Elven Humanity: Dawn Manor

I have no idea what to use as a name, and this work is currently unfinished. I'll keep expanding on it and I do frequently, so please keep reading! Also, please review!

Elvem Humanity
Dawn Manor
Celestia walked amongst the trees, looking up at the grand city spread out above her, connected by dozens of bridges, each seemingly natural branches, but when viewed from above, this entire forest was an incredible empire. That in mind, where was everybody? She walked barefoot in the swamps below the houses, though they weren't really swamps. The water was clearer than glass, the plants floating on it colourful and untouched. Then she felt something land on her shoulder, she looked up in time to see what looked like a colossal spiderweb dropping on her. Seconds later she was on the ground, hopelessly entangled in it. She felt her self being picked up, the tight material making it difficult to see or move. The next thing she knew the web had been lifted from her head, she now realised it was a net, the kind they used to catch fish. Why was being used on her kind?
'We got another.' Someone called. She quickly adjusted to her surroundings and realised that she was in a cart, still wrapped in the net from the neck down, a small group of three men and a woman rode with her, and a fifth in the seat guiding the horses.
'A woodland elf.' The woman nodded. 'Well done. I'm sure the reward will be higher than the other hundred that they've found.'
'Hey, an elf's an elf.' The man who had spoke shrugged. 'Maybe not a high-paying one, but even the cheapest one gives us enough for days!'
'Days isn't enough. We're going hunting out in the mountains next. When we get back, prepare the carts.' She instructed.
'Oh, and thanks for the help, next time try getting out of the cart.' The driver snapped back at her.
'Where am I?' Celestia spoke slowly.
'She speaks our language, that's an improvement. We may earn enough after all.' The woman nodded. Then Celestia's pupils changed from light brown to a glowing green, she stared at her.
'I asked where I am.' She repeated. She was quickly thrown to the ground, she turned to see the woman pressing a hand to her head, her eyes closed. The others looked irritated with her formality.
'She's learnt to control herself too.' She said after a while.
'That'll make her hard to get rid of.'
'But if we find the right buyer, all the more reward.' The woman smiled, an obvious plan forming in her head. One of the men sighed.
'Stop with the dramatics, it's not like she had you falling out of one of those damn trees.'
'Get over it, you healed fine.' She snapped back.

Two days later, and Celestia had begun to understand these people more. She stood on raised wooden platform in a long line of similar stalls, many of her kind standing near. These people were selling them, selling intelligent life. And it's not like they were very professional about it. She wore small rags, a green leaf emblazoned on them, her clothes, much like all the other's, had already been sold. Apparently they went for almost as much as she would. The leaf signified her woodland heritage, it was a mark on all of the members of her kind she saw. Then something caught her eye, a tall elf in silver robes, a large shining crescent-moon on them. Somebody had thought that it was worth buying the clothes, maybe she would be sold for a high price. Celestia frowned as she saw the elf's hands twitch behind her back, a sign of powerful energy, she had half a second to throw herself to the ground. The ropes prevented her from bringing her arms down as well, leaving them reddened from burns as the white hot light exploded from the elf. She stood up quickly, wincing as the rope rubbed against her arms, and witnessed the elf high in the air, her legs bent. This must be a celestial elf, the ones that she had been named after. Then a golden chain soared into the air, seeming to magnetise itself to her, and she was dragged back to the floor. Celestia grimaced as she was half dragged back down the row of stalls. The third escape attempt she had seen so far. Then she looked down, realising there was somebody watching her.
'Hello.' She said dismissively, annoyed at the constant customers who eventually moved on to the next stall. The woman from the cart appeared next to her, elbowing her in the side.
'No talking.' She hissed. Then she looked down at the man and gasped. 'Lyevin! Sir!'
'Hello, Jazmyn.' The man nodded to her, she immediately stood to attention. 'Stop, I'm just checking on how you're doing.' Lyevin smiled, the woman nodded hurriedly.
'We're doing fine sir, we've moved the capturing group to the mountains, they should be back in a few days with a fortune's worth.'
'Good, then I take it we're no longer hunting in the forests?' He said slowly, as if attempting to lead a child to an answer for a particularly difficult test.
'Yes. But I still don't understand you're objection to using the woodland elves.' Jazmynv frowned, resuming her calculating stare at Celestia.
'They're cheap, and don't have much use.' Lyevin explained. 'This stall will fail if you sell woodland elves, leave the forests alone and move to a more useful area.' Celestia resented her species being referred to as useless and cheap, but this man was still persuading them to leave the forests to the elves, even if it was for the wrong reasons.
'Do you need more money for the expedition?' He suggested.
'Actually yes, we're looking to join the advancements to The Beyonds.' Jazmyn announced proudly.
'I believe I can help with that, I'd like to make a purchase.' Lyevin stated.
'Really?' She frowned, disbelievingly. 'You want to buy- I don't think that the price will really help our-'
'For two thousand five hundred.' The woman stared at him.
'Seriously? For a woodland elf?' Celestia was insulted, but wasn't in hurry to be sold. Then again, would it really be worse than this?' The rope was still rubbing against her burnt arms, surely anything would be better than this.
'You need the money, is it enough?'
'Are you willing to pay more?' Said slowly, contemplating how much she could get. Lyevin looked knowingly at her and she grinned, turning to gather what Celestia could only assume was an ownership certificate. Ownership of her. 'Okay, fine, it's much more than we need.'
'Then use some allow me to join to advances, and the rest is yours.'
'Of course! I don't want to ruin a solid purchase, but are you sure? That kind of money could buy a celestial elf, and one in its prime too.'
'I'm sure.' Lyevin nodded, handing her a small bag with golden lace tying it shut. Jazmyn took it politely, unlike what Celestia had witnessed from other purchases when she had collected the money. Who was this man?
'Do you want the rope too?' She asked, Celestia hadn't heard her ask this before, clearly she thought this man didn't need the rope to handle her. That worried her. The man eyed her burnt arms before frowning.
'No, I think it'll be fine.'
'Okay, stay still.' She had said this to Celestia, she was terrified to see a golden chain circle, but it was around her neck before she could react. She looked round in time to see the man look disapprovingly at Jazmyn before quickly looking away again. He started walking down the rows of stalls, Celestia was pushed off of the platform, stumbled to her feet, and started walking after him.

