“Where do we start? We should assume for now that the walls have ears. What happened?” I looked at Caroline.

“I followed the crevice up to the waterfall. I decided to listen to the sounds of the forest for a while. Checking for signs of dangerous predators. After a few minutes I suddenly felt very tired and fell asleep. I woke up tied up and gagged a while later.” She sunk down in the water until only her nose was visible.

“Waiting and listening gave the magician enough time to prepare for a more complex and powerful spell. The only chance to notice something is to notice the building up magic and leave or perhaps noticing a chant or something like that.” Tilly looked at me.

“They were probably expecting you. We failed to examine the exact nature of that veil we fell trough.” I frowned.

“You fell trough!” Milly poked me in the ribs.

“What happened to you. You were three at least.” I expectantly looked at Milly.

“Aehmm. We followed the crevice and didn’t find Caroline. After a while we decided to check for tracks down the cliff. We hadn’t noticed anything suspicious to that point.” Milly blushed.

“I see.” I locked eyes with her.

“We went down the ledge. Loraline was last and as we reached the base of the cliff she was gone.” Milly looked at Loraline.

“I wanted to follow you down the ledge. Milly and Tilly were a few steps ahead and as I wanted to close up, someone pressed a piece of cloth on my mouth while strangling me from behind. I tried to fight back and yell, but I soon went out. When I woke up I was tied up and gagged as you found me. Tilly and Milly were already there.” Loraline averted her gaze.

“We missed Loraline as we reached the end of the ledge.” Tilly rubbed her nose.

“Then the plants suddenly went berserk and tied us up with their branches. We cried as loud as we could to warn you. Then the elven woman came with two others to to pluck us like ripe fruit. When we were brought to that clearing the other two were already there. Loraline was just waking up. You arrived a few minutes later.” Milly groaned.

“I don’t think there was much we could have done. They knew we were there, probably they have posts outside the valley who monitored us all the way. It would make sense to have something like that. I was attacked with this magic net from above and was then dragged to the clearing.” I laid an arm around Milly’s shoulder

“What should we do now?” She asked leaning against me.

“Now? Bathing. I don’t think we’re able to get out of here tonight. We don’t know anything about the forest and it’s save to assume the elves do. Let’s see how the meeting tomorrow works out. I think we should be honest, but leave the dream out. It’s much too personal.” I yawned.

“What he said about the marks is concerning.” Tilly frowned.

“Maybe you could ask him to explain it to you at some point. Understanding the problem is always better than just assuming someone is right.” I tried to reach Tilly foot with mine.

“I’ll try.” she came over to me, sitting down on my lap.

“What do we do when he wants to split us up?” Caroline looked concerned. She came and sat down at the other side.

“We came together. We are in this together and we somehow will get out of this together.” I hugged Caroline.

“Come over Loraline, no need to be shy.” Milly patted beside her.

Loraline came and sat next to Milly. We silently cuddled for a while.

“Still it might be difficult to stay together.” Loraline looked at me.

“It might. There is no way to tell now how it will play out. Not trying something automatically fails.” I smiled at her.

“Right. We bargain. Hard.” Milly pulled Loraline on her lap.

“Eeeep!” Loraline blushed but didn’t move.

After a while it knocked at the door.

“I wonder what kind of clothing that is? Something elven or more human clothes?” Milly looked at the door.

“They don’t have much contact to humans. The human fashion may be out of date.” Tilly put her arms around me.

“We find out soon enough.” I yawned.

“It’s late, but I’m hungry enough to stay awake.” Caroline yawned as well.

“We leave when he knocks the next time.” I smiled at Milly.

“Enjoying youself?” She smirked at me.

“Uhumm.” I blushed.

A while later there were two knocks at the door.

“I’m hungry!” Caroline got up and left the tub.

“Yeah, let’s get something to eat!” Tilly left my lap turned to the rim of the tub.

“I wonder what kind of meals elves serve.” Loraline got up.

“And what kind of comfortable clothes they have!” Milly was out of the tub within a moment.

“I just want to eat something and find a place to sleep.” I pushed the drain rune.

“Here are towels.” Milly had opened a locker at the inner wall.

We were toweled ourselves off. After brushing our hair we went over to the bathroom. There was a basket with clothes beside the door. The garment on top was pink.

“Let’s look what we have here!” Milly went over to the basket with a skip in her step.

“It’s pink.” I walked up beside her.

“It’s rose!” Milly shot me a glare.

“However.” I crossed my arms below my chest.

