As a Cursed elf, one born with no magic, Edwyr has been forced to live among humans for over ten years. He doesn't mind his job of defending the town that he now lives in from beast attacks, and he gets along with most of the humans well enough, but...
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Edwyr had known he would have to face Lanna and Arbane eventually. Of course he'd known. But that didn't mean he was ready for it, even now, hours later, when the rain was finally starting to ease up. That was the moment Arbane had chosen to come out here, which was the worse option. If it had been Lanna, Edwyr wouldn't have to explain much. She always seemed to put together what was going on well enough for herself, even if Edwyr might not agree with her assessment. But Arbane had seemed confused back there, and hoping that Lanna had explained things to him was probably foolish.
Still, after knowing him for years, Edwyr owed him an explanation, he supposed, even if he might make it very short, as he wasn't feeling up to explaining any of this.
"Are you okay, Edwyr?" was the first thing Arbane said to him while trying to push Aggra away as the squawker nudged the human with his beak, probably looking for treats. It made Edwyr pause, as he'd expected Arbane to get directly to the point, but he appreciated the gesture.
"Yes, I apologize for earlier."
Arbane finally managed to push Aggra away towards Tempest, who took pity on the other squawker and started to groom his feathers. Arbane then proceeded to fold his arms over his chest and shake his head. "Nuh-uh. We're not doing that."
Edwyr huffed, mirroring the pose. He'd expected nothing less, but it made it no less irritating to be talked to like this. Still, what had happened earlier had been immature in hindsight, he supposed. He wasn't justified in feeling annoyed with his friends over how nicely they treated Feyrith, and he certainly should have handled it better.
"Why do you hate Fey so much?"
Edwyr did his best to hide the way he gritted his teeth at the nickname. "I hate the Council. He is their servant. It's not about Feyrith specifically."
Arbane grimaced. Edwyr could tell that he was about to get a lecture, but at least Arbane seemed to take this explanation at face value, which was good because Edwyr had been doing his absolute best not to think about why he was feeling this way. It wasn't because Lanna had been right about him being jealous of Feyrith. He just didn't need to be distracted by this right now. He had more important things to think and worry about.
"Well, look, I already gave him a talking to about him calling you...well, you know." Arbane sighed. "Twice, actually."
Edwyr's eyebrows flew up. Arbane had told a powerful elf to be nicer to Edwyr? What Edwyr wouldn't give to have witnessed that, though Edwyr supposed that explained why Feyrith hadn't pointed out his magical inability for a while now.
"I know he's sort of strange, but he's trying."
Edwyr let out a long, tired sigh. He knew Arbane was meant well, but this really wasn't helping. "I am an elf as well, Arbane. He is not strange to me."
Edwyr wasn't sure what kind of reaction he'd been expecting, but an awkward laugh wasn't it. He blinked as Arbane scratched the back of his neck. "Right, sorry, I sometimes forget you're not one of us."
