Ilina Ophelle has always prided herself on her piercing insight and cool-headed decision making. She is quite young by high elf standards, but she is still treated as an adult by those at elven court. Such is the reputation she has earned for her intellect and ability to read people. However, events of late have made her question her judgement.
Before Ilina left the Elven Kingdom several months ago with her faithful attendant, Klaus, she hadn't formed much of an opinion on humans. This also applied to most of the other races – she was relatively isolated in that regard within the Elven Kingdom. As far as she was concerned, someone's race should have little bearing on how you evaluate them.
However, somewhere along the way in her time since leaving the Elven Kingdom, her view of humans had slowly changed, and not for the better. At first, Ilina was excited to interact with humans, thinking that it would be the key to ridding the elves of their widespread prejudice against humans, which she considered unreasonable and counterproductive.
However, on a couple of occasions in her and Klaus's travels to Elmesia, Ilina's appearance had been noticed by humans. In one case, a man who took a liking to her tried to assault her, and Klaus was forced to kill him.
This experience had thoroughly shaken her, and it showed her the uglier side of humanity. However, she knew that this wasn't something specific to humans. Elven men had looked at her with a similar greed in her home country. It was simply that her station thwarted such brazen actions. So, she remained optimistic, and she ascribed the encounter to bad luck.
Later, Ilina willingly revealed her appearance to a human woman giving them shelter on their travels, thinking her trustworthy. From her discussion with the woman, Ilina was confident that she harbored no hatred toward elves. She also felt that the concerns of her first encounter with the man wouldn't apply in this woman's care.
Alas, later that night, the woman asked Klaus if he could collect firewood, saying that she feared the woods after dark. Klaus was hesitant, but he complied at Ilina's insistence. Unbeknownst to the two elves, the human woman had already alerted slavers to Ilina's presence, and while Klaus was away, they kidnapped and imprisoned her.
Distraught, Ilina implored the woman to explain why she would do this to someone who'd never done her harm. She replied, 'Nobles will pay a pretty penny for pretty and exotic things like yourself'. Not being able to reconcile the woman's cavalier attitude with her earlier judgement, Ilina asked why she would ever treat another woman like this. 'You're just an elf', the woman had responded.
It was then that Ilina realized, the woman didn't hate elves, she just didn't respect their rights in the face of human desires. It was as if this woman equated elves to cattle, and Ilina found this to be her most unsettling encounter with humans.
Before, Ilina mourned the loss of any life. However, when Klaus returned early and slaughtered every human involved with Ilina's capture, narrowly saving her from a life of slavery and exploitation, she felt nothing but disgust and satisfaction at their deaths.
These events are why, by the time she arrived in Elmesia, she had concluded that humans were fundamentally untrustworthy and antagonistic to other races. She held out a faint hope that perhaps there were exceptions, but even this hope died when that group of adventurers they tried to employ turned on them.
As she reflects now, the evening of the day after her encounter with Mizuki, she thinks that this may be why she made such a grave miscalculation with respect to his nature. In her prior encounters, she paid attention to the humans' natures, and in doing so failed to predict their actions. However, with Mizuki she had focused so much on his actions that she failed to understand his nature.
When Mizuki, a young boy in Ilina's eyes, brazenly proposed that he could be of help to them in their quest to search the forest, she didn't see it as putting the needs of others above his own safety, but as human arrogance.
When he traded insults with her, goaded her into a wager, and then underhandedly threatened her very life, she only assumed that he was a greedy human who saw pawning her life as the only way to overcome his own weakness and earn a payday.
When his eyes lingered too long on her figure at first in their inn room, she was convinced that he was already thinking of ways to exploit her.
It wasn't until later that night, when she accused him of being the type to sell her to slavers, and when Klaus pointed out the anomaly of his eyes, that she finally realized the change in herself.
She'd always valued evaluating another person directly, sizing up their character and letting that lead her decisions. With Mizuki, however, she realized she hadn't once looked at him this way, with that intent.
When he looked her in the eye last night and proclaimed his feelings on slavery, she felt she saw his true nature clearly for the first time. Despite how she'd mistreated Mizuki, his eyes showed nothing but the fierce desire to support his ideals – principle exceeded race.
When his attitude promptly returned to its cavalier default, she realized something else as well. She'd been the subject of misdirection from the very start. Mizuki cared more about realizing his sense of justice, than about others perceiving him as just.
Working backwards from that insight, and reflecting on his prior actions, she is now of the opinion that Mizuki is hiding his strength. Still, these revelations do not give her a sense that she truly understands him. While she is confident that he would not directly threaten them, it remains a complete mystery to her why he inserted himself into their affairs, or what he hopes to gain from it.
These thoughts trouble her, but she is more troubled by the job they hope to recruit Mizuki for. While Mizuki is unaware of this, the Elven Kingdom is facing an unprecedented and potentially existential threat. She came to seek the Elder Dragon of earth's aid in thwarting that threat. She has no idea what to expect from the dragon, but she knows that she needs to secure its assistance no matter the cost.
To pile on these worries, she knows that time is of the essence. When she left the Elven Kingdom, she felt that her country had perhaps a year to prepare for the impending threat.