"Do you deny the First Elf?"
The aide's mouth opened.
"I- of course not, but-"
"Then you will fetch your magistrate, and you will do it now, or I will ask my sister elders to record your hesitation at the next shrine council."
The aide sprinted for the chamber.
…
On a vine bridge between the third and fourth tiers, two elven women had stopped to watch a shrine maiden sprint past them with her tiara sliding and her robes hiked to her knees.
"Have they been eating the wrong mushrooms in the sanctuary garden again?"
"...was that a tiara?"
"That was a tiara."
"Why is she wearing a tiara?"
"And why is it so pretty?"
An elven man leaned out of a treehouse window above them with a sleeping toddler slung across his hip.
"What's happening?" he called, softly, to not wake the child.
"Nothing. Go back inside."
"Something's happening."
"Nothing you need to worry your little head about."
The man shrugged and obeyed.
…
