Snow elves were quite the distinct race. Well, to be fair, every race was distinct so I guess that's a moot point. They were characterized by their long ears, pale white skin, hair of various shades of light from platinum blonde to gray and everything within that spectrum, general proficiency in ice and forest magic, and some other traits.
The village we currently found ourselves in was one that I specifically chose for the first stopping point of our journey to Lumisade. One, it was directly east of our home. Two, it had other races outside of snow elves and thus were unlikely to be as bigoted as the village she came from. Three, it was as rural as rural could be. While there were chances of them not being kind to travelers like us, it was a risk we were willing to make in order to avoid anyone that might know her.
"You remembered to bring your sunglasses, didn't you?"
She heaved a solemn sigh. "Yeah."
I took out her sunglasses from the frontmost pouch of her bag and placed it on her face. The simple sleek sunglasses made of metal covering her beautiful crimson eyes. "Hey, you know I love the color of your eyes, right?"
She looked down as she hid a smile. I gently held her in an embrace. We stayed just like that for a few minutes, mentally preparing ourselves for the worst while hoping for the best. "Okay, let's go."
I pulled her along by the hand as we walked into the village where a man noticed us.
"Oh? Ey lad and lassie! What brought you to this part of Lumisade? Rare to see travelers 'ike you lot when there's a whole lot o' nothing around here."
The gruff bear of a man had logs for biceps, a given for his probable(?) occupation of being a lumberjack.
"Oh! We're on our way to Lumisade to attend a Mana Institute! Know of a good place for us to spend the night in?" I cheerily replied.
"Ah! It's that time o' the 'ear again ay? Sure, I can 'et the village chief know. She's a good guy, she'll 'et you crash at her place 'specially so cause the lassie's a snowy."
"Thanks so much."
He started leading us to the chief's house. Unsurprisingly, it was the house farthest from the ground so we had to climb quite a few levels of stairs.
"So, where you from? Was unaware o' any village farther north than us here."
Now this was a question both of us already expected and prepared for accordingly. We had a set answer to that question that we both agreed on and was the one that made the most sense to the people that'd hear it. We had to plan an answer to this question since we had to make sure the existence of our home remained a secret. The answer we decided on was one that she lobbied for extensively, so I was expecting her to be the one to reply to the question yet she remained silent.
I squeezed her hand in comfort and answered in her behalf. "Oh, we didn't come from a village at all. It was just the two of us living together up north by the coast."
He took a double-take and raised an eyebrow. "Mighty young to 'ave started living together ay? Today's youth's a 'ole 'nother beast huh."
"We didn't elope or anything, don't worry. She came across me while I was alone, we clicked, and we started living together. Nothing like what you're imagining."
"Sure laddie. I ain't one to judge." He guffawed, clearly not believing our words. "The lassie's quite a quiet gal ey?"
I could feel the sweat in her palm as she squeezed my hand. "Yeah, she's a bit shy around strangers."
"Eh, it's fine. Might be better that 'ay. Would definitely grab you plus brownie point 'ith the chief."
"Grimwin! What are you telling our guests?" A commanding shout sounded out from above. All three of us looked up to see a head peeking out from a window. Long gray hair, sky blue eyes, and a smooth face was marred by a glare.
Grimwin, with wide eyes, raised both his arms up and immediately backed away. "Ack! The chief 'eard me, you're on your own now lad and lassie! See ya!" He quickly turned tail and ran down the branches.
The chief's sigh from up above could be heard from where we were. "Alright, come up here you two."
As soon as we got to her door, it opened on its own and a cool voice greeted us. "Welcome and come in to my study."
We followed the direction of the voice and saw the chief busy with some documents on her desk. Seeing us come in, she placed the papers down and leaned back to her chair.
"Thanks for having us." We did a slight bow.
Just as I was about to continue on, she quickly cut me off as she crossed her legs. "There's no need to explain. I heard your conversation with Grimwin."
"You listened in."
"I didn't listen in. Grimwin knew I could hear your conversation with him. Or rather. I knew the moment you two came into the village's proximity. Why do you think Grimwin approached you two out of nowhere? Do you really think a small village such as ours aren't wary of strangers?"
"You sent him after us." My tone was accusatory. I really didn't like how this conversation was going.
"Don't worry, I did no such thing. And if you didn't think we were wary of strangers, then you would be right."
"What?"
"In short, we don't really care about the presence of strangers. Grimwin greeted you out of nowhere because that's his nature. And as he said, I'm more than willing to grant you room for the night for free." She paused. "Ah. It's not exactly free. You just need to answer a few of my curiosities. If you will."
She placed her cheek on her fist as she looked at us.
"Okay, sure."
"What's your name?"
"Di—"
"Not you." Her stare went right past me. I interlocked my hand with hers and rubbed my thumb across her palm.
"...Vera." Her voice was soft and timid. So much different from the one I was used to.
"Oh? Is that so..." The chief's voice lost its edge. She stood up and walked closer to us. I blocked her advance by standing in front of her.
The chief glared at me, urging me to move aside. A few seconds passed before she smiled upon seeing me hold my ground. "Don't worry. I will never not do my best to help a fellow snowy."
"I don't trust you."
"It's okay. I won't take her away from you."
"It's not about that."
"Fine. Just listen in." She lowered her volume. "Hey there, Vera. I'm Artanis. Artanis Elentári."
She placed her other hand on top of our joined hands and tightened her hold.
"You know what that means, right? I know you might not believe me, but I'm telling the truth when I say that I'd love nothing more than to help you out, alright?"
She nodded her head.
"I heard that the two of you are planning to head to Lumisade to attend a Mana Institute. Do you have everything you need for the application?"
"What do you mean?" I couldn't help but ask.
"If you're planning to go all the way to Lumisade to attend a Mana Institute, then you're most likely planning to apply for Central Lumisade Mana Institute. If that's the case, you would need a recommendation letter from a community head in order to get a foot in and even become eligible to take the exam for it. Since you told Grimwin that the two of you lived alone up north, then I'm assuming you don't. I can help you with that and give you my support."
That nugget of information was a real surprise. We weren't expecting a requirement like that. If the Central Lumisade Mana Institute needs something like that, then surely Vier Academy — which is held to a much higher standard — would need something similar. Maybe it would be better to just tell her the truth. Well, not the whole truth, but enough to explain our circumstances.
"We were actually planning on applying for Vier Academy."
She looked at me in surprise. "Oh? Then you definitely do need my endorsement to even try the exam. So? Will you accept my offer?"
Honestly, it sounded way too good to be true. She would do that for two strangers out of the blue? Yes, she claimed it's to help a fellow snow elf, but it was still pretty suspicious. There's a chance I'm just being too cautious, but I can't help it since it concerns her.
She tugged my hand. "...It's okay to trust her... probably."
"What's in it for you?"
The chief stopped and thought for a bit before finally settling to an answer.
"I can put it this way. If both of you succeed in entering Vier Academy with my endorsement — with my village's endorsement — it'll mean that the two of you are my constituents. I will claim you as my citizens. That you belong to the village of Forostar."