Adriana
I can hear Eros and Mahlia speaking, but I'll be honest, I can't find it in myself to listen to them.
All around us there are creatures. Creatures that even in my weirdest dreams I would never have managed to conjure up their image. I can safely say that this is far from anything I ever could have expected.
It seems like the majority of the beings here are more humanoid in nature. These ones are not too different from Eros, just generally a little shorter, with much longer and pointier ears. They are all slender, but even then I don't doubt I would stand little chance against any of them. Many of them carry a bow and quiver of arrows slung over their shoulders as if it's just an accessory to them, sometimes paired with a couple of daggers attached to their clothing. Walking amongst these people, there are also some others I have not before seen. These ones are still humanoid but much shorter, carrying little sacks over their back. At their tallest they are just under half my size, but immediately I can tell they're much quicker than anything else here, nimbly weaving their way through the crowds that largely ignore their presence.
Eros taps me on the shoulder, grinning a little at my curiosity. "The taller ones are elves. They're the most closely related of all of them to the High Fey. The shorter ones are gnomes. And those over there," he points to a creature I had yet to notice. It has wild hair and is dressed in rags from the waste down, covering little of it's muddy brown, wrinkled skin. It is probably the most foreign looking being here, but to top it off... it suddenly disappears. Into thin air. Eros chuckles at my apparent shock. "Those are brownies. Not many of them here, fortunately for us. Tricky little buggers."
Curiosity getting the better of me, I turn to him. "Why are they tricky?"
"What do you see?"
"Well I can't see any of them anymore. I could see one but then it disappeared."
"That's pretty much why. There's four over their in a little group. I can see them because of my lineage but to most, they tend to turn invisible. They like practical jokes," his face scrunches, as if remembering something. "Of course, being able to see them doesn't make you immune to that."
I smile, wondering how on earth they could have managed to play a prank on the almighty prince. Maybe I aught to make friends with a couple of them.
"They're generally domestic fey. Meaning they like to live in the dark spots inside the houses of other fey or sometimes humans. They're amazing at sneaking around and stealing or moving things. Makes you feel a little mad sometimes," a scowl finds its way to his face. Looks like grumpy prince is back.
"Oh get over yourself boy," Mahlia tuts. "He's just bitter for getting in trouble with his parents over love letters."
"Love letters?" I scoff, giggling. "You don't strike me as the type to be writing romantic poems and stuff."
"I didn't write them!"
Mahlia crosses her arms, lips pursed together.
"Ok maybe one of them I did but I never intended to send it and the rest were for me from random girls," he mumbles, glaring at the witch.
Her arms drop to her side, her expression satisfied. "Better. I didn't raise you to be a compulsive liar now did I?"
Now obviously I had to snort at this. I couldn't help myself. With him, I never quite know what's true and what's not. This only makes him scowl at me however. It does little to intimidate me though. The pink tinge of his cheeks isn't really doing him any favours, so I just smirk at him. "What's the matter, Romeo?"
His brows draw together. "Who's Romeo?"
I roll my eyes, noticing Mahlia, who seems quite amused. Clearly, being human, she understood the reference. I can't believe that the fey have never heard of Shakespeare though. "Don't worry your little head about it," I say, patting his shoulder.
"My head is not little."
"No comment."
Frustrated, he takes on a more intimidating stance. Ah, here we go. "Meaning?"
"Well if your ego is anything to go off then you did good correcting me there. Your head is, indeed, fucking massive," I look past him towards Mahlia, who stands watching us, bemused. "Shouldn't we be going somewhere about now?" She nods, grinning widely and gesturing for me to follow, the prince left trailing behind us as he simmers in his own anger.
"Excuse me, sweetheart," He shouts. "We're not finished."
I turn around, watching him almost growl as he trips over a rock before kicking it across the floor. Venus squawks behind him, nudging him forward forcefully. "You might want to watch where you're going, tough guy."
He mumbles something, but I can't hear it from here.
"What was that?"
"Nothing."
Shaking my head, I turn back around and continue following Mahlia. She leads us through winding streets, if they can even be called streets at all. There are huts and shacks dotted about, none of them being particularly large and for the most part, they look like shops or places of work. I notice one made entirely in stone, a contrast to the mostly wooden ones about it, with an elf blacksmithing to the side of it. There are, surprisingly, concrete roads running through the middle, as well as stone paths to the side of it, but their are no cars, horses or anything on them. I wonder how they actually travel about any distance. Surely they can't all have large birds hanging about.
As we get further into the area, we approach something similar to what a town square would look like back home. There is a fountain in the centre, with an intricately carved statue of what appears to be an angel holding a bowl of water. The water overflows the bowl and pours down to the angel's feet. It's wings appear as if folded behind its back, and are covered in living vines and moss. Mahlia notices me watching it and smiles. "It is said that the fey originated from Nephilim. The children born from the union of an angel and a human. The High Fey are said to be the most closely related race to the original Nephilim. It's why so many of them place such high importance on blood purity and why they rule."
