"Don't ever let an elf hold a grudge with ye. They don't forget, and tend to pay it back viciously. Bloody knife-eared buggers." - Dwarven saying.

Dawn arrived the next day with a gentle light. The leafy canopy of the forest allowed light through, at just the right amount. Neither too bright, nor too dim, and soon after the sun rose over the horizon the dark forest teemed with activity again.

Early in the morning, Cal sparred with Idania in the small private garden the family possessed. It was mostly a patch of soil layered over the foundation of woven tree branches, on which the family simply sowed some grass, and flowers at the corners. Idania usually used the garden to exercise, which was why they sparred there.

Idania herself was what the elves called Eanve-Nkurth, or "Bladesinger" in the common tongue. She was born ambidextrous and possessed excellent dexterity even for an elf, qualities that allowed blades to truly sing in her hands.

Her weapon of choice were a pair of identical swords, each roughly a meter in length, with the blade as four-fifth of the length. The swords, an elven type called an Osuntaph, resembled the daggers Cal bought in Knallzog. They were more slim and slender in construction, but also had a forward-curved single edged blade.

That Idania's blades were craftes from pure mithril was evidence on how well off their family was. She herself held a post as one of the many leaders of the city's defense force, while her mother, while now retired from duty, had held a post as an active council member for a century in the recent past.

"That halberd's shaft is father's old staff, is it not?" Idania asked as Cal parried her blades with a spin of her weapon. To the side of the garden her two daughters watched enraptured at the spar.

"It is so," Cal said as she drove her sister back with a swing of her weapon. "Father had asked a travelling dwarven smith to craft it for me when he was in his final years. The head used to be his inner mesh armor."

"I envy you for having such a nice keepsake~" said the older woman with a laugh as she dodged again from a backswing of Cal's weapon. "I see you had more work done to it since though?"

"Had the head coated in adamant recently," answered Cal as she entangled one of Idania's blades with between the spearhead and crescent blade of her halberd, and blocked the other with the shaft. "It had started to take damage from frequent sparring against high purity adamant steel weapons."

"Who do you even spar with? Those are pretty rare with how expensive the dwarves charge for them," asked Idania as she teleported her entangled blade a little to the side, caught it before it fell, and swung at Cal from the new position.

"I have students," Cal said as she blocked the blow with a tilt of her weapon's head. "Might be a bit soft on them, but I couldn't bear seeing them run around with worse when I could give them better."

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"You must really like them, huh?" Idania said as she disengaged to avoid a blow from the halberd's shaft. "That must've cost a fortune."

"I am… quite fond of them, yes," Cal said as she took a step back to avoid a sudden double thrust from her sister. "It was a bit like the feeling you get when you watch children grow before your eyes."

"That is often how it is yes," said Idania in reply while she turned her thrust into crossed slashes. The older elven woman had a slight blush on her face as she continued. "I had my own share of disciples over my centuries. More than a few I grew fond of. One more than the others."

"Ooooh, their father?" Asked Cal as she used her halberd to catch both of Idania's blades right as they crossed. Her eyes gave a teasing glance to her nieces by the side.

"Yes, he was," Idania looked to the side as if she heard something at this point, and made no moves to disentangle her blades. "We might want to call it a day, mother is already working on breakfast so we better freshen up before she's done."

"Fine with me," Cal said as she let go of Idania's blades and withdrew her halberd. "Good spar, sister."

"You are very good yourself, especially for your age. I don't think many in the defense force would be your opponent at all," praised Idania as she placed her blades back in her storage and led the way. "Children, help your grandmother in the kitchen, we will be back soon."

Elaina and Sidonie snapped a smart salute to their mother - a balled right fist placed over the heart - before they turned and went into the house. Clearly both kids idolized their mother quite a bit.

Where Idania led Cal to was a public bath. Private baths were nonexistent in Égørisvænovãēnæl. The public bath itself was more an artificial lake, fed to by a waterfall that flowed from up high in the canopy. Many elves of both genders and all ages were already bathing there when they arrived.

"That's rare," said Idania after they shed off their clothes and went into the water.

"What is?" Cal asked from next to her sister, both of them naked as the day they were born in the crystal clear waist deep water.

"Usually foreigners have some reaction when they first visit a bath here," Idania explained. "You don't seem to have any though."

"Communal baths are also the norm in Al-Shan, so it's nothing new to me," said Cal as she shrugged her shoulders and walked under the waterfall. She allowed the flowing water to wash off her for a good while before she walked back out.

Idania just grumbled about a missed opportunity until they finished with their bath.

After they had breakfast - a porridge made from maize, seasoned with herbs and spices, with chunks of minced meat within, as well as some fresh fruits, all washed down with honey wine - the whole family insisted on showing Cal around the place.

The forest itself was far too large an area for Cal to properly visit the entirity of, not if she wanted to reach the north shore by summer's first month. Her plan was to check out the central, eastern or western, and the northern regions only for this visit. The rest she could view on her next visit.

She saw elven farms, either placed on the occassional clearings on the forest floor, or more commonly high among the branches, on artificial plots like the one Idania's garden was on. Many rare herbs she recognized seemed commonplace in Égørisvænovãēnæl, even those known to be very finicky about where they grow.

They visited what passed for an elven eatery for lunch, ran and owned by a friend of Idania's. The younger female elf who owned the place greeted them with all smiles, and brought them her specialty dishes.

Skewers of spiced grilled mushrooms with long stalks were brought out, piping hot and straight from the grill. Also served was a refreshing salad of fruits and greens, drenched in an oily and vinegary sauce, as well as copious amounts of fresh fruit, many of which Cal had never seen before.

Cal had nibbled on a hairy brown fruit that revealed a verdant green interior when peeled, that had a pleasant tanginess to it, when the owner came back with several steaming cups in her hands.

Inside those cups were a thick brown liquid, with some red powder sprinkled on it. Cal tasted the smooth and thick beverage, and found a delicate yet deep bittersweetness, cut with a tinge of spiciness from the powder. Idania said the drink was made from the seeds of the cacao fruit, as she pointed out an eaten cacao pod on the table as an example.

The extended family had such a good time with each other that none of them noticed the pair of eyes that were riveted to them since they sat at the eatery. Eyes that brimmed with resentment, and deep seated jealousy.