Gia broke another stick, and fed it to the fire. Its warmth was very welcome in the frigid cold that had descended as the light faded. Her parents were still chatting merrily with the two elves, who seemed to be watching everything they did like hawks. Mikey kept bouncing back and forth between Vonn, who was cutting the meat up, to his parents with the elves, and to her with the fire.
"Mikey, can you watch the fire while I get the tent set up?" asked Gia, handing him the stick she had been using to poke the logs with.
"Sure!" he said with a grin, immediately starting to throw tiny branches in the fire to watch them burn.
She moved over to the clearing to start putting the tent up, when the two elves were suddenly there.
"Let us help, we can get that set up for you," said the elven man, taking the heavy tent from her hand.
His hand brushed against hers and she jerked it back as if she was burnt. His chuckle seemed to flow over her, making her shiver and goosebumps to form on her arms.
"Llewel! Don't tease the poor thing, she might spook," said the woman, kicking some leaves and stones out of the way so he could spread out the tent.
"I can't help it, Kilyn. She just reacts so easily to everything. Are all humans this easy?" he asked, ignoring the fact that Gia was standing right there.
She stepped back as a lump formed in her throat. Why were they saying such things? Why was she reacting like this? Turning away from the two, she spotted Vonn and rushed over to him. He had just finished washing his hands and arms in the cold water of the stream and had just stood up when she barreled into him, wrapping her arms around him and burying her face in his chest. Taking deep breaths, she pulled his scent into her lungs and fought to get herself under control.
"Hey, are you okay?" he asked softly, wrapping his arms around her, and putting his face down next to hers.
The brush of his breath over her ear made her shiver against him and he chuckled.
"I just… I need to hold you for a moment," she murmured into his shirt, not even sure if he heard her.
"Alright," he said, resting his cheek on top of her head and just holding her.
Gia closed her eyes and counted to twenty, each breath becoming slower and easier. The lump in her throat was gone, and she didn't feel off. Pulling back, she smiled up at him.
"Thanks," she said softly.
"For you, my Giavanna, I would do anything."
"Don't say that," she said, looking up at him with wide eyes.
"Why?" he asked with a chuckle.
"With all of the magic we've encountered? What if you think it's me, and it's not?"
He pursed his lips, that were perfect for kissing, or nibbling…
She shook her head and turned away from him, to see that the elves were almost finished with the tent.
"Do they bother you?" he asked, stepping closer.
"Yes, but I'll be nice because it could just be a misunderstanding on my part," she said, turning her back on them and looking at his face. "We are traveling through their lands, and need to not cause too much trouble."
"It is odd that they are so willing to be nice to us. They're not asking where we're going, or where we've come from. Help me carry the deer to the fire and I'll talk to them some," he said, leaning down to grab a leg.
With a wince, she helped and they soon had the meat cooking.
"Are the two of you a thing?" asked Llewel, pointing back and forth at Gia and Vonn.
"Yes, we are a thing," Vonn said, raising his chin and puffing out his chest.
Kilyn broke out laughing as Llewel sighed. "Even the human girls are taken from you, brother!"
"Hey, they have a little kid that's probably not spoken for, sweet sister," purred Llewel to his sister.
"No, I am not waiting for the boy to grow up. I'll wait for father to find me someone. Too bad mother hasn't found you anyone yet," she said giving him a smirk.
The elven man shrugged and sat back against a tree. "She'll find someone eventually, I'm not in a hurry."
"Do elves have prearranged marriages?" asked Tom, sipping on a cup of tea Carla had made for him.
"Only if we don't find a mate by the age of 100," said Kilyn, throwing herself on the ground beside her brother. "We're twins, and next year is our deadline. The biggest problem is that all the other elves our age are already hooked up, and none of the free ones are willing to get with us. Mother and father are going to have to pull some strings to get us mates, or we'll be heading off to our cousins half the world away to find someone."
"Ugh, I hope we don't have to go over there. Not only is it a long way, but the rules there are so stifling!" groaned Llewel, tilting his head back.
"You don't get married until you're a hundred years old?" exclaimed Mikey, looking at the elves with his mouth open in shock.
"Yep, and we normally live until we're a thousand or so," said Kilyn.
"Wow!" Mikey said, shaking his head. "I'm glad I'm not an elf. That's a long time!"
"Well, how old are you?" asked Llewel, pointing at the boy with his chin.
"I'm a whole 7 years old!" he declared proudly, crossing his arms.
"Actually, Mikey," said Gia with a rush of horror, "you're 8. We must have missed your birthday in all this walking!"
"I am? We did?" he asked, trying to think back on the timing.
"Wow, a whole 8 years old?" asked Kilyn, feigning shock as she shot a look at her brother.
He ignored it as he turned to Mikey, "Year 8 is super important. If you missed it, then I think you should have a proper present to celebrate it. Let me think…"
Mikey watched the elf with wide excited eyes filled with expectation. Gia felt dread building as she was afraid the elf was going to hurt her brother in some way. She was mentally preparing to attack him if he did, but instead the elf held out his hand and opened it slowly.
Nestled in the palm of his hand was a green fuzzy ball.
"What's that?" asked Mikey reaching to take it.
"Llewel!" cried Kilyn, "Are you seriously going to give that to a human child? What are you thinking?"
Mikey paused with his hand held out, watching as the two elves argued.
"It's mine to do with as I please, Father said so," said Llewel with a petulant face.
"You just don't want to care for it anymore! You've only had it what, less than a week?" she asked, crossing her arms in anger.
"What is it?" asked Mikey as Llewel turned back to him with the green ball.
"It's a very special little creature that will bond with you, if you take care of it right," he said, gently rolling the fluff into Mikey's hand.
"How do I take care of it?" he asked, looking at the green fluff curiously.
"It's a baby right now, so it needs to be kept warm and needs lots of sleep," said the elf, slipping a leather cord off his neck and tying it around Mikey's. "This is a little pouch you can keep it in, under your shirt. Put some crumbs of whatever you have in the pouch with it and it will eat them. If the crumbs don't disappear, then its not hungry. Anything you eat, it can eat too. When it grows up, and doesn't fit in the pouch, you'll know how to take care of it by then."
"But what is it?" asked Gia, coming closer to see it herself.
"It's supposed to stay with an elf, not a human. Llewel, how do you know it won't just die? What if it's already bonded to you?"
"It hasn't sister, otherwise I wouldn't be able to give it away."
Kilyn looked at him for a moment, then turned to Mikey. "It's called a Limcheez. When it gets bigger, you will see that it has a long tail that allows it to grab and hold on to things like an arm. It has two triangular eyes that sit on top of its head and two nose slits above its mouth. They used to live in the trees here, when we first came to this forest, but they have died back for some reason. Every attempt to keep them alive has failed, until we started keeping them with us as pets. When cared for personally, they bond with us and live as long as we do. As far as I know, no human has ever had one."
"Does it have feet?" asked Mikey, cradling the green fuzz close to his chest and gazing down at it with wonder on his face.
"Yes," the elf laughed. "It has two feet it can run around on when it's older."
"Is it a boy or a girl?" he asked, "Does it have a name?"
"We can't tell if it's male or female until it's old enough to leave the pouch on its own. And I guess you get to name it whatever you want," she said, glancing at her brother who was watching Mikey with a grin of satisfaction.