Please Explain!

My Friend shuts the door behind him and steps close to me grabbing my hands. “Nic, I…” I pull away from him.

“You are talking as if I know you, I’m sorry I only know an Elf named Aired, not Prince Elauthin.” I turn away from him, crossing my arms and can feel the steam coming off my brow.

“I’m sorry. I wanted to tell you the truth so many times.” He walks around me to face me again. “Please let me explain.” He begs, I nod, releasing my arms and sitting on my bed. I pat the spot next to me and he takes a seat.

“My whole life I have lived with the expectation of being a Prince. When I would go to the grove I got to be a normal person. I didn’t have security following me and Father nagging me about Military drills.” He pauses for a second and looks into my eyes, “And then you fell into my grove, and for the first time I had another person who was treating me no different from anyone else. I didn’t want to have to be Prince Elauthin when I was with you. I wanted to be your secret best friend, and I got to learn alot about who I am without someone telling me what to do or say.” He grabs my hand again, “Please tell me you understand. I can’t bear the thought that you are mad at me.”

“I’m not mad. Sad you didn’t tell me and slightly offended you would like I would treat you any differently, but I’m not mad.” I smile at him and give him a small punch on the arm. “So my best friend is a Prince. I would have never guessed.”

“ Thank you, Nic. I knew you would understand. You know me better than anyone else. All of the hours we spent in our grove reading together, dancing, and singing. They really mean something to me.” He slides a strand of hair behind my ear and caresses the back of my head gently. “You looked really beautiful today, by the way.”

“Thank you.” I say, my heart urging him to come a little closer.

He stands, “I should be getting back. It would be best if I am not found here. Tomorrow evening I will show you where the entrance to the grove is from here.”

“Great, because we have a lot of catching up to do, Elau.” I smile at him.

“Elau?” He chuckles, “No one has called me that before. Goodnight my friend.” He pats my head and silently leaves my chambers.

I lay back onto my bed, comfortable except for the pesky glowing moss hanging from the ceiling. I’m sure it was enchanted to give just a little glow in the dark of night. I snuggle under the sheets and turn on my side trying to ignore the light. I let out a loud sigh and covered my eyes with my hands. All of the sudden the light subsided. I removed my hand and looked around. The glowing had stopped, the enchantment was broken.

“Weird?” I mumble but take advantage of the darkness and fall into a deep sleep.

Morning comes quickly and I rise early to dress for class. Pelleas takes us to breakfast and by seven in the morning we are sitting in a courtyard waiting for our instructor.

“Hello Human Ambassadors, I am Freeglee Fairfeld and I will be you instructor for the next 6 months.” A halfling man walks into the courtyard.

“A Hobbit?” Luke questions.

“Why yes! For I have spent many years living and learning from the Elves and I do find that Elves do not have much patience for teaching others. Thus I will be your instructor. I hope you are just as excited as I am.” He smiles brightly at us. He is only 3 and a half maybe 4 feet, with a cute button nose and fluffy brown hair.

“Mr. Fairfield, please ignore Luke and continue. I look forward to learning from you.” I say to the halfling. He laughs and continues on,

“Lessons for today will be the basics of the Elvish Language. I am sure you are all familiar, but speaking it is a lot harder than reading it in a book. Shall we begin?” I smile and listen intently as he talks, taking notes and practicing pronunciations. Pelleas pops in every once in a while to make sure we are doing okay, and to bring us water. As the lesson comes to an end I feel my stomach growl, and notice it is a little late for lunch.

“That is all for today. If you are hungry there is food in the dining hall, otherwise you are free for the afternoon. The castle will be busy getting ready for the welcoming banquet.”

“Do you know who all are coming to the banquet?” Amelia asks

“Well, of course your human King and Queen, Frederick and Louisa.” He pauses for a moment “and you know what, I think I heard that the King from Tartarean is coming.” I hold in the urge to squeal. I have read so many books on the Wizard King of Tartarean and now I will be in the same room as him.

“Wow.” Benjamin says calmly.

“Thank you again, Mr. Fairfeld. I look forward to our next lesson.” I say and excuse myself to the dining hall. I’m very aware that I have the need to please others. My mother always taught me to be respectful of all people. I actively try but at times to others it seems as though I am being a teacher's pet so to say. What I like to think about is how I would like to be treated if I were in their shoes. I like to believe that there is good in everyone and treating others kindly isn’t too hard.

I make my way over to the dining hall. The table is full of fruit, veggies, bread, and cheeses. I walk up to it and notice the lights adorning the fruit are actually small flowers, glowing with some enchantment. “They really do like using that spell.” I say to myself and start filling a plate. I get to the fruit and reach for an apple next to a small white flower. As I do so the glow on the flower flickers and begins to dim as the orb-like glow moves from the flower to my hand and disappears. I look at my hand, it doesn’t look any different. I reach towards another flower and it happens again. Weird, I’ve never been around enchantments in my town. Humans don’t have powers. Elves can do enchantments, but the real magic are the Witches and Wizards who live in The Realm of Tartarean. I’m sure these small enchantments do things like this all of the time. I shrug and grab the apple. I leave the dining hall with my food and find a nice garden to eat in. The wind blows through my hair, somehow comforting. Being in the Elvish Land it’s like everything is warm and bright. Even the wind greets you with a hug.

“Nic.” I look up to see Elau entering the garden.

“How was your first class?” He questioned taking a seat next to me and stealing one of my grapes.

“It was amazing. I think I’m going to be fluent before these six months are over.” I joke and hand him another grape.

“Well my day was very boring, but I’ve finally managed to escape my guards.”

“Well obviously it’s going to get a lot better now that you are with me.” I smile at him, placing my hand on his.

“Yes, well can I tell you a secret?” He leans in to whisper, “Everything is better when I am with you, dear.” His breath hits my ear sending tingles down my spine.