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On the winding road that ran through the hills of Anna's green home ran a carriage as well, carrying an elf and her love, a dragon. A strange match indeed, and it was about to be tested by the elf's own family. Not that she had any thoughts on how she would deal with their rejection, because Anna was quite sure they would do no such thing.

"Pyralis," she said to him as she stuck half of herself out the window. Anyone watching might fear for her falling right out. "Pyralis, look at the hills! Green as anything, just as I remember!" It had been a long time since she had been home, and her heart was soaring upon happiness.

The road now gave them a view from their hill to a sloping meadow, leading down to a huge, glittering lake. Houses lined it here and there, but all was natural beauty and a magic all its own.

"Oh, hush!" Anna plunked back down beside him and took his face in her hands to kiss him. Once she pulled back, her eyes were glittering and there seemed to be no worry or sorrow in her being. "I fully expect you to see everything I shall show you and not be so distracted with me, or I'll make you stay with my family until you do!"
A powerful threat, not because her family was terrible, but because it was so difficult to tell if Anna was being serious or not.

As they travelled on, the hills turned into a more forested area, and they were driving through the forest itself. Anna couldn't poke herself out, or else she would be taken right out by a tree, and so she sat in the arms of her love and dozed off here and there. Birds' song and rays of light leaking through the tree tops came in through the window. It was summer, but pleasantly cool. Everything was perfect for Anna.

When Anna heard that they had arrived, her eyes snapped open, and she shot out of the carriage so quickly that she didn't even stop to think that there might be a bush in her way. The bush was leapt over with ease, Anna's true colors finally showing through now that she was home..
The path leading to the house was right by it, but she didn't take any more notice of it than yelling over her shoulder at Pyralis about it and racing forward.

Her family was waiting for her, of course. The first person to cry out her name and come racing towards her to catch her in a hug was her mother Aerisa, who looked a great deal like Anna save for her nose, and whose hair was darker and whose eyes were the colors of sapphires. She still held the look of youth about her, but all elves possessed age in their eyes.
"Mama!" Anna cried, and no sooner had she said that did her grandmother snatch her away for a kiss and more coddling. Her grandmother, Gloria, had blonde hair, and dazzling green eyes that Anna had always wished for herself. Again, her age was in her eyes, and just looking there it was evident that she was the eldest female.

"Annabaella, my a'mael! Look at you and what Grove has done, you've grown thinner than a willow branch!" her grandmother said, giving her playful, tickling pinches where she could. An older gentleman who stood next to Gloria patted Anna upon the head and laughed. This was her Ada, her grandfather, who she had the greatest respect for besides her own father. Her father, though, was the slowest upon meeting the group, wanting Anna to himself once everyone was done fussing. Elris took Anna into his own warm embrace, calling her his little dove and grasshopper who couldn't stay still for two minutes as always.

Anna was home.

The group calmed down considerably when Pyralis came up. There was a warning look from her father, who naturally wanted Anna to be safe from all harm. Her mother gave a little gasp and seemed quite surprised at the actual person, while her grandparents knew exactly what to expect, having know dragons before.

"This is Pyralis Flameweaver, son of Arondis. Pyralis, this is my mother, Aerisa Souris, my father, Elris Souris, my grandfather, Nicholas Farthing, and my grandmother--"

"Gloria Farthing!" The blonde, green-eyed woman came forward as if they had known each other all their life, and instead of taking Pyralis' hand, she took his face in hers and looked at him straight in the eyes.
"Yes, a dragon, Anna! You've caught such a handsome one, too!" Gloria released his face and turned to her husband with a very familiar excitement. "Nicholas, he has the genuine fire in his eyes just like Theomist. Just like him, come see."

