Be the first elf in human school, they said. It'll be fun, they said.

Rayla was starting to regret agreeing to this.

She, Ezran, and Callum had successfully returned the dragon prince to his mother, and managed to convince both sides to actually talk to each other. Now, here they were, a peace treaty and several months later, where Ezran came up with the wonderful idea of letting elves attend human school to help re-associate the different races with each other. And guess which lucky elf just happened to be the one chosen to attend a high school in Katolis' capital?

"Come on, Rayla, they're not going to hate you."

"Just because a peace treaty was signed doesn't mean centuries of hatred will just disappear, Callum."

The two were currently in Rayla's room in the palace, where the elf was hastily unpacking several variations of clothing. Most of the outfits were meant to be casual, but compared to the other teen girls she'd seen, her style was ancient.

As if reading her mind, Callum tried to reassure her, "So what if humans aren't as keen on wearing traditional clothes? Elves grow up surrounded by magic, of course styles will be a bit different. And don't worry, I'll be with you the entire time!"

"You keep saying that, but you're a prince. I seriously doubt they'll let you just waltz into a school like it's nothin'."

Callum smiled, "That's why it's a private school! And it's not like anyone knows what I look like, I'll have a flawless disguise."

"Callum, step-son or not you're still a prince. You do realize people actually pay attention to your social media?"

He seemed to pale at that, "You mean people actually look at Ezran's photos of Bait and jelly tarts?"

"That's what you get for letting your brother constantly spam your account."

"Hey," Callum protested, "There's no way I'm saying no to him. You try denying him access to your phone and see how it feels."

"I'm a bloodthirsty monster, remember?" Rayla threw a crumpled up shirt into an open drawer, "I have no feelings."

The prince frowned, taking the same shirt and properly folding it before setting it with the other shirts in their assigned drawer, "You'll never let me live that down, will you."

"It's not the smartest thing to say when we're surrounded on all sides by heavily armed military personnel."

"Look, if it bothers you that much I can always ask dad if we could take you out to town for new clothes. I'm sure Aunt Amaya would love to take you shopping—"

Rayla chucked a combat boot at Callum, "Yeah, great idea, send the military officer who hates moonshadow elves on a shopping trip with a moonshadow elf. I can see it now, mani-pedis and girl talk all day."

Callum picked up the boot, setting it carefully with her other shoes by the dresser, "Gren would be there to make sure you aren't killed. And besides, she doesn't hate you, she just mildly distrusts you — which is natural after a lifetime of fighting elves."

"I have a feeling that she 'mildly distrusts' me more than you think she does."

Rayla took out the last few things from her final suitcase and set the stack of clothes on her bed, where a mess of stuffed animals and various pillows sat. The bedspread has patterns of moons and stars, and the main pillow was shaped like a crescent moon. The king really did have a strange sense of humor.

Or maybe they just didn't know what to decorate an elf's room with, that was a more likely possibility.

"Here," Callum said, pulling out an iPhone X (stupid princes and their stupid technology), "let me educate you on human humor."

• • •

Two and a half hours later Rayla had officially lost all faith in humanity.

"I... don't get it."

"How do you not get it? They're vines, they're not supposed to make sense."

"Well that's dumb."

A notification popped up on Callum's phone screen.

10% power left

He turned to scream into one of Rayla's plush toys — a stuffed Bait that Ezran had given her when he learned she was going to live in the castle.

Callum sat up, sliding off of the bed and making his way to the door.

"I'm going back to my room, you wanna come say goodnight to Ezran? He'll be going to bed soon."

"Nah, but grab him a jelly tart from the kitchen, would ya?" Rayla asked, "I still have to attempt to organize my things."

"Sure thing."

And Callum was gone, leaving Rayla in the large bedroom.

She pulled out the phone she'd been given after her return to Katolis. She still had to learn how to use it. Magic was so common back in Xadia that they never really saw the need to create technology such as cell phones and computers when they could just use magic to communicate. They still had them, but they were often found only at places such as libraries or military outposts.

Rayla swiped the screen open, traveling to one of the social media apps Callum had made her download.

She looked at her profile. Everything was blank except for her name — Rayla — and user — raylaaa.

According to Callum, the two of them would have to get placeholder last names, since elves didn't bother with last names and Callum's prince title acted as his full name.

They were a mess, weren't they.

She tapped her empty profile photo and was greeted with a selfie camera filling the screen. Oh well, at least she could try.

Rayla smiled, snapping a quick photo, a "selfie" as she'd heard Callum and Ezran refer to them, and put it up as her profile photo.

The only person she followed was Callum currently, and he was the only person following her.

She scrolled through her feed only to see that Ezran had spammed his brother's feed with pictures of Bait again.

With nothing better to do, Rayla took a deep breath, going to her pitiful camera roll and choosing one of the only photos currently in it, one of her, Callum, and Ezran smiling with Zym sitting in front.

She posted it with the caption A moonshadow elf? In Katolis? More likely than you think.

• • •

The next day she was awoken to a glow toad in her face.

"Rayla, wake up!" she heard the youngest prince shout, before a new weight was suddenly added to the glow toad's. "Aunt Amaya agreed to take us to town to get out schedules and some clothes for you!"

Rayla let her face fall into her pillow, "I thought we were going to be sent all of that information."

"Yeah, but that's no fun!" Ezran protested, grabbing Bait and jumping off of Rayla's bed, "I'm gonna go downstairs for breakfast, I'll see you there!"

Rayla reluctantly pulled herself up from the covers, dragging herself into her closet to pull on clothes a get ready.

When she looked in the mirror that sat in the corner, she mentally cringed. Even in the most "causal" clothes she could find she looked out of place.

There was no way to hide the horns that protruded from her head, or the deep violet marks underneath her eyes. From what she'd heard, hats and hoods weren't allowed.

She could see it now, walking into the building dressed in full assassin gear while everyone watches her every move. Because she was an elf. Because she couldn't be trusted.

She tried to remain calm, tried to remind herself that it was just high school. She was only entering her Junior year of high school with Callum. That they were now sixteen, the typical high school drama protagonist age. She just had to survive the weekend and first week of school.

That was a good plan, survive the week based on weekends, then use the weekends to make a game plan for the next week. So on and so forth.

She was gonna die, wasn't she?

Not seeing the point in procrastinating and longer, Rayla slipped on a her favorite assassin boots made her way into the castle's hallway. If she was lucky, she'd avoid any guards who'd immediately point their weapons at her before realizing it was only Rayla and return to their post (they still watched her though, she once even watched a guard follow her for a full hour before leaving her alone).

It was always a strange feeling, walking down the halls of a human palace. The same halls where she once tried to kill Callum.

Fun memories.

The dining hall was filled with the scent of baked bread, and Rayla wasn't surprised to see Ezran with a plate of jelly tarts. How he managed to eat that many, and somehow convince the king to let him eat such unhealthy sweets all the time was beyond her.

She grabbed an apple from a bowl on the table, sliding into the seat next to him.

"Yes! Rayla, you're down!" Ezran exclaimed, hopping up and grabbing the elf's arm, "Come on, let's go find Aunt Amaya so we can leave!"

"Already?"

"Yes!"

Rolling her eyes, she bit into the apple before standing to follow the child.

Still, the thought of Ezran waiting back at the castle for her throughout the year made the situation bearable, if only just.