A/N: this chapter is from the perspective of Henaia. I considered a chapter from the perspective of Thelios, but none of the sentences would have been more than five words long. As it is, this chapter was difficult enough for me to write...you'll figure out why.
Henaia stood in the kitchen. It was a big kitchen. There were cupboards hanging from the ceiling. There was a container full of ice. The ice kept meat cold. There was also an oven. The oven was probably used for cooking. But she and her new friends were not cooking. They were preparing food, but they weren't cooking. Instead, they were preparing food without cooking. The food was cold, but that was okay. It was the type of food that could be eaten cold.
Henaia took some bread. She put the bread on the plate, and the bread was also shared like the plate. On the bread they out pieces of finger food. They could eat it as snacks. Some of the food was cheese. There were many different kinds of cheeses. Henaia loved cheese.
"Slow down there, Henaia!" Uniol said while laughing. He was laugh talking. "We want to make sure there are some snacks for the others; we have to leave some here!"
Uniol's mom owned the house. They were night elves. Jalfaren was in the kitchen too, and he was a night elf too. But he didn't own a big lodge like this, and he used magic. Night elves didn't like magic because they worshipped trees. Trees probably didn't like magic, but Jalfaren didn't like trees so everything worked out. There were four people in the kitchen because Thelios was there.
He stood next to Henaia. He looked at her. "Baby, we should put some crackers on the bread. Can you imagine what it would be like if people put pieces of cheese in between two crackers?"
His words were awesome. They made a lot of sense. Henaia smiled while she pulled out some of the crackers at Uniol's mom's house. "That sounds like a great idea, actually. But if we just put the cheese and the crackers on the big circle of bread, then we can save time because the people will put the crackers between the cheese by themselves." She smiled up at Thelios because she was proud of what she said.
"Whoa...that's totally complicated," he said. He was looking at her when he said it. That made her feel even more proud.
"You flipped it backwards," Jalfaren said. He was at the other side of the countertop. He was slicing a cucumber with a knife that sliced. "People will put the cheese between the crackers, not the other way around." He didn't look at her when he talked. He just looked at the cucumber. He didn't understand anything.
"Nuh uh, that's not how it works," Henaia said. Her words were strong; Thelios liked them.
In the big big room, the argument became quiet. It was loud before, but then it turned quiet. Navarion's family was in that room. He had a brother and his brother had a girlfriend. His family didn't like the girlfriend. She was kind of mean, but now she was quiet. She wanted to sleep in the same room as Tiondel. That wasn't smart. Selia wasn't smart. Henaia was totally otally smart because she knew the right way to be naughty. She would sleep in the room where Corrianna told her to sleep. That's because Corrianna and Navarion were cousins, and Corrianna was married to Uniol. Uniol was mixing dip for chips. It was chip dip. He was serving the chip dip in his own house. He could tell people where to sleep.
But Henaia would only pretend to listen. She was so smart! She would share a room with another woman, and then sneak in to the basement to see Thelios. The others would be asleep. Selia wasn't smart!
Oh look, now the shouting stopped in the big room. They could bring the food in the middle of all the cushions. They also wouldn't have to listen to an argument. The kitchen sure was a safe place.
"Alright, let's not keep them waiting," Uniol said. This was his mom's house. So Thelios followed him. Henaia followed Thelios. Jalfaren ate half the cucumbers and then he followed everybody. Uniol walked forward toward the cushions. Issinia and Sharimara were Navarion's sisters and they were laughing with Kirana. Selia folded her arms. She did not look happy. "Dig in everybody, we've all been traveling a long time!" Uniol said. He set a tablecloth on the carpet. Night elves liked to sit low to the ground to eat. Blood elves liked to sit on tables.
Issinia and Sharimara thanked Henaia and her helpers. That made her feel happy. Issinia tried to call Selia over to eat. Selia looked mad, but she also ate.
"Where's Corra?" Uniol asked. He probably asked because Corrianna was his wife.
Selia held two crackers in between one piece of cheese. Jalfaren was wrong about how the world worked. "She went to fetch a drawing board she claims you told her was in the game room," Selia said. And then she ate the cheese with crackers.
"Could you not use the verb 'fetch' when talking about my cousin, please?" Issinia said. Selia and Issinia did not like each other. But Jalfaren liked Sharimara.
"Could you not whine about something every five seconds?" Selia said. Selia and Issinia did not like each other.
Somebody knocked at the front door. Uniol was still standing. He opened the door. Navarion, Tiondel and Narrus were there. "I was wondering where you all disappeared to!" Uniol said.
Narrus walked inside first. "We were checking out the property for a few minutes; your mother really has set up a nice little haven for sentinels when they need a bit of a break from the more difficult routes." Henaia didn't know what they were talking about. They also talked some more, but she didn't listen. She didn't listen because the food was so good.
"Thelios, try these chips!" she said. Tiondel tried to calm Selia down, but Henaia didn't care. She tried to feed Thelios like a baby. He was her baby. She was his baby. She kissed him because there was dip on his chin. Issinia glared but that was her fault. She should kiss Narrus if she's mad.
"These are great!" Thelios said and he was also hot.
They ate and they also talked about stuff, but Henaia didn't like the stuff. It was complicated. She had to think too much to understand it, so she just ate instead. She burped. Thelios always told her that she was cute when she burped. Issinia is bothered by a lot of things.
Corrianna came down the ramp. The ramp came from the second floor. Blood elves liked stairs, but night elves liked ramps. Corrianna had a green board under her arm. She had chalk in her hand. She looked like a teacher. She was really smart, just like Henaia.
