Lilastraza 07: A small village's welcoming

The elven princess guided us north, and after a while, we saw houses among the trees. Soon, the woods grew more sparse, and a small village was fully visible at sunset.

"What a nice town." I said. "Thank you, Ashiielwyn." The elf bowed a little.

The houses were very simple, and the village was surrounded by farms. There didn't seem to be much activity at sundown, and some candles and lamps flickered in the windows of some of the houses.

Then, someone saw us at the distance. A man who was walking at the edge of the village froze in place, then started running away deeper into town.

"Do you see that, Dragonlady?" Tiana said with a smirk. "Cendorians are not as strict as Anduvians, but they will not tolerate such a company traveling their lands."

"We'll just have to... Convince them, don't you think, girls?" I told them, and they all chucked.

By the time we were mere meters from the first house, a mob had already gathered at the entrance of the village. It was around twenty men, armed with farming equipment, like sickles, pitchforks and shovels, as well as torches. I could smell their fear. Although I sensed their eyes on my figure and heard mumblings about how hot I was, they started shouting at us.

"Begone, monsters!"

"We-we won't let you ravage this town!"

"We'll fight back this time and... And you'll see!"

I stopped and gestured my ladies to wait. Jolka was giggling. She probably found it cute how a bunch of people a third her size were trying to be intimidating.

"Greetings!" I spoke. "I am Lilastraza, the Dragonlady, the Illithwey. My beautiful companions and I have started a journey, but, as you see, I find myself in need of garments." I gestured at my own body, and the eyes of the crowd ran up and down me. "And we are in need of a place for resting as well."

"You're a group of monsters!" A man shouted and shook his torch in our direction. "A demon? A giant? An elf? A carnivorous plant? Another demon? A gnome? You can't be serious!"

"I'm no demon!" Taki shouted back.

"And I'm no gnome." Tiana replied. She was calm, but she seemed annoyed as well.

"She's lady Tiana!" A woman, who was watching the scene from a window, pointed at her. "She's an Anduvian Saint! The priestesses say she was ascended when she was young!"

The mob started murmuring things.

"Oh, you're famous, dear." I told her jokingly.

"What is this? Has a Saint fallen into the hands of the elves? Are these monsters really...? Do they have good intentions? They can't be that... Bad, right? They murmured.

I was hoping Tiana would say something in our favor to calm the people down, but she just looked away, almost stoically.

"You see, I helped Saint Tiana" I said. "As one of the Sword Saints, she won't allow me to lie. I granted her a wish her heart desired so much. I helped all of my ladies. That's what I want to do, help. You said you'd fight back «this time». Have there been other times? If you let us spend the night here, I promise we'll solve that problem."

The villagers looked at each other and kept on murmuring.

"There's... This band of elves..." A man started. "They have attacked us a couple times already... But we have no guards, no defense but ourselves... They took food, mostly. But last time they... They took Amelia. She's a baker. They took her to do who knows what! That's why we can't trust monsters like you!"

He was trembling as he pointed a pitchfork at me. I raised a hand and slowly moved the tool down and aside. He struggled at first, but soon realized how much stronger I was. He took a step back.

"We are no monsters. We are... Different, yes. And the elves around these lands have been driven to madness and crime. I will bring them back. We shall have peace."

The man gazed into my eyes, then at the rest of body. I smiled at him.

"None of us will hurt you. Just let us rest, and at first light we'll search for those elves, and for your Amelia."

They exchanged nervous looks again, until a woman raised her hand timidly. She was in her mid-twenties, with a long braid on her back, and simple clothes.

"I... I offer my house."

"Callie, no!"

"Amelia is my sister." Callie continued despite the insistence of the crowd. "So if there's a chance of getting her back... We have seen dragons. We have seen elves. We have seen beasts. But never a group that... Peacefully approaches. They normally come rushing in, burning and striking and laughing... I... I feel you're different."

"How kind of you. We will take that offer."

The crowd moved aside as we walked, and we followed Callie to a house near the center of town.