Is that a leaf

"I'll make those bastards regret ever deceiving me." Savina muttered to herself.

Taking a step forward, a hand grabbed her shoulder. Whipping around, Savina flinched as Rio's face was inches from her own. Attempting to walk backwards, Savina lightly bumped into the tree.

"So, what's your plan?" He whispered.

Savina squinted at him. "My plan?" She whispered back. "I'm going to deal with those two elves. Excuse me."

Savina attempted to push past Rio. Grabbing her shoulders, Rio pinned Savina against the tree.

"And how are you going to do that, Savina? Rush in there? Fireball in hand? You're trying to do something stupid, we both know it. You've got no fire, and you can't use a sword. All you have are your wits. You're smarter than that Savina, you should know that if you just brashly charge those two, your brother could be held hostage against you. So what's the deal?" Rio asked, stepping away from his friend.

Looking away, Savina rubbed her arm. "You want to know what's wrong, Rio? Me. I should be able to charge in there without a plan, I should be able to easily beat two elves and save Felesyn. I should be able to burn this entire forest down…" Balling her fists, Savina looked down. "I keep feeling useless when I shouldn't, Faylea wants our help to deal with the Qliphoth, I don't even know what part I'd be able to play in that…"

Taking Savina's hands in his own, Savina looked up to see Rio smiling.

"You're not alone, Savina." Letting go of her hands, Rio stepped past the tree. "So please stop acting like you are."

"Rio? What are you doing?" Savina quietly called after him.

"You need to take a moment to relax, we can handle two elves."

Savina realized something as she looked around.

"Wait… Where did Iseul go?'

~~

"Y'know Thaola, after we hand off this artefact to its buyer. We should be getting enough to retire from all this." Alwin finished wrapping the bandage around Thaola's arm, leaning back on his haunches, he looked at the bloody bandage. "Don't tell me you're still excited by all this?"

Thaola sat silently.

"It was just a thought, we might live longer than humans, but we're just as easy to kill. This kid could have killed us both if he wanted to… I wonder why not-"

A cracking branch brought the two elves' attention to Rio as he made his way towards them.

Rio waved. "Hello," He called to the elves, who immediately reacted as they noticed him.

As they reached for their weapons, Rio put his hands up. "Hey, hey now. I don't mean you any harm. Can you two help me, I seem to have gotten lost?"

Thaola was quick to stand, knocking Alwin over in the process. As she was about to raise her sword, Alwin put a hand out in front of her.

"Hey, human." He called back, taking a step in front of the unconscious Felesyn. "You must've got quite lost to find yourself this deep in Elven territory. How'd y'get here?"

"Oh well, a friend and I were hunting a boar when it ran into these woods. We chased after it but got lost, and then we lost each other." Shrugging, Rio laughed. "These woods, they're like a maze, I can't even tell the direction we came from."

"The direction you came from, huh." Nudging Thaola, the larger elf began to approach Rio. "It's your lucky day friend, the elves who live here aren't the most hospitable to outsiders but don't worry, we'll help you find a way out of this infernal forest."

"That's so kind of you."

Stopping in front of Rio, Thaola looked him up and down. "You said you were hunting a boar."

Slightly nodding, Rio looked behind Thaola before answering. "We were."

Shifting her grip on the sword, Thaola narrowed her gaze as she stared Rio down. "Boar's aren't native to the lands surrounding the Eastern Oaks. Which means you'd be lying, which means-"

Thaola whipped her head around in time to see Iseul level his blade with Alwin's neck.

"Alwin!" She cried.

Having paid close attention to Thaola, Alwin ducked. A piece of his hair fell past his eyes as Iseul missed his head by a second.

Alwin drew an arrow from his hip as he rolled away from Iseul, as the Champion's second sword sunk into the dirt where Alwin was moments prior.

Pulling on the bowstring, Alwin aimed for his assailant's chest. 'This close, there's no way a human could dodge this.' Alwin smirked, letting the bow string loose.

Hearing as the bowstring was pulled taut, Iseul readied himself.

The sound of birds in the trees, the sound of Rio creating a portal, the sound of branches cracking underfoot, the sound of a bowstring brushing past a pair of fingers.

Steadying himself, Iseul brought his sword upwards.

