The Endless Forest

Oralyn stifled a groan as she picked up her bag and threw it over her shoulder. She, along with a small group of hunters, had been trekking through the forest for two days. Their destination was the Dragon Queen’s manor, and they were still several days out.

Yet, she was already feeling the strain. It wasn’t that she didn’t know how to travel through the forest, but they were moving at a blistering pace. Well, blistering for her. But for the hunters that were assigned to her? It was business as usual.

“Sorry, I’m ready now.” she said, hiding a wince.

“Are you sure? We can keep rest–”

“I’m sure.” she answered curtly, cutting off one of the hunters. The notion of being the weakest link hurt her pride, especially when it was her pushing them.

The four hunters gave each other a look before the one who asked the question spoke up. “Very well, we’ll continue on. But… Look, we’re used to this. I know you want to get there quickly, but if you keep pushing yourself, you’re going to end up hurt and costing us more time in the long run.”

Julous, the lead hunter chimed in. “Doram is right, we’ll slow the pace down.”

Oralyn bit her lip, holding back a retort. She knew they were right, but she was frustrated and had to keep herself from lashing out.

“Fine, set the pace then,” she answered after a moment, gesturing to the way forward.

The leader gave her a nod and took off at a slower speed. Quickly, the others followed suit, with Oralyn in the middle…

Seconds passed, then minutes. At some point she began to think, there wasn’t anything else to do besides putting one foot in front of the other. It was mind numbing. The only thing she hated more about the trek was how much her body ached.

Thankfully, there was a lot to think about. Enough that she could force herself to ignore her lungs gasping for breath, and to pretend that her right ankle wasn’t throbbing.

She shook her head, the movement nearly causing her to stumble. Still, it did its job of clearing those thoughts. Instead, she focused on the future.

Queen. The word felt strange to her, almost like something from their dead language.

I’ve been selected as one of the candidates. One of three… That was why she was rushing. My chances aren’t good, Eri is the favorite. It’s not even close. The thought frustrated her.

In truth, this wasn’t too far from what she had been planning. Once she took over her tribe from her father, she was going to make it into something even more. More than even Bernel. This is the same, just…bigger. Although, maybe not by much.

Really, how much grander could it be to become the Queen? It wasn’t like they, the elves, had much of a society and culture outside of ancient traditions. Sure, they were peaceful and mostly cordial, but they lacked anything substantial. Even the dwarves were doing better than them…

But that will change! This, Oralyn was sure of. I need to somehow distinguish myself. Eri is the biggest threat, no doubt about that. Calinna is the weakest one of us, but I can’t count her out. Not when her father is involved…

She actually knew Calinna well. The two were the same age and often would be seen together when their tribes met. They weren't exactly friends, but Oralyn did like the soft-spoken woman that was Calinna.

It was a shame that Chief Calsen was such an ass. He was always pushing his daughter to be more assertive, something she just wasn’t capable of. Still, Calinna was a gentle soul. Not always the brightest, but definitely caring.

But then there’s the human…Felix. He will be the judge, supposedly. I still fail to see how that will work, but rumor has it he and Eri are courting. That almost assures her victory! Really, what was Master Aluin thinking?!

Fear welled up inside her. Had she already lost? Was this all just a waste of time? No! I can’t think like that! I need this– No, we need this! I will not let my people disappear into oblivion!

With renewed determination, Oralyn began picking up her pace.

Felix came to a stop as he and Zira walked out of the forest and into the clearing. Near the backdoor of the manor was a crowd of elves, kobolds, and dragons.

What’s going on? he asked, more to himself.

I don’t know, but let’s go see, Zira responded. A moment later she resumed her pace.

Felix quickly followed after her.

It wasn’t until they got within a few yards of the crowd that they could hear a kobold shouting.

“Sick Master better cook than cooks!”

That’s Chef… What is he– The morning conversation with the kobold came back to Felix. Suddenly, he took off at a sprint and only slowed once he came up to Eri and Kyrith.

He gave Eri a nod before focusing on the commotion. From his position, he could make out two familiar elves staring down the kobold in question.

“No offense to your apprentice, but we aren’t interested in challenging him,” one said.

“Yeah, we want to know for certain. Did he train you, like you claim?” the other added.

