Journey to the Court of the Black Forest Elves
Elven family relationships are much more complex than Human ones. This is especially true with the Black Forest Elves, where a small population and the Queen's policy of switching consorts regularly has linked up most of the Elves in a tangled web. Their long lives play a role. For a Human family, four generations alive at the same time is a rare event. For Elves, it is common, and five and six are common as well, and even more. What's more, the Elves do not decline quickly with the passage of time, so that while Human great grandparents can be expected to be in the twilight of their years, Elven great grandparents, and their parents and grandparents, are still in the prime of health.
So it is that for Human, the Parent-Child relationship changes when Grandparents are around, and generally in the favor of the Child. For Elves, with ancestors four more generations back being present to lend their advice (asked or not) the relationship is a delicate dance of balancing centuries of family sensibilities. From an Elf point of view, a Human family exists in a simplified social vacuum. For Elves, a jungle.
Every Elf learns, sooner or later: Nothing is ever truly over, because there are always more family members with opinions to consider.
Most Elves learn, it becomes all too difficult to track, best to just go with what custom teaches. Irkayo falls into this category. Tradition is not to be questioned.
Tradition says, when there is no reason not to, then live in the moment. And Alayna clearly understands the situation.
"When you come back I will still be here," Irkayo says to Alayna. "I am not going anywhere."
He gestures to the network of catwalks and platforms through the trees.
"When this place was made," he tells her, "it was thought, if the Elves of the region were ever in great threat, we would gather here to make our stand. So it was made to be home to all of us, when we needed it. Most of it isn't used. If you don't want to go back to your camp, there is room enough here. We could spend the night."
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Meanwhile...
Celeste Argentos welcomes Marcos back to the camp.
"It's always like this with performers," she says. "Strong willed. Especially young ones. It goes with the territory, I suppose. If they weren't, they wouldn't be here. They'd be home planting cabbages or something like that. Not that... not that it's a bad thing to plant cabbages, if that's what you want to do.. I can't see it, though.
"My parents were talking about the show tomorrow. And I told them what the Fox and the Elves were talking about. Beings like Vulenk are very rare and very special. They're old and wise like... well Elder Dragons would never admit it, but they don't have a monopoly on Wisdom. He's trying to do something. He needs the Elves to rekindle a desire to see the world. I think it's more than just a whim. The push is all too obvious, the motive is what he's keeping hidden. I really wish everyone was back, it's going to be a..an interesting day tomorrow."
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Celeste wasn't the only one considering Vulenk's motive. While Vulenk's plan wasn't deliberately aimed at Siankiir, her mother knew it might well have been, because young Elves sometimes take a long time to subdue the sense of wanderlust that tempts them to leave home.
Siankiir is reminded that Black Forest Elves are few. The whole population of the Black Forest could be housed in a Human city, though surely they would have it. And Human cities were so many, no one could name them all. That is why the Black Forest Elves lived here and protected their homes and their ways fiercely. Unlike the innumerable Humans, there was no second choice for them. If they didn't hold this one place, they'd have nothing, and their legacy would vanish.
They can hear a few other Elves debate this, as the other Elves are leaving, trickling away into the night. Everyone knows the Fox's intent. It was clear.
But Why?