Welcome to Gaia! ::

Ears picked up small murmurs, and the prince was surpised a few knew who he was, though most of his attention was on Ipo. Honestly that boy was a good servant, but he tended to act without thinking. However as Leo introduced him, Elliot bowed his head toward everyone in a silent hello, the Falian prince still speaking. The bow was unexpected, but he returned the favor in bowing back. He was a little embarrassed, he never had to be so close to the public before in a formal setting. Standing he smiled at Leo. "You saved both my father's and my life, Leonard. This is the least I could do in return." The Falian had saved Elliot's family, so Elliot had taken Leo to his. Perhaps they were even with no debts, then.

Ipo smiled. "That's rather amazing, Princess. Although I'm not much of a meat eater myself, and Prince Elliot hasn't eaten much meat since he met your brother. I assume he's being polite and refraining from doing so." He looked at the plethora of food on the blanket. "Though today I wouldn't mind eating some meat. Is everyone in this forest a vegetarian, or just specific families?" He glanced at Tsume, looking at where the other was staring before stealing that particular food and biting into it. "This is actually really delicious! Prince Elliot, hurry and come eat before Tsume eats it all!"

"If I was not polite back I would have seemed rude." Elliot said softly, following the other prince and sitting beside him. "well you have seen my home, hardly so formal, but much like you, only on special occasions." And looked at the food, deciding to indulge himself in the meat since it was already there. Just one of everything, to try the local cuisine. He tried to keep away from familiar foods, but spotting a few of his favorites he gave in, munching away happily on the dead animal.

"Ow! Why do you need to be so mean, Tsume?! We're friends now!" He angrily started to eat a lot of the vegetables, listening to the princess with tears in his eyes. "I was just curious. Forgive me for asking a stupid question, I'm not very educated. I'm more manual labor, my twin brother is the educated one." Despite neither of them knowing how to read, Kashi at least tried and was able to read only a little bit. "Tsume is mean, it's all the read meat. Maybe a diet would make him nicer?"

Elliot paused his eating to take a sip of his drink, glancing over as Leo held out the fruit. "Thank you." And took the fruit, looking like a larger version of a grape and shaded pink instead of deep purple or wine red. He took a bite, chewing and finding that the small bit of tart Leo had described was sour, black ears visibly flinching. Elliot was not as used to sour foods as leo must have been, he'd hardly eaten sour foods before. True to his word, though, the fruit did indeed get sweeter, and the prince found that he enjoyed it very much. "This is indeed delicious. Care to point out the food you hate the most?" And chuckled. Elliot hated anything to do with plums.

Tsume's comment didn't go unheard, turning and looking at the other, taking a large bite of the roll and pulling away. "If it bleeds it's red meat! Except fish, because they live in the sea." Hardly the appropriate argument, but Ipo was going to stick with it. As for Nix, sure maybe he was curious, but that's why you asked questions like she said. Why learn how to read if what you wanted to know can be told? No one ever told him to look it up so he was fine. "And I'm a hare, not a rabbit. Are you a toy poodle?" And continued to eat his veggies, barely registering Leo and Elliot talking more or less beside him.

"I can wait." Elliot responded, continuing to try the cuisine. There was already so much on their blanket, and looking at the others he saw more and more variations of food and flavors and the smells were so thick in the air you could taste it. The prince finished the tart grape looking fruit before moving on around his own blanket. Truth be told he was to shy to move elsewhere, what if majority of them disliked him or his country? When Leo returned the prince was eating something he thought was meat, but it had a very, squishy vegetable, like taste and texture. He wasn't too fond of it's decieving nature. It looked to be really delicious meat too.

"Thank you." He gently took one of the leaves. It looked fine, but he took a bite of it instead of shoving it in his mouth. He was glad he'd done so, the taste made him hesitate to chew, but he did. There was the mint flavor, a nutty flavor and something very similar to syrup, though much thicker and richer in flavor. The downside, it was sticking to the roof of his mouth. using his tongue he tried to scrape it off, mouth moving slightly before he covered his mouth as he spoke. "Perhaps it would be better with tea." came the muffled comment, still trying to remove it from his mouth. Was this paste?!