“Hold that Lilly.” she handed me the pink stack of clothes.

“It feels silky.” I started to unfold the two garments.

“The next is mint.” She handed a stack of green clothes to Loraline.

“These colors are quite unusual. And it’s delicately embroidered as well.” Loraline unfolded what looked like a silk buttoned dress shirt.

“Put it on!” Milly looked at her with a wide smile.

“Hold this please.” Loraline handed the other piece to Tilly.

“Try the lemon one.” she handed a yellow stack to Caroline.

“This is tight, but it fits.” Loraline hat put on the shirt and was buttoning it up.

It reached down just below her hips. The hems were embroidered with floral patterns in slightly darker green. It looked good on Loraline.

Caroline had put one garment on the ground while unbuttoning a shirt of similar cut as Loraline’s. “Thanks Tilly.” Loraline took the other garment back from Tilly.

“Take the peach one, Tilly.” Milly handed her an orange stack of clothes.

“I like lilac!” Then she took the purple shirt and started unbutton it.

Loraline had unfolded the other piece of garment. It was a long flowing robe that reached down to floor. It had long trumpet sleeves and the cloth was thin and near transparent. She furrowed her eyebrows and shook her head. Then she pulled it over her head. The sleeves fell down to wrists and the robe went down to her ankles. I could see everything beneath at least as a shadow.

Loraline turned to a stand up mirror by the door. The other were buttoning up their shirts.

“Won’t you dress as well, Lilly?” Milly held a similar robe Loraline was wearing in front of her with a smile.

“What? B-B-But its pink!” I looked at the clothes in my hands.

“I told you its rose, Lilly. There is nothing other left.” She pulled the gown over her head.

“You gave it to me on purpose!” I glared at Milly.

“It suits you.” She gave me a sultry smile.

“I’m not wearing this!” I glared at Milly.

“What else are you going to wear? Hurry up! I’m hungry!” She took the pink shirt from my hands and unbuttoned it.

“These dresses are ... exotic.” Loraline was still standing in front of the mirror, twirling a lock of her brunette hair.

“They are. Quite expensive I’d say. Alone these colors!” Caroline stood next to her, brushing over the sheer fabric of the robe.

“I like the dress.” Tilly pulled her ash blond hair into a ponytail with a leather ribbon.

“Where did you find the ribbon?” Loraline smiled at Tilly.

“In the dresser over there.” She smiled back.

“Now put that on. You can’t run around naked. We may have male company.” Milly hold up the shirt in front of me.

“What did I do to deserve this?” I put on the shirt. Actually it felt nice to touch.

“Now let me take care of these buttons.” She started to button up the the shirt caressing me all the way from my hip to my neck, arousing me slightly and making me blush.

“I can dress myself, Milly.” I tried to glare at her.

“Obviously not fast enough.” She smirked winking at me.

Loraline had tied up her hair in a bun and Caroline auburn hair was hanging down in a simple braid down her back.

I pulled the robe over my head as soon as Milly was done teasing me with the buttons.

“You need pigtails.” She smiled at me while putting two ribbons in my ash blonde hair.

Then she steered me to the mirror where I looked at myself in a combination of admiration and dread.”

“You’re adorable, Lilly!” Milly braiding her hair in two braids, one on each side of her head.

Finally we left the bathroom. Loraline, Caroline and I were a bit timid, while Tilly and Milly were clearly enjoying themselves.

The table in the center of the large hall was set for five persons. A large plate with vegetables draped with médaillons of roasted flesh dominated the table. There were two decanters containing a clear liquid and they had real glasses! The cutlery looked like silverware. They had a light magic tint on them.

“Enjoy yourselves. There is more in the kitchen. Humans are said to eat plenty.” Enleadir came out the door opposite to the exit.

“Thank you!” Milly smiled at the elf.

“At your service!” He winked at me with a slight smile.

“It looks delicious!” Blushing I sat down on one of the cushioned chairs, focusing on the meal.

“I’ll leave you be for today. Good night.” I heard Enleadir leaving the room.

“Who should eat all that?” Caroline sat down to my left.

“The day was taxing enough.” Milly sat down to my right.

Loraline took the remaining chairs to the left.

“At least we don’t starve.” Tilly started to fill her plate.

“This is water.” I smelled at the decanter.

I filled my glass and my plate. The flesh was tender and well seasoned. We didn’t have fresh vegetables for a while! And this was by miles more delicious than the food I had for the last years. I ate until I couldn’t anymore.