I don't respond, just making an effort to retain the information. If this tale is true, that means at some point at least, angels too have existed. So many beings have lived and never had I considered giving their potential existence a second thought until now. And on top of that, Eros is possibly related to some of them. From the story he told me before about the women he's courted, it seems as if his parents might care a lot about purity, like Mahlia said.
Around the fountain, more sophisticated buildings line the streets, built from brick and mortar rather like the houses back home. They house shops within them; I recognise a butchers to my left, though I don't recognise many of the meats hanging about it other than the full deer laying in front of the butcher themselves. To my right stands a library filled with inquisitive gnomes, and I have to say, if I got the chance I would absolutely want to explore it, excitement filling me at the thought of what kind of knowledge might be kept within its walls. I also notice a clothing shop, one for weapons, and a couple others that I can't recognise. I find myself longing to explore the area more, but I know that more pressing things are at stake. Maybe I'll ask someone to go with me later on.
We soon find ourselves walking down a street lined with buildings a little smaller than the shops, but by no means as primitive as the huts we first saw. These ones appear to be the homes of the fey that live here. It looks like most of them have only one storey, some of them having what looks to be extensions that have been added on to multiple sides, meaning there is little uniformity between houses. Despite this though I can't see a single building that doesn't appear cozy, and each has a colourful garden surrounding all its side, most of them having a range of different areas for flowers and edible plants. What does shock me, that I hadn't previously noticed, is that most buildings seem to have electricity, with light bulbs shining through the windows in the same way they would at home. There are also lamps lining the pathways; they aren't currently on, but I'd guess that they are most likely electric. I don't know why, maybe its all the stories, but I had thought that these people might not have electricity, and would instead use candles or something of that nature. Perhaps they don't operate all that differently from humans. They do seem a lot more connected to the nature around them than us humans would be, judging by the extensive amount of plant life and home grown food that I can see is very well tended to. This I suppose does live up to my expectations, but there is surely more to them that I have yet to see.
Mahlia soon stops, opening the gate of a dainty fence surrounding a quaint dwelling. This particular house, like the rest, is quite a strange shape, looking as if it might be in more of a cross shape. It's reminds me of a large cottage, with vines draped over the brick. Again there are areas of the garden dedicated to home grown foods, and my mouth waters at the sight of fresh, ripe strawberries that line the border just in front of the fence. There's a couple of fruit trees standing proudly to my left, harbouring different varieties of apples. I recognise some herbs too; some rosemary, thyme, oregano... I remember a few years ago when Diana had tried to grow some, but had failed to keep them alive for more than a few months. These ones are thriving, having been taken care of by apparently an expert gardener.
We come to a halt by the door, Eros almost knocking into me as he still seems to be caught up in his head. The moody fey glares daggers at me as if its my fault he didn't take my advice and watch where he's going, so I just raise a brow at him, daring him to complain about whatever it is I've done to manage to get in his way. He doesn't speak however, as the door is soon opened by a pissed off looking female elf.
She is dressed in a tight black hooded top, with a couple of silver coloured metal cuffs over the sleeves at her wrists. Her bottoms are also black and right fitted, with the bottom tucked into some old boots that come up above the ankle. She also has on a thick brown leather belt, which has a simple dagger attached to it at her side in a sort of sheath. None of this however shadows the expression on her face.
She steps out, straight past Mahlia and I, and stalks towards Eros. "Just where the hell have you been? I have had just about enough with that lot fucking fighting all the time and I swear to the gods if you don't get in there and shut them the fuck up I will shank the lot of you with a fucking spoon if I have to. Including the fucking child."
Mahlia steps forward, touching the girls arm. "I'm sorry we took so long, Kata, we had a few injuries to deal with."
"So I've fucking heard, a human? Seriously? Do you think?"
Gobsmacked, I watch as Eros is clearly about to start ranting. If he wasn't already pissed then he most definitely is now, practically steaming out the ears as Venus sits with her head cocked to the side as if enjoying the show. However, the elf girl doesn't give him much of a chance for rebuttal, turning to me and holding out her hand.
"I'm Kata by the way, " I shake her small hand hesitantly. I'm slightly intimidated I won't lie. Even her handshake screams 'I won't take bullshit'.
"I'm Adriana," I just about manage to speak, still not quite over what I just witnessed.
"Peachy," she sighs, dropping my hand before stalking back inside, leaving me a little dumbfounded and Eros struggling not to spontaneously combust. Mahlia seems mostly unaffected, save for a subtle frown, and Venus... I think she just enjoys when the prince is irritated, since she looks like she thoroughly enjoyed watching the red mist take over him.
This is going to be fun.