think about building a castle soon?