Evening was approaching and the four were gathered in the dimly lit kitchen. Legolas roared with laughter as he set the cards on the table in a triumphant spread. Gavin nodded, smiling approvingly. "Well done, Your Highness," he muttered while tossing his own hand in. "Royal flush."
"All the chips then?" the Elven lord flaunted, reaching across the table to gather all of Gavin's pot. Anne continued to stare from the stove where a kettle was bubbling, her full attention being focused on the visitor ever since he arrived. "You'll get it eventually." Gavin frowned in jest and reshuffled the cards. Elentir walked into the small kitchen with a cheerful whistle.
"I've never cooked anything here before," Elentir mumbled before glancing into the kettle and then worriedly looking to Anne. "Does it look all right?" She nodded, blinking awake. "Hungry, Legolas?"
"No, diola." Anne glanced between the two Elves. Elentir still stared at his dear friend for some reply. He had already continued to collect and arrange his cards quite carefully while Gavin flipped his five between his fingers with fluent ease.
"Lambas?" Immediately the prince turned and with anxious eyes extended a hand. Anne watched Elentir smile and drop a small package into the elder's hand. Legolas quickly tore into it and began to nibble on the edge of the strange bread. Gavin took a piece when the prince offered. Elentir shook his head with a chuckle and faced the soup. "Can't stand the food here…not up to his royal taste."
"I heard that."
"I fold." Elentir laughed, glancing over Legolas's shoulder.
"Two fours, a three, a six, and one of those A cards," Elentir read. Gavin's jaw dropped. Legolas merely beamed, revealed the hand, and glanced back to Anne in gloating glory. She felt her knees buckle.
"You royally kicked my arse. Five times."
"I can't even play the stupid game," Elentir muttered under his breath with an impressed smile. Legolas rose and picked up his green overcoat draped over the kitchen chair, the strange bread balanced on his lips. With a brief nod he brushed past Anne into the living room. She sighed, Gavin close behind him. Elentir paused however, his quirky smile cocked in interest. "Anne? Are you all right?" She forced a grin and nodded.
"Your friend seems…" She glanced to the living room where Legolas was fiddling to open the window. The moonlight caught his features, and even to the human eye, it was perfect. "He's just how I thought he'd be," she finished, facing her friend once more. Elentir nodded, smiling back.
"He's very different, I know…" Elentir chuckled, shaking his head slightly. "Back home, he's one of the most cultured and educated Elves in the court; he speaks so many languages and knows about so many histories and he's traveled so many lands where so many people know and respect him…but here, he knows no one. I know no one." Elentir had been watching his dear companion sit in the open window, something every Elf longs to do when they feel far from home. "All of the things you taught me, Anne," he said, facing her, "he doesn't know about, and there's still so much that I have to learn. It's sort of amazing, isn't it?" She nervously smiled and nodded. "Even when you think you have the world mapped and learned…you can always find something new in it." She saw the innocence of the statement in his shining eyes but felt a deeper meaning within it. "How funny I must have seemed when I first arrived," Elentir laughed to himself. "I didn't even know how to work the sofa."