Hollow

Chapter 10: Give and Take

They found an old house in the stronghold's courtyard that still has a fireplace and enough walls left to allow them to feel safe resting there for the night. Only downside is that the eastern half of the house seemed to have been burned down in the ancient crusade, which leaves only one remaining room with a single bed.

Etho kneels in front of the fireplace and just stares at the flames with his head cocked to the side while Llwell pulls out his bedroll from Gwynnestri's saddlebag. He reenters the house and goes to lay it down near the fire, but Dumaine appears at his side and catches his shoulder.

"While I do rather enjoy the comforts of home, this is not my home. It's yours, and thus the comfort should be yours as well," he states and quickly pulls his hand back.

Llwell chuckles and shakes his head. "I was raised to treat guests with the utmost hospitality. Besides, I feel like I've slept on more bedrolls than actual beds all my life. I'm used to it. The comfort is all yours," he resumes laying out his fur bedroll.

Dumaine grumbles. "By the Divine, are all elves this stubborn or is it just you?"

"I like to think I'm rather unique, but the Elren elves are different from the ancient ones because we were too stubborn to leave," Llwell says. "Perhaps it's just in our blood." He stands up and walks over to Etho. "You're sure you don't need sleep?"

The boy nods while still staring at the fire. "Yes. Sleep is only needed for those who grow weary, weak, tired and fatigued by hunger and exhaustion. I don't."

"You don't eat either?" the elf asks.

Etho shakes his head. "No. Tasteless, take the tiniest bites and they are nothing. I can smell them though. Sweet scents are my favorite," he slightly lifts his head with a small shadow of a smile.

Llwell chuckles and steps away from the boy, and with a quick glance outside, he smiles and turns to Etho and Dumaine. "Neither of you have been to The Living Forest before," he says almost giddily.

The mage nods slowly. "Yes, I thought that was already preliminarily established."

"So you haven't seen it at night," the elf's smile grows and he grabs Dumaine's hand. Normally, he wouldn't be so forward, but his excitement makes it hard to maintain his typical caution about making physical contact with humans. "You too, Etho." He rushes out the door, dragging Dumaine behind him.

He leads them through the withered courtyard, passing by the crumbling houses and what used to be shops until he reaches a wide set of stone stairs that lead up to the massive stone keep over the hill that stands the most intact compared to the rest of the stronghold.

"Where are we going?" Dumaine asks with a slight edge in his voice.

Llwell huffs. "Shut up! We're almost there!" He seems to be the only one who isn't aware of his sudden shift in his entire demeanor. The memories and the feeling he has being back in The Living Forest gives him a rush he hadn't realized he'd been missing.

They run through the ancient keep and to a broken door at the far back wall on the right, and inside is a narrow staircase that is also strangely intact that they instantly start climbing. It takes a while, but the moment they reach the top, Llwell lets go of Dumaine's hand and he rushes forward, feeling the night air hitting his face again as they now stand on a wide stone balcony near the top of the keep's main tower that overlooks a vast majority of The Living Forest. Which, from above, glows with flickering colored lights of magic that illuminate the trees. Blue, green, purple, yellow, an array of lights dancing across the treetops.

He smiles wide and looks back at Dumaine and Etho as they slowly approach, looking around at the view. Etho vanishes and reappears sitting atop the stone railing at the very edge of the great balcony, tapping his feet as he looks around.