Splitting the arrow down the middle, the two halves sailed into the shrubbery behind him.

Alwin's eyes widened as he couldn't believe what he just saw. Looking for the nearest tree that he could escape to, Alwin ran for it. Reaching the trunk, a sudden gust of wind formed around Alwin's legs as he jumped. Carried by a magical gust of wind, he landed high up in the branches.

~~

Their swords clashed as Rio kept Thaola from aiding Alwin.

"Look! I don't care why you tried to kidnap Felesyn, but if you both leave now, nobody is going to bother chasing you!"

"That's not going to happen." Back stepping, Thaola stabbed at Rio's chest, forcing him to hop to the left. "The person who hired us has offered a sizable bounty for the artefact, double if we bring the boy alive."

"Somebody hired you to get an artefact? You aren't a Fox, are you?"

"A Fox?" This remark confused Thaola.

The fighting stopped for a moment as Rio caught his breath and Thaola tried to understand his question.

"You mean, like the little furry things?" Thaola asked, still confused.

Blinking, Rio shook his head and sighed. "Never mind."

---

Alwin laughed as he watched Iseul stop at the foot of the tree. "Good luck getting me now kid! No human's getting up here unless they got magic, ahaha!"

Knocking two arrows, Alwin sought to help his friend. As the bow was fully drawn, Alwin felt the tree shake beneath him. "Wh-"

Looking towards the ground, Alwin saw what was causing the tree to shake.

Pulling his sword out of the tree, Iseul faintly smiled as he heard Alwin frantically shout at him.

"Y- you can't do that! These trees have stood for generations! Even I have some respect for things older than me-!"

Slamming his blade into the tree for the third time, Iseul pulled it back. Exhaling, Iseul swung, severing the base of the tree, causing it to fall.

Hearing the sound of cracking wood, Rio and Thaola turned around just in time to see the tree falling towards them. They leap out of the tree's path as it crashed into the ground.

"Iseul! Are you trying to kill me!"

Crawling away from the tree, Thaola helped Alwin up.

"Are you ok Alwin?"

"I'm fine, the wind slowed my fall." The fallen tree separating them, Alwin glanced at Iseul as he sauntered his way to Rio. "I think we should go. Forget the artefact and the bounty. I don't like that one, the one with two swords. No human should be able to just cut a tree down in four swings with no magic at all."

Preoccupied with their conversations. Nobody noticed as the grass on the forest floor began to lean towards them.

"Who in hell!" Felesyn roared, having been awoken from his slumber by the falling tree. "Do you people think you are…"

Taken by surprise, within moments the four people found their bodies bound by the very grass they were standing on. Controlled by Felesyn, the grass bindings pulled them down until they were forced to kneel as he stood up.

As the grass squeezed his body, Rio found it hard to speak. "Wa- wait- we're here to help you-"

The grass only tightened more around his body as Rio tried to speak.

Ignoring the man. Felesyn walked over to the boxes, he checked them for damage before opening the topmost box. Peering inside, he picked up a small container, which sat snugly in the elf's hand. Carefully opening it, Felesyn let out a relieved breath.

Within the container, a small golden leaf pulsed with a golden light.

Catching a glimpse of the leaf, Rio again tried to get Felesyn's attention. "Is that a leaf?"

Shutting the container, Felesyn turned to face the four people he had bound.

"Trying to kidnap me whilst I'm in the middle of my research, almost destroying the Elves' most holy artefact." Felesyn's fingers flexed as the grass grew tighter around Rio, Iseul, Alwin and Thaola. "I have half a mind to leave you all buried."

"Wait wait wait!" Rio called. "Don't be so hasty. We came to save you from those two elves."

"I remember those two barging into my home and using some kind of dust to incapacitate me…" Acknowledging the two elves, Felesyn turned to Rio and Iseul. "But I do not know where you two come into this."

"As I said, we came to help."

"And what makes you think I'll believe you, forgive me, but. I'm not really in the mood to trust strangers right now."

Straining against the grass, Rio raised himself up. "We came to help. Me, Iseul and-"

Hearing something moving behind him, Felesyn bent the trees with his magic, preparing for a fight.

Seeing Savina ten paces ahead of him, Felesyn froze.

She tried to smile. "And me."