Celestia sat in a closed carriage as it plunged quickly down the narrow forest path, she looked out of the locked windows, hoping to see her own forest. She didn't. She didn't know where she was, or where she was going.
'Who are you?' Lyevin asked, the first thing he'd said to her so far. She noticed that he had become significantly less... regal.
'What?' The man waited, knowing that she had heard. Eventually she sighed. 'My name is Celestia. I'm a woodland elf.'
'I know.' He nodded to the leaf on her ragged clothes. 'You're new to this.' He commented.
'What do you mean?' Celestia frowned.
'I mean you've never been sold before, recently caught. Otherwise you wouldn't be talking so freely.' She recoiled slightly, leaning further into the seat. 'I don't mean to threaten you, I just know this by now.'
'You've bought somebody before?' Celestia looked reproachfully at him.
'No, I've been against it for years. I practically fund Jazmyn's group though. He realised how this sounded and rethought. 'There are far more hunters than there need to be, and her group's one of the least abusive.' Celestia held up her arms, still singed red. 'That wasn't their fault.' Lyevin pointed out. 'I'll help with that when we get home.'
'Home?'
'At the moment.' He nodded to her, she couldn't tell if it was an understanding or exasperated look. 'Also, I meant what I said. I've never bought somebody.'
'Yes?' Celestia frowned, not understanding where this was going.
'I've employed people though.'
'What do you mean?'
'Other elves.' Lyevin stated. 'But I don't enslave living people.' He grimaced at the thought. Maybe this human wasn't so bad after all.
'Why am I wearing a golden chain?' Celestia continued.
'It's placed with all magical elves when they're sold.' He shrugged. 'Apparently you tried to hypnotise Jazmyn.'
'Yes...' she admitted.
'Impressive.'
'Why did you buy me though?' She pressed on, most of what he had said so far had been controversial with itself.
'You're powerful.' Lyevin stated. 'And you're frankly too young to be sold off in my opinion.'
'I must be only a year younger than you.' Celestia protested,
'Which is very young for an elf.' Lyevin concluded.
'Fine. How do you know about gold though?' She frowned, that had always been one of the most secretive aspects of elven life. Lyevin looked down.
'I am... ashamed to say, I discovered it myself. I lived amongst the elves for the best part of a year, my role was to study them. I soon found a need to protect myself, so I utilised the weakening effect of gold on elves.' Celestia looked horrified.
'You're the reason why they use it?!' She exclaimed, standing up in the small carriage.
'Otherwise they would resort to more brutal means, I have no doubt.' Lyevin sighed. 'But I do regret it.' Then the carriage stopped. He opened the door and stepped out, Celestia waited, but eventually could think of no option but to follow. Her first sight was the monolithic manor that they had stopped outside, and that Lyevin was now approaching. The majority of it was wooden, hundreds of different species of trees had gone into this house, and while Celestia was disheartened to think of the forestry that must have been destroyed, it was an incredible sight to see. She looked around, and found herself in the centre of a deep forest. Not one that she recognised though. As she followed him to the doors, she noticed that the left wing greatly resembled a much larger version of one of the houses she had left behind in her forest, but on the ground. 'I'll have to introduce you.' Lyevin sighed as she reached him. He seemed annoyed to have to, though it wasn't clear at which aspect of it. He opened the large, intricate door, and it swung to reveal a room bigger than the entire house that she had lived in growing up, and almost as tall as she tree it had perched on. 'Calarel! He called, as Celestia followed him inside. She looked approvingly at the towering bookcases that seemed to line the walls leading to the left wing, she'd have to find out what was there sometime soon. Then her attention was drawn to another elf, one in a silver robe, but less showy than the one she had seen on the celestial elf earlier. She was reminded unpleasantly of the elf being dragged between the stalls. The tall elf in front of her looked warmly at her, her very presence seemed inviting.
'Hello Lyevin, who is this?' She smiled.
'Celestia.' He informed her, 'an elf in the marketplace tried to escape, she was burnt in the explosion.'
'Ah, that's why you called summoned me.'
'Called, I called you.' Lyevin corrected her quickly. 'Can you prepare what you need while I find a place for her?'
'Certainly.' Calarel nodded, turning back towards where she had appeared from. 'I assume you don't want her to know yet?'
'Thanks.' Lyevin nodded, he walked away quickly, scowling slightly.
'What?' Celestia frowned, running after him.
'What do you mean?'
'You looked irritated at her, what did she do?' Lyevin sighed, stopping and turning to face her.
'Calarel's been doing this a lot longer than you, and she's older than both of us. She's used to being treated like you would've been, and she expects me to treat her like it too.'
'How long has she been here?' Celestia asked,
'At least a month, she's trying to convert me, I swear. Refuses to be paid. I don't blame her for that though, I don't know what they'd spend it on really.' Then he smiled at her.
'What?'
'You're the only one who I can speak like an equal too, well, except for her, but she's more like a toddler than anything else.'
'Who's she?' Celestia continued.
'You'll find out soon, I don't doubt.' Lyevin sighed, resuming walking down the long hall. Then Celestia stopped talking to look around, and was yet again amazed. The green wood floors were shining, the walls decorated with everything she could imagine. 'I inherited it.' Lyevin explained, seeing her staring at the decorations. 'All but the east wing, and that's mostly off bounds to us now.' He stopped at a much newer looking door, Celestia could tell that it wasn't just polished, it was unused. She opened the door, producing another pleased hum from Lyevin.
'Thank... you.' She said slowly, looking around the large room. It was also expensively furnished, and had a small bed in the corner. Small compared to the Room that was. A large green-stained glass window overlooked the forest, and she looked down as she felt carpet on her feet. This room was beyond even her house back in her forest, and certainly an improvement on the stall she had slept in for two days.
'When you want to meet us all, come back to the entrance room.' He waved briefly before closing the door. She heard his footsteps quietly moving back down the corridor.

An hour later, Celestia was still sitting on her bed, staring up at her ceiling. It was hers, this whole room. She had never expected this when she realised that she was being sold, and knew that it was beyond anything that anybody else who had come to look at her would have provided. She still didn't feel a large amount of gratitude towards the man, he had still bought her, even if it was to save her from other buyers. After a while she decided to go back and find out who 'us' meant, how many others were there here?' She entered the main room again and found an odd array of people waiting in it. Lyevin was at a desk littered with papers, and seemed to be trying to prise a small girl off of his arm. Calarel was laughing at them, and a fourth woman was sitting on the other end of the desk, scribbling rapidly on an already filled sheet of paper. Then Calarel looked up and greeted her, and the rest noticed her. Lyevin gave an exhausted nod, now shaking his arm, the girl clinging to it grinned at her, tightening her grip, and the woman stared uncomfortably before running up to her.
'You didn't tell me she was a woodland elf!' She exclaimed, pushing her glasses back a second before they fell to the floor. Her brown hair flew as she practically jumped, giving a triumphant pound on the desk.
'Hey!' The girl demanded, letting go of Lyevin and striding up to her. 'Ignore Nuts.'
'Nutallia!' The woman exclaimed. 'If you insist on a nickname, use the second half!'
'But you're already nuts, so Nuts seemed fitting.' The girl shrugged. 'I'm Lily!'
'Lylinatha.' Nutallia muttered. 'I'm Ali.' She decided, turning back to her.
'Hello.' Celestia replied, hesitant to shake her ink-covered left hand.
'This is Celestia.' Lyevin introduced her, then glared at Lily. 'This is Lily, generally annoying and troublesome, and Ali, my cousin, no less annoying, check her hands for syringes when you see her.'
'It was one time, get over it!' Ali sighed, Lyevin looked at her.
'The fact that you've only managed to stab me once on purpose does not make it better!'
'At least my aim is getting better.' Ali muttered. 'Anyway!' She continued brightly, 'I would love to document you!'
'W-what?'
'She's done it with all of us.' Lyevin sighed, narrowing his eyes at Ali. 'If you don't want to, just ignore her. Although she has a tendency of doing it anyway.' Celestia frowned, unsure of what being documented involved.
'It's fine, I'll do it.' She decided, Ali looked ecstatic.
'Yes! I'll have to show you my wing!'
'My wing.' Lyevin protested, 'this is my house.'
'Our house! It wasn't given to you!'
'Mainly my house, you got the East Wing. And you made it into a treehouse.' Then he looked quickly to Celestia. 'Sorry, no offence, its modelled after the elvish woodland city. It's actually amazing, I'm just irritated that she completely remodelled the entirety of the left side of my house.
'Right side, this house faces north.' Ali smirked.
'Which makes it's the left side.' Lyevin pointed out.
'East is right on a compass.'
'But the house faces the other way.'
'That doesn't change the direction!'
'It changes whether the east side is the left or right side!'
'No!' Calarel lead Celestia away from the two as they shouted at each other. She looked around as they entered a smaller room, with white tiles lining the floor.
'Where are we?' Celestia frowned.
'This is the infirmary room, Lyevin had it furnished in case it was needed, which is more likely around here than in town to be honest. I run it, though it's not normally in use. It's one of my energies, I'm an Arctic elf. I can only heal to a certain extent, but it works.' She shrugged. 'How bad are your arms?' Celestia held up her arms and Calarel grimaced, they were still red and burnt from the heated explosion in the market. 'Pretty bad. Okay, hold still.' She placed her palms across Celestia's arms, causing her to grit her teeth in pain. 'Sorry.' She looked guiltily at her, after a few seconds she removed her hands. The redness had almost entirely disappeared, and the pain had faded.
'Impressive.' Celestia commented, grinning as she rubbed her arms. 'Where are you from?'
'The Nekko Mountains, there are whole villages of us up there. We knew what was happening when the elves started being taken, there are still some hidden settlements.' She smiled reminiscently.
'Does Lyevin know about them?' Celestia asked hesitantly.
'Well... no. He hasn't asked.'
'Ali would've though.'
'Yes. She did.' Calarel
'What did you say?'
'That... that there were no other undiscovered villages.' She confessed. Celestia frowned.
'You don't trust them?'
'I do! Calarel assured her quickly, 'but I feel like I'm betraying my kind by sharing their hiding place, but I will tell them. Soon.' But she looked uncertain.
'You don't have to, it wouldn't change anything either way.' Celestia shrugged, not keen on sharing her own secrets.
'I know. Anyway, you should at least sleep before you get documented, it's exhausting.' She smiled at her. 'Did Lyevin show you your room?'
'Yes, its huge.' Celestia nodded, Calarel grinned and waved as she left.