Ipo could almost feel the stares of pity on him as he continued to nibble away. He wasn't an idiot! He was built for manual labor! They just didn't understand, in Kasp education was for those who could afford it, and by the time they were sold to Nalenyr they already had roles andk new how to do them so there was no point in education. Maybe he could ask the Prime Minister. It was a thought, but that man was a little nutty, but such a great guy. Huh, now that he thought about it wasn't it actually the king that tried to teach Kashi? Or the Prime Minister? They were almost always together it was hard to remember. Maybe... it was neither... Kashi was smart enough to learn on his own. "What's it like being a princess here in Falia?" He asked Nix, deciding to change the conversation.

Elliot nodded a thanks and took the glass, drinking from it. The paste seemed to float away from the roof of his mouth, wine doing its job. "That is a wonderful blend of fruit." he commented, looking into the drink before finally taking in the glass's appearance. Elliot didn't want to assume that Falia did things by hand, for all he knew they were more technologically advanced then his father's country. "This is beautifully decorated." and another sip was taken, chuckling. "Well I shall watch myself. I do not do well with alcohol. You are free to chat around, you do not need to bind yourself to one spot. You must let the rest of your kingdom see your handsome smile." Leo was much happier, Elliot could tell and it only added to the other's beauty.

"I'd imagine you get a pretty bad headache when you hear too much." Ipo responded. "Not to mention you hear a lot of things you probably don't. Do people just speak their mind around you to prevent you from speaking? because I'm sort of doing that right now because that's a really weird ability. And you're so little too. You're younger then the princesses back home but you're already so responsible." He wanted to hug her, but he wasn't going to. The guards were somewhere, he was sure of it.

Elliot gently touched the clenched hand. "If they are your people they will understand. Trauma is a sensitive topic, so they will be gentle with their words." He was going to speak but a sympathetic voice caught his ears, making him look over while retracting his hand. Yes, she was the one whom he'd spotted earlier because she was a race he'd never encountered. When her eyes turned to him Elliot paused. Some happiness? The prince tried his best not to blush, taking the outstretched hand and giving it a small shake. "I am Elliot, prince of Nalenyr and I thank you for your kind words, Birch, speaker for the Dryads." There was little he could offer, he was not a speaker but a mere prince and an ambassador if needed. Embarrassing perhaps, but what could he do about it.

"That's kind of scary. I imagine it'd be twice as worse if you came back to Nalenyr with us. I'm not trying to say our kingdom is bad, but everyone has secrets, and stuff." He heard rumors amongst the staff, things were either going to get really good or get really bad. "Well how big is big? Elliot keeps lots of things to himself, like his love for Lily. It's his hatred for our Prime Minister he's so open about." Ipo could only say this because the said prince was distracted by the dryad. "And he doesn't talk about his mother. I wasn't here for that but the oldest servants say it had been a tragedy because she died so young. I think he knows something he never revealed." The hare paused. "But I guess I'm saying too much. Let's hear about Poodle now!" And smiled at Tsume happily.

After the shake Elliot just barely loosened his grip, realizing she wasn't loosening hers. Her grip was still a gentle hold, but she wasn't letting go. He supposed they'd stay holding hands them. But plants could hear and listen, it was still as surprising as when discovering Leo could communicate with them. But he was pure of heart? Hardly the case. "Mate?" He stared, somewhat confused even as she kissed the side of his head. He couldn't be another male's mate. Technically speaking they'd mated several times, but pregnancy was impossible between men.

He was worried, very very worried at that comment. Hearing that the trees wanted to commune Elliot thankfully took the distraction. He looked at Leo, seeing the pale face. He wanted to kiss it, hold the other, however when Leo held his hand the Nalenyr prince pressed his lips to that instead, holding with both of his hands. "You should think this through, and then go talk to them. You have until evening to think. Try to relax."

Ipo looked at Nix. "Is there anything Lily can do to relax? Your brother's stress skyrocketed within a few minutes."

Ipo lowered his ears. "That's a big responsibility on his shoulders." He could say one wrong thing and what would happen? Would he be like his mother? Kid Leo must have been cute to look at, what with his cerulean eyes they were probably big blue eyes as a child. Oh, his thoughts were wandering again.

Elliot frowned as Tsume nuzzled the other, having half the urge to bite at the older man's nose. Nix distracted him from his temporary jealously and he looked up where she pointed. silver eyes looked and spotted what appeared to be stairs. "I'll take him there, no worries." The smallest bit of pride hearing he could help Leo more then Tsume. What was Elliot becoming, he was almost ashamed of it all." He looked at Leo, gently squeezing his hand. "You ready? You can relax and think up there, all right?"

"But I want to go." Ipo said sadly, quickly looking at Nix. "Can I still eat without my prince?"