༄ؘ 𝑨𝑹𝑪𝑨𝑵𝑬, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘳𝘢𝘨𝘰𝘯 𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘦

༄ؘ ✧ 𝑪𝑯𝑨𝑷𝑻𝑬𝑹 𝑻𝑾𝑶

*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧ ༄ؘ 𝑻𝑾𝑶 ༄ؘ ✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*

𝑴𝑨𝑹𝑰𝑵 𝑾𝑨𝑺 𝑨𝑵𝑿𝑰𝑶𝑼𝑺. 𝑶𝑭 𝑪𝑶𝑼𝑹𝑺𝑬, 𝑺𝑯𝑬 𝑾𝑨𝑺 𝑨𝑳𝑾𝑨𝒀𝑺 𝑶𝑵 𝑬𝑫𝑮𝑬 𝑾𝑯𝑬𝑵 𝑰𝑻 𝑪𝑨𝑴𝑬 𝑻𝑶 𝑴𝑨𝑻𝑻𝑬𝑹𝑺 𝑳𝑰𝑲𝑬 𝑻𝑯𝑬 𝑬𝑳𝑽𝑬𝑺 𝑨𝑵𝑫 𝑿𝑨𝑫𝑰𝑨. It was her biggest dream to go to Xadia and to maybe meet her Xadian parent, the Tidebound elf who had fallen in love with the Neolandian human. But Marin knew that it was just that, only a dream. With the way the world was, it could never be anything more. Even though she loved to learn about Xadia and the elves and anything else on the eastern side of the border, Marin never liked to do anything more than fantasize of it because she knew that when it came to real-world issues like Moonshadow elf assassins, reality slapped her hard in the face.

She knew that they were coming after King Harrow, and most likely Ezran as well since he was next-in-line for the throne after their Dad. It was a no-brainer, considering what had been done to the Dragon King and Prince on last Winter's Turn just a few months ago when King Harrow and High Mage Viren had taken revenge for her mother's death and slayed them both.

Now, Xadia was taking revenge on Katolis. It was a never-ending game it seemed, back and forth until one had nothing left. A war that had been raging on for over a thousand years. A lot of humans had forgotten the stories, the history of their ancestors from so long ago. Those who do remember often like to twist the story and make the Xadians look like the enemy, when it was the humans who started it all with the creation of dark magic.

The book that lay open in Marin's lap was the same one from earlier that day in the courtyard. It was rather large, but not overly so. A book called Notable Elvish History found in any human kingdom was bound to be missing much information and many of the true facts of the past.

❝The Elves are often considered the most complex
race of beings in existence. As humans separate
their races by the color of skin, Elves are divided
into six different types. One for each of the Primal
Sources, the natural energies in the world that fuel
most magic. The first Elves are estimated to have
originated around five thousand years ago, before
our own Modern Era. In the ancient times━ ❞

Startled by sudden banging noises, Marin dropped her book from where it lay over her crossed legs. Callum was knocking loudly on the door that led from his room to Ezran's, profusely apologizing for something that Marin was completely oblivious of.

"Ezran, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said what I said." Callum leaned against the door with one arm, pressing his forehead to the wood. "I'm sure everything's going to be fine. Come on... Later, you can call me a jerkface, and I'll do the crazy jerkface dance for you. It is a dance of stupitude and sorry-ness."

"What are you apologizing for?" Marin raised her eyebrows, picking up her fallen book and closing it with the blue ribbon she used as a page marker inside. "Did you... Oh, jeez, Callum," she sighed. "Please tell me you didn't tell him about the you-know-whats."

Callum hung his head. "I told him about the you-know-whats."

"Callum! He's ten years old! Seriously?!"

"It just came out!" her brother defended himself. "I-It's not like I meant to tell him that they're coming here to kill our father!"

Marin shook her head and twisted her armbands, biting the inside of her cheek to keep from yelling at her brother when she knows that he didn't mean to spill anything. It was no use now to shout, the deed had already been done. She got up and walked over to Ezran's door. "Ez," she knocked softly. "It's me... You there? Callum and I are gonna go grab some books to take on our trip... Any recommendations? I can read that one about sparkly hippos you've been bugging me about! How about it?"