“Snow, we need to prepare a welcoming party.”
“Huh? Who is coming?”
“The Amulet of the bovine Tribe is moving. They might be here in about four to five days.”
“Really?! Does Spot come too?!”
How should I know? I can not look through the things… Is it possible to create surveillance in small form factors? Might be an interesting try…
“I do not know. I can only tell they are moving. We have some Houses still free, so there should be a bit room for them to stay cozy, but we need to tell the Villagers of them, otherwise they might be too wary.”
“Then lets prepare! Please let Spot be with them.”
…
“So Beast people come to visit? This sounds serious, I will tell everyone to be on their best behavior and not hide from your friends.”
“Thank you Belk. There might be some cultural differences, but I hope nothing goes wrong. Could you ready some Food for a welcoming feast? I will pay.”
“No worries, we will prepare the accommodations and work on the festivities. Anything else you might need, Lord?”
“Ah, yeah. Some of the larger Houses are still empty, right? Might you be cleaning them for them to be hospitable? I do not know how long they might stay, but better be ready for them, so we do not look unwelcoming.”
“This can be arranged. We have still some blankets in reserve, should they need them. Is that alright?”
“I believe they have all they need, just the shelter for now. If they ask, you can obviously share some. They come to trade, so there might be a great possibility.”
This is a great thing. Finally a visit where the visitors not at first come with drawn weapons. A nice trade of our things with theirs… Ah!
“I remember! Sorry, but they do not use coinage, the trades are wares for wares. You might to tell the people that, so they do not wonder why they do not take Money.”
“Huh! Better tell the people, otherwise there might be a slip of the tongue, that might be insensitive. I will remember to tell them, Lord.”
“Thanks Belk. Now for the preparation of the wares they might need…”
…
Zip, zip… zip, zap…
Right now I am in a Bladehopper. As they are hard to see and can move very quickly I thought it might be the best way to look at the people coming.
Right now they are at the border of the Forest and the Steppe. Who they all are, I can not see without going there, so here we are.
The reason for it was my stupid foreboding thought of ‘finally someone without drawn weapons are coming’. So stupid to make irony that thick!
There could be a chance they are not the bovine, but a Tribe which stole the Amulet to attack me, so better be safe than sorry. Lets see their camp.
…
“And what about Spot?”
“Snow, I was just looking from afar. They are bovine and a small delegation of some Elves. I can not tell who is with them and who isn’t… but… I might have seen a bovine girl with a spot on her nose while searching…”
“Yay! Spot is coming with them! I want to introduce Anna, hopefully they become friends and I can let them visit together my playroom and play all night while…”
“Snow, start breathing. You get overenthusiastic. If she wants she can go with you to the Castle, but do not be disappointed, if she does not want to. You know she is a passive and steadfast girl.”
Finally she starts to stop dancing. Is she that happy to see her again? We should have more guests to make her happy.
“Understood! I am asking her nicely, and if not we just play in the Mansion. Some puzzles are still there.”
That is a good rat.
…
“Welcome brother Hoof. You seem to have found your way to us safely. Are you hungry or tired?”
“Null! Good to see you again. So this is your place? Rather… rocky. No grass and no wind, I will need some time to become acclimated to this. We are a bit hungry and I see you expected us? Or do you await someone else and we just came at an opportune time?”
“No this is for you. I noticed you, when you were in front of the Forest, but had to work and could not come to you directly. I hope you excuse me for that.”
“Don’t be so formal! We are happy to see you, and would even be glad to be here, if we had surprised you. Thank you for the welcoming, we…”
“Spot!”
Ah, there she is. Running right to her friend, like lightning to a pole. Well it is nice to see her happy. Anyway I should show them in, before we just stand the whole time.
...
“As I wanted to say, we have brought members of the elves Tribe with us. They are the mediators of the Steppe, and heard many… dreams of other races.”
The last thing was been whispered. I understand their plight. If it came out they could see the future, everyone would try to bring them under their banner. A miracle they told me, but as they want to be truly friendly with me, they just tried to be open, as they do not want to be eradicated by their nightmares.
The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
Not that I would just ravage the Steppe without reason. I do not understand why they think I would kill them all, when I am rather chill… most of the time…
“I understand. Is there something to discuss with them?”
“As the mediators, they want to understand what our worry is, so they sent with us two of their own to see you.”
While talking, the two in question came closer.
“We are the elven delegation. I believe ‘stomping right hoof down’ has already told about us?”
“Not fully, but I understand you wanted to meet me? Can I help you with something?”
“Great disturbance was being told of, and we came to inspect the cause of different pleads to help with defense. We do not want to cause harm, but if we do not travel back to our Sisters, there will be consequences.”
Starting right of with a threat, eh? Well they were told maybe different viewpoints and need to understand the problem directly.
…
{We greet our ancestor...}
Well I thought they would be more relaxed with Leafy here, but they are rather… stiff? No, more distant or hostile. The sentence was more forced out of them than truly meant.
