“Emotions need to be acted on, if not now, then in the future. Nobody can keep everything pent up inside them all their life.” - Saying attributed to the Silver Maiden.

“Is it fine to just let them do what they’re doing?” Áine asked with a concerned look on her face to Aideen and Illydia who were drinking and chatting with each other on the table next to hers. Aideen had gotten along well with the young elf who was seen as a leader figure amongst the younger elves from the Great Emerald Forest over the past couple of days. In more than one way.

The reason for Áine’s consternation was the pair of young male elves fighting with each other not five meters away from where they were seated. Perhaps calling it a fight was a disservice to fights everywhere, however, as there was no semblance of technique or skill whatsoever in the altercation between the two.

Instead, the two elves held the back of each other’s heads with their left arms and pummeled each other in the face with their right, over and over, neither giving any thought about getting out of the situation or attempting to dodge an incoming blow. The two just beat the loving daylights out of each other’s faces instead, with neither showing any intent to stop.

One of the elves was a local youngster, while the other was a member of Illydia’s group. There were a few other elves – mostly locals – looking at the two beating each other up, some cheering amusedly, even, but nobody showed any inclination of stepping in to stop them.

“Oh, them? Just let them be. Youngsters sometimes express themselves best this way,” said Illydia after taking a glance at the exchange of fists. By that point the faces of both elves were swollen and bruised to the point that it was hard to differentiate them from one another if not for the different clothes they wore. “Not like this is the first time something like this happens anyway.”

“You’re honestly an exception, Áine. A lot of youngsters that age tend to be emotional and prone to violence,” added Aideen with a chuckle as she looked over to her grand-niece. The other members of her group happened to be out on their own that day, so only Áine was with her at the time. “Hell, Eilonwy should have shown you this fact from long ago. I know that girl got into at least a few brawls when she was younger.”

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“Very commonplace for youths to solve their differences using their fists, yes, especially in the Forest,” said Illydia with an understanding nod. “From the looks of it, the people in the plains have not forgotten that habit either, and from what you said, even our cousins in the south still kept to it. Maybe there is a bit to our ingrained instinct that lends us suitable and prone to violence like some theorized.”

“Either way, this sort of play fighting is fine and healthy. It will teach the youths valuable lessons, like maybe learning to try not to take every punch with their faces, and more than a few friendships have been started in this exact manner,” added the young elven woman. “It’s just part of what makes us, us, I would say, so yeah. Let them tire themselves out.”

“If they need healing after they’re done I’ll deal with it,” said Aideen nonchalantly. Of course, for a healer of her caliber, dealing with bruises and swelling was as easy as flipping her hand over, so she had every right to be nonchalant about it.

“Maybe heal their hands, if they break anything. Broken bones in the hand can be troublesome if they don't heal right,” said Illydia in an equally relaxed manner to her offer. “Leave the bruises and swelling on their faces as reminders, since they do need to learn some lessons after all. You know how it is with youths, don’t you?”

“I know what you mean, indeed,” replied Aideen with an amused chuckle as she took another sip from the cup of tea she was holding. In the last century or so, a culture around tea drinking had cropped up amongst the locals of Alfheim, that was apparently also spreading to the Clangeddin Empire. There were even rumors of experimental liquors being made using tea leaves intended to get the dwarves into the habit as well.

Aideen could understand why such a culture suddenly came to be. Alfheim’s geography made it ideal for growing a large variety of plants that possessed leaves, flowers, or fruits suitable to be turned into tea of some sort. As such, a truly great variety of such teas – and utterly delightful mixtures of several kinds of them – were available to sample, something she had been getting into over the past couple of days.

In fact, many of the things Illydia’s caravan brought from the Great Emerald Forest were exactly that, more variety of flowers, leaves, and fruits to be dried and turned into base materials for creating tea infusions. The things they brought were ones that could only be found within the forest’s interior, and thus fetched good prices when sold abroad.

With the money they earned after selling their goods, the caravan would in turn purchase various spices and items that could not be easily found or were nonexistent in the Great Emerald Forest. Such a setup allowed them to gain great profits since they were selling rare and highly desirable items on both legs of their trip.

Of course, some of the more stubborn elders were staunchly against such exchanges, but of late, their voice had been subdued as more and more of the younger elders were swayed by profits and luxuries garnered from such trade.

Illydia herself proved to be a cunning elf, as she had deliberately “gifted” many of the younger elders with things they earned from the trade runs early on, trading away a portion of their profits to buy support within the elder council so they could increase the frequency and magnitude of their business instead. The girl clearly knew how to deal with politicians.