"So how is the Queen Nora?" asked Zechariah as he, Nora, Zuph, Luc and Elihu were all gathered around the fire having dinner together as the sun had already set and the sky was dark bringing some bright twinkling stars with it.
"Well thankfully she is fine, but she was so exhausted that she had to rest, she is still sleeping right now as we speak." replied Nora.
"I can only imagine how stressful the journey was." said Zechariah.
"Yes, and she and Mero had to prolong their journey when they had not planned to do such a thing in the first place." said Luc.
"True..." said Nora and Zuph.
"Her Majesty told me that it was really nice to go away somewhere for a while, but when their departure back was cancelled, she could not help but feel worried." said Nora.
"And I have to admit that before they left I had a bad feeling about that journey." said Nora.
"I do not see what the big deal is, I am sure that both the Queen and Mero had a good time there. For one they had a lot of time to not worry about anything that was happening here, and from what I heard the people showered her Majesty with many blessings." said Elihu with a scoff.
"Heard from where exactly?" asked Luc as he scoffed.
"I have my many, many people who adore me and give me valid information." said Elihu as Nora scoffed.
"More like he was busy gossiping with one of the knights that was sent over there." she said as she shook her head causing Zuph, Luc and Zechariah to laugh.
"That must be the truth, we all know that out of all of us, Elihu is the one with a loose tongue." said Zuph as he laughed.
"Hey!" said Elihu as he was offended, and what made it even worse was that he could not refute Nora's statement at all. His only question was how did she know?
"How are you even so sure about that anyway?" he asked in a bid to stop everyone from laughing at him, for all he knew Nora might have just guessed that.
"Well because one time I saw you conversing with one of the guards, you even gave him some bread so he would be more friendly towards you, and it seemed to work, because next thing I knew, he opened his mouth and spilled out everything you wanted to know and more." said Nora as Elihu felt like covering her mouth with his hand, here she was exposing him in such a manner.
"Typical Elihu" replied Luc with a scoff.
"What can I say? I needed information and the reports that Mero were sending did not include the detailed information that we needed." said Elihu.
"We needed?? Right, more like what you needed." said Zechariah as he shook his head. Elihu could never be cured of his gossipy nature, that fact had been proven time and time again.
Instead of just saying something nice and keeping quiet, he preferred to gossip and create rumours.
"Well excuse me, for all we know something different from what Mero was telling us could have been happening over there, and we would never have known." said Elihu in his defence as everyone else shook their heads.
"What were you even doing there that day anyway?" asked Elihu as he pointed an accusing finger at Nora, oh boy did he miss the old timid Nora who was afraid to speak, the Nora here right now had grown wings and had such a sharp tongue, and it felt like she was always picking on him.
"Well unlike you, I was just doing my duties when I happened to pass by and I saw what happened. I mind my own business, unlike some people..." said Nora with a scoff as if not that she was sitting right next to Zuph, Elihu would have moved and flicked her forehead.
"Oh I see that look in your eye Elihu and if you dare even think of harming Nora, you will have me to deal with." said Zuph as Elihu scoffed.
"I do not know what you are talking about, I was not thinking such a thing at all." said Elihu as he murmured and Zuph scoffed.
"Right..." he replied.
"Well I do not think that we should be arguing and fighting with each other in the first place. What matters the most is that Mero and her Majesty are back safely." said Nora.
"I agree with Nora." said Zechariah as Luc and Zuph agreed with him while Elihu silenced himself with his mouth full.
"Well it is getting late and I have to wake up very early tomorrow, so goodnight everyone, and enjoy the rest of your evening." said Nora as she smiled and stood up.
"Goodnight Nora." said Zuph as he smiled.
"Goodnight." said Luc, Zuph and Zechariah, meanwhile Elihu sighed in relief that she was finally gone.
"Finally, now we can go back to being men." said Elihu as soon as Nora left.
"Right, men my foot." said Luc as he scoffed, sometimes he wondered how and why they still considered Elihu a friend?
"That is why it is highly unlikely that you will get a wife, especially not with that attitude of yours." said Luc as he shook his head.
"Who told you that I am looking for a wife anyway? Women are too much to handle." said Elihu.
"Of course only you would think that, you have never respected any woman enough not to hurt them. Have you even ever really been in love with someone?" asked Zuph as his question caused Elihu to go silent.
"What? Why do you not answer? It must be because I am right." he said with a scoff.
"You are wrong... there is only one woman I have ever loved." said Elihu sadly.
"Then what happened to her? Let me guess you broke her heart like you are accustomed to doing?" asked Luc while Zechariah was the only one who kept quiet.
"No... I had to leave her behind..." Elihu said, his tone far from his usual playful mood.
"Oh..." said Zuph and Luc as they suddenly remembered who Elihu was talking about.
"Yes... so if you would excuse me, it is getting late, goodnight." said Elihu as he stood up and left without saying anything else.
"What did you just do? I have never seen Elihu that dispirited before." said Zechariah as Zuph sighed.
"It is a long story Zechariah, let me just say that there was a woman Elihu fell in love with during our stay in the Yonder Realm, her name was Darla, she was Liam's saviour, and well... she and Elihu sort of were involved, but I never thought that it was this serious." said Zuph as now he felt bad for bringing up that sore spot.
"I did not think so as well... I have never seen Elihu so affected by just the mention of love... she must have really meant a lot to him." said Luc.
"That she did..." said Zuph.
"I never thought that Elihu would be someone to fall in love so easily, but what can we say? He has been with countless women, he was bound to fall for one sooner or later." said Zechariah.
"Well I feel bad for him... it seems that his only barrier is the literal barrier." said Luc as he sighed.
"You cannot imagine, he had to make a choice between staying there and returning back here... he did not even have a chance to truly say goodbye to her... I sincerely feel bad for him, it must hurt a lot to love someone so much and yet you know that it is impossible for you to be with them, or for them to love you back." said Zuph as he sighed.
"Well this is really depressing, you would think that being in the midst of a war would be depressing, but it is actually what goes on in our lives outside." said Zechariah.
"You can say that again Zechariah." said Luc as he shook his head and sighed.
"Life truly is sad when you are all alone..." said Luc.
"You see, that is why I admire our Queen so much, she have proved time and time again that she truly loves Liam, she even went above and beyond to find him, she never ceases to prove to us why Liam chose her instead of anyone else." said Zuph.
"I only wish that she and Liam will be reunited again, and I hope that this baseless war will surely end soon." said Zuph as he sighed.
"We all do Zuph, we all do." said Zechariah as he and Luc nodded.
"I should go now, I am on night watch duty." said Zuph as he stood up.
"Alright then, goodnight Zuph." said Zechariah as he smiled and Luc smiled.
"Goodnight, I will see you all in the morning." said Zuph as he smiled and walked away.