No, it turned out. Frederik took one look at the hammocks and chose to sleep on the ground. Aella couldn't blame him, the dirt here was softer than the stone they had slept on in the pits, and his wings looks pretty scratched up from stumbling through the woods in the dark.
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Settling down to sleep, Aella couldn't help but think over everything she had been through since she was little. All the times she had to fight and kill someone in the pits came to mind. The counselors had tried their best to kill her, but she had fought back and outsmarted them so many times, she finally succeeded in becoming the king. Now that she was the king, though, it was so much harder than she thought. It wasn't as easy as just giving orders and having things get down.
The human church had left such a mess of things, that she had to make the decision to move everyone in her entire kingdom to a new location, and even gods had gotten involved. The realm itself seemed to like her, and thanked her personally for her actions. She didn't feel all that special, despite all that had happened. Even finding out that she was a hero, capable of magical feats no other person in the world could do, didn't seem to make her feel any different. Things had changed so much since she was the little girl just trying to survive from one day to the next. Surviving now was nothing. Her entire perspective had shifted to making sure her people survived.
As her eyes drifted shut, she couldn't help but wonder, in the deepest corners of her mind, if they wouldn't be better off with someone other than her as king.
"Excuse me," said a soft voice, as if uncertain whether to wake her or not.
Aella rolled out of the hammock and crouched on the dirt floor, immediately ready for a fight.
"Oh! I'm sorry!" exclaimed a young female elf. She held her hands up defensively, as if expecting a blow at any minute.
Looking around to orient herself, Aella stood slowly and stared down at the elf girl.
"Forgive me," she said, trying to remember what else she was supposed to say in such a situation. Nothing came to mind, so she chose to go with the truth. "I still struggle with issues from my past. I did not mean to startle you."
The elven girl nodded, not completely convinced, and said, "I was told to inform you that a meal could be brought if you were hungry? Our king will be here in three hours and we thought it best if you had a chance to eat before then?"
Aella nodded, grateful she wouldn't have to remember her etiquette at the dining table for this meeting. "That would be appreciated, thank you."
The girl nodded again and hurried away, dropping the cloth hanging in the doorway back in place. Aella stood there thinking for a moment before turning to Frederik. He was snoring softly, with both his wings spread out over the floor. It was a miracle she didn't land on one when she rolled out of the hammock.
"What was that?" asked Alfred, rubbing his eyes and sitting up in his hammock.
"The elven king will be here is a couple hours and they are bringing us something to eat before he gets here," said Aella, stretching.
"Does that say something about them not thinking we're civilized enough to eat with their king?" asked Alfred, climbing out of the hammock and heading to the back of the room to relieve himself.
Aella watched as she thought about that. "I suppose that's a possibility. I figured he probably didn't want to have to go through the ceremony of providing us a meal. He is a king, and probably has a busy schedule."
"Like you do?" asked Frederik from the floor, rolling over with a groan and climbing to his feet.
"Hey, I'm plenty busy," she said, putting her hands on her hips.
"I know, I was the one filling in for you, remember?" he chuckled, heading to the back as Alfred returned, straightening his belt.
"It was nice of them to even offer. They didn't have to give us anything."
Aella shrugged. Glancing at the door. "Do you think we should stay in here until then, or do you think we could step outside and look around?"
"What do you think? You are a king," said Alfred, raising an eyebrow.
She sighed as Frederik returned from peeing, and headed to the back herself. "I suppose we should probably wait. If I had visiting guests, I wouldn't want them wandering around causing trouble."
"We could probably step outside," laughed Alfred, pushing the fabric aside, causing Aella to glance up, as she peed, with a frown. He did that on purpose!
"They've set up a table with some chairs for us," said Frederik, poking his head back into the tent to see her standing up and pulling her pants back up. "That's a sexy wiggle you have when you finish peeing."
"I don't care to get any piss on me," she growled, stalking towards him.
He laughed and darted back away from the door before she got there. Alfred was already sitting with Frederik when she stepped outside. The smell of earth and plants filled the area. She looked up and couldn't see the sky, for all of the tree limbs and leaves.
Elves were rushing around, not bothering to look in their direction, as they hurried to complete their tasks. Aella glanced around the small village, wondering if this was typical of a small village, or if it was just a small outpost for the scouts and guards who patrolled the edges of the forest to base out of. There didn't seem to be any children or women wives here, which made her think it was more of a base than an actual village.
"Here is a small selection of foods," said the elven girl, carrying a tray with enough food for four or five demons. "I'm sorry it's not royal quality, but we don't have a lot of that sort of food available here."
"Thank you, I am sure this will be more than enough," said Aella, nodding to the girl as she set the tray down on their table and hurried away.
"How much does she think we can eat?" asked Frederik softly.
"They probably don't have a clue," said Alfred reaching for a bread roll. "I imagine they would rather err on the side of having too much, rather than not enough."
"Fair enough," Frederik agreed, picking up a slab of meat in his claws and shoving it into his mouth.
"Is that the way you were taught to eat by the tutors?" asked Aella, raising an eyebrow. He was supposed to be the one who had more training than her.
"I'm the big scary demon they are expecting," said Frederik after a moment of chewing. "They probably haven't seen a demon up close in a long time, so I am here to make them think we are bestial. It's meant to make you appear more refined."
"Ah, a distraction technique," said Alfred with a nod of understanding.
Aella didn't like it. Frederik was painting a picture of an animal for the rest of her people to these elves.
"Even Firion acts better than that," she said, picking up a small boiled egg and popping it into her mouth whole.
Frederik almost choked as he glanced over at her in surprise. "Do you not want me to act like the tutors instructed?"
"If they told you to be horrible like this, I'll have them flayed when we get back," she said pleasantly, picking up the tea glass that was before her and tasting the light floral concoction.
Frederik glanced over at Alfred, who shrugged, before sighing and straightening his back. He carefully picked up a bread roll and sliced it open with one of his claws, then gently lay several thin sliced of meat inside of it to make a sandwich.
"So, what sorts of things do you intend to talk to the elven king about?" asked Alfred.
"I figure he's going to want to know what happened to the north, and then I thought I would ask about the missing sculptures from the buildings in the north mountains," said Aella, grabbing some of the grapes and a small apple.
They sat there and watched the elves hurry around, carrying supplies from one place to another, and Aella suddenly realized, they were panicking over the arrival of their king. She tried to think if any of her people had ever done that for her, and decided she never gave them enough warning to do it. Teleporting around might be quick and efficient, but she had missed out on the mass hysteria she could cause traveling around. It might be fun to stop teleporting once things calmed down, and actually do that.