VEILED- Book one of the Bloody crown trilogy

Chapter 8: Start anew

 March first dressed- she put on some baggier pants that she found were supplied from the guild, as well as a wraparound shirt. March topped it off with making sure she had her amulet. She decided not to put on shoes or socks, then stepped out of her room- Jess was still sleeping.

She looked around as people rushed back and forth to different tasks, ones she didn't fully understand. After a little bit of wandering deeper into the guild, she was spotted and herded to a dining hall by Stellar, who looked a bit frazzled. They went to bow their head like she was only going to talk to them if they did, but she scoffed, and gently smacked their arm.

"Don't do that. Jaspar and Crowe don't know yet- only you, Jess, and Thurvin."

They paused, Stellar taking a moment to think, then stood up fully, still guiding her via holding her arm.

"O-of course, March. Sorry about that...."

"We're cool, you were doing as you were probably told," She quickly responded, and they looked around the dining hall. In the corner, Jaspar was sitting with Crowe. She and him made eye contact, and Jaspar instantly averted his eyes.

That was a bit weird, but she shook her head and happily walked over, waving to a now very excited Crowe. Crowe was eating what appeared to be scrambled eggs, and wild boar bacon, while Jaspar was picking at some oatmeal. Crowe raised their hands, and she picked him up for a hug.

"March! March! We got a cabin! And it has a really, really, really big bath!" They proceeded to start to chatter away excitedly, as she sat them down again. Jaspar still was averting eye contact. She sat down beside Crowe, and happily listened to the child chatter.

She watched as Stellar excused themself, and March turned her attention over to Jaspar. He hadn't even spoken to her yet, which she found really weird.

"Hey, so how did you sleep?" She asked, and Jaspar quietly continued to eat his food. Crowe looked confused, then instantly brushed it off and started to chatter.

"We slept really good! Jess left for the night to the guild main building, but we each got our own room, so I couldn't hear Jaspar snore! The bed was really soft, and the pillows were fluffy!!!"

"Awesome to hear Crowe! I really was worried you wouldn't settle into the new area well. Sounds like they have everything a little elf like you needs!"

Crowe instantly huffed a bit, and crossed their arms, Jaspar glancing over at the young elf.

"I'm not that young! I'm ninety-Eight! Which means mentally I'm fourteen... Ish," They stated, having to pause and count their fingers partway. March just chuckled and ruffled his hair.

In a technical way, Jaspar was the youngest in the group- with the other three being variants of elves, who lived quite long, but at the same time he was similar in maturity with both body and mind to March and Jess, since humans age faster.

"I slept well, I... Guess," Jaspar stated softly, fiddling with his food more, clearly not into it, " Kind of lonely without Jesse, but Crowe was chatty enough to ignore that."

She was surprised at how soft his tone was, but said nothing about it.

"Let's hope your sleep tonight will be better, Jaspar!" She said happily, then remembered what Thurvin said.

She definitely had to tell them before they do anything else. She nervously cleared her throat, and looked at them. She did care for at least one of the people here, not sure about the other.

"So, uh, I have some pretty important things to say to you guys. It'll.... Probably guarantee the change of how you view me."

That got both of their attention. Jaspar leaned forwards, and narrowed his eyes. He seemed to instantly think of a bad scenario. Crowe was more curious, and excited.