Calarel hummed quietly as she walked along the halls, when the door next to her opened.
'Oh, Calarel!' Lyevin stumbled back after almost walking into her. 'I forgot to tell you, I paid Jazmyn to get an extra place in the expedition in a few days.'
'Oh wow, who are you taking?' Calarel asked excitedly.
'I'll try to take whoever wants to, but-'
'I know, we'd have to act like we would as slaves again.'
'Yes.' Lyevin confirmed regrettably. 'But you would only have to when in public, if you don't want to, and I really don't want you to have to, you can choose whether to come or not.'
'I know, and I think I might not actually. Unless we can do what we did last time.' She suggested hesitantly.
'The disguise.' Lyevin realised, 'that could actually work. But Jazmyn's already seen Celestia, and I doubt that Lily could pass for human.'
'But if Ali is coming too, then there'd be three of us to protect them.' Calarel reasoned.
'Okay, yes, we'll do that. Maybe we can protect them then.'
'So what do you want me to do with the office before we go?' Calarel continued, moving into the room.
'Just store the papers in the cellar, the city guard is stationing people outside the houses while everybody will be on the expedition anyway, I doubt anybody will get in. Just in case though.'
'Yes.' Calarel stopped before she continued into the room. 'You don't trust the city guard, do you?'
'Not entirely, no.' Lyevin confessed. 'Stay away from the guards in the expedition.' Then he left, and Calarel continued into the room.

'Morning!' Celestia leapt up, Ali's loud greeting was not a pleasant way to wake up. 'Sorry, but we can't waste any time!' She practically bounced off of the bed, allowing Celestia to actually stand up.
'Okay, okay sure. What do I have to do.'
'You don't have to, you get to! Don't you want to help the advancement of science?'
'Your science is writing things down.' Celestia said irritably, not fully awake.
'That's a kind of science! Anyway, are you coming into town to help?' Her tone had completely changed, she now looked nervously as Celestia, sympathetically. It was strange to see such a quick change in her. 'It's fine if you don't, it's just if you want to see the town, and get used to... how the others would... behave.' She looked uncomfortable now.
'I'll come, it's fine. Just... stay close.'
'I had no intention of leaving you alone!' Ali said determinedly, resuming her ecstatic expression. 'I just need some paper, like a whole stack, and about a dozen ink vials!' Celestia sighed and followed her out of the room. It was then that Ali noticed that she was still wearing the rags given to her by the people that had captured her. 'Oh, right, we forgot. Pick out whatever you want when we get back, okay?'
'Okay, thanks.' Celestia frowned. They were quickly out of the door and to the carriage. Ali made to walk past it but stopped.
'Maybe we should take the carriage, it'd be quicker.' She conceded, clearly recognising Celestia's desire not to spend too much time in the market where she had been sold. They got into the carriage and the driver directed the horses down the path, it took only a few minutes to reach the town. Ali jumped out excitedly, waiting for Celestia. She eventually followed, noticing that Ali was now a lot less careful of her, and seemed to be avoiding looking at people. 'Just follow me.' She instructed, tonelessly. This was clearly not her favourite place to be either. Celestia followed behind her, people were ignoring her. Then somebody walked up to her out of nowhere, keeping out of sight of Ali and keeping place with her. This dark figure wore an equally dark cloak, hiding their fade in the shadow of the hood. It was only when Celestia's eyes glowed green and her vision was freed of darkness that she saw the feminine face and the pointed ears of an elf.
'Who are you?' The elf whispered.
'I-I'm Celestia, a woodland-'
'How long have you been in this?'
'This is my second day.' Celestia spilled, unsure of why she was so open now.
'And where do your loyalties lie?' She was caught off guard by this. What? Where else would they lie?
'With my people.' Celestia hissed.
'Good. What do you know of us.'
'Who's us?' She demanded, but the elf had disappeared as quickly as she had appeared, fading into the crowd.
'Who was that?' Ali asked, drawing back to walk next to Celestia. She hadn't been deceived for a second.
'I don't know.' She told her truthfully.
'What did they want?'
'They asked who I was.'
'Anything else?' Ali pressed, then Celestia realised that Ali knew what to ask. This had happened before.
'She asked me... where my loyalties lie.' Celestia repeated to her.
'What was your response?' Ali whispered.
'I said it lay with my people.' Celestia declared proudly, as if daring her to disagree.
'Good.' Ali nodded after a while. 'That was the right answer.' Then she loudened and looked around. 'We're here!' It took a few minutes for both of them to be loaded to the brim with paper and ink, clearly enough the last for months. Hopefully. 'Can you wait outside, I need to talk with the people who own this place.' Ali said, Celestia nodded and moved out to wait. She had barely seen Ali begin to talk to an elderly couple who emerged from the back when suddenly the paper and ink were sent flying from her hands, the paper flew in every direction, some ink bottles shattered on the ground, others landed safely on the paper. Celestia looked up to see a man with leather and metal armour flimsily strapped to himself towering over her, laughing. A golden chain and sword were sheathed around his waist.
'Hah, this elf lost her things! Are these yours? No, I think she's stolen them, boys. Maybe-'
'How dare you!' Ali shouted, shooting out of the doorway.
'Oh s**t, it's her elf!' One of the other men hissed. 'Let's get out of here!'
'You disrespectful, arrogant, primitives! I'd have you lynched if I could, not for the first time either!' She continued her shouting until they had left her sight, standing in front of Celestia. She then turned to her. 'Are you alright?'
'Y-yes, I didn't know how badly we were really treated out here.'
'Unfortunately. If one of those guards does anything to you, I can only file damage to property against him. That won't stop me from ripping his arm off though.' She shrugged, grinning at. Then she gathered up what wasn't destroyed and started walking towards the carriage.
'I-I can carry something!' Celestia protested.
'No, it's fine.' Ali muttered through a stack of paper. 'Sorry, I shouldn't have made you wait outside.'
'It's okay.'
'No, it's not. We can't protect you three all the time, and we shouldn't have to. We can go home now.'

