Offer to return your ‘hostages’

You vacate the center, hide up in a tree, and allow the resumption of time. The arrows strike nothing but air, landing in the bushes or hitting trees opposite them. From your vantage point up on a high branch you can see the elven ambushers pop up in surprise at your mysterious disappearance. One by one they emerge, asking one another where you’d gone and looking around them in eminent confusion. “He’s… gone?!” one comments. “Must be some kind of teleportation magic,” replies another. “Keep your arrows ready, the interloper might still be close.” The redhead reaches for her quiver, finding it empty, and the discovery quickly spreads amongst the trio.

You drop down from the branch, landing on the grass close by with a thud that alerts the elves, who all spin around to face you. Instinctively they reach to draw their bowstrings, but realize the futility of the reflex soon after, and instead drop or stow their bows and reach for their knives. Answering their hostility with courtesy, you give a little bow and open negotiations: “Hello ladies, if you would be so kind as to answer some questions, we can end this encounter without ****.”

“How about we gut you like a fish for the profane taunts you just spouted towards our beloved woodlands?” the elf with the mousy pixie cut replies, twirling her twin daggers for emphasis.

“Then I’ll be **** not to return my hostages,” you shrug.

A flicker of alarm goes through the elves. “Hostages, what hostages?”

You fumble around in your pockets, and produce the underwear you’ve just stolen, dangling them in front of you and shaking them around a little. The elves’ eyes widen after a moment, as they start to recognize what it is you’re displaying. Quickly the redhead and brunette’s hands start to shoot towards their privates, feeling around through their clothes with visible concern. They quickly corroborate what you hold in your hands is genuine.

The redhead’s distress and confusion is audible in the way her voice goes up in pitch: “What!? How did you- Wait why are there only two pairs?”

“I, uhm… wasn’t wearing any,” the blackhaired elf sheepishly admits.

“Taiyla, you hussy!”