The elf

Arya p.o. v.

As I come back from the dark, I am already nervous. The fact that Tristan wants me not to tell his mother about going to the demon land makes me tense. I really hate lying, but this time is for a good cause.

My eyes are getting used to the light, and the first thing I see is an old woman with curly white hair. Wrinkles cover her face, and she seems weak and feeble. Tristan's painting of her showed a tall redhead with beautiful features. I guess he never wanted to paint her like this. Beside her must be his sister. She is shorter, has curly red hair, and inspects me from head to toe. She still has the features of a teen girl but also the beauty of a woman. Tristan warned me that she is a great archer, and her senses are significantly developed. But I find it hard to believe that she can hear or notice when you lie. Looking at her, I see her eyes like a lioness looking at his prey, still and not blinking, fixed on me. I better say something.

“Hello, I am Tristan, beloved. Arya Firestorm is my name, and it is a pleasure to meet you finally. Tristan has told me so much about you, and I hope I find you in good health,” I say to them, trying not to sound too formal.

"Beloved, huh? That's a word I haven't heard in a while." I hear Tristan's sister say with a grin.

"O shush, Selena, welcome to our humble abode, child of the sun. I am Sonya Silvered, and this is my daughter Selena. Please call me Sonya". I hear the old woman say in perfect elvish. It’s strange to listen to my language spoken so perfectly by an outsider.

"And you call me Arya, " I shake her hand." I am amazed as I never met another human who can speak elvish so perfectly."

“Well, The nature of my profession has made me study a lot of medical treaties in many languages. And in my youth, I traveled a lot. “Sonya says, smiling.

“WOW, Mom, look at her long legs .” I hear Selena say, who immediately appeared behind me, alerting me.I almost raise my staff to protect myself against an attack. How the hell can she move so fast in an enclosed space?

“Selena, Get back here, Arya. You must excuse my daughter. I had utterly failed in her upbringing, and as a result, she has the character of a troll". Sonya says with an embarrassed smile.

"A troll, Mom? Well, at least I evolved from that of a slime ".I hear Selena say." So, Arya is it true that elven women lick each other pus…."

“Hahaha, lick each other ice creams,” I hear Sonya interrupting her with a startled tone. “My daughter is fond of everything sweet.”

“Me too. It seems that we already have something in common.” I turn to face Selena, but she appears again next to Sonya. I see her movement this time, and it’s almost like a jump. But it is still too fast for an ordinary being.

"Selena, stop jumping around and sit still, or no dinner for you this evening. Arya, honey, let me show you to your room. I’ll let you settle in, and then we can talk more at dinner. Or if you want to go outside. I'll show you the house and the garden."

“I am fine, thank you. I will have plenty of time to explore. I think I will unpack and settle in for the time being.”

Sonya shows me around the small wooden house and finally, my room, which seems like a hunter's lodge. A large trophy of a wolf head sits on the wall, looking mean and ferocious. This must be Selena's room, as the house only has two bedrooms. She must sleep with her mother.

Sonya leaves, dragging Selena after her. I hear them arguing about Selena’s behavior.

“Young lady, do you really want to make a fool of yourself? You are not only embarrassing yourself but this family, too.” I hear Sonya almost screaming.

"I was just testing her, Mom. Tristan bragged about how strong she was, but I'm not impressed. "

"You have plenty of time to do that later. If you don't behave yourself, you’ll sleep in the barn. Do you hear me?"

Well, that went well. The curse hasn’t even been mentioned. I was worried for nothing. Sonya may haven’t realized the curse’s gravity, and Selena doesn’t seem too bright. She is right. If she would jump around in a fight with me, I would probably have to use a fire shield, and of course, she has the range advantage, but it all depends on the terrain. If it‘s open ground, I would probably lose.

After a while, I hear Sonya inviting me to dinner, and the sweet smell of homemade cooking overwhelms my nostrils, making me follow the source of the scent. We sit at the table and start eating when Sonya asks.

“So Arya, are you by any chance related to the shipbuilders, maybe a secondary branch of the family of the Firestorms, or is it just a name coincidence?.”

“No, I am a main branch, the eldest daughter of Cordesia Firestorm,” I tell them.

"Wha!!! "I hear Sonya **** and coughing while looking at me." But what are you doing here honey and being an adventurer none the less you are next in line to be matriarch." Sonya seems confused." You clearly don't need to do this job," and even Selena is surprised by her mother's reaction.

"A turn of events that is not suited for this beautiful dinner made me take this path in life." I don't want to get into details about the demon attack.

“I am sorry, I was just surprised. I didn’t mean to stick my nose into your private matter.”

“It‘s all right. I am used to it. People now find it difficult to understand why I chose this life.” I confess to them, and Selena looks at me weirdly.