"I found the drawing board upstairs, guys!" Corrianna said. "Let's figure out who sleeps where so we can at least get dressed into more comfortable clothes!"
"It can be like a game!" Henaia said. She was happy. She would make very body else happy. Yeah. "Let's draw pictures of the rooms on the board, and then write the names of people in the rooms they can sleep in!"
Thelios looked at her. She liked it when he looked at her. "That's a good idea!" he said. He made a fist and pumped it in the air. She wanted to kiss him again.
Selia rolled her eyes. She was never happy. But everybody else liked Henaia's idea! Even Jalfaren did. Corrianna set up the chalkboard on a little stand. She drew the rooms. "Alright, so we have four regular bedrooms...like...so," she said. She drew while she said her words. "Then one larger room...here...and a room with a single mattress in it."
Corrianna turned around. Everybody sat on cushions or the floor. They were looking at her. "Alright, so here's how it goes. There are six rooms and twelve of us, but not all the rooms are equal. I took a look at all of them...the little converted room closet has an extra long hammock. So I'm sorry Shari, but you're going to have to sleep there; you're too tall for anywhere else."
Sharimara laughed. She had a pretty laugh even though she was so big. Her brothers laughed. "I don't mind," she said.
Jalfaren was sitting next to her. He kept looking at her. "You're lucky to sleep in a hammock; they're quite comfortable, actually." Sharimara didn't listen to him. Nobody seemed to listen to Jalfaren. Corrianna wrote Sharimara's name in a small box.
"Uniol and I will be staying together," Corrianna said. She smiled and held up her wedding ring. It was pretty. Shiny. Expensive. Shiny. Shiny ring. Henaia wanted a shiny ring, but pink. Shiny. Oh, okay, Corrianna put her shiny ring away. No more shiny. "So there goes one more room." She wrote her name and her husband's name in one of the medium sized boxes. Henaia tried to do the math...three medium boxes...but one big box? This was complicated.
Navarion raised his hand. He was cool. "That leaves the gents with one person beyond the ladies remaining. I suggest we stick some of our names in the big communal room, then," he said. That sounded smart.
Corrianna pointed at him with the chalk. "You just volunteered, then! And..." Corrianna looked at everybody else. Opened one eye more than the other. Henaia found that funny because it was funny. "Thelios and Narrus, because you two are sitting on opposite ends of the grou."
Narrus looked happy. "As good a system of any other," he said. His words didn't make sense. Maybe he was too smart.
Corrianna wrote the names of Navarion, Thelios and Narrus in the biggest box. Thelios wouldn't sleep in the same room as Henaia. But that didn't matter. He shared a big room with two other people. Maybe they wouldn't notice him being gone. This was a good plan. Thelios looked at Henaia. She looked at him. Nobody else noticed. He winked at her. She felt happy.
"Okay, so that leaves Del and Jalf in the last room for the guys," Corrianna said. She wrote more names in boxes. Then she looked at everybody else. She looked at Henaia, she looked at Selia. She looked at Issinia. She looked at Kirana. Kirana was quiet the entire time. She was sitting next to Navarion.
Selia and Issinia didn't like each other. "Uh...Issa, you'll stay with Kirana, okay?" Corrianna said.
"Fine by me!" Kirana said.
"It's great to meet new people," Issinia said.
Corrianna wrote their names in a box. There was only one box left. Henaia was confused. Who would sleep there? Oh wait, Corrianna was looking at her. "And Henaia, you'll share a room with Selia."
Henaia blinked. She looked at all the people. There was nobody else left. She would have to sleep in the same room as Selia. But Selia was not nice. She didn't look at Henaia. She just continued to frown. Tiondel tried to hold her hand. She was mad.
Henaia was worried, but then she wasn't worried anymore. She wouldn't sleep that much. Selia would sleep. Then Henaia would sneak out to find Thelios. They would trick everybody. It didn't matter.
"This will be fun!" Henaia said. Everybody laughed. Selia did not laugh.
Corrianna clapped her hands. Everybody stood up after that. They picked up their suitcases. "Alright everybody, let's unpack, freshen up and settle in. We can try to start preparing a proper meal in an hour or so; the snow might really start by then, so we can stay up all night eating and sharing scary stories!"
Kirana stood closer to Navarion. "Scary stories are great, but I just get so anxious when hearing them," she said. Her voice was quiet. She kept looking at him.
Navarion was busy. He looked at Kirana's bag. She wasn't picking it up. He picked it up for her. She looked happy. "There's nothing to worry about out here...this is a sentinel lodge. Anybody who tries to creep around this place would have to be crazy," he said.
Jalfaren looked at Navarion and Kirana. Then he looked at Sharimara. He tried to take her bag for her. He didn't ask first. She didn't answer him. She took her bag and made a noise at him. It was unladylike. He looked embarrassed.
Thelios picked up Henaia's bag. They wouldn't share the same room. He was so nice and strong. He didn't have to carry her bag but he did. She would sneak out with him later. "Don't worry, baby. We'll see each other later," he said to her.
She smiled when he said that to her. She was planning on doing things with him later. "All in good time later," she said. She sounded smart. It made her laugh.
Everybody took their bags to the second or third floor. They would unpack. Then they could freshen up. Then they could eat. Then they could tell scary stories. Then everybody else would sleep. Then Henaia and Thelios could sneak out together. They would do naughty things. She already felt excited. Yay!