“Chef has no time for challenge! You challenge Sick Master.”

Felix looked over to where Chef was and found Yedril standing next to him awkwardly.

“Ah, Chef… I don’t mind cooking, but do I really have to do this challenge?” The elf glanced over to where his partner, Zarrina, sat. The young quartz-like dragon yipped encouragingly to him.

Chef whipped around to face Yedril. “Yes! Sick Master win, easy. Sick Master match for two stupid cooks.”

“Hey–” The first wanted to object but was cut off as the kobold continued.

“Sick Master win, stupid cooks listen to Chef.”

The second one opened his mouth. “That’s not–”

“Fine, I’ll do it. But can it be in a little bit?” Yedril gestured over Zarrina and the rest of the dragons. “We were about to take them to get a bath.”

As the word ‘bath’ left his mouth, the sound of excited dragons filled the air.

I could use a bath too, you know… Zira whispered into Felix’s mind.

Sure, he simply responded, rolling his eyes.

With a frustrated shout, the first one agreed to the conditions. “Fine! We’ll do it this afternoon! We’ll need to wait for the hunters to return anyway. But you better be ready, boy! We’re not going to go easy on you!”

Yedril let out another sigh. “That’s fine, but… If you will excuse me, there are a bunch of excited dragons. And one is shouting in my head.”

The young elf walked over to Zarrina and kneeled down, no doubt trying to get her to calm down…

As the confrontation came to an end and the gathered individuals began to disperse, Eri cleared her throat to get Felix’s attention.

“And where did you go?” she asked.

“Huh– Oh, me and Zira had a…talk.” he admitted awkwardly.

“Is everything alright?” She had a look of concern.

“Yeah, don’t worry about it. It’s been settled. Aluin helped us– Actually, where did he go?” Felix looked around, half expecting to see the Sage. Now, however, almost no one was left save for the dragons and their partners…

“I haven’t seen him,” Eri answered before getting to the topic. “But if everything is okay, then perhaps you want to join us? We’re going to the pond, the little jewels have been stuck in the hatchery for most of the morning.”

He chuckled. “Yeah, that sounds nice. Zira was just mentioning that she wanted a bath.”

She smiled before taking his hand in hers. “Then let’s not waste any more time…”

A few minutes later, Felix found himself walking slowly back through the forest. Eri was at his side with Zira and Kyrith just behind them. Ahead of him were the hatchlings taking off in a dead sprint, their partners struggling to keep up.

He shook his head at the amusing sight, listening to the frustrating shouts of Solanna and Noria.

However, as they became more secluded from the others, Zira chose to speak up.

“Can we stop for a moment?” she asked.

Felix glanced back at her with a curious expression, he could feel her nervousness starting to seep over their bond. “Sure, but what’s wrong?”

Her eyes locked onto Eri’s. “I want to apologize to you and Kyrith.”

Perplexed, Eri gave Felix a look before addressing Zira. “An apology for what?”

“Yeah, what did you do wrong?” Kyrith added innocently, there was no sarcasm in his tone.

The amethyst dragon breathed heavily. “I want to apologize for how I’ve been acting towards your and Felix’s relationship. I haven’t been supportive. In fact, I’ve been rather antagonistic towards it. I’m sorry.”

Zira gave the dragon’s equivalent of a deep bow.

“Oh… Apology accepted?” Eri said, making it sound more like a question.

“But wait! What about me?” Kyrith asked, cocking his head to the side. “You said you wanted to apologize to me as well?”

Zira turned her attention to him. “Yes, I want to apologize to you. I know you’ve been trying your hardest to be friendly towards me.” She averted her eyes from him. “And I’ve been pushing you away.”

“I know…but that is okay. I don’t hate you.” Kyrith said, now sounding depressed.

“No, Kyrith. What I am trying to say is, I… I want to be friends. I’m sorry for–”

The ember-colored dragon nearly jumped in excitement. “Really, do you mean it?!”

“Yes–”

“Oh, I accept your apology then!” He couldn’t keep himself still and began bouncing in place. “I knew you would eventually come around, it was going to take time! Oh Gods, this is a great day!”

Before anyone could react, he suddenly stepped up to Zira and–

Felix’s jaw dropped.

