Chapter 1: Ceremony and oath
"Look, look, big brother Charlie! That small-mouth is going to take the bait! See? Ohh that's a big one! Look at the splash! Now, don't reel it in yet, let it tire itself. Yes, yes, you got it. Yes, reel it in nice and steady, big brother. Oh wow! Look at the size of this fish! That's the biggest, yet! Good catch, big brother!"
On the bank of the great river Smyrcymenai sat a human and an elf. Both in traditional forest elves' clothing made of a type of fast growing plant, green and yellow in color, with silver threads and gold lining. The elf stood only half as tall as the human, for the elf were still a youngling, born not more than 12 years ago. Despite the age gap, both of them laughed and joked like they had known each other for a lifetime.
"The sun will soon reach its zenith, and the birds have sung its resting songs. Our buckets are full of small-mouths and striped-gills, enough for the whole village and beyond. Let us not be greedy, let us carry on, let the fishes be less wary, for home the fishermen have gone."
The elf sang to the human as he packed up his fishing rod and bucket, his words were carefully chosen, almost as if the little elf had spent much time- while fishing- to come up with the song to impress his companion.
Elves love poems and songs, and usually communicate to one another in this particular style of speech. They even sing when they do chores, in battle or just idly observing nature as they do, for their songs carry an innate magical power that only those with the fey ancestry could harness.
But Charlie had already had one too many elven songs today already as he stretched and casted his eyes to the river.
A far he could see a… sailboat?
Although strange to him, but the Smyrcimenai river was deep enough for sailboat to traverse in.
Most adult elves knew that other species do not communicate in this way, so they would speak plainly and straightforwardly with others. And the little elf here was learning the way of his people as he tried to incorporate song into his speech, albeit being a tad awkward and out of place. But he did not seem to notice that, for he was successful in impressing his fellow human fisherman, or so he thought, as both carried their wooden bucket full of fishes back to the village.
"Hey! I know. Let's drop off these fish at the cooking hall and continue our tour from the other day." The human ranger suggested
"Oh pure white magnolia and purple wisteria! That is a great idea!"
If the elf boy was more observative, he would have caught the tired smirk briefly appearing on Charlie's face. Both of them handed their fishes to the elf chef before slowly walking around the village, continuing their interrupted tour from the day before.
"For the weary travelers and visitors alike, this long hall is for them to respite… It is built on the ground because not everyone lives on trees like us. Behind it is the cooking hall. We don't usually use the cooking hall because we can all prepare our food at our own house. The cooking hall is only reserved for guests and events like this."
The elf boy gestured to a large rectangular, one story building with tiled roof and wooden walls as he introduced. He had yet to realize that he forgot to include rhymes and songs into his speech.
Charlie caught onto him, but he did not reveal the mistake of his companion.
He smirked.
"This is our village's ancient tree, not as big as my sister's village Nitiunthon ancient tree, but it's sacred nonetheless. We don't have an elder's conclave chamber built on top of the tree because we only have one elder, my grandfather!"
"And this is our Ballam weevil farm! We grow Ballam fruits from these vines and then feed them to the Ballam weevils. Have you tried them before, big brother?"
The young elf pointed at multiple large wooden scaffoldings with purple and blue vines growing on it. There were some fruits, as big as a human's palm, growing from the bright orange flowers.
"Yes, unfortunately." Charlie answered, his face darkened "Your sister made us eat them at Nitiunthon. It was… good, but so bizarre!"
Charlie slightly gagged, but managed to hide it from the excited elf youngling with a smile.
"I love them! I'm allowed to eat two a day! Anyway, that's lady Myrcimon's forge, that's the village well, that's my house over there. I'm living with my grandfather, the elder of Methonaion."
"Oh… I think it's almost time for the pre-ceremony! I can hear the harps playing already! Let's go, big brother!"
The elf pulled on Charlie's hand and led him through the rest of the small elven village.
Charlie and his adventuring party decided to take a month off of traveling and taking on quests, for they had faced multiple enemies much more powerful than they should in recent times. Understanding that their lives were put on the line was the first rule of adventuring, but they can take time off whenever they want to. And the very first place they visited was Methonaion, an elven village located on the main branch of the Smyrcymenai river.
