DragonHeart

24: Hazel

Dinner with the Elves was amazing.

The dining pavilion was ginormous, probably even bigger than the Queens pavilion. It had huge columns that held up a leaf and branch canopy dotted with Ulai. The whole thing was in the middle of a giant oak tree. Magicked up from the ground were seats, probably about fifty benches matching tables, all laden with so many different types of food and drink I would never be able to count them all. I guessed that the pavilion would have been able to hold every elf in Ellesmain.

We wandered around looking for a table. We had rejoined Nick, having gone back to our room after eavesdropping on her and Oak, until Rowan came to tell us it was dinnertime.

I spotted a table with only two Elves sitting at it. One looked like he was telling some loud obnoxious joke and the other looked like he was trying not to kill someone, namely, the joking elf.

"Let's sit there," I suggested, pointing at the table.

We sat on the opposite side of the table from the two Elves, who, once I got a closer look, I guessed were probably twin brothers. The louder one had his reddish-brown hair done up in a spiky mohawk and wore a bright yellow tunic. The murderous looking one had the same shade of hair but his was curly and came just to the tips of his pointed ears. Both of them had dark brown skin and brown eyes.

"Hi," I said tentatively, "Can we sit here?"

They both stared at us, dumbfounded. Then the louder one grinned, "Sure, but my brother doesn't talk much so it's really just me you're talking to."

"Oh, ok," I said, taking note of the glare the quiet one threw his brother.

"So," the loud elf said, "Help yourselves to anything, relax."

His eyes weren't just brown, I realized, they had shifting colors deep within them. One moment they looked red, the next, purple, and then the next, blue. I found it hard to tear my own eyes away and focus on the food instead.

There was a platter of fish, salad, fruit I had never seen, and bread that smelled amazing. The loud elf was chewing on a slice of pizza. Where did he get pizza?

When I had put a bit of everything onto the plate in front of me, I asked, "Who are you two?"

"This over here is Leaf," the loud elf said, waving his pizza like a baton, "And I'm Forest."

Remi stabs an apple with her fork, cracking a grin, "Creative," she said, "Were shrub and dirt taken?"

Leaf smiled wryly, "As a matter of fact, shrub actually was taken."

Remi barked a laugh.

"So anyway," Forest said, "Who are you strange new people?"

We told them our names and why we were there.

"I did hear rumors that the Queen had a couple of Dragons brought in but I didn't quite believe it."

"That would be us," Nick said.

"Really?" He said, eyes wide, pizza forgotten. "I've never met any Dragons o-" He stopped as his brother elbowed him in the gut. "I mean, I've never met any real Dragons before."

"Well," I said, ignoring the suspicious sentence cut off, "I'm not a full Dragon, just a half Dragon. One of my parents was human, at least that's what I assume because I can only be a Dragon under extreme pressure."

Forest gnawed on his pizza again, "Cool, but not as cool as me, obviously. I'm so cool."

I rolled my eyes, and Nick laughed. Remi continued to administer acupuncture to her apple. The elf's arrogance was obviously faked.