Kyrith nuzzled her. And, to add to his and Eri’s astonishment, Zira purred in response.

What in the hells was that!? he nearly screamed.

I don’t know! Zira shouted back, feeling just as stunned as him. I– It just felt right! she added, sounding flustered.

Blinking, he finally realized his jaw was hanging open. Closing it, he swallowed before starting to think. Okay, that was new. Could it be that sharing our memories affected us more than we realized? he asked her.

She pondered his question before answering. I don’t know! Maybe? I have no clue what came over me! But, wait– “Why did you do that?” she suddenly asked out loud, directing the question to Kyrith.

“Huh? I’m not sure, it just felt right. Like something I should do…” he said, temporarily pausing his revelry. But upon seeing her reaction he became more concerned, tensing up. “Did you not like it?”

“Yes– No…?” Zira shook her head, still reeling from it all. “I suppose I didn’t hate it–”

Kyrith visibly relaxed. “Thank the Gods! I was worried for a moment that I did something wrong. I don’t want to lose our friendship just as it started.”

“That was something,” Eri muttered, reminding Felix she was still there. In fact, they were still holding hands.

“It was, but…” he trailed off and peered back to where the others had disappeared. “Perhaps, if all is well, we should catch up. I’m sure they’ve noticed our absence by now.”

“You’re probably right, though, with how excited the little jewels were, who knows?”

He shared a laugh with her, feeling the awkwardness slowly fading. And with that, they all continued their journey towards the pond…

The scene that greeted them upon their arrival was one of pure chaos. Four little dragons were chasing each other in the shallow end of the pond, kicking up and splashing water everywhere.

Of the four elves, Noria and Lorem were drenched. However, both were laughing and Lorem began to strip to his last bit of modesty. Meanwhile, Solanna and Yedril had collapsed under a tree just out of the splash zone, looking exhausted.

“There you are,” Lorem said with a grin. “Was starting to wonder if you all got lost.” He waded out into the deeper end of the pond, much to the annoyance of Tzarin. The ruby dragon quickly set off after him.

“Sorry, we just had to discuss something. Anyway, how’s the water?” Felix asked.

“Warm, but refreshing,” Noria answered, adding to the conversation. She too was now in the pond, only she chose to stay near the young dragons and for good reason. Modesty. Instead, she was barefoot and had her clothes rolled up and out of the way.

“Perfect. With the end of summer, we won’t get to enjoy this nearly–” A thought occurred to Felix as Kyrith began approaching the others. “Actually, on second thought, Kyrith could probably warm it up.”

“Oh yeah! I can make it really hot!” The dragon said. The air around him started to waver.

“Whoa, Kyrith! Not now!” Felix shouted, realizing what he was doing.

“Yeah! Try not to boil us alive!” Lorem added.

“Sorry…” responded the, now sad, dragon.

A laugh escaped from Eri and she made her way over to Solanna and Yedril. “You two alright?”

Solanna groaned, but her brother answered. “Yeah, just didn’t get much sleep last night.”

“Oh? What happened?” she asked with concern.

“Well, we tried to sleep in the dorm room but–” He suddenly stopped, his face going red.

He wasn’t the only one. The two couples immediately looked away.

Felix quickly changed the topic. “I think I am going to jump in! You coming, Zira?”

Look, Felix, it's the consequences of your actions. “Do you think I’d miss an opportunity to get a bath?” she said, giving him a smug look.

Shut it, I feel bad okay? “I suppose not…” He trailed off as he began stripping down to the bare necessities. A moment later, he made his way into the pond.

However, the awkward situation wasn’t over yet.

“FELIX! I HEARD YOU WERE GOING SWIMMING! I HOPE YOU DON’T MIND ME SKINNY DIP–”

Whipping around, Felix saw Haldria, the brush she was in doing nothing to hide the mortified look on her face.

“I’m sorry, come again? Were you about to say skinny dipping?” Eri asked, before turning her gaze to him. “Felix, what is this about?”

Ah, yet more consequences from your actions. Zira jeered.

SHUT UP! THIS IS NOT MY FAULT AND YOU KNOW IT! He gulped and slowly turned to Eri.

“I can explain…”