Methonaion was Elluin Silverwind's birthplace, but she moved to her current home in Nitiunthon when she reached adulthood. Her little brother, Aelrindel Silverwind, would move to Nitiunthon too, when he grew older.
Elluin described Methonaion as a place of teaching life experience to young elves in her family before letting them go to Nitiunthon to further hone what they have learned.
And our gang of adventurers visited Methonaion with two goals in mind - the first one is to take some time to recover, both physically and mentally, somewhere safe. Secondly, they were attending a ceremony - an important one at that, with two of the members of the party participating as the most important people of the event.
Yes.
Elluin Silverwind and Harrison Gondorbrand was getting married.
Officially.
This elf and human couple has delayed their official marriage for years, despite being engaged to each other for some time now. This was out of fear, the fear that Elluin's family would not accept Harrison as the groom for he was a human.
Harrison's family was out of the question, quoting his own words "I have abandoned my family and cut ties with any connection from me to them. I can not possibly marry Elluin in Gawon where they live."
But Elluin was still considered a young elf, she was "barely" 122 years old! And she never was a good student. That was why she didn't know most elves in her village already have relationships with human partners for years.
Elves reach adulthood fairly similar to humans at the age of 23, but the biggest difference is that typically, elves do not get into marriage before they reach 125. But they do fall in love, and they do try out relationships with their own species, or even with other species.
They were practically immortal, for some elves could reach thousands of years of age. So romance, to them, was a vastly different concept to that of humans. A human's average lifespan would last about a century, so they had to hurry and find their other half, to continue their family line.
But elves, on the other hand, would have multiple partners, some passing and one-night-stand types, some a tad more serious, lasting years before ending. Some would bear children, and the children from these relationships were not viewed with any disdain or taboo - for children were sacred gifts to the elves, and having one is considered a blessing.
A serious courting attempt between two elves would last for many years, some even a hundred years before moving onto the marriage phase. So it is no wonder that Elluin did not know that her marriage to a human was accepted, if not very supported, from her family side.
Methonaion was a small settlement, not more than 20 elves lived and worked there. That was why the wedding was such a grand event for the life of the inhabitant of the village.
Everyone was invited, the elves sang, the elves danced, songs and melodies and hymns filled the air with delight, food and drink quite literally overflowed on the tables. There was elven wine, a crystal clear wine made of fermented wild fruits, so very aromatic and light on the tongue, for unlike the dwarves, elves were mostly sensitive to their taste.
There was 'Kulaath', a type of bread that was so delicious, nutritious and filling that an ordinary human like Charlie and Roselie was full after just tasting a palm-sized slice. The secret to Kulaath bread could never be copied by other races, for the bread needs the song of the elves to truly become what Kulaath was. And, to the amazement of the human ranger, the bread tasted of honey, of wild berries, of aromatic herbs, but the dough was pristinely white and fluffy, without a trace of said ingredients mixed in. There was a tray-full of Ballam weevils, of course, and many more specialties that Charlie had never tasted before.
By the bride and the groom's decision, the ceremony was a hybrid between elven and human culture. The elder of the village - Elluin's grandfather, blessed the couple and made an offering to Xanthufar, a minor deity of the elves, a god of wind, of sun and of harmony. Then the archer and the warrior gave their oaths to the witness of the trees, the grass and the soil of Methonaion, before offering two symbolic golden rings to the everflowing Smyrcimenai river - the same rings that marked their engagement years ago.
Then Roselie initiated the wedding ceremony ritual, with her goddess as the witness, bound the bride and the groom together, through thick and thin. Weddings were a sacred event for the human, so they were considered a new chapter in one's life. The bride and the groom then exchange rings, the rings that would symbolize their love to each other for the rest of their life.
The party then resumed, wine flowed, food aplenty, until midnight when the owls coo-ed and the wind chill. That wedding ceremony took an important place in Charlie's heart, for reasons he himself did not understand. But seeing his friends and his companions so happy was magical to him.
Little did he know, it was the last day he would spend with his friends before facing untold challenges and pain.