Alexander felt obliged to respond to the girl, to such a "clear" explanation of Johnny's.
"You brainy, some say elves aren't from Earth. Some say they came from other realms, in flying ships thousands of years ago. There are creatures that can live longer than we do, due to their sacred tree forests."
"Really? How long can they live?"
"Well ... over a hundred years. Almost two I think."
Alexander stopped explaining because he noticed one of the elf girls looked at them.
An elf girl with hair like pure gold sat near him. Even though there was some distance between them, Alexander couldn't help but feel the strong smell of acacia, lily-of-the-valley and linden sprouting from her wonderful hair.
Prince Soimesti glared at the elf girls who were to compete with them.
"My name's Alexander Soimesti," he addressed the elf girl who filled the air with the powerful fragrance of various flowers.
The girl turned to the boy. Her gaze from dark green eyes like leaves of spring oak, hypnotized the boy.
"I'm Pmyrie".
"Just Pmyrie?" he had the courage to ask her.
"Just Pmyrie. We elves have only one name. And once chosen, no one in our family is allowed to bear it anymore."
The boy said nothing.
"I read about you people and I know you have more names to identify yourselves. We differ from each other in what we do."
As Alexander said nothing more, Elizabeth intervened.
"My name's Elizabeth. I'm almost ten years old. And he's Alexander ... he's 11 years old."
"Almost 12 years old," corrected the arrogant guy.
"You?" Elizabeth asked.
"I'm Pmyrie ... and I'm 638 years old."
Hearing these words, Elizabeth was amazed, even the talkative Alexander was speechless.
"638 years?" the girl asked expecting a response to show she didn't hear well.
Not only she waited for that answer ...
"Yes, only 638 years old," Pmyrie replied simply.
"Only?!" Alexander said smiling trying to show he understood it was a joke, yet he was confused and didn't know what to say. Not even he would think of such a joke. If that was really a joke.
Elizabeth was astonished and confused at the same time. But as usual, Johnny wasn't at all confused, at least until he was able to properly understand what he found out.
"Did you hear, Johnny? This girl in the elf family is 638 years old."
The boy watched the adult elves very carefully and was so excited about their elegant way of behaving, moving ... of being like an elf. He ignored what Elizabeth told him, so hypnotized by those elves' way of life.
"Johnny ..." the girl grabbed him by the sleeve. The elf girl Pmyrie is 638 years old," Elizabeth continued, when she saw the boy looking straight in her eye.
"I don't believe! I don't believe ..." he said now in a lower voice not to disturb Nakutsck's speech.
He looked over Elizabeth at Pmyrie and asked:
"How old are you?"
"638 spring times" answered the elf girl again.
"You see, you got it wrong," Johnny looked at Elizabeth as if he solved the world's greatest mystery.
"Genius ... 638 spring times also means years," Alexander felt compelled to intervene.
Johnny, only now getting it right, had a cockeyed gaze, the same gaze we met when he puts all his neurons to work.
That gaze was now due to the fact that he couldn't believe it. Sure it was a joke. In fact, neither Elizabeth nor Alexander could believe such a thing. I mean, Alexander knew they could live longer than people but ... no one can live so long, almost forever.
But Nakutsck's words either solved the dilemma by eliminating any doubt, or baffled them even more.
"Princess Eyoween knows the mysteries of magic for over 2500 years ... and we are proud to ..."
The three children stared at Pmyrie in awe.
Nakutsck continued his speech, but many of those who were there, including the three children from Elmbridge School of Magic, probably heard nothing from the story of the wizard dressed in white. The three children were amazed and at the same time scared of what they heard from the elf girl, Pmyrie and from the one who hosted the first event of the famous Magic Contest of the Decade, the notorious Nakutsck.
Even the warrior wizards from Master Hikaiddo's school were scared. Probably the little wizards thought not only of this immense weirdness, namely that there are creatures that could live thousands of years or could even be immortal, but also that hundreds of years of studying magic, or Princess Eyoween's case thousands of years of training in magic were a real advantage for the elves' team.
So the other competitors' confidence was a little hampered by the hundreds of years of experience the elf team had. It was obvious the other two teams were intimidated by this team especially because they didn't know very well what these immortal creatures really were.
But the elf girl were so calm and peaceful that you didn't have much to fear of them.
And there was someone else very calm and quiet.
Elizabeth, unlike everyone else, was very happy. It was the first time for everyone except for Nakutsck, when they saw forest elves. And this opportunity to meet creatures that came into the world hundreds and even thousands of years ago was greatly enjoyable for Miss Edwards. She smiled at the elves with warmth and of course she got the same warm response from them.
"And we're glad ..." Nakutsck continued, "we're glad they agreed to participate in the Magic Contest of the Decade. It's a real honour for us, that who embraced magic thousands of years ago, who knew it first, came to share it with us."
The wizard Nakutsck made a sign to a stone elf, dressed in white too, responsible for organizing everything in the white wizard's residence. Understanding the sign, the elf clapped his hands and several stone elves appeared ready to make the guests' stay as pleasant as possible.
"Princess Eyoween, Lord Tbylisium ... I'll introduce the members of the jury and the other participants, after which we'll show you to the rooms where you'll stay."
Grand Nakutsck introduced the wizard Baater and Lady Margaret, then turned to Knudlac and Hikaiddo.
"Professor Knudlac ... Professor Hikaiddo ... We prepared your rooms too. At 6 p.m. there's the official opening of the Magic Contest of the Decade. The contest is open to anyone belonging to the three schools of magic. Viewers can come through the portals created on the day of the first event. Then I'll tell you everything you need to know about the first event, about my creations, the incredible ice golems and many others. It will also be a splendid fireworks display…"
Nakutsck coughed a little.
"And the first contest of the schools will take place over a week. During this time, the section of the temple where you can study the eight possible locations where the other two competitions will take place will be open. And each location also has several possible quests. So, dear competitors, I want you to study as best you can. Good luck!"
After a short break he continued:
"My colleagues, the stone elves, will show you to your rooms. Until we meet again, I wish you got used easily to the rooms that I tried to prepare as best as I could according to your wishes and needs. Thank you ... and I wish you a pleasant stay."