Elodi and the Story

Winter, Year 759 of the New Age
Glenmore, near the Great Oak
Featuring Duke Elodi and Princess Landa (NPC)
With mentions of Prince Glenor, Vasilliy, Garbhan and the rest of Elodi's family.

Winter, and the world was blanketed in white.

Elodi let out a cheerful hum as he trotted along through the snow, avoiding any suspiciously large mounds of snow - just in case. Despite his caution, however, he did have a few squeak-inducing incidents where he misplaced a foot and went sinking into a deep patch of drift. However he emerged no worse than slightly damp and cold, and as such saw no reason to deviate from his intended destination.

Namely, to go meet the Princess Landa.

Elodi was enamoured, there was no doubt about it. It wasn't a puppy-love thing, not at all - though that was not to say love was not a factor at all. For despite the fact he had only known the scarred doe just over a month now, he most definitely loved her deeply. It's just it was more of a familial love, much like that he held for Atavita and Solas - an elder sibling sort of love.

In the weeks he had known her, the princess had become one of his favourite does (aside from Mama, of course - she was still his favouritest favourite doe) and he had tried to introduce her to his other favourite fawnlings. However Glen already knew her, Garbi had been far too shy to talk to her, and though Vita had been as kind and caring as ever, for some reason Landa's eyes had shuttered and filled with a scary emptiness upon realising who he was.

Elodi didn't know it yet, but as one of the few 'outed' half-Blackwood colts, Atavita was well known and mostly disliked within the Glenwoods.

As such, Elodi had simply accepted the fact that Landa would be one of those special friends he would have all to himself. He loved the way she showed him her magic and taught him the secrets of the healing and light magic despite the fact he would never be able to truly understand the idiosyncracies of such a private Princess magic; even aside from the fact that he was generally considered too young yet to understand such things. He hungrily drank up every bit of information she gave him, relishing the physical demonstrations while scouting the nearby perimetre for beautiful blooms that he could subsequently decorate both his and the princess' manes and tails with.

Though she had been hesitant and unsure at first, his cajoling grins soon won her over, and she had joined the ranks of Royal-Does-to-whom-Elodi-is-Official-Hairdresser.

Reaching the princess' private glade, he bounced in without asking, heading straight for where he knew she spent most of her time. Due to the season, most everything was snowed over - even here in this private haven. However the princess had managed to snow-proof a small den of twigs and leaves left over from Autumn that was kept constantly padded out and warm with grass grown by her hoofmaiden's magic.

And, as he had guessed, the princess was indeed within her little safe spot, curled up in the soft, warm grass. With a grin, he leapt into her den, flomping down upon her with a loud 'oomph'. Surprised by his sudden arrival, the princess yelped and sat up, turning to look with wide, startled eyes upon the pale colt that lay grinning at her from her back.

Elodi wondered absently about the odd flash of naked fear he had seen in her eyes for the split second before she had registered who he was, however the thought was soon put out of his mind as the doe smiled and gave him a light nuzzle in greeting.

"Hello, young Duke. Isn't it a bit cold out for one so young to be wandering around?" She asked, arching an eyebrow at him. Elodi beamed in response, stepping down onto the ground inbetween her curled legs so he could pull himself over her back and into the warm nook created by her body. "Mama is away again, Vita is with 'Siliy, and Solas went to take Beau in to meet the ladies." He said dutifully, chanting it off like a list often spoken. He shrugged with a slight smile. "Vita told me to wait for him to get back in the den, but it was cold and I hadn't seen you since the frost came, so I decided that a li'l frost and bite never hurt anyone." He said proudly, puffing his chest out.

The princess chuckled softly and shifted so that she was wrapped a little more comfortably around the colt. "Well then, one simply can't argue with logic like that." She said agreeably with an affectionate nip to Elodi's wispy curls, though she did spare a thought for his poor older brother, who would likely be worried over the disappearance of the tiny colt.

For now, though, she simply allowed herself to enjoy the company of the little ball of sunshine she held in her grasp, who had begun nattering on about his family, and his friends, and everything that had happened to them since he had last seen her a fortnight ago.

Landa pricked her ears in interest as a familiar name caught her attention. Tuning in to Elodi's excited babble, she let out a loud, dramatic gasp in the right place, widening her eyes as she looked at him. "You did not."

Elodi beamed and let out a giggle, sitting up a little more so he could look directly at her. "I did! Like I said, he was always the Magnifiwcent and Strong Glenmore Prince in our game of Glenmores and Blackwoods, and so I put my hoof down one day an told him it was my turn to be the Prince, and that HE had to be the Blackwood. An' he started laughing and said I couldn't be the prince because he was an actual prince, then I sulked, and so he said yes." He said in a long stream of breathless words.

The princess smiled, easily picturing the scene in her head - Elodi going all red and teary, and little Prince Glenor's subsequent panic and acquiescence to his brother's oft-unheard demands. "What then?"

