Luelle woke up to a ticklish feeling on her skin and a loud snort. She woke up, and the first thing she did was sneeze. Surrounding her were 2 deers, one was sniffing her hand and the other was lapping at her hair with its tongue.
Her eyes adjusted and she stared directly at them, for a moment Luelle just froze, she wasn't even making a sound until one of them blew air straight at her face. Luelle finally let out a scream at the sight of the deers right in her face. She sprung up right away.
"…not what I was expecting to wake up to…" Luelle shrieked at the feeling of her hair being wet with saliva. Erydor appeared out of a bush, as soon as he heard the scream. He didn't say anything, just glancing between the deer, and Luelle's hair. Erydor cracked a smile slowly and then bursted out laughing so hard that he almost passed out.
Luelle didn't seem amused, in fact she was getting increasingly annoyed.
"Funny…" Luelle ignored Erydor and turned to look at the door, who slowly started to leave, disappearing out of view behind some trees.
Erydor handed Luelle some walnuts after he had stopped laughing. Luelle took the nuts reluctantly, back at her kingdom, Luelle used to have so much more food…now she had to chew on nuts and wake up to deer saliva on her hair. Gross!
"So..how much longer till we get there?" Luelle asked as she started chewing.
"Days…if we keep moving at this pace, I calculate 8-10 days" Erydor explained.
Luelle nervously laughed, but Erydor's facial expression didn't change.
"Wait, you're serious??" Luelle looked shocked
"It could've been worse" Erydor looked at it from the bright side. Though Luelle wasn't exactly happy, she reluctantly nodded along.
Luelle and Erydor arrived at Glenmoon village, exactly 8 days later. Luelle looked exhausted, however her eyes seemed to gaze past the entrance, locking onto another sacred tree.
Similar to the one back at her kingdom, but with gold leaves. She seemed a bit happier but right now all she wanted was to crash onto a bed, and take the hardest nap of her life. Unbeknownst to her, their arrival wouldn't be so welcomed.
Unlike Frostvale peaks, Glenmoon village wasn't ruled by a king/queen. It was run by a village chief.
It also meant Glenmoon village didn't belong to a kingdom. Glenmoon was a small village, located between Frostvale peaks and Gardenia Glades. Its chief was named, Falael Dabala. Luelle didn't know much about him, only that he was a kind and righteous chief.
"Erydor!" One elf standing by the entrance shouted upon seeing Erydor.
"It's good to see you…everybody by now knows what happened and-" The elf finally noticed Luelle, standing right behind Erydor. It didn't take a genius to figure out who she could be.
"We'll speak with the chief." Erydor spoke with a firm tone.
Luelle and Erydor were led to a large room. Luelle didn't expect the village to be so grandeur, she had expected small huts. Inside the room she sat at a large round table beside Eridor. Sitting around them were multiple elves, probably the chief's council. Finally across from Luelle and Erydor sat the chief.
Falael daefiel. and what Luelle presumed to be his children sitting on either side of him. Falael Balala was a short slender elf with fair skin and white short hair. He had hazel eyes. His children, a girl with white short wavy hair and light purple eyes sat on his right, she wore a welcoming smile. Luelle's eyes darted to the girl's hair, noticing she had a flower adorned on her hair. A wallflower.
Luelle felt somewhat comfortable until she glanced at the left, sitting on Falael's left was his son. A tall elf with long wavy white hair. He stared directly at Luelle with his dark purple eyes, he looked like he was sizing her up. Unlike his sister; he wore no smile; instead staring at her with a serious face expression, his eyebrows drew together.
"Erydor, you've come back… we've all heard of what happened at Frostvale peaks…and the new proclaimed king." Falael spoke with pity. The elves around him looked visibly tense.
"Yes…it was the king's younger brother, Valric. Listen chief, I don't wish to trouble the village…..But princess Luelle has nowhere to go. I plead for you to let her stay." Erydor pleaded, his voice showing an undertone of desperation.
"Princess Luelle…we're all truly sorry to hear what happened to your famil-" Falael was cut off by his son.
"She can't stay." His son spoke, his voice sounding calm but sharp
Falael seemed to give him a stern look but one of the elves from the council coughed and spoke up.
"Valric has sent out people to look for princess Luelle, just 2 days ago. A couple of elves riding horses arrived relaying the message to ask if we've seen her." The elves around him agreed and more and more of them spoke up.
"If we let her stay, it could stir up trouble for the village." They kept murmuring.
"We could send her to Gardenia Glades, her uncle is the king there" they pondered upon the subject.
"That's out of the question!" Erydor raised his voice.
"That's the first place Valric would look, by now the castle must be filled with his people." Luelle tapped his shoulder and stood up.
"I know this is a difficult thing to decide…taking in someone who could put the village at risk, but I genuinely have nowhere to go. My family is gone…my kingdom is gone, taken by my uncle. Chief Falael, could you find it in your heart…to let me stay even if for only a bit?" Luelle's voice was soft…pleading. making the council visibly uncomfortable by their earlier discussions.
Chief Falael stood up from his chair and said "We don't turn away from those in need. King Arionthor and Queen Inara helped us once, remember? Our crops were struggling and they sent aid, no payment required, just out of the goodness of their hearts." Hearing that, his council stayed quiet, all but one person.
"Father, you can't possibly be thinking of letting her stay! this will end up bad-" Chief's Falael's son spoke up.
"That's enough Rynarion!" Hearing his Father's words made Rynarion shut up real quick, crossing his arms.
Falael cleared his throat "Of course letting princess Luelle means we will have to take precautions and she will need a legal guardian….Erydor, I hope you'll look after her as her legal guardian from now on" Chief Falael's words put both, Luelle and Erydor at ease.
"Yes of course, thank you for letting her stay, Chief" Erydor stood up, and so did the council.
"Thank you…I appreciate this, this brings my heart some…ease" Luelle stared directly at chief Falael to which he nodded with a smile.
As Luelle and Erydor started to leave the council room, her eyes met Rynarion's deep purple eyes.To which he quickly averted her gaze. His sister shot Luelle a smile, just as welcoming as when Luelle had first walked in.