XIRUS

⚫Chapter 9⚫

"Why are you here?" the king asked me. I stood there in fear. "Um, I don't even know. I was in a cave and then I suddenly saw light peeking in between the rocks. I pulled them away and squeezed myself through the opening and then fell down a hill." He gave me a confused look as if I sounded crazy.

"Do you have any weapons or harmful devices on you?"

"I have a knife for self-defense, my phone, and other stuff. None of them is harmful; well except for the knife," I chuckled nervously. "I promise I'm not dangerous. I was just looking for a place to stay... you can look through my bag if you want."

"That won't be necessary," Nia told me. "Nia- I mean Princess Ellania... if your father wants to see what's in my bag, I would be more than happy to show him."

"It's fine, Xirus," she reassuringly told me. "Father. He has no family and is homeless. We should let him stay. I know we've never had a human living here before, but please! He's all alone!" she pleaded the king.

"Ellania! How do we know he's not a threat? Or a spy? We don't even know him! How do we know we can trust him?" he exclaimed. I swallowed slowly feeling nervous. I didn't blame him though. He has every right to be concerned. "That's the thing. We don't know, but I have a feeling about him. He seems like a nice person and what if he can be very helpful?"

King Klaern sighed before looking at me and then at his daughter. "Ellania. Everyone seems like a nice person to you. I will have to speak to the council and your mother before making a decision. In the meantime, get him some food. He must be hungry."

"Thank you father," she responded. She suddenly bowed her head to him before turning around to leave. I stood there awkwardly for a couple of seconds before bowing to the king too and quickly following Nia.

"Are you hungry?" she immediately asked me as soon as we both exited the throne room. "Nia... are you sure your father is ok with me staying here?" He didn't seem happy at all. I could just imagine him saying no. Nia stopped walking to turn around and look at me. "Yes, Xirus. Everything will be fine. You have nothing to worry about," she said. "So are you hungry or not?"

"Um, not really," I lied. "I can eat later or something..."

"Liar. You're probably starving," she responded.

I frowned a bit knowing that I was in fact really hungry, but I didn't want her to take care of me. I didn't want to be her burden ."No, I am serious. I am not-"

I didn't get to finish my sentence because my belly let out a loud rumble causing both of our eyes to widen.

I stared at Nia to see her chuckle. "Yeah, even though you're saying you're not that hungry, your belly is proving otherwise." I softly smiled realizing there was no more hiding. "Come on, follow me," she said.

I followed Nia down the hallway. I took this time to look at the inside of the castle. It was quite fascinating. There were huge, tall glass windows that were located in almost every room we walked by. The chandeliers were massive and the diamonds looked real. There were portraits of people who I assumed were apart of the royal family. There were also guards everywhere. They gave me weird looks as I closely followed Nia.

When we had suddenly stopped, Nia opened two tall doors. When we stepped inside the room, the first thing I noticed was the number of long tables joined together.  At the front of the room were four big chairs coated with gold. The room was ginormously big. It could easily fit a lot of people. It was probably a party room.

"How many elves live here?" I asked Nia out of curiosity. "Around twenty thousand," she responded.

Twenty thousand? That was a lot! She lead me towards a table. "Sit here! I'll be right back." And with that, she disappeared out of the room.

I sat there in silence as I took in my surroundings. My thoughts were suddenly interrupted by a loud heard a purring sound.

"Oh Midnight," I exclaimed as I took her out of my backpack. She licked my hand before lying down on the table. 

"I forgot to ask Nia to bring you food too. You can share with me, don't worry."

Nia returned in under ten minutes. She wasn't alone. As she walked towards me, I could see four elves following her holding plates of food. When they had finally reached where I was sitting, they immediately set the golden plates on the table.

I instantly thanked them. Once the lids were removed, my jaw dropped as I stared at the food in front of me. There were plates of fish, salad, bread, and fruits. It looked delicious. There was also a plate of cooked turkey.

"Geez, um thanks," I finally responded. 

The four elves left leaving Nia, Midnight, and I all alone. "This is a lot of food," I said. "Yeah, it is. Eat as much as you want," she exclaimed.

I began to dig in tasting the fried fish first. "Oh, and the turkey is for Midnight," Nia added. She finally sat down in front of me and pushed the turkey plate towards Midnight. The cat immediately buried her head into the plate and started nibbling away.

I sighed in satisfaction as I ate. The food was very delicious and I was starving. "Take your time, Xirus. There's no need to rush," I heard Nia say.

I tried my best to slow down as I continued eating the tasty food. While I was eating, an Elf came to us with a tall glass of water. By the time I was finished, my stomach felt swollen. I let out a burp which caused Nia to start laughing.

"Sorry, um. I really enjoyed that. Thank you," I told her. "No problem. I am glad you did. And look, you ate everything," she exclaimed.

I looked down to look at the plates to see that they were all empty. Not a single crumb was left. Midnight had also finished her turkey as she lay there on her back licking her paw.

"Alright, now that you're no longer hungry, I'll show you your room."