Welcome to Gaia! ::

The man blinked in surprise, and it was difficult to know who had surprised him more, Shoneah or Eron.

"Another world," he murmured. "How strange ... And what is your world called?"

"Gaia," Shoneah replied, standing up and pushing her hair behind her shoulders. She was still feeling somewhat insulted, but the sting of it had passed, and she was able to hide it and hold back her pride. "And clearly you're familiar with elves, but what about people like Eron?"

She gestured towards her traveling partner, and the man followed her finger. His eyes narrowed slightly and his brow furrowed as he looked at Eron, and after a moment he shrugged.

"I have neither seen nor heard of anyone like you," he told Eron plainly. "What is your race?"

The man sucked in his breath sharply and his eyes narrowed, and he reached for his waist - but there was no weapon there. For a split second, he seemed to panic, but then he took a step backward and took a defensive stance.

"Demon," he hissed, sounding either terrified or angry - or both.

Shoneah frowned. "Hey, what's your problem?" she asked him. "He hasn't done anything to you!" She stepped between Eron and the man defensively.

"Demons are evil and must be destroyed!" the man told her, backing away as far as he could without falling over the side of the gorge.

Eron's words didn't seem to help the man.

"There are many types of elves, but they are essentially the same," he replied. "There are many types of demons as well - each of them as evil as the one who made them."

"The ones of this world perhaps," Shoneah said calmly. "But Eron is not like that. We told you that we are not from here, so our creators are not your creators. Besides, you have been talking with him already - does he seem evil to you?"

The man paused and seemed to be thinking about what she'd said. "... I suppose not," he said finally.

"I have never heard of angels," the man said, his brow furrowing thoughtfully.

"All the more reason for you to realize that Eron is not like the demons that you know, then," Shoneah pointed out. "Though now I'm curious - what are the demons of this world?"

The man shuddered. "Creatures created by the Evil One, whose sole purpose is to destroy our world and all those who live in it. They are few now - at least, it has been a long time since they have been seen, but they still exist and still destroy everything around them."

A sudden breeze picked up, and the man glanced up at the sky. "It's going to rain soon," he murmured. "Why don't we go back down to the rest of the party and make some shelter? Shone-ah, do you need help getting down?"

He looked at Shoneah. She considered his offer, but having had the water, she did feel strong enough to climb down herself - especially now that they had a good sturdy rope.

"Thank you, but I can manage," she replied. "And it's Shoneah, not Shone-ah." She pointed at the rolly case, which was lying on its side next to a tree. "Do you think you could carry that down, though? It's too heavy for me, and it may be too heavy for Eron to fly down with ..."

The man nodded. "Of course."

"You could call me by any part of my name," Shoneah told Eron softly. "Really, my final name is simply my first two names in English. Silverbirch."

"Now that, I can pronounce," the other elf said with pleasure, having been trying to pronounce Shoneah's name the way she had said it. "Would you like to descend first, Silverbirch?"

Shoneah looked back at the brown elf who was helping them, then nodded. "Sure." She turned back to her traveling companion. "Eron? Meet you down there?" she asked him softly.

Shoneah headed for the rope, wrapped it once around her forearm, and lowered herself over the edge.

It was a long way down, but Shoneah was used to climbing, and it wasn't long before her feet were on solid ground again. With the clouds that were gathering above them, the swiftly moving river, and the rocks that surrounded them, it was far cooler down there than it had been above, and once Shoneah was free of the rope she rubbed her arms to warm herself and looked around for Eron. She was somewhat surprised to see the group of elves - surprised because she hadn't seen a thing on her way down, and unsurprised because Eron had told her about them.

One of the elves stepped up to Eron and pushed his shoulder angrily. "You did not tell us that she was wounded," he scolded him; and then he turned to Shoneah and reached into a pouch that was tied to his belt.

"No, I'm not hurt," Shoneah protested as the elf with the rolly case landed next to her on the ground. "Honest. The blood isn't mine, it's from the dragon I killed yesterday, that's all."

"Dragon?" The man stopped in his tracks, his hand still in his pouch, and he and all the others stared disbelievingly.

"It was just a little dragon, anyways," Shoneah shrugged. "Barely to my knees. A baby, I'm sure."

"A child at least," said the man with his hand in his pouch. He took his hand out of the pouch and looked at Shoneah concernedly. "You're sure you're all right?"

Shoneah nodded. "There are similar dragons in my homeland. It didn't touch me."

The sky above them grew dark, and a few drops of rain began to fall. The native elves all looked up to the sky, and one of them said, "We should get to shelter. This way. We can talk more there."

Shoneah glanced at Eron and picked up the rolly case. She wasn't entirely certain about this, but they really didn't have a choice.