A Working Holiday

Alice woke up from her sleep, when Aliyah gently shaked her shoulder, "Wake up, dear. You will catch cold. The floor is not the place to sleep, go and sleep on your bed." Alice slowly rose and said, "I barely slept well last night. The tension and fear has startled me till my last nerve. Mother is missing from the last five days and we still don't know what to do and what to not do." Aliyah sighed, "I know what your feeling right now and I truly care about you, but I still need to advise you to focus on the training and get ready for the bigger challenges that are waiting for you." Alice asked angrily, "What do you mean to say, Aliyah? That I don't even lament my mother's loss. How can you be so cold hearted?" Aliyah said grimly, "You know what, you are right. I'm cold hearted and maybe unfriendly, but you would have been too if you had encountered the atrocities that my family, my people suffered at the hands of those monsters. Your mother maybe even dead and we are just wasting our time searching for her."

Alice slapped her hard and said, "Enough of your nonsense, Aliyah. I have tolerated you from day one, but now you have crossed the line." Elgin appeared and said, "Alice, I know you are upset, but Aliyah is right. We cannot waste time searching for your mother, not when the enemy knows your house." Alice asked angrily, "What do you mean, elf?" Elgin clearly got hurt by the comment, but looking at Alice's condition, he grimly said, "I don't think that this house is safe anymore for us. Gongamtei kidnapped your mother from this house and if he knows it, then all knows it too. That's why I want us to stay in the Ancient Temple of Elves. I have talked with my brother, Tammy and he says that it will be a great opportunity for you to learn more about us and the history of the Manacan tribe."

Alice said angrily, "I don't want to waste my time between heartless people like you." Aliyah sighed, "You are a headache." She snapped her fingers and Alice fell on the ground unconscious and Aliyah took her on the shoulder and created a sphere ball and said, "Bring Elena and Trisha with you. They need some sharpening too." Elgin asked sheepishly, "Can I bring Cindy with me? We will have some time to bond." Aliyah said annoyed, "Definitely not." She disappeared leaving purple smoke behind her.

Elgin looked at Elena and Trisha, who were tightly grasping the corners of the carpet. He said, "I told you earlier that it will be a little uncomfortable flying in the sky." Elena smiled, "No worries. We don't get to ride a flying carpet everyday." Trisha vomited mid air and said, "I am feeling just like Princess Jasmine, just a little sick." Elgin asked, "Who is Princess Jasmine?" Elena giggled, "Why should we tell you? You already have Cindy." Elgin smiled, "It's always good to know more girls." Elena and Trisha started laughing. Elgin said, "I don't know, but you may not like the boys out there. They are much more handsome than the boys of your species. Long silver hair, big pointy ears and a traditional goatee."

Trisha said, "Eww. I hate boys with goatees." Elgin smiled, "Don't worry, Trisha. Only the fighting class are allowed to keep goatees. For general people like us, we prefer to stay clean shaved." Elena asked, "Didn't you told us earlier that your whole tribe was annihilated?" Elgin said grimly, "They are not my tribe. Tammy was my late brother's buddy. He invited me previously many times, but some responsibilities and a little personal choices never made me join them." Trisha said, "I can understand, Elgin." Elena asked, "Does everyone knows magic there?" Elgin said, "Seldomly. They are more accustomed with brute strength and physical battles. In fact, their forefathers were known to be strong enough to lift mountains and gave a tough fight to the brutal army of the mighty Demon Orc, Gigantus in the battle of Lost River." Elena asked, "Are they gigantic still?" Elgin replied, "In compared to an average human, they are some feet taller but the teenage ones are almost as the height of you too." Trisha asked, "Are they easily angered?" Elgin said, "The males tolerate to an extent, but the females are quite different." Elgin slowly descended the carpet and stopped near a large waterfall and said, "Get ready for a bath." He clapped his hands and soon entered the waterfall.

Elena and Trisha looked around with both awe and happiness. The whole place was gleaming with sunlight, the flowers were almost tall as a tree and the female elves are collecting honey from them with the help of a ladder and a long lines of male elves were churning water and spreading it all over the agricultural field, where large pumpkins, capsicums, oranges, apples and maizes were growing. Young elves of both gender are busy training in physical combats. Elgin landed the carpet in front of a beautiful palace where two elves, wearing bright red cloaks greeted them. Elgin said, "We are here to meet Tammy and his wife, Sophia. We are invited to join in Sophia's baby shower and also to discuss some important matters regarding the evil forces. One of the red cloaks said grimly, "Yes, we have heard about the recent attacks of Gongamtei in the mortal's city and we are deeply sympathetic towards the deceased ones and their families." Elgin said, "The guests are pretty much tired and I think that they should freshen up for the night's celebration."

The red cloaks gave way and they entered a large hall filled with different defensive equipments and soldiers armed with swords and shields. Elgin said, "They are the supreme defense of the palace and their prime duty is to protect the front door which is the opening of the palace. They have been instructed to kill anyone they find suspicious, so keep yourselves distant from them." They entered inside the second door and found various elves of both gender dancing, eating, laughing and arranging the room. Elgin said, "This is the ceremonial room. The celebration will happen here. It acts as a conference room in times of war and thus is the most prestigious and well maintained room of the palace." They entered through the third door and saw various stairs leading to various rooms. Elgin said, "This is the part where our journey together comes to a halt. Climb the thirteen staircase and you will find your friend and Aliyah."

Elgin smiled and stood on one of the stairs and the stairs slowly started to move up. Elgin smiled, "No one likes to climb thousand steps." Elena asked, "Thousand steps?" Elgin smiled, "Happy journey." He winked and slowly disappeared upstairs. Elena and Trisha slowly started climbing the stairs.

