Music and laughter danced through the air as many faces gathered by the fire to feast. It was slightly uncomfortable for me, but so far I had not come to regret my decision to accept the invitation.
Aika, as he had insisted I call him, sat to my right. He had slowly become more and more intoxicated as the night wore on and his goblet was refilled with wine. His laughs were merry and full of a joy I myself could not bare to allow myself to feel.

Upon returning to my tree house after talking with Leif earlier that day, everything had come crashing down upon me once again and I had found it overwhelming. I had also found myself pining for Hex's company and advice more than anything. With his passing, I had automatically assumed my master had taken my only family from me, but in this particular moment of weakness, I had come to realize that my friends were also my family. I wanted Hex to hold me and tell me things would be alright, I wanted Rider to swoop in as he so often did and swear he would protect me from any harm. I wanted Chill to just be there with her understanding smirk and nod, knowing when to give me space and when to push me into talking. I wanted Sprocket to be around and break the atmosphere that had settled over me with her over enthusiasm and thirst to know everything. I also wanted Flame to be here with me, to make me laugh and to tease me as he often did and break the seriousness in personality I often suffered from. It hurt to think of them all so far away. I suddenly felt all alone again, helpless, so I settled upon curling up in a corner and refusing to move. It worked wonderfully until Aika had called me down. His voice was strong and firm, and I could not deny it. He had not mentioned the tear tracks running the course of my face but he had seemed a little bit stunned at first.
I had agreed to accept his invitation, but on the condition that I remained in sight of Leif and the other tribes at all times.
He said he found it an agreeable solution and understood. He was impressed by my caution, stating that he wished his warriors would exercise the same thing at times. He went on to explain that the younger generation were far too careless in their actions and believed themselves to be invincible. This year alone had seen far too many injured and destroyed by enemies.
Part of me agreed that it was a horrible thing, but most of me really didn't care about the welfare of the Drow Tribes. We would grow to be enemies in the near future anyway.

The pounding of the drums thundered around us as the night wore on, steadily becoming quicker and louder. Those dancing around were becoming increasingly careless with the steps, stumbling over themselves and those around them.
The Drow chief had promised me a feast, and that was exactly what I got. Countless trays of fruit were passed around, as well as plates of deer meat placed before every sitting elf. Wine and other beverages were consumed relentlessly over the short period of time making everyone far too merry for my liking.

Several young men approached Aika throughout the night and each time the chief greeted them warmly and returned their loving slap on the back with one of his own. It was interesting to watch, yes, but I found that I longed for the solitude of my tree house, especially when the attention of some was directed to me.

Aika's son Aeriat had taken to glaring at me every time he came to speak to his father. Unlike those around him, Aeriat's eyes were not dilated with alcohol, they were sharp and within them I could feel a burning hatred, a hatred for me. What I had done I don't know but whatever it was, it must have been bad. (Also, before you start on me with the whole "Oh Stealth, elven eyes are hallow and an eerily solid white colour. How can you possibly tell? Well. I can. Elves can read other elves. Eyes, body language. Even if they don't always realize it. It was the shape of his eyes that allowed me to read his emotion, narrowed and harsh.)

Aeriat was the oldest of Aika's seven children. He had in total five sons and two daughters. Dulam looked much like his older brother. Both had shaved the entire left half of their heads and tied the remaining hair into an odd sort of pony tail. They both had the same shade of skin as their father had and both were well built warriors clearly intent upon impressing their father.

Nadre was the next son in line. He spent the entire night by my side at his father's request. For the most part he was silent. He kept to himself and silently observed everyone else around him. His hair was cut short and was almost black. His skin was lighter than that of his older brothers and father. He was also a twin, his sister Naonna making her appearance somewhere after the dancing had begun, partnered up with one of the bulkier lance masters in view. She looked much like Nadre except of course for all the obvious differences.
She kept her hair long, loose and free and as she danced it flared out from behind her like black satin. Aika puffed out his chest at the display, happily bragging that his daughter was soon to be married to the best lance master the neighbouring tribe had to offer.

Aerreth followed in her sister's footsteps as far as looks were concerned. Her hair was the same style, perhaps a little shorter and noticeably lighter. She had not developed as well as her sister either, nor was she quiet as tall. Everything about her seemed less than that of her sister, the jealousy was reflected clearly within her eyes. She also looked about my age.

Ruar was the second youngest and he looked much like his father only a younger version. From what I could see he was cranky and irritable over just about everything, a typical 'spoiled prince' type. He was a year or so younger than me but already he expected the world to be handed to him on a silver plate.

Nyik was the youngest of all and was easily two to three years younger than myself. Like Nadre he had darker hair than the rest and kept to himself. He sat on the other side of his father and only spoke when spoken to.

Nadre sighed heavily as he watched Aerreth attempt to gain the attention of a group of young warriors by flaunting her growing curves and flicking her hair the way she had watched Naonna do countless times. With Aeriat too busy glaring at me and Dulam and Aika too caught up in laughing and enjoying their drink, it fell on Nadre to control his younger sister. He called her over when the warriors regarded her with cold eyes before going back to ignoring her, scolding her for her behaviour before she ran off.
She remained absent for the rest of the night, much to her brother's relief. The look in his eyes showed just how exhausted he was.
I assumed while his father is off being chief and his brothers are all trying to impress their father a lot of responsibility falls upon Nadre to keep the family in line.
I felt bad for him. He wasn't all that older than me and already he had so much responsibility. Maybe by this point I'd softened up a bit (maybe). Master's death had forced my walls back up and I had only felt sorry for myself.

The night grew longer and the dancers became slower, their steps sloppy and their breath shorter. Those that watched slurred their speech or clutched their stomachs having eaten too much. It was so hard not to screw my face up at the displays of gluttony and greed from members of my race. I had always been taught to eat only what I needed to and to waste nothing but there before me, laid bare for all too see were my master's teachings being screwed up and shoved back into my face. I think I actually did screw my face up at one stage, enough for Nadre to realize what was going on and to place a gentle hand over my own for a moment before retracting it and pretending it had never happened.
Leif was constantly lurking in the background. Every time I looked over my shoulder, there he was, always watching. I appreciated his concern, but by now my patience was wearing thin. Dulam tried to coax me from my seat to dance with him but I refused. He snorted in frustration and left soon after. That brought the only smile to Nadre's face that night.

Oh hi there.
Yeah, it's been a while. I am so sorry for making you all wait for such a long time. I'mahorribleperson
So many ideas have come and gone in the time frame. Things have come up and yeah, I'm an easily distracted person. Hopefully now that I've got where I want this to go and now it simply needs to be fleshed out I'll be able to push myself to keep working on this and have somewhat more regular updates.
I want to thank everyone who is still with me and reading this and to thank all the new readers who have somehow stumbled across this. I do have every intention of finishing so fear not.

I should mention that the majority of this chapter was written just after I last uploaded and has been sitting unfinished in my folders. The next chapter will be completely new and therefore my writing style may have changed. I hope you enjoy this one though and I'll get to work on the next.

~XandyPants