Welcome to Gaia! ::

Kelirahc went from hut to hut, one after the other, and once he had visited them all, he rejoined the others, slipping one hand around Leyenda's shoulders and smiling warmly at her again.

Before anyone could speak, all seven of the doors opened at exactly the same time, and nine tall Night Elves stepped forward: four men and five women, each of them regal in their own way. All of them had a white mark on their shoulders, just like Kelirahc and Leyenda, but no two of them were the same: one was a horse, another a bird, another a lizard, another some sort of fish, and so on; but there were none that bore a dragon.

Shiro couldn't help but wonder once more what the marks were all about, and what they meant. He understood about the bond with a spirit, but ...

The woman in the center spoke then, holding out one hand in a welcoming gesture, and Shiro translated for the group.

"Welcome to Nauros," he said softly, "the land of the Elves of the Night. Her name is Alaundil, and she is very pleased to see that the world lives on beyond their borders."

The women gestured to the men to the left. "Belaxle, Wodfryn, Tathimar, Phyxaghar." Then she motioned towards the women on the right. "Shi’nala, Rylehl, Zylvithra, Vlontra."

Arwen and Roydon bowed deeply, and Rhea, Shiro, and Leyenda followed suit.

Alaundil smiled and motioned for them all to rise, and spoke quickly in a questioning tone.

"She would like to know our names," Shiro murmured as Rhea stepped forward and began to answer the elder's question. She introduced all of them, adding something at the end. Shiro smiled and explained, "She's telling them how we got here, and why."

One of the men grinned suddenly and called something out to one of the women, and all of the elders laughed. Kelirahc on the other hand seemed a bit flustered: his black skin hid the heat that rose in his cheeks, but he rubbed the back of his neck and shuffled his feet awkwardly.

Shiro and Rhea laughed as well. "It seems that the last time the elders were gathered together like this so unexpectedly," Shiro chuckled, "it was also because of Kelirahc ... though that time he was getting lectured for going where he wasn't supposed to."

Leyenda's eyes sparkled as she looked at her husband. "Is there a story here that I should hear?" she asked him, tilting her head curiously.

Shiro translated for him, and he shook his head; but one of the men, the same one who had said something in the first place (Tathimar, as he recalled) laughed and continued talking.

Shiro grinned as he translated the story.

"When Kelirahc was ten years old, he was always off on adventures, and the elders gave him free rein of the island - he could go everywhere he wanted, except for one place: the volcano, Kelleshahn." He listened for a bit, and then continued translating. "Omarerd was poisoned somehow, and the only way to cure him was with a plant that only grows within the crater of the volcano."

Which in itself was an interesting fact: how anything could grow in such heat was beyond him.

"So he went. It took him three days to get there, and four days to get back - apparently he injured himself while he was there - but he made it just in time. Omarerd was saved. Once Kelirahc was healed, he was brought before the council - all the elders."

One of the women added something, and Shiro chuckled again. "He was terrified he was going to be punished. Instead, they told him he had earned the right to receive the mark of his forefathers."

"So a mark is earned," Leyenda murmured, "and not simply received at a certain age."

Rhea asked a question in the ancient tongue, and her expression turned amazed when she received her answer. "The average age for receiving a mark is twenty five," she told the others. "No one has ever received it before the age of sixteen ... except for Kelirahc."

Leyenda brushed her fingers against Kelirahc's mark, then smiled at him and slid one arm around his waist. He brushed his hair back from his face, smiling sheepishly, and held her close.

The elders left their line then, and began to mingle, heading over to talk with their guests more informally.

"Wow," Shiro murmured in amazement, "Kelirahc was right ... they really are relaxed here ..."

Most of the elders moved to speak first with Kelirahc and Leyenda, or Arwen and Roydon, but one of them, the woman named Shi'nala, headed over to Shiro and Lin.

When she arrived, she smiled warmly at the two of them, and she tilted her head slightly and spoke to them, her tone curious.

Shiro smiled sheepishly. "She's wondering what we are ... since we're clearly not elves." He replied to her, motioning towards his ears, wings and tail, and then he turned a bit and gestured towards Lin, still explaining.

"Not very," Shiro admitted. "That we're from another world, that you're an angel ... but I'm just saying that I'm neko. These people had firsthand encounters with demons and were nearly in danger of becoming them ... I don't think it would be a good idea to bring that up."

He broke off suddenly as he saw someone else approaching: Haldia, Kelirahc's friend who had gone a little crazy the day before last, had emerged from a small hut and was making her way towards them.