Back at the manor Ali was practically hyperventilating over Celestia.
'What do I need to do?' She sighed.
'I'm marking the differences between human and elf, and I've never been able to document a woodland elf!' The next hour was spent with Ali frantically scribbling while Celestia waited. 'Okay, now for the magic!'
'Energy.'
'I know! What are the abilities of a woodland elf?' Ali watched her excitedly. Celestia grinned.
'There's change in the eyes when we use our power, look.' She instructed, Ali stared unnervingly into her eyes. Then she focused on her too, Ali gasped as her eyes glowed green.
'Amazing!'
'Now put the pen down and stop documenting for today.' Celestia stared intently at her until- Ali started laughing.
'Sorry dearie, gold embedded in my head!' She touched an area just below her eye. 'I had a slight accident when I was ten, a fleck of gold went right through me while I was helping my parents, they were chain forgers. But it made me effectively immune to most elven powers!' Celestia sighed and sat back down.
'What a shame.' She grinned.
'I know, I can't tell what it's like to be hypnotised!'
'We call it mesmerised.'
'Incredible! Lyevin will want you to mark down any elven settlements that you know of.' She quickly lead Celestia to Lyevin's office before running back down the corridor.
'Oh, Celestia. Ali told you about the map, right?'
'She told me that you'd want to know where the villages were.'
'Yes, could you mark the locations on the map?' Lyevin moved aside, revealing a large map spread across the desk. It showed the entirety of the land, thousands of miles drawn out on the sheet of paper. Dozens of small, coloured ink circles outlined villages, some with drawings of what were presumably the houses in them. In the centre of the map there was a large, impressive drawing of the manor. It was signed by Ali. 'She insists on sketching everywhere we go for her books.' Lyevin explained. 'So, do you know any we haven't got?' Celestia was surprised to see many of the woodland villages that she had visited marked down.
'Only a few.' She admitted. 'There are eight small camps lining the base of the mountain, only three of them are on the maps, and I once visited a High Elf city, it's entrance is near the peak.' Lyevin marked these on the map.
'Thanks, we'll direct the stalls away from them if we can. Now, do you want to come on the expedition?'
'The one that you bought me to go on?'
'Not primarily, but that is one of the reasons, yes. It's the First Advance, nobody's ever been to the Beyondlands before.'
'Who else is going?' Celestia frowned.
'I am, as are Ali and Calarel, possibly Lily too.'
'Okay, I'll come.' Celestia nodded. 'Will we have to act like-'
'Yes.' Lyevin finished quickly, looking like he was dreading the journey. 'But we'll be protecting you, and we think that Calarel may pass for human.'
'Good.' Celestia smiled. She noticed Lyevin looking at her again. 'What?'
'It's just disappointing that we can't talk freely outside of here, or the others. I may be partially my family's fault though, without the advantage of gold, it would be a lot harder to imprison elves. Do you know if any of your village escaped?' He asked unexpectedly.
'Uh, no. I was out in the field when they were taken.' Celestia said quietly. 'Could I have helped?'
'No.' Lyevin said firmly. 'You being there would've only sped up your capture.' She nodded, partially reassured.
'When's the expedition?' She changed the subject.
'Tomorrow night we leave for the docks.' Lyevin informed her. 'Oh, sorry, we keep forgetting, choose anything from the clothes we have here, everybody's will probably fit except for Lily's.'
'Whose now?' Lily had appeared in the doorway. 'Oh, cool, the map! Where are we going?'
'We're on the expedition tomorrow.' Lyevin told her, the small elf's eyes widened.
'Seriously? Yes! Can I come?'
'Already secured you a place.' Lyevin grinned. 'Want to practise?'
'Yes!' Lily shouted, looking like this was the best day of her life. She almost hit the door as she ran out.
'You'll want to see this.' Lyevin grinned at Celestia before following Lily. When they were outside Celestia looked around for Lily.
'Where is she?' She looked across, but Lyevin was staring up into the trees, seemingly focused on something. He pointed up, then silently moved into the woodland behind the house. Celestia waited for either of them to appear, when suddenly she saw Lily shoot from the top of a tree, leaves and branches raining like hail. Two large, translucent wings glowed a dull orange, beating fast as she flew up, she quickly fell again, not able to sustain her flight. She landed in a nearby tree, when suddenly she disappeared backwards off of it. Lyevin leapt from the trees a few seconds later and landed next to Celestia, Lily under his arm.
'D****t!' She shouted. Folding her arms and sulking. Lyevin put her down and the sat on the floor. 'How did you see me?!'
'Your wings, you don't retract them in time.' Lyevin grinned, Celestia noticed that Lily's back was bare to allow her wings to appear. Then she stood up, wings erupted from her back, and she flew high into the air, she missed the tree by a foot, and fell. Lyevin was under her then, falling as she landed in his arms.
'Why can't I fly?!' Lily shouted, pouting again. Lyevin carried her inside while Celestia looked up at the trees that Lily had been aiming for. She walked to them, running her finger tips along the bark. She closed her eyes, pressed her hand to the tree, when she looked again there were now small dents embedded up the trunk. She climbed them quickly, experienced in climbing trees from her tree-top village. She reached the top quickly, surveying the manor. She could see Calarel through one of the windows, talking to Ali, who was bent over her desk. Lyevin was in his study, she could see him sorting through the various papers, Lily was slowly lowering herself from a window, carefully picking her way up to the roof. Celestia sighed and jumped down, running to the house.

'What are you doing?' Lily jumped, turning to see Celestia.
'Uh, I was... trying to fly.' She admitted, sitting defeatedly on the edge of the roof.
'You should jumped from higher, it'd give you more time to stabilise yourself.' Lily looked up at Celestia.
'Really? You'll help?'
'Sure, as long as somebody's here for you to land on.' She grinned, Lily scaled the tall chimney quickly, spreading her wings. 'If you push off instead of jumping, you'd glide better.' Celestia called, Lily nodded confidently, moving so that she clung to the side. Then she pushed off, throwing herself as far from the roof as she could, her arms out, her legs straight, she flew across the manor, barely loosing height as she circled it.
'This is amazing!' She shouted down at Celestia. 'I could fly across town!'
'Probably don't!' Celestia shouted back. Lily landed unstably next to her, grinning from ear to ear.
'I did it!'
'You were incredible.' Celestia grinned. 'How long can you fly for?'
'I don't know, I've never been able to stay off the ground for long enough to tire myself out.' Lily shrugged.
'Maybe you can try it out on the expedition, we could say your scouting the area.' Celestia suggested, Lily looked ecstatic.
'Really?!'
'Maybe, we can ask.' Celestia shrugged, feeling like she was a child having to ask her parents. 'It's annoying having to pretend like we're actually bought and paid for though.'
'We are.' Lily stated.
'It's an expression.' Celestia sighed, laying back on the roof. Lily copied her position, laying down too.
'Thank for helping me fly, I've never flown for that long before!'

Tomorrow, after they had gone through the exhausting process of tracking everybody down for dinner, the time came to pack for the expedition.
'The main journey's on the boats, but after that we're on foot, so whatever you aren't don't want to leave on boat, make light.' Lyevin had told them, Ali gave a short lecture on the necessities, and Lily tried to force a squirrel into a suitcase. Celestia could only find her new clothes to pack, she hadn't been there long enough to get personal items. She came to the entrance with her small suitcase to find Ali proudly standing with a small mountain of packages, each stuffed with her books and notebooks. Lyevin and Lily also carried large cases, likely filled with Ali's things, and Calarel carried a white suitcase, with most of the medical supplies and food inside.
'Okay, now we can go!' Ali beamed, practically sprinting out of the door. Celestia walked alongside Lyevin and Lily, who were trudging slowly behind Ali, both heavily weighed down. She took some of the luggage onto her own back and they sped up slightly, Ali still ran ahead of them all. Calarel walked close to Ali, not inclined to run after her though. They reached the docks soon enough, Celestia stopped, staring up at the array of colossal ships. Each as big as a house, floating side by side thirty feet off of the shore.
'Elves.' Calarel whispered, her long hair swept to conceal her pointed ears, her medical uniform hiding her elvish figure. She looked for all accounts, human. She was looking at the crowd of people approaching the boats, an elf for at least every three people. Clearly none of them came of their own choice. Lily pointed to an elf of her kind, wings spread, the elf linked arms with a human and flew, landing with them on one of the boats.
'I can't do that.' Lily stated flatly.
'We don't expect you to, we'll take the boats!' Ali announced, starting towards a small army of fishing boats that people were piling into the reach the larger boats. As they got in Lyevin saw Jazmyn waving to get their attention on one of the boats. They rowed out to it, colliding with just about every other boat, and reached it as a ladder was thrown across the side for them. Lily landed on the boat as Lyevin reached the top, she moved back slightly so that she was behind him.
'Hello, sir!' She grinned. 'Glad to have you two- three join us!' She spotted Calarel climbing behind them. 'And two elves, I assume this one's with you?' She gestured to Lily while looking at Calarel.
'Actually she's mine!' Ali announced, jumping the last few rungs of the ladder.
'Oh, Nuttalia!'
'Ali.' She muttered.
'Sorry, right. Good to have you all, our chances of reaching the Beyondlands are much higher now. The rooms are below deck.' Below deck there were five large rooms, and one sectioned storage area with blankets laid over the floor.
'Do they expect us to sleep here?' Celestia whispered, Ali frowned disprovingly.
'You two can sleep in any of our rooms, just don't make it obvious or the situation could be... misinterpreted.' Lyevin whispered back, causing Celestia to hide her face and Ali to snort.
'How long will it take to get there?' Lily piped up cheerfully.
'A few days, not even a week.' Lyevin told her. 'I'm going to watch us leave.' Lily and Ali followed him to the deck.

