Runaan, Meet 'Human Rayla'!
"Okay!" Callum loudly clapped his hands together to gather the attention of everyone else.
Everyone else being Ezran, Rayla after they miraculously reunited with her after the last two years, Bait, Zym and Runaan who they had even more miraculously managed to free from his coin prison that they managed to steal form Viren who had turned out to be alive like Rayla had said.
Anyway, after having Zym take off the binding on his arm, giving him some basic first-aid for his injuries and feeding him some moonberries they had together decided to help the assassin get back home to the Silvergrove.
As awkward as Callum had felt about the who ordeal, he still cared about Rayla despite her leaving him. And breaking up with him? They hadn't ever made that official but she also hadn't ran into his arms as soon as they saw each other again so he assumed they were broken up.
Anyway, Rayla adored Runaan and for her sake he'd help him.
Also, Ezran had since long ago insisted they shouldn't hold grudges since Runaan had technically just been doing his job when he killed Harrow.
Runaan had for the most part been surprisingly polite and other than the instance right after he had been released, hadn't tried to attack anyone.
Probably because Rayla was there.
At most he at times acted a little awkward as well which in a way was a little funny considering Callum's mind had only been able to imagine him as a big scary assassin and not a man who struggled to answer all of Ezran's random questions, sputtered and struggled against Zym's lick-attacks or ended up in staring-contests with Bait ("You can't beat that glowtoad, Runaan. Trust me, I've tried." Rayla had said).
While they were fine while walking through the forest for the first few hours, since they had found Viren in Neolandia of all places they were bound to pass through a village at some point, hence why he had called his companions attention.
"So Runaan," he turned to the older elf, "I know that we said we'll get you home and all but we've got a bit of a problem. You see, to get to Xadia we first need to pass this human village. I know we told you that there's technically supposed to be peace but most people in Neolandia haven't really accepted it yet and still hate everything from Xadia, especially elves."
"Like really hate elves." Ezran added. "Even if I'm pretty sure they're still following prince Kasef's mentalily. I mean, that guy threathened me and all of Katolis for not wanting to go to war! The guy even let Viren turn him into some kind of monster for it! Queen Aanya had to shoot him in the eye with an arrow to stop him."
"Which, I have to add, was pretty cool from the distance she did it from." Callum shrugged.
"Meh, I bet I could have done that too." Rayla proudly lifted her chin.
"You're terrible at archery, Rayla." Runaan raised an eyebrow at her.
"I'm not that bad!"
"Tell that to the dent in my horn!"
Bait gave a sharp little roar.
"Bait's right, guys! We're getting off track!" Ezran got in between the bickering elves who straitened.
"Right, sorry about that, Ez." Rayla apologized with a sheepish smile while Runaan cleared his throat in an attempt to appear dignified again.
Callum had actually been pretty interested in Rayla's so-called failures at archery but his young brother was right.
"So as I was saying, we're gonna have to pass through an elf-hating town and there's no way around it without having to go over a river known for strong rapic currents that we can't cross without a boat and the only bridge is in town. Also, Zym can fly and maybe carry Ezran over but not the rest of us and even if he only carries Ezran, he'll be too slowed down and won't be quick enough to avoid being seen like he is when flying on his own." he explained the situation.
"But no worries! You and I can just disguise ourselves as humans and fit right in!" Rayla butt in a little too happily before reaching into Ezran's backpack and pulling out two long dark hooded capes, throwing one around Runaan and putting the other on herself.
"Oh no..." Callum groaned, realizing what was about to come.
"Oh boy, does this mean..." Ezran on the other hand grinned in excitement.
"Runaan, meet 'Human Rayla'!" the girl spun herself around and pulled the hood up, grinning proudly.
Runaan only stared and blinked owlishly.
Callum heaved a sigh and face-palmed.
"Alright, I missed 'human Rayla'! She's a riot!" Ezran was literally pouncing in place, proofing that despite his position as a king, he was still a child.
Zym was also bouncing and wagging his tail, big floppy tongue dangling form his mouth.