"But he is not Theo, love, he is Pyralis." Nicholas, a perfect gentleman in every fashion, respectfully walked to Pyralis, and gave him a bow before extending a friendly hand. His smoky blue eyes, though, were probing his red for everything he could glean. This was the young dragon who had stolen the heart of his a'mael.
"It is a pleasure to meet the man Annabelle has spoken so highly of. I've had the honor of meeting your mother several times before, and can see she has raised a fine son."

These words from the eldest man seemed to soothe the entire group, who trusted his aged judgement more than anything.

"She is our Anna, and so it is no surprise." Elris and Aerisa came forward to shake the hand of this dragon, looking wary but rather pleased that Anna had found someone that was such a polite man. Elris also had dark hair and the light, colored eyes Anna didn't have. It was a puzzle where she had received her strange coloration from, though she resembled her mother. Aerisa placed her hand upon Pyralis' back and gently prompted him to follow them all back to the house, where a pond was waiting with a dinner table set nearby for their meal.

With Anna on his one side and her mother on his other, it almost seemed that the dragon was ensnared by beautiful women. Gloria kept looking at him from ahead, utterly pleased and taken with him, chatting with Nicholas and laughing at every time she was proven right with what she had thought Pyralis would be.

"The lovebirds shall sit towards the middle of the table, for all to see!" she declared, making Anna blush terribly. For the sake of their sanity, Anna thought everything to her love.
My grandparents are taken with you. They understand that your love is not placed lightly. My mother is quiet, and my father broods sometimes, but he will try to know you. Rest easy, love, you have the favor of the elders.

Anna was about to retort aloud when her mother laughed quietly, blushing softly as they walked and sat down at the table filled with beautiful home-cooked foods. There was a great deal more than usual, Anna saw, since they knew that Pyralis ate a great deal more than they did or could.

"Pyralis, you are too kind. Your eyes would be correct, though. Anna inherited both a gift and coloring that must be from quite a ways down the family tree." She gave a loving look to her daughter before leaning over to speak with her husband, who was pouring the wine and needed a bit of help.

Anna still kept her pink cheeks as she was spoken of as something special. It was only her healing gift that was something truly amazing, not her, she thought.
As the bowls were passed around, Anna leaned towards Pyralis to tell him a little story.

"Growing up around so much blue and green was difficult. My cousins would be cruel to me and say I must have been filled with dirt to make my eyes light brown. They called me 'muddy eyes' for years until Ada made them stop." Anna remembered finally going to him in tears when the teasing had become too much, and even years later, she never could like her cousins. Thank goodness they weren't there.

Anna nearly burst out laughing, but could only let a very large grin spread across her lips. Her Ada gave her a suspicious, smiling glance that she could only shake away. He could hear of why she was smiling so much at dinner later.
They would be bitter, and upset your stomach terribly.

Gloria, who was seated across from Pyralis, paused at sipping her wine. "Mm," she said, catching Nicholas' attention as well.
"Theomist Windmount was our dearest friend, along with his wife, Meredith. Had you ever seen him, he would have had sapphire, iridescent scales and the loveliest yellow eyes you ever saw without them seeming feral."
Gloria's own looked saddened at the happy memories trailing through her mind. But, there was a story to tell, and not the ones she was thinking of.

"He was the kindest, dearest man I have ever met." Nicholas coughed loudly, offering her a goofy, innocent grin when she raised her brow. "Hush, you. He was a fabulous character, and so was Meredith. But she was taken by a very sudden hereditary illness, and he passed away from the most powerful grief I have ever witnessed within minutes."

Nicholas bowed his head with the painful memory, as did Gloria. Nicholas had met Theo first, and had brought him and his wife to meet his own at a festival of fire. Since then, they had become the best of friends until the tragedy.
"That is why," he said to Pyralis, "When you say that Anna has stolen your heart, we do not take it lightly. We have witnessed the particular and powerful love that dragons possess."

"And the way our Theomist looked at his Meredith is much the same way if not exactly like the way you behold our Anna." Gloria allowed the conversation to slip into the silence that had fallen, as everyone had paused from their meal to listen to the story.