'Do you know anything about where we're going?' Ali asked everybody in general.
'Only a few scouting parties have ever gone there, and they only went far enough to confirm the safety of the landing area.' Jazmyn said factually. 'But the rest of it is unexplored.' Ali looked like she would explode.
'How do you know?' Lyevin shrugged. 'If people had already settled there, we wouldn't be aware of it.' There was silence while people considered this.
'Unlikely.' Jazmyn said finally. 'We'd have noticed, they'd have met with the scouts.'
'Unless they didn't consider them a threat, or they didn't want more of us to follow them.'
'Then it looks they picked a bad way to do it.' Jazmyn decided, moving to the front of the boat. They were one of the first boats out of the docks, and clearly one of the fastest too.

Two days later they were a matter of hours away from landing. Celestia watched Lily flying around the boats.
'Sent scouting worked then?' She grinned at Lyevin, he nodded and grinned back.
'Ali's convinced that she saw an aquatic elf, we all think it's a dolphin.'
'Imagine what elves would be on the mainland though, maybe new species.' Ali exclaimed, appearing behind them.
'Or more dolphins.' Celestia commented, Ali shrugged.
'Either way, what a find!' Then her smile faded as she looked at the next boat. Lily had been pulled to the deck of the closest one by a golden chain that they had taken in case of savages as the guard had said. Calarel leapt the ten foot gap between the boats easily, while Lyevin followed Ali, who was swinging precariously on a rope. They landed as Calarel reached Lily, standing between her and the three people who had thrown the chain.
'Get the hell away from-'
'My elf!' Ali shouted quickly, mouthing an apology to Lily. Lyevin stood in front now.
'You'd better get the hell away from her before I throw you overboard.' He threatened through gritted teeth, the men recognised him and left laughing, Ali quickly pulled the gold chain off of Lily's leg. The small elf struggled to stand, Lyevin caught her as she fell and picked her up. Celestia took Lily and pulled her into the boat so that they could swing back. Jazmyn approached them.
'You're pretty protective over your elves.' She commented, she was silent under the looks she got from Lyevin and Ali.
'We're protective over people.' He replied coldly.
'Still on about that. You're one of the most powerful people in the surrounding towns, but I don't get why you don't support the use of elves.'
'The use of elves is using sentient life.' Ali snapped.
'Living people are not tools to make your life easy.' Lyevin continued, it was impressive to watch when the two were on the same side in an argument, they rarely lost alone, and the two together were fearsome in most aspects. Calarel discreetly healed Lily, who had been thrown hard to the wooden floor. Celestia took her below deck.
'Okay, okay. I'm just saying-' Jazmyn was cut short as the boat suddenly jarred, rocking dangerously. 'What the hell was that?!'
'It'd take more than that to down this boat.' Lyevin frowned, he and Ali running to opposite sides to look over the edge. Suddenly the water near them erupted, a figure shot from the sea and landed on the boat they had rescued Lily from. Ali shrieked in delight as she saw the elven figure draw a silver trident.
'I was right!' She shouted, stumbling back as a similar figure landed on their boat. Calarel pulled her down quickly, the elf noticed her pointed ears and ran past her, straight at Ali. Lyevin slammed into the elf halfway, sending them to the ground. They were back up in seconds, two more landing beside them. Each of the people on deck were engaged by one, each forced to use the swords that every boat had been equipped with, that they had been sure were overkill. Jazmyn was clearly more experienced, the elf she fought being backed to the wall quickly, Ali swung madly, the elf unable to block her random and incredibly fast attacks. Lyevin had disarmed his opponent, but their backup plan was to leap at him, sending them both to the ground. Eventually all three attackers were thrown overboard, them Ali spotted a dark figure shooting towards them underwater. 'The chains!' She shouted, Lyevin grabbed one, launching it as the elf shot from the water. It caught them in the head, they fell to the floor, Lyevin threw the chain again, as did Ali, they wrapped around the figures wrists, wrenching them away from the trident they carried, unusually strong, the two of them struggled to hold the elf. Jazmyn and Calarel ran to each of them, and soon the chains were secured to opposite sides of the ship. Minutes later, the attack had ceased. Several ships now too damaged to continue or sunk, the shrunken fleet of ships stormed ahead, desperate to reach land. It would still be at least an hour though, allowing them time to consult the captured elf. By now the elf had sunk to their knees, the golden chains heavily affecting them. Ali walked forwards and bent down to inspect the elf, it when the elf brought up its head to glare at that she saw its species.
'She's a new kind!' Ali shouted. 'I knew it!' She put her hands on either side of the elf's head, preventing her from biting as she was clearly trying. 'Sharp teeth, slit pupils, gills! She has gills!' Ali announced, moving the hair away from the elf's neck and grinning with excitement. 'But otherwise appears normal. An aquatic elf! Can she even breath above water?' She looked at the elf with concern, but saw her chest rising and falling fast. 'Never mind, she can. The chains have been on for a while, it's unlikely she'd be able to escape.' She called, she and Lyevin removed the chains from her wrists. For a second the elf knelt on the floor, unmoving, but then Lyevin moved forward and she leapt up. He fell backwards, struggling, quickly stood up and threw her away, but she continued her furious attack on him. He grabbed her wrists, preventing her clawed hands from ripping at his face, and swept a leg under her, causing her to fall. Ali threw a chain to him and he quickly looped it round her, the golden chain pinning her arms to her sides. Lyevin pulled her up, allowing Ali wrap her second chain around the elf's legs.
'I want to document her!' She announced.
'Of course you do.' Lyevin sighed.
'This elf attacked us!' Jazmyn protested, 'the guards will her executed or thrown overboard.' They glared at her. Before Ali looked expectantly at Lyevin.
'What?'
'I can't do it, you're the one who subdued her.' Realising what Ali was saying, Lyevin closed his eyes.
'Fine. Fine, I lay claim.' Ali grinned while Jazmyn sighed.
'Keep her then, but the guards will still want information from her.'
'We plan to get it.' Ali nodded confidently, kneeling beside the elf. 'Now let me document her!'
'Why can't you?!' Lyevin demanded.
'Because she's like a bundle of chains at the moment.' Ali complained. 'How can I study her?' A minute later they had managed to subdue the elf again, her hands tied above her, her feet bound to the floor.
'I feel like using the rigging on the mast to tie her to may have been overkill.' Lyevin commented.
'Nah, this is fine!' Ali grinned. She started scribbling in a notebook that she seemingly pulled out of nowhere, glancing up every now and then. As land came into view, Lyevin frowned at the elf.
'Uh, I think she's drying.'
'What?' Ali looked up in confusion.
'I'm saying she needs water.' Lyevin said quickly, the elf's skin had gone a dull greyish colour, she was limp.
'Damn it, quickly, help!' Ali said desperately, jumping to her feet. Lyevin quickly untied the chains from the rigging and lowered the elf to the sea, fixing the chains to the side of the boat. Ali dropped a landing boat, it was tied to the side of he ship, floating next to the submerged elf. Lyevin and her dropped down to it.
'Is it working? Pull her up for a second.' Ali called to Jazmyn, who struggled to, but managed to pull the chains to lift the elf from the water. 'Damn it...' Ali whispered, surveying the elf. Lyevin tapped her shoulder and put a finger to his lips, shushing her.
'The guards'll want to dissect her.' Her stated, suddenly the elf responded. The colour reappeared in her skin, her eyes opened, and she thrashed against the ship.
'She was playing possum!' Ali exclaimed, looking relieved. 'Nice catch.' She grinned at Lyevin.
'Now, who are you?' The elf didn't respond, she continued to hiss at them. 'I think we'd gain a lot even if she can't talk.' Lyevin suggested, Ali nodded.
'Okay, yes. Put her in the storage room.'