"Greetings, fella humans, human fellas!" Rayla swung her arms around and pointed at the boys as she spoke with a fake accent.
"...What?" Runaan asked.
"I sure am glad we're gonna meet some other smooth-skulled fellas! Let's hurry so we can meet some fellow humans and talk on how much we love money and hate spending it but do so anyway for things we love even more such as bread! The staler the better!" Rayla went on, feeding off Ezran's laughter.
"What?" Runaan weakly asked again.
The poor elf looked so confused that Callum probably would have laughed a little if he wasn't so annoyed at Rayla's anticts.
"Why don't you spend all that energy on growing a fifth finger?" he huffed, making Rayla pout.
"Right... And since it's summer and there's no snow here there probably won't be any snow-elves to offer hand-disguises." to muttered, dropping the act.
"Hand-disguises? You mean gloves with with space for those extra fingers?" Runaan asked, grabbing Ezran's wrist and lightly pulling on his pinky.
"Yeah, pinkies." Ezran nodded, not bothered at all.
"Rayla, besides having the hoods hiding our ears, horns and faces, can't we just keep our hands hidden under the capes and maybe avoid talking to anyone?" the assassin asked, letting go of the young king.
Everyone turned to stare at him and a tense silence hung in the air until...
"Oh, thank goodness!" Callum cried, throwing his arms in the air.
"'Human Runaan' isn't a weirdo like 'Human Rayla'!" he cheered.
"Hey!" Rayla yelled, feeling offended.
"Please don't call me 'Human Runaan'." Runaan sighed tiredly.
"Right, right, of course. Rayla, just go with what Runaan suggests." Callum told the girl.
"But what if someone walks up to us and tries to make a talk? For all you know that person might get offended at being ignored and grab onto one of us and pull our capes off." she asked, making a fairly good point.
"She's got a point. Runaan, maybe you should practice acting like a human just in case." Ezran told the older elf with an innocent smile. A little too innocent.
"Come on, my tall human friend! No need to spend your sub-century life holding back!" Rayla went back into her 'Human Rayla' role, wiggling her eyebrows at Runaan as Ezran giggled.
"Um..." Runaan went before faking a cough and turning away from them, "Please excuse me. I'm feeling a little ill from a nasty cold and don't wish to pass it onto you. It would be for the best if you kept your distance from me." he said and started quickly walking away before stopping and looking at them expectantly.
"Great! That's a perfectly acceptable excuse to keep people from getting too close!" Callum nodded.
"I guess it that's true..." Ezran pouted as he and Zym slumped in disappointment.
"You're no fun~" Rayla whined.
"And you've taken too much after your father as well as my husband regarding your sense of humor with that little act of yours" Runaan shot back.
"I wasn't even joking! Besides, 'Human Rayla' is a lot more convincing than 'Elf Callum'!" Rayla rolled her eyes.
"More convincing than what now?!"
"Hey! I'll have you know that 'Elf Callum' is a lot more believable than 'Human Rayla'!" Callum got in between to glare at Rayla.
"Oh, oh oh! I never got to see 'Elf Callum'! Am I gonna see it later? And can I be 'Elf Ezran'?" Ezran piped up.
"You sure can! You know what, before we go into town we're taking a break and I'm showing you how to properly disguise yourself as an elf!" his brother snapped his fingers at him.
"Oh no no no no no! We're not doing 'Elf Callum' ever again!" Rayla protested.
"If you can show off your stupid 'human' disguise I get to show my perfect 'elf' disguise! Let me find a good pair of twigs!" and with that Callum ran off to who knows where, Rayla chasing after him to try and stop him, Ezran following and telling them to wait for him and Zym following just because he could.
Runaan decided that he didn't want to chase after them as well and figuring that they'd come back on their own went and sat under a random tree to wait.
A little groan from his right caught his attention and looking down he saw that Bait and joined him.
"Is it always like this with them together?" Runaan found himself asking the animal.
Bait gave a grunt and turned pink.
"I'm gonna take that as a yes." Runaan sighed as he absentmindedly petted the glowtoad while waiting for the kids (and dragon) to return from their shenanigans.
The End
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