Manus Pluma Volantis

13 - Katolis

As the squad returned to Katolis, people stared. A lot of people. A dull murmur ran through the crowd. "Prince Callum?" "Wasn't he dead?" "Is that an elf?" But Callum and Rayla waved with their heads held high. Callum gripped Rayla's hand tight. He knew she was nervous. Too many humans for her.

Opeli was taken aback, seeing the expedition of three come back with five. "Prince Callum? How-" "Let's just say not everything you can do with dark magic is bad," Claudia beamed at Opeli, who smiled back. Opeli bowed as she let Ez into the warm castle. "Oh, I've missed this," Callum muttered. Callum ran to his old room. He chuckled as he saw everything he had missed.

He led Rayla to Ezran's old room. Upon opening the door, Rayla grimaced. The whole room was a disaster, just like Callum's, and the bed was half her size. "Ugh... kids." "Yeah... Not the cleanest, but it works." I think I'll just take the floor. I won't even fit on that bed. She took two blankets from Ezran's bed, then realized, What am I doing? I'm not gonna be here long enough for this. I'm not gonna take a nap. I'm not going to waste my time.

She put the blankets back. Upon leaving the room, she saw Callum rummaging through his. She smiled. He was just staring at some really, really old stuffed glow toads. They looked just like Bait, too. He saw her standing in the door frame. "Hi. I had a thought. If I took my clothes with me to Askerius, then if I tape something to my body, will it come with me?" Shs chuckled. Such a Callum idea.

"Let's find out. Before we go back, you tape... your sketchbook," she said, pointing to his sketchbook, "to you." "Good idea. I was missing that. If I have it with me, then I should have it in Askerius!" He gasped as he ran over to a pile of dusty papers. "These are some of my old drawings." She was even impressed by those. She noticed some drawings of elves. "Oh! Right. Ignore those. I just drew them to show Ez what everybody said you guys look like. Profoundly incorrect." She picked one up.

"Really?" she asked. She pointed to the fangs, dripping with blood. She pointed to the long, decrepit fingers. And there were five on each hand! They, clearly, had four. "Sorry! That's what everybody said you looked like!" She sighed. "Hey, at least now I know how wrong they were about you guys." He placed a hand on her shoulder. "You guys are, like, ten times better than humans!" She chuckled. "Most humans. We're better than most of them."

They left the room, ready to spend the rest of the day with Ez. It was only 9 AM. He ran up to them and quickly went over the plan. Rayla barely caught it, and looked very confused. Callum understood him, though. Ezran had spent his whole life with Callum, and Callum had learned to understand him when he talks too fast. Callum explained it to Rayla a lot slower. "Ohhhh. Got it." She gave Ez a thumbs up.