'You caught an aquatic elf?!' Lily exclaimed after she regained consciousness and had heard the whole story below deck.
'Yes.' Ali confirmed proudly.
'She's in the storage room.' Lyevin nodded.
'I didn't know they existed.' Celestia commented.
'I'm pretty sure she can talk, but she isn't.' Lyevin frowned. 'And we're not about to do anything that the guards would to make her.
'Is she an actual soldier then?' Lily asked excitedly.
'We think so.' Lyevin said. 'She's wearing armour, light and thin, but armour all the same.'
'Now you've got all three though.' Ali grinned. 'Congratulations.' She smirked as Lyevin glared at her.
'All three what?' Celestia frowned.
'Elves.' Lyevin sighed.
'Claimed, bought, and voluntary.' Ali explained.
'I was voluntary.' Calarel added.
'Why?' Celestia asked, Lily quickly sat up onto her knees.
'Backstory time!'
'Okay, here's mine then.' Calarel sighed. 'about a year ago I was owned by one of the guards. It was... horrific. I ran away, in short, but I'd never get to my village without being seen, and I knew that Lyevin treated his current elf well.'
'That would be me.' Lily grinned.
'You were here before Calarel?' Celestia frowned.
'I was bought when I was six.' Lily nodded. 'He saw me on sale without anybody else. Really, Lyevin and Ali have been like my parents.' Celestia looked at Lyevin with renewed respect.
'On a related subject, when we get home I think we should show you something.' Lyevin said slowly, looking at Celestia. Ali and Calarel looked surprised at him, then at each other, and nodded.
'What? What is it?' Lily demanded. 'Why won't you tell me?'
'Because you're too young.' Ali said simply.
'Spoken like a mother.' Celestia grinned, Ali narrowed her eyes at her.
'She's the one who needs somebody telling her what to do.' Lyevin sighed. 'Don't deny it, you almost decapitated Lily last week.' Ali opened her mouth to protest but closed it again, apparently unable to.
'So what should we do with the aquatic elf?' Calarel asked suddenly.
'Uh, I guess we can't leave her here, the others will come to rescue her.'
'We'll have to take her with us when we travel on land.' Lyevin nodded.
'What if there are more feral elves on the mainland though?' Ali frowned.
'They aren't feral, they're able to defend themselves.' Lyevin corrected her sternly, Ali grinned.
'I know dad, they aren't explorers. They're here to conquer, and we came with them, but they don't know that.'
'Right.' Lyevin nodded, like it was something that he had taught her before. Judging by her expression, it probably was.
'I'm going to find where my room is, Calarel, I'm gonna need help.' The elf smiled knowingly and followed Ali out the door, Celestia sat at the end of the bed, Lyevin knelt at the head by Lily.
'You okay? You fell pretty hard.'
'It takes more than that to get rid of me!' Lily said proudly, sitting up. She winced and lay back down. 'But no, not really. Thanks for stopping them, and Ali and Calarel too.'
'It's okay, if we didn't do anything we would have been just as bad as them.' Lily smiled and nodded sleepily.
'Why doesn't Jazmyn like me?'
'She doesn't not like you, she just isn't used to you. Give her time.'
'Will she help us?' Lily asked unexpectedly, Celestia frowned.
'I hope so, but she doesn't think the way do.'
'She isn't like the guards though!'
'No.' Lyevin agreed quickly. 'She isn't, she might help us, you're right. You need to sleep though, we only have a few hours until we land and we'll be walking for a long time.' Celestia smiled, Lyevin was like a parent putting Lily to bed.
'I flew though, Celestia taught me how, and I flew for ages!' Lyevin grinned at Celestia then.
'Yes, you're flying much better, maybe she'll help you when we get back.'
'Really?' Lily's face lit up.
'Maybe, but for now you should sleep.' Lyevin repeated. Lily sighed.
'Okay, Calarel'll be back, right?'
'Right, you'll sleep in her room tonight.' Lily smiled.
'Good, good. I'm gonna sleep then.'
'You do that.' Lyevin nodded, standing up.
'Night.' Lily mumbled.
'Night.' Lyevin smiled, gesturing for Celestia to follow him as he left. She closed the door and looked at him.
'Very good parenting.' She commented, Lyevin grinned.
'I try, honestly I have no idea what to do, but don't tell her. I've been taking care of her for five years, and I still don't know where she should actually be.' Celestia frowned, she had uncovered a whole new problem now.
'She's safer with you.'
'Her parents would be too.' Lyevin said seriously.
'What else should you have done? You saw her on sale and took pity on her, she didn't have anybody else.'
'But she belongs with her own family.' Lyevin insisted,
'You are her family, you took care of her when nobody else would.'
'But her parents would, it wasn't their choice.' Lyevin continued. Celestia sighed.
'If you're determined to be in the wrong then you will be.' She stated before making her way down the hall. Lyevin flinched as he turned and found Jazmyn behind him.
'What the hell was that?'

'I've been taking care of Lily for years, you can't expect me to have treated a six year old like you treat one of your slaves!' Lyevin shouted in the office of the ship.
'I don't treat them like slaves! I bought them-'
'You bought living people!'
'So did you, and you can't treat them like they're your friends!' Jazmyn shouted back.
'Why the hell not?! They aren't animals!'
'Humans are the dominant species, they are superior, they should be the ones in control!'
'Elves are more advanced in every aspect but technology, its only by sheer numbers that humanity has enslaved elves!' Lyevin yelled.
'You think that elves are the better species?!' Jazmyn shrieked.
'Yes, I do!'
'Then you're as intelligent as they are!'
'Even Lily's smarter than you, and she's eleven! You want us to treat every that's not human like it's an animal, well that's what humans are, Jazmyn! More so than almost every other species!' Lyevin shouted, Jazmyn glared at him.
'Get out of my office.'
'I paid for the ship.'
'You paid for Celestia, I know perfectly well that it was only for the ship, she wasn't worth anywhere near as much, but that doesn't change the fact that we own the ship!'
'Of course she was worth it!' Lyevin shouted. 'Every one of them was, and next time we get attacked you can fend for yourself.'
'I did, and I won!'
'If you still believe that then you need to reevaluate this expedition.' Lyevin slammed the door shut, stormed down the corridor and leaving Jazmyn to vent at the door, which they could hear from their rooms. Celestia opened Lyevin's door later and found him staring the ceiling.
'Are you okay?'
'What? Oh, Celestia, yes, I'm fine. Thanks.' Lyevin noticed her in the doorway. 'That Jazmyn's not as bad as most, but she's stubborn, arrogant, and her temper is enough to throw her overboard.' Celestia smiled.
'Probably, but did you mean everything in the argument? Sorry, we could all hear.'
'I believe that elves are the more capable and morally sound species.' Lyevin confirmed confidently.
'And about us being worth everything you've done?' Celestia pressed on.
'Of course, I don't regret anything I've done since- since I first found Lily.' He said quickly, changing his answer. Celestia frowned.
'What did you do?'
'I... was, for lack of a better word, banished.' Lyevin sighed.
'From where?'
'From my family. The Dawn family was one of the most powerful families in the country, Ali and I, along with certain others, pretty much ruined that. We still hold a lot of power, my household finances a lot of businesses in town, including Jazmyn's. Doesn't stop her from going out of her way to spite me though.' He muttered, Celestia frowned.
'Dawn? I've heard of them, we heard something about a Kyne Dawn wreaking havoc in one of the neighbouring villages.' Lyevin sat up.
'My great uncle.' He smiled sadly. 'Ali was his favorite grandchild, until she came to live with me.'
'Why are you so bad?'
'Because of the people I work for-with. I don't know why her coming was so bad, she partially owned the house anyway. I was the direct heir.' Celestia thought for a moment before replying.
'Who do you work for? I feel like there's a whole side of this I'm not being told.'
'We agreed to tell you when we get home, it isn't safe to talk in here. Jazmyn overheard the conversation outside of Calarel and Lily's room.'
'I thought that was it. Ali says we're landing soon by the way, I'll wake Lily.' Lyevin nodded as Celestia left.

