Forums » Fantasy Roleplay » Elves of All Kinds (1x1)

"The pleasure is mine." Ralda smiled. "Now, what can I do for you?"

"You don't happen to have anything for Raeliel to learn leaf-walking in, do you? I know you've been busy with other things, but--" Saelhil was cut off when Ralda laughed.

"Of course I do. Have you ever known me to not be prepared, Sael? Please, please, come in!" Ralda pulled Saelhil inside, gesturing for Raeliel to follow. "The day before your wedding, I would be expecting you to come, but perhaps for some clothing of different... caliber."

Saelhil felt his ears heat up. "Ralda!" he hissed between his teeth, but she only laughed and left them to go into another room.

Raeliel followed along as she was gestured, stepping into the house just as she heard Ralda mention clothes for something else. She blushed as well, tugging slightly at her dress. Was he into that? She had a lot to learn about him. And he had been in love before, so maybe him and that girl had... well, Raeliel didn't quite want to think about it. She just looked away, left alone awkwardly with Saelhil.

{I am so so so so so so so sorry for not being on! I forgot to tell you that I was away at youth camp for a week >.< //quickly gives a forgiveness cookie//}

Saelhil huffed a bit through his nose, then rubbed his arm uncomfortably as he awaited Ralda's return. Luckily, she came back in only a few minutes with a set of clothes over her arm. Ralda held them out to Raeliel.

"There you are, dear. Please, try them on for size. Seeing as you're so...small, I may have to take them in a bit..." She rested a finger on her cheek thoughtfully, then gestured towards a changing screen in the corner of the room. With that, she turned her attention to Saelhil. "I trust you will be wearing your father's clothes tomorrow, Sael? Have you had your Glow arranged?"

Saelhil glanced at her, then nodded slightly. "Hn. Indeed." He glanced away slightly, then pushed back his hair. Ralda just watched him thoughtfully, then glanced back to Raeliel.

(It's okay!! I actually was busy all week too, I couldn't respond at all!)

Raeliel took the dress and nodded. "Alright, thank you." She went behind the screen and changed, then made her way out to show the woman how it was. "Are the women of this village usually more..rounded?" She was indeed rather slim, even if she was beautiful. But her people didn't gorge on food, and always strove to keep a nice figure that was attractive and delicate.

"Miss Ralda, can you tell me when and where I should go to prepare for the ceremony tomorrow?"

Ralda smiled. "Oh, that looks fine. I'll just take in the waist a bit..." She nodded to herself, then smiled a bit at her question. "Rounded? No, dear. Just... broader. More muscular. Now change again so that I can fix it." She shooed her away. "Seeing as Sael has been as stupid and unthoughtful as men usually are, I will be taking care of you tomorrow, dearie." She chuckled at Saelhil's pout at her words. "I will come get you in the morning to get you ready."

Raeliel nodded in understanding. Yes, that made sense. "Alright. Thank you, Miss Ralda." She went to change, and came back out, handing the dress over to her. "It's lovely, thank you. I'll look forward to your assistance, thank you." She looked over to Saelhil. She had called him Sael. Hmm. "Is there anything else we needed from Miss Ralda, Saelhil?" Certainly not clothes of a different 'caliber'.

Saelhil shook his head slightly. "I believe that is enough for now. Thank you Ralda." He nodded to the older woman, and Ralda smiled and kissed Saelhil's cheek.

"My pleasure. Do behave, won't you, Sael? This isn't just any other girl you're leading around." Ralda smiled cheerfully.

"You don't have to keep telling me to behave," he said adamantly. "I'm not a child anymore."

"Ah, but you are a young man now. Young men always get into as much trouble as children." Ralda chuckled, then ushered them out. "Now, be gone with you both! Have fun on your wedding's eve."

Raeliel watched the two of them, surveying the scene carefully. She wanted to learn more about him, and observing was the best way. She was curious. When Ralda ushered them out, she left with Saelhil. "Thank you, Miss Ralda. I'll see you tomorrow." When the door was shut behind them, she looked at Saelhil. "What did she mean about leading girls around?" Ralda knew much more about Saelhil than she did.
"And...where do we go to next.." She paused a moment, considering what to call him. But she decided against it. "Saelhil?"

"That? Oh." Saelhil shrugged. "She always says that. I don't really know why, seeing as I haven't really ever had any proper courting with a girl. I wasn't even courting Mirwen. We were just... the best of friends." He laughed slightly. "It may sound strange, but I always wanted to make sure that the woman I married thought of me as a friend, not just a husband. It's a bit hard to explain my reasoning, I think." He took a pause to answer her next question. "Well... We can go watch the children in school, if you wish. I believe they are learning legends today..." He chuckled. "Not much learning going on. Just story-telling. It's much more interesting when they go out to the woods. I love watching the little ones climb their first tree." He sighed slightly, then shook his head. "But I'm sure you would rather see something else... You will be meeting everyone tomorrow and during the celebrations, so that isn't so important at the moment..."

Raeliel was curious about the legends, but he didn't seem so fond of going there right now. At least, with her. Maybe he was afraid she would say something rude. "Oh. Well, it's up to you. I mean, you know this place better than I do, so I don't mind where we go. I need to learn about everything, so anywhere is fine." She gave a soft sigh. A friend, huh? Well, it seemed like that wasn't going to happen so easy. She had a feeling this was going to be a lonely marriage.

