"There's no synonym for cinnamon. There's no synonym for cinnamon." Claudia nervously muttered to herself as she walked through the forest near the cave she had hidden her father in.

She hated that cave.

She hated staying in Xadia at all but she knew she didn't have a choice.

Even she was not optimistic enough to think she could just bring her dad back to Katolis and ask for help after what they did.

Now, here she was, searching for plants she'd never even seen in person and only on drawn pictures but had read that they would help with a spell to preserve her dad's body for as long as it took her to figure out how to bring him back to life.

She knew there was a way to do it! Dark magic had no limitations and she would save her father!

Her determination didn't help her nerves however, as she walked around all on her own in a land were almost everyone and everything would be more than happy to kill her.

"Excuse me, miss?" a voice suddenly called and Claudia, being already high on edge gave the only natural response. She screamed. Loudly.

"Owww..." the voice muttered when she finally stopped and Claudia regained herself enough to actually realize she wasn't dead yet.

"Who are you?! What do you want from me?!" she barked, pulling out a dagger and turning around to come face to face with... an elf?

Considering she was in Xadia that honestly shouldn't have been too much of a surprise, but this elf looked nothing like the creepy and dark Moonshadow assassins or the fierce and fiery Sunfire soldiers.

He didn't even look like any sort of fighter, judging by his slim build and lack of any sort of armor.

If anything, he looked more awkward as he waved at her.

"A-Ah! I'm sorry! I didn't mean to startle you!" he apologized with a sheepish smile, "Would you be so kind as to put the knife down?"

"Who are you?" Claudia asked, lowering the knife upon seeing he was unarmed, though not putting it away yet in case he still tried something.

"Right, introducing myself might me a good start to this." the elf agreed.

"My name is Terrestrius, but everyone calls me Terry and I'm an Earthblood Elf." the elf introduced himself.

Him being an Earthblood might explain his lightly tanned skin and his green hair.

"Trees to meet you, miss." he gave a little bow and Claudia found herself snorting in amusement at both the action and the pun before catching herself and forcing her face into something more steely.

"Right, so Terry. Why did you decide to call out to me?" she asked and Terry perked up.

"Forgive me if I'm wrong but aren't you one of the human mages who attempted to invade Xadia a few days ago?" he asked, way more cheerful then anyone else would have.

Claudia felt her heart drop as all kinds of possibilities ran through her head of what the other might do to her if she confirmed it.

"Based on your reaction, I'm guessing you are, right?" Terry asked, for some reason still smiling.

"And what if I am...?" Claudia asked, slowly backing away to readying herself to start running if she needed to, "What are you planning to do with me?"

"You are!" Terry actually cheered excitedly and pulled out a notebook, "There's no many things I would like to ask you!"

"What?" Claudia asked.

"O-oh! I'm sorry! I know I'm probably being weird right now!" Terry finally seemed to realize how she was responding to him, blushing and shrinking into himself.

Even his pointy ears started drooping. Claudia thought it was pretty cute.

'Ah! No, Claudia! Bad!'

"I never met a dark mage before." the elf then told her, perking up again, "I just got curious and then when I met you, I couldn't help myself."

"So... You say wou only want to ask some questions? You not, like, gonna take me to some elven prison or feed me to some giant flesh-eating plant?" Claudia asked, carefully creeping closer because she was a curious creature as well.

"Now why would I do that?!" Terry actually looked horrified at what she assumed.

"I don't know." Claudia shrugged, "Because I'm a dark mage who tried to invade Xadia with an army of monsters?"

"I'm sure you had your reasons." Terry shrugged back.

"Really?"

"I mean, humans used to live here too before they were all send away because all the dragons and elves thought their use of dark magic was bad. But I find dark magic really fascinating. Yeah, I don't really like the idea of killing animals much, but from their bodies you create amazing things, many of which even Xadian's are unable to copy and... I'm ranting, aren't I?" he sheepishly rubbed the back of his head.

Claudia wasn't bothered and shook her head with a grin, "No, no, no! It's totally fine! I just never thought I'd ever meet an elf who'd see it our way!"

Growing bolder she walked closer till she was standing right in front of him.

"Seriously, I know a whole bunch of humans who first acted all happy when it did something cool but turned all judgy when they learned more about it!" she frowned as multiple faces flashed before her eyes, Callum being the most prominent, having at first called her lucky to learn magic, only to dismiss it after meeting that moon-elf girl.

"Well, I won't judge you so could you maybe tell me more about it?" Terry asked a little shyly.

'Cute.'

"I'd love to but I can't. I mean, not now since I'm kinda running on a deadline. I've got plants to find." she was sure her face matched the disappointed look on Terry's face before he perked up again.

"Maybe I can help! I'm an Earthblood after all! What can't of plants are you looking for?" he asked.

"Uhm... This one, this one and this one." Claudia took out her spellbook and pointed at each of the plants, making Terry hum thoughtfully before grinning at her.

"Looks like you're in luck! I know exactly where we can get all of these! I'll take you right to them." he told her, making her beam back.

"Really?! Thank you so much!" she cried before without thinking throwing herself at him for a hug.

It took a few seconds before her brain caught onto her actions and when it did she let go with a yelp.

"Sorry!" she blurted, feeling herself blush.

"I-It's okay!" Terry nervously chuckled, also red.

They stood there, staing at each other for who knows how long before Terry broke the silence with an awkward cough.

"Right... How about we get going?" he suggested.

"O-Okay! Lead the way." Claudia nodded and off they went.

"Say," Terry said as they walked, "You never told me your name. Any chance of you telling me?"

Be it just the polite thing to do or maybe the fact that he was just so nice and smiled at her in such a sweet way, Claudia didn't know but she answered.

"Claudia. My name is claudia."

"Claudia." Terry repeated, as if testing out her name, "That's a pretty name."

"T-thanks." she found herself blushing again.

Then an idea popped into her head and with a grin she ran to stand in front of hide and did the most graceful curtsy she could manage.

"Trees to meet you, Terry." she giggled, feeling proud when Terry laughed and clapped

"Good job! If we'd put some twigs on your hear you could definately pass for an Earthblood elf!" he told her and now they both burst out laughing.

It felt nice to laugh again.

Claudia found she really liked Terry. He was a little awkward and could get carried away, but so did she and he didn't judge her for ehr dark magic, something even many of her own kind did. He was also funnt and even pretty cute, horns, pointy ears and more.

She'd really like to spend more time with him.