Surprise surprise! Elves with their special pointy ears have exceptional hearing! I’m sure no one expected that to be the case, huh? Guess even if they’re busy chattering away, they’ll still pick up on someone threatening their lives. Sheesh...

 

Honestly, it should have been obvious that the Elders would have totally heard me.

…I’m such an idiot sometimes.

Welp, guess if I can’t take what I said back, at least I could double down on it and see what that gets me!

 

I leaned in even closer towards my surprised Til, looking straight into his narrowed and disbelieving eyes, and blabbered away trying to explain myself. I even hugged him gently with a few tentacles, just so he wouldn’t pull away from me!

 

=Look, they may not be acceptable as food, but that doesn’t mean I can’t get rid of them, right? It seems like they’re bugging you just as much as they’re bugging me, so why not get rid of the problem right at the root? I promise I’ll be totally humane about it, and I won’t even try and eat any of their blood or anything else and gross you out, so what do you say?=

 

Can’t say it’s any kind of surprise that all of the Elders but Chireelia completely bolted from my cute little willow room. Heck, even she looked a bit ruffled, even while she forced herself to stay put and not run with the rest of them. Well, she did take a few steps back, but still, very commendable, I gotta say.

 

I’d be lying if I didn’t say I felt a lot of satisfaction from making the big important elves that came to see me run away in fear.

Til, unlike the rest of the scaredy cats, just scrunched up his eyebrows and gave me a wry little smile.

 

“Did you seriously just say all that out loud? Didn’t even try to whisper it, did you?”

 

=W-well… I…=

 

I tapped the tips of two of my vines together a few times in guilty contemplation. I really wanted to laugh it all off and attempt the ‘joke’ excuse, but yeah, I already knew how little that one would fly. Maybe I could get away with a different excuse? This was Til, so it’s not like I had any dignity left to really try and defend. I’m quite the honest plant anyways, right? Right? So it’s possible he won’t notice if I just tell a little white lie amongst all of my truths, and sneak past this tough little moment.

 

=I didn’t like them, so I thought I should give them a little scare. You don’t like them either, right? So I thought maybe I could just-=

 

“L’Lan’e’frea.”

 

Oooh, there goes the disappointed parent voice. He even gave me a little sigh and crossed his arms.

 

=...Yes?=

 

“Do you truly think I’d want you to kill my grandmother? Or any of the other Elders, for that matter?”

 

=Mmm… Well no. I told you I was just trying to scare them, right?=

 

“I know you well enough by now to know that you were serious there. I didn’t think you were the type of L’Lan’e’frea to kill others from the forest just because they'd annoyed you however, so I suppose I really don’t know you as well as I thought I did.”

 

Ooof. Damn, I was really hoping he wouldn’t notice! I can practically feel the miniscule amounts of points I’d managed to win with Til just floating away. What do I do? He’s right, he really doesn’t know me as well as he thinks he does, but I don’t want him to keep finding more things to be angry about right now. What are people supposed to do when they find themselves in these kinds of situations?! I’m sure they’re supposed to apologize, but…

 

=...I’m sorry?=

 

“Sorry for what, exactly?”

 

Ugh. Yup, there it is. Totally saw that one coming.

 

=...I’m sorry for offering to kill the Elders?=

 

“Offering, huh?”

 

The stern look on Til’s face was slowly diminishing as he thought over what I meant. He even surprisingly gave me a little smile, although I can’t say he wasn’t looking at me like I was absolutely completely hopeless while he did it.

 

“Alright, I’ll accept that apology. Elder, you’ll forgive this bloodthirsty plant for her silly words too, won’t you?”

 

Chireelia looked back and forth between the two of us for a little while, and it was easy to see the gears in her mind turning, trying to do the math on something. Eventually she gave me a small smile and stepped back towards me, although she certainly didn’t get as close as she previously had.

 

“...I see. Yes, I understand the situation. I’m sorry L’Lan’e’frea; We were fools, and we thought too lightly of your presence. We deserved the ‘scare’ that you gave us. I promise we will not be so disrespectful towards you in the future.”

 

=Okay, but you’ll also be nice to Til too in the future, right? I’m not the only one that you guys were being rude to.=

 

Don’t think I didn’t notice all those subtle little jabs the Elders were throwing at Til! Every time they had to look at him or mentioned him, their faces did this stupid little scrunching thing like they’d smelled something bad! And the fact that a few of them refused to even say his name and called him ‘boy’ in that weird tone… Yeah, I definitely didn’t like any of it!

 

Chireelia’s eyes grew wide for a moment, and she once again started glancing back and forth between Til and I again, but she quickly stopped and just gave me a happy smile.

 

“...Yes. We were quite lucky to have Ek’Til here to vouch for us. I’ll be sure to speak to the other Elders about that as well.”

 

Chireelia gave me a small bow, then looked at Til with a meaningful stare for a few seconds before she excused herself towards the edge of my willow fronds.

 

“I’ll come back tomorrow with the other Elders so we can finish our discussion. Please be patient with them, L’Lan’e’frea; They’ve encountered few things in their lives that are as interesting as you.”

 

Interesting huh? Well… Flattery from a cute looking woman will get you everywhere!

 

Guess I’ll give those Elders just one more little chance~!

 

~~~

 

=Hey, Til?=

 

“Yes, L’Lan’e’frea?”

 

=Thanks for sticking around with me. I’m sure you’d rather just be in your house.=

 

“Well, someone has to keep an eye on you out here and make sure you don't get up to anything bad, L’Lan’e’frea.”

 

The two of us were currently out and about, doing a bit of night hunting so we could eat a little before bedtime. Apparently Til was going to stay with me all night until the Elders came back to see me again, which I actually kind of appreciated more than I thought I would. Guess no one likes feeling left out and alone, huh? And here I once thought I was perfectly fine with being a solitary plant!

 

“Besides…”

 

Til cast a quick bit of magic and managed to nail a pheasant that had begun to flee from us overhead, causing it to squawk and fall just a short distance in front of us.

 

“I live in the same home as my grandmother, so I’m sure the Elders wouldn’t like the idea of us staying there tonight.”

 

=Oh, that’s a good point. You never told me that before!=

 

You know, I always said I’d stay in his home like a pet, but if Chireelia was there too, then I’m sure that would complicate a couple of things! I can’t say I didn’t like him saying we would go together though. Ah, who knew I was such a simple plant!

 

=Ahem, um… You live with your grandmother? Why don’t you have your own place?=

 

Til stooped over to pick up the pheasant and flung it over his shoulder. He looked at me uncomfortably for a moment, but he soon resumed his regular pace through the woods, continuing the hunt.

 

“Well, typically I’d say it’s because it's an old custom for elves to live with their families until they find a partner, but… I’d be lying if I said that was the reason why.”

 

...Have I mentioned that I don’t like when Til speaks all cryptically like this? It’s like he’s always trying to skirt around an issue that he assumes I should have just understood already or something! It’s so annoying!

 

=O…Kay? So then what is the reason why?=

 

Til was quiet for a little while longer, as if he hadn’t heard my question, and just when I was debating about whether I should ask it again, he finally spoke up.

 

“It’s because I’m only half wood elf, on my father’s side.”

 

_____

AN: Lol sorry, no violence today, but I promise we'll be getting back to our regularly scheduled violence soon enough :P