"Oh." Saelhil glanced at her, wrinkling his nose. "Don't be so indecisive." He then smiled at her. "This is all just a bit weird to me. We don't have elves from other villages too often so I really don't know what would be interesting, or important..."

Raeliel frowned a little bit. "I'm not being indecisive. You're the one who suggests something and then says that I'd probably want to see something else instead!" She sighed slightly and looked away when he spoke. "It's weird for both of us, Saelhil. But I need to know everything about your village, so everything is important to me. I have to learn all about this place. I'm going to be here for the rest of my life." She may not find it all interesting, but she had to learn about the entire village, all it's customs and beliefs, and everything else.

Saelhil grimaced slightly at her words, then rubbed his arm for a moment. He inhaled quietly. "Yes... of course. My apologies." He shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts. Yes, the elf knew he had a tendency to be a bit absent minded and he often jumped around in a conversation. "We will go to the lake, then. That is where the stories are being taught." Saelhil now spoke quietly, and slowly. He turned towards the forest, instinctively reaching for a branch when he got to the nearest tree, but he stopped himself and continued walking when he remembered that Raeliel wouldn't be able to follow him if he leaf-walked.

Raeliel walked along with him, noticing the change in his behavior. She was very quiet, and didn't say much as they walked. She noticed him reaching to the branch, and then looked away. Great. Things were tense once more. She looked around, watching as they went through the forest. It was such a nice place, and when they reached the lake, she couldn't help but smile a little. It was beautiful. The lake was nice and lovely, and she watched the gathering around it.

Saelhil approached the crowd of children all sitting around a fallen tree, watching a man speak. The elf was Jerenion, and he taught the children when their parents had to work (as usually, children were taught everything by there parents and older siblings). Saelhil took a seat in the back of the small group, on the ground. The grass was soft and green, and the lake lapping against the shore was peaceful and serene. A child noticed Saelhil sit--it was a little boy, only a toddler--and quickly crawled to sit in Saelhil's lap; Saelhil invited him with a subdued smile but said nothing, as to not interrupt Jerenion.

The teacher was ending some story or another, obviously wrapping up the loose ends. The children were all enthralled and gazed wide-eyed at Jerenion, listening intently. Saelhil knew he would probably tell stories until noon, so they had plenty of time to learn about the legends.

Raeliel sat down beside him, watching as the toddler climbed into Saelhil's lap. So he was good with children. She'd somewhat assumed it, because of his sister and those twins earlier, but this definitely proved it. She would sit and listen to the stories, thought she often watched the kids and Saelhil while she listened. This was all quite new to her. She wasn't used to all of this...informality. And now that Saelhil was to marry her, she was trying to figure out as much about him as she could.

Jerenion told them the stories of the natural elves all morning long. He told them the beginnings of their people, and how they used to live in a grand forest with trees as high as mountains, and how their villages would be built in the trees with ladders and rope bridges as the pathways. Jerenion spoke of ancient magic that the natural elves found deep in the heart of the forest, but also how other peoples corrupted some of the natural elves with greed and pride. The rest of the stories also explained much about their culture, including the beginning of all their traditions. It soon ended, however, and that was when Saelhil stood up, the toddler in his arms.

"Sael! Sael!" the little boy exclaimed. "Are those stories all true? Even the ones about the dragons?"

Saelhil smiled gently and touched his nose playfully to the boy's. "Mmhm. The stories have been passed down from our ancestors. I believe every word of them... Maybe one day you will go off adventuring and meet one of the dragons... You would be brave, wouldn't you? No beast could stand up against you, I'm sure of it." This made the boy smile a bit, and Saelhil set him down so that he could join the rest of the group. Saelhil turned to Raeliel. "Do you have a better understanding now?"

Raeliel listened to the stories, and watched Sael with the child. She was impressed, really. She listened with a smile as he spoke to the boy, and nodded as Saelhil spoke to her. "I do. It's absolutely necessary to learn about a peoples' belief of origin, so this was a good stop." She looked at him for a few moments carefully. "You're good with kids. Did Mirwen want kids?" She couldn't help but keep bringing the woman up. She wasn't sure what the feeling was, but she just got a bad feeling whenever he spoke of her, and she felt like this Mirwen would know more about Saelhil than she ever would. Was it...perhaps...jealousy? No, Raeliel refused to admit that it was such a pathetic feeling as that.

Saelhil nodded. "Good. I am glad you enjoyed it." He turned to go back to the village, but paused at her question. "Well... Yes. She did. As do I... Do... Do you?" He watched her hesitantly, then turned his attention back to the path and continued onwards.

Raeliel looked away as he confirmed that they'd wanted kids. When he turned the question on her, though, her face flushed and it seemed like words would not come out of her lips. "I..well.." She finally just started walking to move back to the village. "I think children can be nice." A mysterious answer, because their circumstances weren't really normal! Did she want children? Sure, sometime. But the question was, did she want children with Saelhil? And did he want children with her? She shook her head slightly, preferring not to think about it. She already had enough to worry about right now.