On the way, they met many female elves who looked at them and bowed respectfully. Elena and Trisha gave them a smile and bowed. After sometime, they reached a large door which was so large that they looked like ants before them. The door opened automatically and they entered inside, where they met two women in pink and blue cloaks. The blue one asked, "Would you like a bath, misoress?" The pink one asked, "Would you like your nails done, misoress?" Elena giggled, "We are not "misoress" and yeah, if the water is warm, we would like a bath and our nails done." The pink one took them inside a room filled with different types of soaps, shampoos, bathtubs and young female elves. They started cleaning them, when a woman hurriedly came inside and jumped in the bathtub. She said, "Hurry up, ladies. Sophia must be crying for my arrival and I can't go in the hall stinking like a pig." All the women encircled her and started washing her. She looked at Elena and Trisha and asked, "And who are these two ladies?" One of them said, "Misoress, they are Elgin's guests."

The woman smiled, "Humans. It been almost thousand years since humans came into our palace. What are you names, pretty faces?" Elena said, "My name is Elena and she is Trisha." The woman smiled, "Funny names. Well, my name is Verona. I'm Sophia's mother." Elena said, "You look quite young for your age." Verona smiled, "Flattery is very disrespectful here, but I will take that as a compliment." Elena said, "But, I was not flattering you. I just said what was on my mind." Verona looked at her and said, "You are quite bold, just like me. I wonder how haven't my daughter be like you? She is as timid as a sheep." Trisha said, "Please, clean my body too, ladies. Aliyah must be waiting for us." Verona asked, "Aliyah? But, isn't she dead?"

Trisha said, "She is dead and now is a ghost." Verona smiled, "I still remember when she was a young girl in training. An angry little fireball she was. She broke my nose in one of the sparing fight." Elena asked, "You are Aliyah's friend?" Verona smiled, "Yeah. We had the many sweet moments together." She rose and said, "Wash these ladies. They shouldn't be late for tonight's celebration." The ladies slowly walked towards them and started bathing them.

Elgin was walking through the hall, when someone called his name. Elgin turned and saw that an old man with a bent back who was walking slowly with the help of a stick was coming towards him. He sprinted forward and said, "Maester Cornwall. It's has been a long time since we met last time. I thought I will met you in the catacombs this time." Maester Cornwall smiled, "I may indeed be next year in the catacombs. My health has never been my good companion and I almost spent my whole life battling one disease after another, but thanks to Mother Manaca, I won every battle." Elgin asked, "Are you still the Maester?" Maester Cornwall said with a smile, "Tammy and his elder brother, Jammy doesn't believe in this old man's expertise anymore and has appointed Maester Taylor as the chief medic. But, I may be present in the labor room if Sophia finds any trouble during her childbirth."

Elgin said grimly, "Sophia is physically very weak for such frequent pregnancies and everytime she almost fights for her life. Tammy should marry someone else if he wants his lineage to forward." Maester Cornwall said, "You have always disliked Sophia and many say you had almost killed her once. Is it right?" Elgin said grimly, "I didn't want to kill her. Her mother, Verona has always been a good woman to the society and her father, Taurus still serves as an inspiration for the young fighters. But, Sophia has none of her parent's qualities in her. She is vain, superfluous spender and a very snotty person." Maester Cornwall smiled, "Everyone has both good and bad qualities and I have seen many bad people proving to be great rulers and warriors. I heard about the recent attacks of Gongamtei in your city. He seems to be quite more powerful than before and I also know why you are here. But, I must warn you that there will be more denials than approvals to your desire." Elgin said, "You have always been a wise man, Maester Cornwall. But, these times are not for the wise, but for the brave ones. Gongamtei was a small spark, but more dangers are still lurking above us. This place may have been safe for many years, but we cannot stay here forever, especially with the growing population."

Maester Cornwall smiled, "That is the problem with your tribe. You always believe in the impossible and this belief has now lead to the extinction of your whole tribe." Elgin said angrily, "I won't tolerate a single ill word about my tribe. They fought valiantly alongside the Manacan tribe whereas, the people of your tribe ran away when the tide of the war tilted a little against us. I still remember when your teacher, Maester Lorlys left the wounded soldiers and ran away on horseback. The whole platoon of poor injured soldiers were slaughtered like vegetables by those bloodthirsty demons. Yes, we believe in impossible because we know that we have the power to make the impossible possible." Maester Cornwall said, "Well, I'm getting late for the evening prayer. We will scuffle on it some other time." He hastily went away. Elgin angrily stormed away and soon exited the hall.

Alice was looking at Aliyah with anger and said, "You are a very selfish and heartless person, Aliyah." Aliyah sighed, "Okay. As soon as we finalize and establish our bonds with them, we will send out a search party for searching your mother." Alice asked, "When will we finalize our bond with them?" Aliyah said, "Hopefully tonight at the dining table. I heard, Jammy has some interest in the recent attacks in the city. He may not be the final say, but his support is very valuable." Alice asked, "Why would they listen to a ghost's words?" Aliyah smiled, "Because they know that they are in danger too. Mutual hatred for the demons will unite us." Alice smiled, "Will they be able to stop the demons?"

Aliyah said grimly, "That is something that worries me more than anything." She looked outside and said, "If they still don't agree, then we will have to offer matrimonial alliance." Alice asked puzzled, "Who will marry them?" Aliyah said, "Elena, Trisha and if neccessary you too." Alice asked, "What?" Aliyah said grimly, "If you want your mother, then this is the best bet. I will try to avoid this proposal till the last, so that you can have time to think about it." Alice sighed and they looked at setting sun as it was slowly hiding behind the horizon....