There was plenty of food left when we finished our dinner. We brought the rest back into the large kitchen. The outer was was a mesh of branches covered in leaves on the outside again, woven into intricate patterns. A door on the inner side to left led in a small room filled with boards. It was much too cool inside was filled with more of the dish we have had.

“A fucking walk-in fridge!” Tilly shook her head, her mouth agape.

“Let’s put the remains of our meal inside. We can eat that for breakfast.” Milly put the large plate into an empty shelf.

“There are more vegetables and some fruit as well.” I looked into the fridge.

There was another small store room on the outside where we found some bread, fruits and other food. There was a wooden rack with glass bottles at the end.

We quickly cleaned the used dishes.

“I’m too full to go to bed right now, let’s explore the place a bit.” I looked at the others.

“There is another door on this floor.” Tilly pointed at the door left to the exit.

“I think the bedrooms are upstairs.” Milly pointed at one of the staircases.

“Agreed.” I opened the last door.

It was dark inside. It was a wide empty room with another door in direction of the exit. Lights went on a few moments after we opened the door. The outer wall in this room was a bit sturdier, but still a mesh of branches. Behind the door was gear which looked like being usable for workouts, training weapons and padded armors and more.

“Let’s go upstairs.” Milly walked back the central room.

We went up the next spiral staircase. There were seven doors on the backside of the balustrade. We opened the first door next to the staircase. It was made from an intricate mesh of thin twigs, like of a wicker basket.

The room was about seven meters wide and five meters deep. The door was in the center of the inner wall. The inner wall was made from wood, decorated with various plant and animal reliefs. The outer wall was a mesh of branches again, but with a door covered by leaved twines hanging from the down from above.

A very low king sized bed was to the left, behind a curtain in dark orange color. A large wardrobe stood at the inner wall beside the bed. Carpets, cushions, pillows and the linen were all held in variations of that color. A sofa with a low table in front of it was against the right wall and there was a small desk against the inner wall.

“Nice.” The lights went on as Milly walked into the room.

“I wished we were here just as guests. It’s really nice.” I went to the door outside brushing away the twines.

“We can’t do much about how we ended here. Maybe tomorrow we know more.” Caroline sat down on the sofa.

“Are we supposed to sleep in these clothes?” Loraline went to the wardrobe behind the curtain.

“I don’t care.” Milly sat down on the bed.

“I’ll check the other rooms briefly.” I stepped out on the balcony.

“I’ll come with you.” Tilly came out as well.

There was no light on the balcony save a few wisps of light from the room through the foliage of the wall.

“It’s really beautiful here.” I walked to the balustrade.

“We don’t see far because we’re in the tree’s crown.” She laid her left arm around my waist.

“Left or right?” I laid my right arm around her waist.

“Doesn’t matter. The balcony goes all around.” Tilly turned to the right towards entrance.

The next room was similar to the last, but was dominated by hues of red instead. Again the light went on after a few seconds. The other rooms were not really different on the first glance, save for the color. It continued with purple, cyan, blue, green and yellow.

“The colors of magic!” Tilly smiled.

“And the rainbow.” I brushed away the twines from the orange room.

“The light in the room ahead is out again.” Tilly stopped for a moment, watching.

“Energy saving active.” I giggled.

Milly, Loraline and Caroline sat on the bed.

I told them what we found.

“The wardrobe is full but mostly with men’s clothes.” Loraline looked at the wardrobe.

“I don’t know how to reach the platform on the roof, but there’s time for that tomorrow.” I knelt down in front of the bed, my legs slightly splayed with the heel at my butt.

“How do we do our sleeping arrangement?” Tilly asked and knelt down just between my feet, draping her arms around me.

“We should sleep together. A watch is probably pointless, but we can help each other quicker in a case of emergency.” Milly smiled at me.

“We can. I don’t expect problems tonight, but we don’t know if there are elves who think differently than their lord and are ruthless enough to try something funny.” I leaned myself against Tilly’s chest.

“I put off the robe and sleep with the shirt.” Milly announced.

“Sounds reasonable. I’d probably wake up tomorrow hopelessly entangled.” I nodded.

“I can entangle you if you want, then its not a problem tomorrow morning.” Milly gave me a dirty grin.

“I pass. Let’s get ready for the night. There’s nothing we can do until tomorrow.” I got to my feet.

I pulled the robe over my head looked around for a place to put it.

“There’s enough space in the wardrobe.” Loraline opened the wardrobe and handed out hangers.

A few minutes later we had huddled together on the bed. After a while the light went out by itself.

I fell asleep soon after.