The Endless Forest

Felix stood there dumbfounded. Of all the things Aluin could have asked, never in his wildest dreams did he think it could be something as serious as helping to find a queen.

“Help…?” He shook his head in confusion.

Aluin set his glass down and stared directly into his eyes. “Yes, Felix. Those people you saw earlier? They were other tribal leaders. I brought them here for the purpose of selecting a new queen.”

“But… But why do you need my help?” he asked, still not making sense of the request.

“Because whoever becomes the next queen will have to work with you. The two of you working together is vital. That is why I am asking for your help.”

Felix took a moment to process what Aluin was saying. It does make sense, but… A queen? I-I don’t know how I can help with that.

Zira hummed gently behind him. I think Aluin has a plan, else I don’t think he would have asked you.

You’re probably right, but… He let out a sigh. “What exactly are you wanting me to do?”

It was Chief Yorlen who spoke up this time. “We need you to be the judge. As of now, there are three candidates. Each one is capable, but all three are untested. We will need to see how well each performs.”

He paused for a moment, frowning. “Of course, one problem is how do we test them. Master Aluin and I have come up with some ideas, but they aren’t the best.”

Wait a second… “Actually, about that, I might have an idea. It’s actually the reason why I’m here.”

Both elves looked at each other before facing him again.

“What is your idea?” The Sage asked, intrigued.

Felix took a deep breath, doing his best to choose his words for this next part. Don’t screw this up…

“With the successful hatching of four more dragons, it's become obvious to me that the manor and hatchery will quickly run out of room. After talking with Eri, I’ve decided that I want to build a proper building for housing both dragons and their partners.”

“Hmm, an interesting idea…” The Chief muttered out loud before speaking up properly. “I think I can guess why you came here. You need help with designing and building such a place, is that right?”

“It is,” he said with a nod.

“I think that could work– As a test I mean, however… As it goes for a request? That will be a harder sell, and not just for the others. For me as well. You are asking for experienced woodworkers, carvers, and the only foreman we have trained. With summer coming to an end soon, we will need all of them.”

Felix nodded, they had planned for this. “I realize that, and I didn’t come empty handed.”

“Oh?” He heard the Chief say as he quickly stood up and went to one of the bags still strapped to Zira.

A moment later, he had it free and dug into it. “We came with an offer, one I think you and everyone will like.”

Pulling his hand free of the bag, Felix held up a shiny red scale.

Aluin smiled at it, but Chief Yorlen’s eyes went wide.

“Is that… Are you offering dragon scales?” The Chief asked in shock.

“Yes, and…” He reached back into the bag and pulled out a handful. “We have plenty for negotiating.”

Yorlen looked as if he was about to faint, even the Sage looked uncomfortable.

Dropping the scales back into his bag, Felix cinched it shut and sat down.

“Are you sure you want to do this?” Aluin asked. “Dragon scales are–”

“Valuable and extremely rare. Yes, I’m sure. It was actually Ithea who gave me the idea…and warning. But there’s more to it than just for trade.”

He grinned. “I will pay people for their work with them.”

There was dead silence as he finished. Neither Aluin nor Yorlen looked to know what to do or say to that.

Maybe I should have eased them into the idea? he wondered. Another thought occurred to him, dragon scales were highly sought after and he just showed up with a bag full of them. Perhaps, announcing that wasn’t the best plan…

Zira offered her opinion. In hindsight, I think you should have been more subtle. But I don’t think you have too much to worry about. Chief Yorlen doesn’t seem like the type to let greed cloud his judgment and Aluin would stop him before he did something stupid.

Yeah… He faked a cough, hoping to regain everyone’s attention.

“As it is now, I can offer some to the village– And, I suppose to each tribe, as a gift. As for every person who helps with construction, I will pay them one scale each. I could even offer a bonus for anyone who truly excels at their work.”

“You… You do realize how many elves will show up with that kind of offer, r-right?” Chief Yorlen asked, still shocked.

“Admittedly I do not, but I suspect it will be a lot. Still, I think that is something we can manage.”

“Manage? Hah, I don’t think it will be that easy… Even if we restricted how many we take, others would simply go on their own.” The Chief was starting to come out of his stupor.

Felix shrugged, “Maybe leave that for the three candidates to figure out and manage?”

“That… That’s not half-bad either.” Yorlen turned to Aluin, “What do you think?”

The Sage nodded. “I think the whole idea could work. At least, the other tribal leaders wouldn’t have much to actually complain about. It’s a real world problem that would put any experienced leader to the test.”

“Indeed…” Chief Yorlen muttered in agreement. “So then,” his attention went back to Felix. “Shall we negotiate?”

***

Time passed as Felix hashed out a deal with the Chief. He would gift the village ten dragon scales. The number was arbitrary and only decided based on who could actually make use of them.

That didn’t really matter to either of them, however.

