Ceris Draiochta was one of the elves with the purest elven bloodlines. She was the ruler of the elves, their very king!

  That little elf dared to say that she had only become king because of a special staff she had received?! She had never before been spoken to like this! And the one speaking to her was this random human child who couldn't actually even speak! She was writing clumsy, inelegant letters in the air with magic!

  Thinking about it practically made the blood of the elven ruler boil with rage.

  For a moment, Ceris gritted her teeth so tightly that her jaw began to ache. Her fists clenched until her fingers became white.

  Just as she opened her mouth to retort, Queen Kiridian shook her head and spoke to Anya.

  "No, my dear Anya, you must understand. It is a very difficult thing to become the ruler of the elves, dear girl. King Ceris may have used a special staff to help her, but even the best weapon, in the hands of an unskilled user, is no better than trash. The staff just gave her an advantage. She still had to have a certain proficiency with the staff in order for her to make use of it well. Claiming that she only won because of her staff is very rude and disrespectful, Anya. You should apologize to her." The fairy queen was as elegant and calm as ever, her demeanor like a clear pond of water, without even the slightest ripple on the surface. Even as she lectured Anya, she was cool and collected.

  "I am sorry, King Ceris. I did not mean to be rude. Have I offended you?" Anya wrote in the air, her head hung slightly in embarrassment and shame.

  Ceris' fists loosened and her anger cleared from her head. She had very obviously been offended, but she was before the fairy queen's adopted daughter. She did not want to ignore the fairy queen's diplomatic attempt to prevent a disagreement between the elven ruler and her daughter that could not be resolved. Ceris' teeth were still slightly gritted together, but she calmed down, at least a little bit.

  "I will not take offense to your rude statement," Ceris replied. Her bitterness had come through slightly as she spoke, even in spite of her specific care to prevent it. She took a deep breath to calm herself further and continued. "I know you meant no harm and that you are still learning. I must imagine that a former human has much to learn regarding etiquette in general, let alone the etiquette of our fairies and elves."

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  Anya nodded hesitantly. "You are right. I do still have a lot to learn. The Queen focused on teaching me how to write like this before etiquette or anything else. It would not matter if I knew etiquette without having some manner of communication, after all. I feel that I should apologize again for my poor writing."

  "Your handwriting is legible enough. I must admit, though; it is quite impressive that the Queen has allowed you to celebrate the Wairua Cruin festival with us, having learned so little," Ceris remarked, her tone deliberately innocent.

  As Anya thought of how to reply, the servant fairies brought out the last course to the welcome feast, a plate of light yellow and blue flowers that had been grown in the garden of Emmeralde Verthaven that tasted very sweet and delicate. They cleansed the palate and were delightful to eat, so all fairy feasts ended with these flowers, which were simply called verthavens.

  This also meant that conversations had to end, since speaking was not permitted during the flower course. It was a cultural tradition that had arisen because it was said that the first royal fairy to eat a verthaven flower was so amazed by its taste that they did not speak for several hours after eating it.

  So there they sat, the inwardly-disgruntled elven king trying so very hard to maintain her composure, the little mute girl who did not understand the person in front of her, and, of course, the fairy queen sitting between the two of them, as unaffected as ever.

  They ate the flowers in silence, as the banquet hall had quieted down. The silence during the flower course was usually very respectful and peaceful, but for Ceris, it had become quite uncomfortable. At this point, she had realized that her emotions had driven her to speak a bit too frankly to the queen's child, but she could do nothing to rectify her discomfort or apologize to the queen. She could only eat these lovely, tasty flowers in front of her. She avoided eye contact with both Queen Kiridian and Anya.

  Anya, on the other hand, was still using this time to think about how to respond to the elven ruler. She knew that Ceris was rejecting her presence among the fairies, but she did not understand why the elven king was not being upfront about it. She knew rejection like the back of her small, scarred hand, but it was the first time she had ever experienced this sort of roundabout aggression.

  Anya wished that Ceris would just speak to her honestly. She wished that Ceris would directly tell her what she felt about the girl. It would make things far less confusing for her, since Anya could simply not understand why Ceris was not already speaking to her about it.

  Queen Kiridian watched the two elves before her, a mischievous thought crossing her mind. She did not show anything outwardly though, as she elegantly ate her flowers.

  The queen finished the last flower, and set down her silverware, which signaled the end of the welcome feast. No one was allowed to continue eating after the fairy queen finished.

  Queen Kiridian suddenly stood up and clapped her hands together to draw everyone's attention towards her. "Attention, everyone! This feast has now ended! Welcome, Elves of Draiochta, to our Wairua Cruin festival!"