{Do not see me like that. I am a wildflower, cut off from my Tree and living in isolation with my lover. We neither need to care about some superiority nor hostility between us.}
While they seem more relaxed, the air is still a bit strained.
{Can anyone…} ahem “Can anyone explain what is going on?”
Accidentally talked in Root too. Seems there is only a slight dialect difference? Maybe different syllables and intonation, but I can at least understand them. Well my accent will always sound like Root, unless I find some Elf wandering where he should not and pick his brain clean.
“To speak their Language… I am sorry, but we Steppe Elves are not good to speak with our rather Bigoted origin.”
“You… As strongly I would protest, you might have some point. My former brethren are quite staunch in their believes, but try to better themselves under our… their Queen Mother.”
“Still they are… no, we should keep our bad words to us. My apologies.”
“Leafy is no Root and her love is definitely not Root, so please try to keep an open mind for now. I really thought this would relax the atmosphere to be with someone of the same heritage, but it was my mistake.”
For the talk about Petal I got a rather sharp elbow from Leafy. She might not want to talk about her to strangers.
“We understand. So for what we want to know, are you thinking of creating an ocean of Blood in the Steppe?”
“No… but you would not believe me just like that, right?”
“Right. We never saw you directly, but while you were in the Steppe, you were watched and some said you were friendly, but others said you are dangerous. To tell the truth, we just visit you directly to see their fear with our own eyes.”
Nonsense, no one has watched us. There could have maybe one or two, who might have been out of our sight, but so many? They just don’t tell about the Shamans ability to see the future.
“I can understand the confusion. While the bovine Tribe sees us as harmless, the cat tribe looks at us torn. Some might think we are a danger, but believe us, if we are not antagonized, nothing will happen.”
“...what would you see as ‘antagonizing’?”
“Taking things from me or my friends.”
“...and?”
“That is the broad spectrum. Under it falls also hurting or even killing me or my friends. I have a rather low fuse to threats being thrown at my Family.”
“I really do not understand the danger they see in you then. Just stay here and do not disturb the Steppe.”
“That is the crux on the whole scenario. I need something from the Ruins inside the Steppe. A way home.”
“We… heard you might not be from here, so I suspect your body is…”
“Not my own. Stolen from someone who wanted to steal from me. I can be rather vicious in that aspect, but am peaceful otherwise.”
Sweat starts to run down his face. His female partner shows more restraint. For him to talk, she might think of me not worth it? They are normally matriarchal, or are those Steppe Elves different?
“If you are really from somewhere else, you are definitely not welcome to the Steppe. Could we ask you to search somewhere else?”
The question is rather logical and I have no right to wander their territory without their permission. The whole Steppe is more or less their own Country and I invade it, blatantly so. I know I should be peaceful and just search somewhere else.
“...Sorry, what I need is already been mentioned by multiple sources to maybe still exist in the Steppe. I do not want to invade or ravage your Lands, just look at the old ruins, most of you not even care about. Can I not just go there in peace and leave after I have seen what I wanted to see?”
Finally the female one pipes up.
“This is no place for negotiation. A thing from beyond should be killed right then and there. You are not welcome here so be happy to just stay where you are and be happy not being hunted down.”
“Elara!”
“Those are the tenants of our Tribe. Those are the rules of all Elves to secure the sanctity of our World. We are the protectors, are we not ‘Root’?”
“As I said, I am no Root anymore. Also he is here to keep another Invader at check.”
“As expected, the Root have become too weak to just eradicate both dangers.”
“You…”
“Where were you, when the dark Crystals wanted to invade?”
My throwback was right in time for making vent Leaf her anger and make them perturbed.
“Those are not here, are they?”
“Yes, because I am here. Did you not hear about that, or are you only listening selectively to the plights of the Tribes, and decide which you might be able to handle?”
“It did not come! We would have protected the Steppe!”
“So you just hid behind your meat shields of Beastkin and now are heckling the one who single handedly stopped the Invasion? What brave Elves you are.”
“You!”
“Feeling aggrieved? That is what happens, when you mess with someone who I care for. Do you want to try again with the talk or are we finished?”
“We are finished. Sildren we go.”
“Elaren, we are here for negotiations not your vanity!”
“I am the Leader! We go if I say we go!”
And that was the end of it. No loss in my eyes.
…
“The Elves just went directly without us. Have the negotiations failed brother?”
“First they were courteous… to a degree, then they threw insult after insult and suddenly they think they are better than anyone.”
“That doesn’t… wait, Elder said it might happen as you are… the Unbeing?”
Again with the whisper at the end.
“Might be true, if it means what I think it means. They just asked me and I answered honestly, then threw a fit.”
“This will not end well. They take the protection of the Steppe serious. It might be possible, they will try to eliminate you.”
“...I think I have a bad feeling about what your Elders Dreams really meant Hoof.”
“Shh!”
Ah, I forgot. Secret, sure. Still if the destruction is really what I think it is, I am not the factor of the massacre. I am just defending against the fanatics, who think attacking me without reason is the way to go.