Nasrin walked to her room and got a spare towel the original host kept. Nasrin decided to check her closet for an oversized shirt for Hunter since his clothes were dirty and worn. Opening the closet for the first time since she came here, what she saw surprised her. Just like the cottage, the closet was bigger on the inside. It was equivalent to a walk-in closet you would see all those rich folks on TV had. An example would be the Kar***hians. Lucky.
Removing her mask to pinch her cheek and ensure she wasn't dreaming, Nasrin walked into the closet. There was a variety of clothes, and they fit whatever timeline Nasrin was in.
"Women's clothes, men's… clothes? Little kid's clothes? Okay, what in the Davie Jones locker were the OG's hobbies," Nasrin went through the options with bewildered eyes. "At least Hunter will have clothes and I will not need to buy clothes, Yah!" Picking the needed clothes for Hunter, Nasrin walked out, closed the door, walked out of her room and closed that door. Turning to the stairs, she suddenly heard muffled voices.
Thinking she was hearing things, Nasrin pulled on her ears. "Ow! Why are elf ears so sensitive?" she exclaimed, rubbing her aching ears. The muffled voices grew louder, and she realized they were coming from the glasshouse—an indoor garden, or whatever they called it. Concerned about losing any rare and important herbs and flowers tonight, Nasrin decided to check it out.
She placed the towel, mask and clothes on the table next to her bedroom door. She then walked to the middle of the room and pulled the rope hanging from the roof. The stairs unfolded, and Nasrin shook them again to test.
Climbing up, she took a glass stick she found in the basement and stuck it through the opening. Feeling nothing hit it, she slowly poked her head through. The scene in front of her caused her mouth to open wide, and the four clowns hanging from the ceiling looked at the stunned elf under them.
"Who are you people, and what are you doing in my cottage?!"
The four clowns flinched from the serene voice of the angry elf. "I don't know if she's angry, or calm about this situation," Jasper whispered to his teammates. "Angry. Very, angry," Nasrin's voice shifted a few octaves higher. She ascended to the highest point, her glowing emerald eyes fixed on the dangling fools below. All four of them trembled beneath the intensity of her gaze.
"We have a perfectly good explanation for this," Jasper smiled nervously as he swung a little from the breeze that blew in. "And if you could just let us down, we will be out of your hair," Elara added. The rest nodded to her words. Crossing her hands, the now risen moon showed on Nasrin's unmasked face. The four stared at her in a daze and edible gulps echoed in the glass room.
"I… have a… feeling… we're… not getting down… so… easily," Finn said in a daze after a while had passed, still staring at Nasrin whose face had gotten colder as time progressed.
The Three Clowns: '… Ah huh,'
Frowning, Nasrin questioned them, "Who are you people?"
Elara took charge since her teammates were terrible at communicating with women. "We are 1st year students of Blue Rose Academy. I'm Elara, that sandy-blonde idiot on my left is Jasper, on the right is Finn and the one on his right is Leon." Elara tried her best to sound as friendly and harmless as possible. She would have also not trusted someone who had broken into her house much less talk to them, in fact, she would have killed them.
Listening to Elara's babbling with an uninterested look, Nasrin questioned again, "Why are you looking for me?" The others froze. Raising her eyebrows, Nasrin mocked, "Do you think I am stupid?" Pointing at all of them, she continued, "Who would come this deep in the forest without an objective?" Spreading her hands out, she sneered, "And break into an obviously inhabited house? Didn't you see the sign I placed outside?"
Before she left that afternoon, she saw a sign with bold glowing letters that read: Out for the afternoon, please wait out here or come at night and wait. It seemed the original had put a spell on the sign and would change according to the situation.
The four kept quiet as they dangled about. Messaging her forehead, Nasrin sighed, "State your business and I might let you down."
"Well-,"
"We are here to find the Apothecary Elf," Leon interrupted Jasper in case he unintentionally offended her. "Oh-,"
"Miss?!" Hunter's voice rang out. Nasrin stopped talking and jumped down the stairs. "Ah!" Nasrin landed in front of him. "What's wrong?" Nasrin looked over to check for anything wrong. Hunter shook his head rapidly, "I thought something happened to you so I came to check."
Rubbing his dark hair, she assured him and told him to go take a bath and passed him the towel and clothes, "There's a hot spring outside, use that." Hunter nodded and slowly walked down the stairs, taking glimpses back every step he took. Nasrin watched with a smile and as soon she couldn't see his head, her smile disappeared with a flash.
'That old book said I can control the vines in the house,' She looked up. 'I'll have to memorize that book.' She raised her right hand and brought it down. The sound of slithering and gasps of surprise was heard as Leon and the rest were brought down. Walking down, the vines followed behind her.
Making sure Hunter was outside, Nasrin opened the basement door and walked in. The door was closed by one of the vines. Sitting on the chair she had sat on earlier today; Nasrin crossed her arms as Leon and the rest were slowly lowered. "Why are you looking for me?"
The four looked shocked, but after a few moments of silence, they nodded at each other. Leon looked at Nasrin seriously, "We don't know."
Nasrin's face dropped, making the temperature drop. Pinching her forehead to calm herself down, she slowly commanded, "Then tell me what you DO know."
Elara wore a submissive smile as she spoke. "Although it's just a rumor, it's said that the prince of the Lorvil Empire has been poisoned, and no one knows who did it or how to cure him. According to the history of the Albaguard Continent, the Apothecary Elves, known as the children of the high god Una, are the only race in the land capable of curing all types of ailments, deformities, and poisons."
Nasrin listened with a placid expression, the four felt their cold sweat drip even more as they watched the unengaged elf.
To be honest, the Empire would not have sought the aloof elves if it had a choice. It was well known that among the other races—such as dragons, mermaids, dwarfs, goblins, and beastmen—the elves held a strong disdain for humans.
The true reason was found out a century ago during the annual Races of the Albaguard Get-Together, famously called, The ROA. The Empire was then celebrating its hundred years of being formed and decided to work together with the other races. The fourth Emperor could not stand the disdain the elves were showing him and his people, so he asked one day, "Why do you hate us so much, the emperor before me and the emperors before him did nothing to you!"
The oldest elf there, a young-looking man with white hair and sharp deep green eyes looked straight into the emperor's eyes with deep contempt, hate and frustration in his. "You humans let your actions repeat over and over again. What you're doing now has already been repeated for thousands of years." The elder elf and the other elves around him also sat up. Crossing his hands into his large clothes sleeves, he cast a deep look over all the races there. "None of you learn a thing because none of you have lived long enough to see the pattern."
With that, he flicked his sleeves at them and walked away with the others. Shaken by what they had just heard, none of them could continue. From then on, the elves only sent a scribe to record what transpired and bring it back to the Elven Kingdoms. The other races appeared to take the elder elf's words seriously, concealing their respective kingdoms, though they continued to attend the gathering every year.