Dungeons & Disappointment

Chapter 61: Elven Contest

I slowly awoke to Finana, as her fins twitched against my face. Last night had been exhausting after what she had done to me, so much so that I was still half-naked in the bed, straddling Finana as she snored and cooed softly in her sleep. It was adorable. I buried my face against her fins as they twitched, and unfortunately, she noticed and woke up.

"Mmmm, morning Trevvy." She said. "How are you?"

"Just enjoying the morning view." I said, earning a grin from Finana. "I was thinking about hitting the marketplace today. Maybe getting you a little gift."

"Oh you big flirt, you don't have to." She said. "And besides, we really need to get to the Tree of Unarith soon. The earlier we set out, the better."

"Okay." I replied, then gave her a quick kiss. "Let's get up, see if anyone else is awake."

"Sounds a good plan then. I love you, Trevvy."

"I love you too."

We both stood from the bed, dressing in our respective armor, and we made our way out of the guest room, where we were met with the faces of the rest of our party, and BahnMirar. No sign of BahnBarr's mother, but snoring from down the hall gave me all I needed to know about that. The smell of scrambled eggs, sausage, and what I hoped was toast hit my nose, and I saw bread being leavened in one of the ovens.

"Breakfast is almost done." BahnMirar said, scraping some of the scrambled eggs onto a large platter. "BahnBarr and I have been catching up all night on everything!"

"We have, yeah." BahnBarr said happily, though I noticed dark rings under her eyes. "Dad also knows where we're going."

"The arena!" He said with pride. "Fighting to prove your honor to the northern elves, huh? Meh. I wouldnt do it, but I know why you guys are. And hey, as long as I get to see my daughter again, I'm all for it!"

He scraped more of the scrambled eggs, then turned to BahnBarr seriously, having a rather deep conversation in elvish. One that neither me nor my friends could understand, but it was over in a flash, and they were back to cooking.

"I wish all of you the best of luck with the tournaments." BahnMirar said. "But please, at the very least, for bringing my daughter back to me, will you stay and eat of the food I have?"

"Yes sir." I said, deciding not to engage in a 'thank you' battle .

We all sat down around the table, going over stories of our various battles and lives, although I decided to keep mine a bit of a secret, which BahnMirar didn't seem to mind much. The moment all the food was done, we started choking down, ripping into the tasty, hot food with reckless abandon. Even Pomu chowed down, although she was still sitting in the pumpkin cake, squeaking happily.

I tore into sausages and eggs, ripping them apart as I ate, letting the sweet juices hit my tongue as they nearly popped with their respective flavors. BahnMirar and BahnBarr poured delicious wild berry wine for us. It was sweet and tangy, almost like a wine version of Kool-Aid. We chowed down, and when we were finally thoroughly stuffed, I sat back and burped, ready to finally get going to the Tree of Unarith.

"Alright." BahnBarr said, slapping a rag down on the table. "Thank you so much father. When this is all over, I promise I'm coming back to visit you guys."

"Very well!" Her father replied, eating the last of his sausage. "The door is always open for wen you return, BahnBarr. I love you."

At that, tears began to well into her eyes, and she hugged her dad. "I love you too, dad."

He hugged her back, queening each other tightly, then, we started filing out of the house, until BahnBarr turned to me.

"Trevon?" She asked. "Can I talk to you for a moment?"