Chapter Six: Dinner with Elves
I have just finished putting my stuff away, when a maid knocks on my door. I open it and she hands me a bundle of clothes, telling me to shower and change before dinner. Taking the clothes from her I thank the maid, and return to my bathroom. after showering and toweling dry, I finally get a closer look at the clothes I had been given. They are a silvery grey in color and the material is a soft cloth, not quite silk though, the pants are simple and unadorned with four loops for the sash belt, I quickly put them on over my underwear, and tie the sash which is a black color, then I look at the shirt it is also silvery grey, with a V-neck line, and when I put it on it fits snugly. there is a dark jacket that I fold over my arm, as I would be too warm to wear it, but feel rude by not bringing it, then another knock sounds at the door, and I find Aura waiting on the other side her white-blonde hair had been put up and the low top of the silver colored dress fits her perfectly. "You look beautiful, kind of like a princess." I say and extend my arm for her to take like granny had taught us, for formal dinners, as Mon-Fu Practitioners would often be invited to formal dinner parties in whatever organizations the are part of, especially if we got enough power where the brass would like to show us off and have us paired with other practitioners we barely stand, but for the sake of face we are each others date for the night, ' I had the distinct feeling she went off into personal life issues there but didn't raise a question then.
"Thank you and you clean up well yourself, well we should get heading to the dining hall for dinner." Aura replies and takes the outstretched arm and settles in a close and intimate way, then we leave the room to find a maid standing outside the room waiting to guide us to the dining room. "She was standing outside your room waiting when my maid brought me here, if she does that for you entire stay here I think we might have to put a comfortable chair outside your door."
the rest of the trip to the dining room is quiet as we admire the paintings and floral decorations lining the walls, my favorites are the landscapes, while it looks like Aura finds the portraits more amazing, but then again she has probably read these people's histories, which is her area of expertise in school, I was always more interested in geography and botany. After five minutes of walking we find ourselves in front of a massive set of doors, and we glance to each other asking the mental question, 'are you ready' then giving each other a nod we open the doors. Inside the room it looks like a whole new world the walls are colored in and calming peach with gilded gold trim and the mosaic tile floor looks like it depicts a massive silver vine with unusual flowers, then I see the people, they are all the same type of fused the humanoid Spirit beast, elves, except for two people, one who I have guessed is aura's father, as his monster is one I don't know, and the other is an older man who looks like a different if more beautiful version of the elves in the room ,they are all standing aside from that man around a dinner table laden heavily with food, from what I can tell is a mostly vegetable and plant spread, there are 15 people in the room side from us. Aura and I go to the head of the table and introduce ourselves. "Hello my name is Aura Silvervein it a pleasure to meet you Senior, and my companion here is Hunter Raebir."
"Well met granddaughter Aura, and please don't be so stuffy and formal with me, just call me gramps, also your friend is someone I already approve of so, Hunter you are welcome in this house, now I have reserved the the seats to my sides for each of you." The old man replies waving before we can bow and we go to the seats on either side of him, " Now I wish those bandits hadn't come after you they ruined my fun." the man pouts
"How did those men ruin your fun?" I ask
"I told the family That I wasn't going to come to meet Aura, but I was going to be the one to pick you guys up from the train station then I was going to have some fun at their expense, elves are very stuck on formality and it has made the rest of the family kind of boring, that's why I insisted you be raised by Morena so you didn't turn into one of 'these'." He says gesturing at the table where the family had started to eat quietly the only words were in asking for food to be passed politely
"Why do I get the feeling that if you two spend time together the world will tremble in fear at the pranks you'll pull?" Aura asks after a bite of a creamy mushroom stew, so I can get a bite or two in. "Also why is everybody here the same type of fused, except my father and your higher type elf?"
"Well for your first question even though your boyfriend says he's just a winged drake, the elves have always been friends with the dragons, and like you guys I wasn't born into the family, my father found me as a war orphan and adopted me so I'm a little more mischievous than them. as for your second question, our family cultivates the seeds of Silvervein elves, and your father married into the family, so his monster is different, and my elf is on of a higher blood line purity, like yours, part of our family's pact with the elves we serve is that every generation we get their most powerful seed, and they can choose to give us lower quality seeds for the rest of the family. the higher purity seed for the next generation was yours, because its bearer was a daughter, not a son which would have lent its power to the cousin who is glaring at you right now." then the older man takes a few bites of his food he's the only elf that is actively eating the meats on the table
"Speaking of Morena, how is my mother doing these days" a voice says from by my side it takes me a minute to realize that he is Aura's father and Morena's son I let the villain into my smile
"Well Father, Grandmother Morena is doing quite well, she's very strict, but she loves each of us at the orphanage, I suspect it puts her mind at ease knowing her son grew up successfully, so she works really hard to ensure that all of us can be great one day like you." I say putting emphasis on Calling him father, which elicits a chuckle from the old man and kick under the table from Aura
"That's... good to hear I suppose..." Aura's father says with a confused look on his face.
"Aura darling," a woman from across the table starts "What exactly is your relationship with Mr. Raebir?"
"For now he is my boyfriend, we grew up at the orphanage, so some would believe us to be more like brother and sister, but we've shared feelings like this for some time now, I would like to openly call him my lover, but I do fear father's eyes would burst from his skull and you would faint, so we are going to take it slow for a bit and see where it goes." Aura answers masterfully
"Well While your boyfriend did defend you from those bandits He had to recklessly use his monster's berserk state, to do so and it only barely worked we all saw the train's security footage." a voice said from further down the table with way too much arrogance in it.
"Do you think you could have done better against six enemies, who were two realms above you at the weakest, and almost four for the highest, especially within your fist month of being fused, Orrick?" the old man says "From what I saw, Hunter saw the opposition and knew that he didn't have the strength or experience to deal with the foes before him. so he let his monster who had more experience with fighting tough foes take over and used his species special ability to ensure he would cause the least amount of collateral damage, and negate the possibility of going too far."
Dinner goes by with some more conversation and Aura and I discover that her grandfather is more like us than not, and he has already guessed that I have a full dragon inside me, as the conversation gets easier, he and I start to use a simple code to communicate back and forth in the midst of the other conversation, I find out that while most of Aura's family is going to be trouble we will have a few allies in one uncle two aunts her parents, and one cousin with a grudging second as he is the second half of a twin that is eager to be around he as the other girls are older and the boys are super boring. I will be joining the adventure guild in Silver Vine city as a special member with my main duty to protect Aura when she goes out on hunts, but other than that, I am free to do as I wish. as dinner ends, Jaeger Aura's grandfather pulls me to the side. "Here, take these one is a license that will allow you to take and eat the dantians of other cultivators, when you have to fight and kill them, the other two are talismans to be used in case of emergency they will bring you and Aura directly to my side." he says handing me an ID card and two slips of paper. I head back to my room for the night drained from my dinner with elves.