I look up, and the glint on my eyes scares the remaining elves out of the room, plus the enormous shadow that cames to life and twists and turns behind me over the back wall, giving away the anger boiling inside that my face tries to keep hidden which only sharpens my façade, the remaining elf, the messenger from before, is the only one who has to take a direct order of mine to leave the room and to go on his way as well, having only me, Leonel and Aeglos behind.
Aeglos quickly reaches for the box and looks at the contents closely, reading the words multiple times, with his breathing speeding up at each turn, and as he grabs the letter and rips it in half and closes the box with a loud bang, he turns towards us and starts ranting:
"Who does this demon think he is! Outrageous! Repulsive! I'll make him pay for this! " Seriously? Outrageous? Who swears like that?
"I think the words you are looking for are 'mother f.u.c.ker you son of a bitch I'm going to drag you straight to hell you piece of shit'." I say, pulling a chair and sitting down, making both look at me with a strange expression on their faces.
"…What? Learn how to swear elves."
"No, is not that, is just that…"
"Hm?"
"You are strangely calm now." I lean back on the chair and put my feet on the table, no pointing in keeping this up now that we are alone.
"Am I? Well, perhaps because that blood doesn't belong to my brother." Both look at me in shock, and the first to question is Aeglos.
"It isn't? How can you tell?"
"It doesn't smell like him." I say, even if it actually does smell like him, they did a great job in masquerading his odor all over this piece of cloth, but one thing they do not know; and most do not for that matter; is the fact that I can see the energy, magic, around us with my third eye, and there are no traces of his energy in those clothes and blood, which would be impossible for blood is embedded with our essence.
Which leaves us with only one option; that is not his blood.
Even if I knew that from the start I put a little show for the elves to see and spread, of how 'angry' that made me feel, because someone managed to sneak in to put this package here, and that someone would probably stay to check the results of its work…
Aeglos doesn't believe me at first, but I insist without caving in and giving information that I wasn't willing to share with him, and after some talking him in we are left with a very important question…
Cain wanted me to believe that he had hurt my brother, bad, and even send me this to prove it and make it known, and that would only make me even more furious at him…
Why?
What does he gain in making me even angrier?
~~~~
Later that day we are finally heading out to the party, however before I can choose my own clothing from my pile of desert ones Leonel forces one of his on me, saying how improper it would be and how I should not show my belly so much from now on and other things I did not pay attention to.
Of course I got mad at him for wanting to order what I should wear, but the other part of me found it funny; charming even; how increasingly possessive and jealously he is turning out to be, especially since we s-slept together.
I only cave in in the end, however, because it was elven clothing for an elven party, and I did not intend to call attention to myself tonight, well, at least not for improper clothing or manner that is.
So that's why, in the end, I'm dressed in blue to, I quote, match the color of my crystal and frame my grey eyes, embroidered in silver with many curved lines and spirals, a simple dressing overall with pants and tunic but that only makes it look even more charming with the attention to small details.
I finish it with my raven hair in a high long ponytail, and all put together like this somehow gave a refined look that is excruciatingly the opposite of my normal desert-wild look; but at this point I'm just glad that I'm not wearing women clothes for a change.
Leonel, this time, stole the red from me, but when he gets dressed and is giving the final touches I'm not mad anymore; just let me tell you that blond elves really fit in well with red, it gave him a… very s.e.xy look.
"Shall we go?"
Yeah, buddy, almost distracted me from the mission there, almost.
Even before arriving at the party I could already tell how majestic it would be because, after presenting our invitations, I could already hear what sounded like fairies singing softly, only a harp accompanying here and there at first, the sounds of the forest mixing together as if part of the song, the water dripping from the small rivers crisscrossing the area, the fluid sound embracing the voice as two lovers humming together.
And, well, what to expect from such ancient civilization, of such refined kin that has thousands of years of knowledge to build the most spectacular things?
Of course my simple mind could not imagine it all, but my expectations were far surpassed, and that mere melody is enough to bring a calmness to the place, and all the elves that soon came to join us and walk upwards towards it in a line seemed to add to the ambience, most aloof and tall, a kin that cared about harmony so much that even the footsteps were light, and the voices low, as such so it won't break the spell of serenity brought by the music of the forest.
As a procession of divine creatures we all walked up closer to the music, the place coming to view with each step we take up the stairs.
It was clearly a place made for reunions as even the city has a center to receive the guests; and had me shocked for not having any inns in it; it was made to look the most beautiful and in tune with nature as possible, filled mostly with open spaces, pillars with plants hugging then, barely any roofing beyond the main path and some round places put around to reunite elves under it with tables holding food on top of them, but the most intriguing is the work with the water itself, streaming around the pillars inside stone crevices made for it, falling down the round constructions as small waterfalls, making blinds of transparent water all around.
All my attention, however, is captivated by a figure half emerged in the water on the side, framed by elves playing instruments, harps and flutes, a clear pool of water with colorful plants growing around it, some twisting grass too, and the torches surrounding the players were obscured by the shining image of what, at first, seems to be a mermaid, but with a closer look at the lack of a tail underwater I realize that it was, in fact, another magical creature.
As it sang strikingly I can have a good look at her, the white-blue skin, the pointy webbed ears, but mostly at the very long hair that hid her body, with long strands that somewhat looked transparent and yet reflected the light enough not to be, with tones of blue and some stronger red mixed in between, and when I look at it overflowing the water and framing her body I realize that the n.a.k.e.d creature had no gender to speak of, the skin down there smooth like the rest of its body.
As I pass it briefly opens its eyes and looks at me, white empty orbs gazing back as it nods in knowledgment, making me nod back as I pass.
Really now the elves know how to make their party rather… fancy. I wonder that waits for us tonight.