" And they sailed the seven seas,
With hands joined in crew,"
Amon sang as he carried Little One on his shoulders. Little One clap along as Amon did his best to keep the song going by adding whatever came to mind as they stood waiting under a tree surrounded by a friendly looking woods.
" They sailed to the east,
Then the west, all looking for some stew."
Amon laughed as he added while his stomach growled and wonder if it was okay to snack a little for tea. Philomel suddenly leaped into a branch close by and landed next to Amon. Amon who was used to it, didn't even bother to flinch this time.
" The Kingdom lay right past these trees, weirdly there isn't much security. I'm pretty sure they would find elves in these parts extremely suspicious, light or dark. We should try to blend in with the crowd and pretend to be human. "
Philomel informed with crossed arms as she lean against a tree.
" Dark human or light human?"
Amon questioned as he tried to see the Kingdom's walls past the trees.
" Is there a difference? Aren't all humans the same? "
Philomel wondered out loud as she tried to recall all that she knew about humans.
" Pretty sure that their skin aren't like elves and changes tones when under the sun for too long. "
" Hmmmmm, there are more dark tone humans than light tone. We should definitely go for that then but how do you plan on hiding our ears?"
Philomel brought up the issue as she rubbed the tip of her left ear.
" Well Little One could wear that headband you made out of the flag I had. You could use the other half and I could use Little One. I'll just have him hold on to my head like this."
Amon pulled the half torn flag from his pocket and show it to her before placing Little One's hands over his ears.
" And what exactly would be keeping your pants up? You been using that as a belt from the start. "
" I could easily pull my pants up every now and then."
Amon proudly announced as Little One took it as an invitation and pulled on both of Amon's ears hard.
" Ow!! No, Little One! No, pull! Pat, pat like Darzirak! Remember? We no longer pull, we pat Darzirak."
Amon reminded as he held Little One's hands to stop him from pulling. Little One babbled in confusion and disappointment as he like pulling Darzirak's ears and tail. Philomel laughed at the sight of both of them.
" Yeah that's definitely a good disguise. It's a good thing that you're wearing a belt with your hands full like that I'm sure there wouldn't be any hands left to pull it up. "
Philomel joked as took Little One off Amon's shoulder and carry the toddler in her arms.
" We should just use Little One's birthday present. "
Philomel suggested as she pulled out the handkerchief she made and tied it around Little One's head like a headband. Little One squealed in excitement of the new feeling around his head as he kept touching it and wanting to play with it. Amon grinned as he pats Little One's head and try to keep the toddler from pulling it off.
" You should use the flag while I..."
Philomel pulls off the ribbon keeping her hair up, sending wavy locks to be carried by the wind. Philomel turns to face the wind as she moves a lock of hair away from her eye. That one simple movement, that flick of her fingertip felt like she was moving more than just her hair. To Amon it felt like she was dragging out the air from his lungs. Philomel gaze for a moment at the sunlight as it lit up her face before turning back and look at Amon. Her piercing sky blue eyes shot an electrifying shock that ran through Amon's body. All at once suddenly air filled his lungs like he was drowning moments ago. That one glance, brought him back to life.
" While I can just use my hair to cover my ears. Good plan right?"
Philomel questioned with a smile that made her close her eyes giving time for Amon to recover and hide his blushing face at the realisation of his thoughts.
" *Clears throat* Go looking like a ghost. Good plan, I'm sure people would definitely stay out of our way."
Amon quickly muttered as he tie the half torn flag around his forehead and over the tips of his ears.
" Ghost?! Well better than looking like some wanna be street fighter."
Philomel pouted as she arrange her hair over her ears.
" Well then at least they know better than to mess with us!"
Amon punches the air in front of him as he pretended to fight his shadow before puffing out his chest with a huge smirk and his head held high. Philomel couldn't help but laugh at the sight as she shook her head. Amon grinned as he offered his hand, silently urging her along. Philomel didn't hesitate and took his hand, smiling back at him as they headed towards the kingdom gates.
Walls that once stood surrounding the kingdom were now laying in ruins covered with scorch marks barley keeping anything out. Among crumbling stone houses kept standing by a quick fix shoddy workmanship were small camping tents along with wooden huts. Many poor families crowd the sides of the streets making the pathway narrow. Black smoke rose in a distance from buildings that were just out of sight, painting the sky a dark gloomy grey that loomed over the kingdom without any signs of leaving.
Amon grimaced at the sight as he and Philomel entered the kingdom. Most still standing walls hung posters of missing children and people, each new poster randomly pasted over the old. As Amon walked past the beggers he noticed that none even came up to him to beg. All of them had a solemn, hollow look in their eyes like they all had given up, more than home or family. These people have up on life.
Amon turned to Philomel and noticed that she was constantly surveying their surroundings, keeping her guard up as her arms tighten around Little One in a protective way. Little One had a serious look on his face while studying the citizens.
As they neared the centre of the kingdom, there were much more noise from rants of drunks to desperate pitches of a merchant to the lulling calls of prostitutes showing all they had to offer and beckoning people to partake in their service. The area was doing much better than the outer areas of the Kingdom. There were a few soldiers around, fooling around more than doing their jobs but that didn't matter for most people who were higher in status had one or more body guards trailing after them. Nearing the harbour, the area there looked crummy but there were many pirates standing around and looking like they were guarding the area.
There were many pirate ships docked as Amon and Philomel walked past a few, they noticed the pirates loading woman and strong beaten men in chains toward their lower deck.
" Be extremely careful. Nothing looks safe in this kingdom. Never let your guard down."
Philomel whispered to Amon as she leans in closer to him.
" Feels like everything that could go wrong with a kingdom went wrong here."
Amon whispered back as he equipped his spear and kept a close eye on pirates watching them.
" Wonder why Luxtorious would even form an alliance with this place? Isn't this place like going against every teachings of the Goddess Asil Luna?"
Philomel wondered as she stared at a pirate who noticed her gaze and smiled at her in a creepy way. Instinctively Philomel walked closer to Amon and tighten her grip on Amon's hand.
" You know the teachings of Asil Luna?"
Amon squeeze Philomel's hand back which was reassuring for her.
" Well... No... But Luxtorious is a Holy City and they definitely build it or managed it accordingly to the teachings. Since this place is the complete opposite, I can only assume that it is against all Luxtorious stands for. "
" Ah, makes sense. * Laughs* For a moment there I thought you really did know all the teachings of Asil Luna."
Amon awkwardly admitted.
" Why would I learn the teachings of the Goddess who turned her back on her own people. What am I, the second generation of dark elves that thought they could repent and the goddess would forgive them? "
Philomel scoffed as she rolled her eyes.
" True... But sometimes you can never know. Maybe there is a dark elf who still clings to that hope even after 5 generations has passed and keeps it to himself fearing that he would be an outcast in his own tribe."
Amon monologued as his gaze turned to the smoky gloomy evening sky.
" That's one heck of a story but definitely not interesting enough to convince me to hear it in a place like this! Look there's a decent looking inn. Let's book a room there for the night."
Philomel suggested as she pulls Amon along towards a stone structure inn with a wooden roof and a huge sign saying 'The SeaDog's Inn'.
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