What did matter was the idea itself. Felix offering dragon scales as a gesture of good will to the various tribes, would go a long way for him to build relationships. The gifts would come with no strings attached, and set the stage for his project.

As for payment for the workers? It was decided that one scale would be paid to each person upon the completion of the dormitory.

But that wasn’t all, they left the possibility for each candidate to also offer rewards. How exactly those would work, would require each one to speak with Felix and come to an agreement.

There was more that needed to be discussed, but with the day slowly passing, it was decided to leave the rest for now. Aluin and Yorlen were going to have a meeting with all the tribal leaders this evening.

Felix would be joining and offering up his idea. From there he would simply sit back and let the two elves handle the rest…

I feel like there is some irony there, Felix said to Zira. They watched as both elves stood up.

He’s…delegating, she joked. Just like a true leader!

Laughing, he caught the attention of Aluin and Yorlen.

“What’s so funny?” The Chief asked, amused.

“Nothing really–” Actually, hang on a second… “You said that there are three candidates right?”

Yorlen froze and frantically looked to Aluin.

With a sigh, the Sage answered. “Yes, and yes we know who they are.”

“Any of them I should be cautious of?” he asked innocently, meanwhile Chief Yorlen looked to be sweating.

Is he okay?

Aluin shook his head, a smile forming on his lips. “Felix, I have been debating on when I should tell you this, but… You already know at least one of them.”

“Really?” Felix asked, quickly trying to think back to all the elves he had met. “Who is it?”

“Eri–”

“WHAT?!” He shouted, cutting off the Sage. “What do you mean, Eri?! I mean… How– Why?!”

Felix had to take a moment to catch his breath. That reveal had been even more jarring than Aluin asking him for help.

But… But that presents a problem! “Wait… Hang on a second! You want me to judge the candidates? But there’s no way I could do that! I mean, how can you expect me to do something like that when Eri is involved?!”

The Sage broke out into laughter.

“Oh Felix… That’s precisely why it has to be you.”

It was late afternoon when Eri and Kyrith made it to a small spring. Behind them, trailed four little dragons and behind them were four exhausted elves.

The spring itself was located only a short walk from the kobold village. And ever since Kyrith and Zira had gotten too big for the manor, they came here for their baths. The other dragons had decided to join them, regardless of what their partners wanted…

“Oh! We’re here!” Kyrith announced excitedly.

The four young dragons perked up before running off ahead of Eri. There was a collective groan from their partners.

Eri held back her laughter as she watched the little jewels jump right into the water.

“Be careful!” Solanna shouted out, exasperated. She picked up her pace and trudged past Eri, hardly giving her any attention. Noria was quick to follow after.

Let me get the buckets and brushes and then you can go join them. Eri pointed to a large spot cleared of roots, brush, and trees.

Okay! Kyrith made his way over and lowered himself down.

With a practice motion, she climbed up and began removing everything they brought. It didn’t take long and soon, she was sliding back off.

Go have fun for a little bit, but remember to be careful. They are a lot smaller than you.

I know… he whined before getting up onto his feet. With not another second wasted, Eri watched as he bounded up to the edge of the spring and leaped.

A large splash shot up and outwards, spraying everything in its vicinity. Thankfully, she knew it was coming and was set up far enough away.

Unfortunately, Solanna and Noria hadn’t learned…

Another round of groans came from the two.

“Come over here, I’ve got extra towels,” Eri said with a humorous smile. Reaching into one of the buckets, she pulled out two towels and tossed one to each person.

“Thanks…” Noria mumbled, wiping her face.

“You two okay?” Yedril asked. Him and Lorem had sat down even further away. It looked like the larger elf was teaching Yedril how to carve…

“Yeah, just… Never mind.” Solanna waved off the concern and went back to drying herself off.

The four of them had a very busy day. Eri had started getting them to work together with their partners. However, what really ended up happening was the four little ones had turned it into a competition.

The elves ended up spending the entire time trying to corral them.

I guess I’m a little beat too… Eri thought to herself. Over the last two days, she and Kyrith had flown five times. And after their first attempt, Kyrith had actually become scared to go too high or fast. It had taken some coaxing from her to get him to go higher than the trees.

There was another problem that was created from that: bugs. Flying so low had the side effect of Kyrith flying through swarms of insects. They would get into his eyes and nostrils, not to mention, they loved to splatter against his chest.

The result was, Kyrtih needed a bath.

A shiver ran down Eri’s back, plenty had flown into her hair… She decided to force her attention on the little dragons playing in the water.

Eri sat down, enjoying the peaceful scenery before her. Sure, the little jewels, as she had started thinking of them as, could get a bit rowdy. But she had seen much of the same from Kyrith, and even now–

She looked over to where her partner was. He was currently setting himself up to be some sort of slide…

He hasn’t changed. She took a deep breath, almost tasting the floral and earthy scent of the forest, and relaxed further. Still, deep in the back of her mind, her vision played again.

I hope this never changes…