Up on the deck Ali was watching the other boats as they approached the island, they were almost first, she winced as she saw a boat slam into the sand.
'They'll be needing to sail with somebody else later.' She commented to anybody nearby, who unfortunately for them, was Lily.
'Well they aren't coming on our ship!'
'It's fine, they'll probably get on one if he guard's ships or something.' Ali waved it aside. 'But look! People are lowering the boats! Let's go!' She ran to the side, Calarel helped her lower one of the small boats while Lyevin and Celestia grew the pile of luggage that everybody was taking. Lyevin had avoided Jazmyn, and she had done the same.
'Okay, let's go!' Lyevin grinned, nobody was quite as excited as Ali though, she was close to foaming at the mouth at this point. Lily passed Lyevin her small bag so that she could fly to land, she almost fell as she was briefly blinded by the sun that suddenly burst at them from above, previously hidden by a cloud. The beach was lit up in orange light, the few green plants leading to the lush forestry vibrantly splayed over the sand, the sea lapsed into white foam as it stretched as far as it could over the sand, before retreating like elastic into the perfectly blue water.
'Amazing.' Celestia breathed.
'A utopia!' Ali exclaimed, Lily neatly hopped on and off the boat as it landed, Calarel almost falling into the water as it rocked unsteadily in the constantly shifting waters.
'Finally!' She sighed. 'It took days, but the boat was fun too.'
'I don't know what boat you were on, but it was boring and painful.' Lily groaned. 'I'm going to enjoy this new land! Can we go explore?' She was hopping from foot to foot, Lyevin returned from a small group of guards.
'They're splitting everybody into exploration parties, we're being sent around there... ish.' He gestured at a wide line of trees where Jazmyn was already disappearing.
'Then let's go!' Lily exclaimed, 'we can't let her beat us!'
'Okay, we'll split in three, left, right and centre!' Ali announced. 'Lily, you're with me, I'm not missing a chance to see your flying! Celestia with Calarel, we can't have one of you alone, Lyevin, you go down the middle, we'll converge a few miles in! Everybody got flares, right?' Lyevin held up a small silver pistol in response, the barrel was think and heavy, sporting six large containers holding compressed and coloured gas. Rudimentary flares for if somebody got lost, which was very likely. Calarel and Ali also held up flare-guns, Lyevin nodded, grinning, and the five split into their groups, venturing into the forest.

Calarel and Celestia were swiftly progressing through a relatively flat path, it appeared to be travelled before.
'Could be wild animals.' Calarel suggested.
'Or Lyevin was right, and there are more elves here.' Celestia shrugged. 'Should we follow it?'
'Probably not.'
'But we're going to.'
'Of course!' Meanwhile Ali and Lily were much more careless in their choice of paths. Ali had climbed to any higher level that she found, and had soon found herself on a narrow cliff face path. It looked flattened and trodden, not a naturally occurring path.
'I was right! Civilisation!' She shouted to Lily, who was flying in circles above the trees, watching for the others.
'Where do we go then? Towards it?' She yelled back over the wind.
'Where else?!' Ali shrieked, she didn't need to, but felt it would be better said loudly.
Lyevin was lugging around a long chain that Ali had insisted he take with him in case of more attacks, he had also been given the responsibility of taking the aquatic elf with him, she had resisted at first, but after Calarel was willing to drag her, she decided to walk. Lyevin was also weighed down by his own and Lily's luggage, feeling very annoyed with it. The elf also had to be attatched to his wrist by rope, which made the journey much more unstable whenever one of them lost footing on the overgrown jungle path. Her wrists were bound, short rope also draped from leg to leg, preventing her from running, but also greatly restricting their speed. She still hadn't talked, and Lyevin was debating freeing her out of frustration.
'Almost to the clearing.' He muttered, more to himself than to the elf. 'Oh for gods sakes.' He sighed as the elf fell again, clearly not used to above-water travel. He pulled her up and walked quickly onwards, emerging into the barren clearing, all view blocked by trees. 'Nowhere to look from, damn.' He quickly scanned the area while the elf scanned the rock, and whether it was sharp enough to cut rope. Suddenly a nearby tree erupted, leaves spewing from the gap where three figures and suddenly flown from. They were clearly elves, flying above them with powerful, long gray wings. An unknown species. The aquatic elf certainly seemed to know them, as she fell back and pressed herself against the rock, Lyevin frowned.
'Which one of us are they here for?' The elf shook her head and he narrowed his eyes. 'Fine, stay down.' He dropped the bags and drew a golden chain, the three hovering elves flew slightly higher as it came into view.
'They know about gold!' He heard a man's voice hiss,
'So be quick!' A woman responded. Lyevin spun the chain, it formed a fast shield above him. One the elves dove at it, the other two flying at him from the sides. Lyevin let the first elf hit the chain, but instead of letting it immobilise the weapon as it has planned, he pulled the elf down at it's comrade, jumping aside and throwing his arm over the third, quickly wrapping the chain around it. The three elves fell to the floor with a light thump, he quicky yanked the chain, one of the elves was flung away, one span and fell again, the last was hit by a flying chain link as it soared past them. Lyevin prepared to swing again, but they had disappeared. The aquatic elf stood up and went as fast as the rope would let them or the trees, Lyevin stuffed the chain back into his bag and ran next to her.
'What were those?' He called as they ran in what seemed to be a random direction away from the clearing. The elf was silent. Lyevin sighed. 'If I don't know what their abilities are then I can't protect either of us.' The elf narrowed her eyes at him for a few seconds.
'Fine.' She snapped, the first word she had spoken to any of them. 'We call them fisher-elves, they fly, have camouflage, and build.'
'Build?'
'Yes.' The elf sighed exasperatedly. 'Like castles, catapults, forts.'
'Really?' Lyevin grinned. 'Ali would have a field day with them. What's your name? We're getting tired of saying aquatic elf so much.' The elf glared at him before shrugging.
'I'm Sana. You won't know me long enough to get used to it.' Lyevin grinned.
'Don't count on it. What do you know about humans?'
'You're inferior, you have no powers, you rely on building to advance, and you appear to enslave elves, I don't understand how you manage to do this.'
'You're pretty much right.' Lyevin shrugged. 'But we don't, at least my household doesn't, we don't enslave elves.'
'Do you not own those two?'
'Calarel's and elf too. And technically, but I bought them to save them. Calarel ran away and came to me for help, Lily was six when I bought her, what else should I have done? And Celestia was in the market and badly injured, she wouldn't have lasted long if certain other people had bought her.' He finished. The elf looked at him with a calculating stare.
'You're lying, I've seen the way humans treat elves.'
'Of course you have, I'm not saying that people don't mistreat elves, but I have personally strived not to.' Lyevin stated, the elf continued to watch him carefully as they ran. Eventually they reached a clearing, a large, perfect circle was outlined around it in small white stones.
'We have to go.' Sana said quickly, turning around again. Lyevin stopped her.
'Everybody else is just past here, why do we go around?'
'Because this is one the most heavily guarded places in elven culture.' Sana hissed.
'This circle of stones?'
'It's a burial ground!'
'Oh.' Lyevin stopped. He quickly followed Sana back into the tree line. 'We should meet up with the others and tell them about these elves.' Sana nodded and they sped off.