"So then we played, of course! And I got to be the Magnificent and Strong Glenmore Duke. And so I went chasing Gleni aaaaaaalllll around the oak tree, and then when I finally caught him I pinned him down an' flumped on him like this," Elodi proceded to demonstrate the belly-floppish action for the princess, "-an' he started squealing about how I was all heavy and such an' I tol' him it was all MUSCLE, but then he said it was all fluff." He said with an exaggerated huff, though the brightness of his eyes belied his good cheer.

Landa laughed softly, eyeing the colt. "Well... there is rather a lot of it, you must admit." She said slowly, laughing all the louder when Elodi let out a betrayed gasp and flopped back dramatically onto her legs.

As the colt began whining about traitors and natural fluffiness, the princess smiled easily, enjoying the little pantomine. She wouldn't have suspected it upon first meeting the colt - he was ever so quiet and shy and poite at first meeting - but he had quite the dramatic streak, and was so very talkative when he felt comfortable.

A swell of warmth bloomed in the princess' chest at the thought that the little fawn felt comfortable enough around her to open up like this. Perhaps he sensed that they were kindred spirits, in a way.

A loud yawn caught her attention, and she looked down at the colt to find him blinking sleepily up at her, his chin rested on her forelegs. Likely the poor thing had tired himself out with all his talking. Landa lipped gently at the fawn's nose, eliciting a giggle from the pale fawn.

Elodi let out a content sigh and rearranged himself into a better resting position before looking up at the princess with large doe eyes. "Tell me a story, Lani?" He asked hopefully, nosing at her mane and beginning to braid it carefully.

Landa smiled and tilted her head in acceptance, watching the colt's actions with calm eyes. "What sort of a story, little duke?" She asked easily, amused at how deft the colt now was at tying braids. Honestly, she didn't think most hoofmaidens could braid hair quite as fast as him - though as she understood it, the little duke had had quite a lot of practice.

Elodi smiled brightly and sat up as he tied off the braid, big eyes excited. "Princesses! Something with princesses an' an' brave knights. Maybe princes." He said, nodding authoratively.

Landa smiled sadly. Elodi had such a gleaming perception of princesses and princes in his head, one that for the most part lay so far from the truth. She didn't know whether to hope he had it corrected early on before he was hurt, or to hope that he never had his vision altered.

"Alright. A story about princesses and princes. Let me see... ALlright. Once upon a time, there was a beautiful princess who-"

"But Lani, all princesses are beautiful." Elodi interjected with a frown. "You need to give her something else special, just for her."

Landa blinked in surprise, but then smiled brightly and nuzzled the colt before she resettled him between her folded legs, restarting her story. "My apologies. Once upon a time there was a princess - one who was not only beautiful, but intelligent and kindly too. Though, perhaps, a bit too assured of her own intelligence..." When no interjection came from her avid listener, the princess went on.

"Now she was one of many princesses - nothing special, you understand. For this was a land filled with beautiful princesses and handsome princes, and they all flourished under a single king. As such, this princess was determined to somehow be different - to somehow be special..." A sigh.

"Well. She would one day get her wish, though not in a way she could have anticipated. You see, there was this parallel kingdom, but one that was dark and hurtful as opposed to light and gentle. The two kingdoms were always at war, though most within the light kingdom never truly realised how bad it was, as their good king tried to protect them from all hurts."

"So this pretty, foolish princess one day decided to strike out and make herself different... special. You see, she had met one of the inhabitants of the dark kingdom - long ago, as a child. And you know how fawns are - she declared herself in love, and decided that surely he too must be in love with her." Elodi flushed, remembering a similar incident with a royal guard that had ended up embarassing for all sides involved - though 'Silliy had found it amusing for days after, the traitor. He kept his silence, however, wanting to hear the rest of the story.

"So this princess decided she would try to mend the rift between kingdoms - with love." Seeing Elodi's bright, excited grin, she clucked gently at his, pressing her face to her neck and shaking it quellingly. "No, child. It was a silly plan - one that was doomed from the beginning. You see, this dark kingdom trained all its fawns to become soldiers from a young age, and with this training came a loathing of the light kingdom."

"...Loafing?"

Landa chuckled, drawn out of her dark mood brought on by the story by the colt's confused interjection. "Loathing, child. It means... hate. Very very strong, scary hate."

"Anyway. This princess ventured out one day to find the dark colt she had once known, determined to find him and fall in love, and to live happily ever after and mend the rifts between the kingdoms. Just like in the stories, you see." She said with a sad, vacant smile. Elodi wanted to interject with a, 'But Lani, this IS a story.' However the princess looked so absent and distant that he didn't feel like he could speak. So he kept his silence and listened.

"So. She reached the outskirts of the dark kingdom. And here she met a snag - how would she find her dark prince, without accidentally being captured by the other dark inhabitants of the kingdom? However her worries were all in vain, for as luck would have it... he found her."