“Okey, now you made me curious about what the hell happened on this turn of events. Oh, never mind, I will ask Tristan,” she returns to chewing her steak.

“Tristan asked us not to interrogate you too much about this strange curse. Please tell us if we are out of line and making you feel uncomfortable. Sonya says, and I already suspected that this was the case.

“Well, as Tristan probably mentioned, we don’t know much and expect results.” I see Selena looking at me with a grin.

“Given that the nature of this curse is Chaos magic, wouldn’t it be difficult to find help here?” Sonya asks as she clearly understands the demonic nature of the curse.

“Then we will travel to the elven kingdom and put a bounty there also, “which is not a lie, but I don’t think what good it will do, I say to myself.

“I didn’t know that elven academies teach Chaos magic now, “Sonya seems sarcastic.

“Well, not the academies, but private tutors can be found. Even hunters that traveled to the demon realm can be found.” I tell them, which is a lie this time.

“Why do you call them hunters? What are they hunting there?” Selena asks.

“It‘s a word miscommunication. We call adventures hunters because that is what we do, and the humans and dwarves chose a more romantic word to describe this profession.”

“But that’s not right; adventures do other tasks too. What if a guild is hired to gather or mine a rare ingredient, deal with a bandit, and solve a ****?” Selena asks again.

“Then we will hunt that ingredient, hunt the bandit, and then hunt the criminal, as I said, is just the same word being used, nothing more.

“Wow, you made me question my existence when I want to catch and kill a deer. I am not hunting it; I am adventuring it. I think it’s stupid; there are clearly two words that describe two different things”. Selena says, annoyed.

"If you would care to learn the Elven language when I wanted to teach you, you would have understood what Arya is trying to say." Sonya jumps to my rescue.

"And speaking of language, Arya, what language did that brood-mother speak?" Selena asks, smiling but is more like a condescending grin. Now I realize Tristan and all the experts were missing a critical clue that Selena figured out in a couple of hours. Tristan is right about her. Behind her rude and ill-mannered behavior hides a fascinating and strange being. Strong with a brilliant mind, if this were the elven kingdom, she would immediately be chosen as matriarch.

The fact that the brood mother spoke the common tongue is testimony that she had lived here for quite some time and hadn’t come from the demon realm recently. We were looking at this all wrong. That village or those villagers were clearly hiding something.

“I am amazed I never looked at it this way. I need to write to Tristan. “ I say almost immediately and begin to get up.

“Don’t worry, Arya, we will tell him. You have us now if you want to relate any urgent messages. As for my daughter, she has her moments of brilliance, but unfortunately, they are very rare. Sonya, who seems to have read my mind, said.

“Nice, Mom, thank you,” Selena says, annoyed. And we continue like this through the evening. They taunt each other, but sometimes they ask me questions about different things. They hardly ever mention the curse.

Then they show me the bathroom, and I see a little bit of the courtyard. After that, Sonya and Selena say goodnight and retreat into their bedroom.

Third-party point of view.

Selena is squirming into the rough bed, trying to find the right position to fall asleep. Her mother's bed doesn't have the furs that her bed has and is more rugged.

"Mom, you should've given them this room. Why should I sleep in this bed?"

“O, stop kicking around like a damn horse and get to sleep. It’s been an exhausting day, and I ‘am tired. “Sonya says to her daughter.

"I' am sorry, Mom," Selena says, looking at her mother concerned. “Are you feeling all right," she gets closer to her mother and puts her head on her mother's shoulder, embracing her like she did when she was a kid. And Sonya puts her arm around her daughter's neck, letting her cuddle.

“Only now you behave all concerned after you caused trouble all month.”

“HE -he, I know, Mom, but that was something I needed to do, and besides, Tristan beat me to it this time. You’ve seen how he disappeared. It was like a door of darkness opened and swallowed him. That’s so weird.

"Yeah, the ether realm is described as being like that, and what about Arya? she was telling the truth or not?"

“No, pointy ears was lying her ass off when she told you they were expecting results and about private tutors.

“Ha, I knew it. Were the hell are they going to find experts in chaos magic? Tristan got himself into a big mess with none other than the daughter of the wealthiest elf who ever lived. Well, at least his standards are high enough. Sonya says, and the wrinkles on her face seem to deepen out of concern for her son.

Selena senses that her mother is troubled and tries to comfort her.

“It’s okay, Mom, we’ll figure it out like we always do. A Chaos curse is nothing for us.”

"Yeah, it seems that the Goddess still has plans for me, and even in my old age, she doesn't let me have peace," Sonya says, closing her eyes and trying to sleep while thinking about her son and the demons of her past.