It took an hour before Lyevin gave up and fired off a smoke signal, its unfortunate putrid yellow colour specific to their group. It wasn't long before Lily landed next to them, Ali sprinting not far behind.
'What?' She breathed.
'More elves, mountainous, they attacked us.' Lyevin stated, Ali looked ecstatic.
'Another new species?! Amazing!'
'They build.' Sana muttered, they all looked at her.
'This species builds castles like humans.' Lyevin explained, Ali was practically drooling.
'Incredible! Let's find one!'
'No!' Lyevin and Sana shouted in unison.
'They can fly, and they have weapons, manoeuvres, we cannot deal with them alone!' Lyevin said in a desperate attempt to dissuade Ali, which rarely happened. She did seem to accept this however.
'Fine.' At that moment Celestia and Calarel appeared, by far the stealthiest of the six. They explained everything to them too, and they set off in what may have been the direction of the beach.
'Even if we tell the guards about the elves, they still won't stand a chance.' Celestia insisted.
'Better to know, even if they can't fight them.' Ali said. They came to another clearing. This one had a single giant rock that looked like it had been brought here specifically. A small opening was carved into it. Just then a figure flew past above them.
'Damn, they found us.' Lyevin muttered.
'Into the rock!' Sana exclaimed, they ran in as five more elves soared past. They came to a cavern at least fifty feet down, it stretched for miles in every direction, a deep pit threatening to engulf the single bridge. On the other side was an old, large wooden door.
'That's our best chance.' Lily suggested.
'I doubt it, but I don't see anywhere else to go from here.' Calarel shrugged. They almost made it to the door before it was thrown open. They froze as a storm of elves flew out, instantly filling the cavern like angry bees.
'Run!' Lyevin shouted, he drew the long golden chain and swung it as the five ran, Ali realised he wasn't with them and stopped.
'D****t Lyevin, you're not saying behind!'
'I said run!' He yelled, the elves streamed towards him, Calarel pulled Ali with her. Most elves didn't come close enough to the fast swinging chain, if they were hit they had a long way to fall.
'I am told that you supported the freedom of elves.' A booming voice echoed suddenly. 'Am I misinformed?'
'No!' Lyevin shouted, narrowly missing an advancing elf. 'Humans are a thoroughly useless species, incapable of surviving without obliterating anything they can reach, they are a spiteful, disgusting race who's only notable achievement is the destruction of entire civilisations, and how dare you make me defend them!' He screamed, swinging the chain directly into a row of elves, like dominos they fell until a long line of elves was slowly sinking, supported by a single still-flying fighter. While elves rushed to help Lyevin ran back to the entrance.
'Stop immediately and you will be spared!' An female shouted shouted, an elf had landed directly in front of the doorway.
'I have had far too much of being spared while everything else is destroyed!' Lyevin shouted, he threw the golden chain and it caught her in side, her wing power was sapped as she fell off the side of the bridge. 'D****t!' Lyevin screeched, an dove to the floor, grabbing the chain almost wrenched his arm away, but he pulled up. The main weight was of the chain itself, Ali was suddenly in the entrance.
'Help!' She shouted over the building sound of wings approaching them. Lyevin helped her pick up the thrashing elf and ran to the surface.
'I cannot deal with this!' He demanded, slamming his fist on the rock as Ali wrapped the golden chain around the entrance, blocking it.
'What's one more elf? Besides, new species!'
'I was adamantly against slavery before I learnt the meaning of the word, and I currently own five!' Lyevin stated, running a hand through his hair.
'You saved three of them, and the other two tried to kill you.' Ali pointed out. Lyevin sighed. The elf had passed out, the chains draining precious energy.

'Solar elf.' Sana muttered, casting a disgusted look at the unconscious elf.
'What?' Ali frowned. 'I thought these were mountainous.'
'Not that one, they must have recruited them to help with the attack.'
'Why are they solar?' Ali asked excitedly.
'Her hair.' Sana sighed. Lyevin removed the silver helmet and started, the long golden hair that flowed from the helmet quickly began to glow in the sunlight. Sana jammed the helmet roughly back on the elf's head. 'Don't let it stay in the sun for too long! Get her some proper restraints, these things can just ignore gold after a minute of sunlight. It's like they absorb it.'
'Solar energy transference!' Ali gasped.
'Sure, whatever it is, don't let it happen.' Sana told them. Lyevin jumped as Lily prodded him.
'What? Lily? What happened?'
'I... don't want to go exploring.' She mumbled. 'I'm sorry, but I want to stay in the ship.'
'What is it? Since when don't you charge into whatever comes up?' Lyevin frowned. Lily held up her arm, three deep grooves in the forearm were partially healed by Calarel, but the skin still held traces of blood. Lyevin knelt down and took her arm.
'What happened? Who?' He demanded, Celestia and Ali grinned at each other, Lyevin was parenting again.
'She came close to having a much deeper wound if her arms hadn't been in the way.' Calarel stated, placed her hands on Lily's arm to continue healing her.
'Jesus, Lily, you're not coming on the expeditions. I'm not having you out here again.' Lily nodded, slightly relieved. Lyevin sighed heavily as she slowly walked aboard the ship. Celestia stood next to him.
'She's okay, it was just traumatic.'
'I can't believe I almost lost her though.' Lyevin breathed. Celestia smiled.
'You care for her a lot more than I expected.'
'She's like a daughter to me, honestly. I've been taking care of her for so long, a while ago Ali found Calarel in the town somewhere after we couldn't find her for a day, we still don't know what happened, but we came close to loosing her too. Aside from Ali, Lily was the only thing that got me through the years after my family abandoned me, Ali too I think. They're all so close to us now, I never imagined that this could happen. I take too many risks with them.'
'They make their own choices.' Celestia said quietly, comforting him. 'Lily wanted to go with us, to fly, to see what we would find, she just didn't expect it to be so... violent. I don't know what happened to Calarel, but you wouldn't have had any idea. It isn't your fault that they endanger themselves, you put yourself in harms way when you stayed behind in the cave to give us time. And we heard everything by the way, caves echo.' She grinned as Lyevin sighed and laughed.
'Maybe. Thanks. But I don't think we should go exploring, it was a mistake to bring Lily, she's only eleven for gods sakes, and maybe it was a mistake to come here altogether. This land was already occupied, and the occupants will fight for it.'
'I agree.' Celestia nodded. 'We should go back soon.' Lyevin narrowed his eyes at her.
'You just want to know what we promised to tell you when we go back, don't you?' Celestia laughed and Lyevin grinned.
'Pretty much. But you're not bad at taking care of everybody.' Lyevin nodded. 'And not bad fatherly instincts either.' She smirked, Lyevin almost choked.

All seven of them sat on the bow of the ship, they had come very close to leaving before Lyevin remembered that Jazmyn was still here.
'Should we send a smoke signal?' Lily mumbled, her head sinking further into Calarel's lap. Lyevin and Ali were back to back, relying on each other for support, both close to falling asleep.
'What? Uh, maybe. It's fine.' Lyevin shrugged. This action caused Ali to loose stability.
'S**T-'
'Not in front of Lily.' Calarel muttered as Ali fell off of the boat. A thump woke them up, followed by:
'Ow.'
'You okay?' Celestia called, lying next to Sana on the boat floor.
'Not really.' Ali responded.
'She sounds fine.' Lyevin shrugged. In the morning Ali had climbed back up and Jazmyn had arrived and immediately gone below deck. Later there was a short argument about who would tell Jazmyn that they were leaving. Lyevin lost. 'Damn it.' He sighed before disappearing below deck. He found the office door and opened it, Jazmyn was slumped at her desk. 'Jazmyn?'
'What.' Came the tired reply. Lyevin frowned.
'You okay?'
'No. What is it.'
'We're thinking about sailing back.' Lyevin stated bluntly, Jazmyn looked up.
'We've been here less than two days.'
'And already most of us have almost died. I won't risk any of them again.' Jazmyn sighed.
'Fine. If you're determined to put a bunch of elves above yourself, fine. Go.'
'We only have this ship.' Lyevin said slowly.
'Then go. I'll be in this office.' She waved a hand at him and he left, surprised at how well she took it.
'How'd it go?' Ali asked, back on deck.
'Pretty good, she must've had a similar experience to us.' Lyevin shrugged.
'Then let's get home so I can continue investigations on these two new species!' She announced.
-UNFINISHED-

Author's Note

I've tried to write similarly to a lot of other writers, and I hope it's come out well. I've also ended up including a LOT of references to other shows, for example Ali is heavily based on Hanji Zoe, Lily is loosely based on Liliruca Arde, and Lyevin is frequently associated with Kirito. I don't really care if you like or know any of those characters, but I hope you like mine. I also think that I've made the dialogue sloppy and not complex enough in places.