A/N: A super SUPER short chapter, but we're meeting some new characters here, and it will build up to what happens in the next chapter. I will post this Saturday since the last chapter was so short too. Chapter 6 is long, no worries, and I will post it Wednesday/Thursdag again.
Again thanks to my wonderful beta reader: Ultraluckycatnd.
Chapter 5The chaotic emotions rolling inside of her had Emma feeling restless and quite honestly very, very pissed. A feeling she very rarely experienced, but this morning had been horrible.
"Why the bloody hell do you keep helping me?" The growl in Killian's voice cut through Emma like a knife. She looked up at him, her fingers clasped around the collar of his shirt, the soft fabric suddenly burning her fingers. With an irritated huff, she pushed at his shoulders.
"By the Seven Moons, you're an impossibly stubborn man." Her hands tugged at her waist, her eyes shooting daggers at the man she'd come to consider a friend in the past weeks he'd been here. "Fine, you go do everything on your own then." She could feel the unfamiliar emotions run through her veins, anger, frustration, and most of all a feeling of helplessness. He'd improved immensely in the past few days using his hook to assist him with getting dressed, sure, but often he would still struggle to slip on his shirt while trying to avoid slicing the fabric with his hook.
"I didn't ask for your help." He used his hand to tug at his shirt, closing the fabric over his hairy chest, the buzzing in her ears almost had her not hear his next words. "I want to do this on my own, I want to be able to fend for myself once I leave this place." He'd turned around and looked down as he presumably began buttoning his shirt.
The only thing Emma had registered was him saying that he would be leaving, but why did that bother her so much?
Pushing the door to the greenhouse open, she hoped to find her friend Ruby in there, and when she spotted her by her work desk she could see that their friend Elsa had joined them too. Elsa was slightly older than Ruby and Emma. She was here to learn how to wield her powerful ice magic because no one in Arendale was equipped to tutor anyone with such great powers. Emma's Aunt Regina was the best elven Curuni, wielder of great elven magic. It had been Elsa's duty to take up the crown, ruling over the Arendale elven realm, but her powerful ice magic had made her wary of taking the throne. Then it was sorted out so her sister Anna and Anna's husband, Kristoff, would take over and Elsa traveled to Misthaven City.
"Hello, Emma…" Ruby paused and glanced at Elsa who looked equally as stunned, "eh you look, angry?"
"Yeah, I'm a bit vexed right now." She ran a frustrated hand through her hair. "That insufferably stubborn man."
"Killian?" Elsa asked cautiously, her hand smoothing over her long blond braid that dropped over her shoulder.
"Yeah, that… that man—" Emma huffed and slumped down on a high stool by the table.
"Oh, that bad?" Ruby said with a wolfish knowing grin.
"He won't let me help him," Emma mumbled, finally feeling some of the anger seep away from her veins. "Never mind I let him fix his own shirt." She looked down at her clasped hands resting on the table. She flicked her thumbnails together as she tried to sort out the emotions that had taken over her mind.
"Does he need help?" Ruby asked and gently touched Emma's arm.
"I guess he is ready to go out there in the world and leave m…" she swallowed, "... leave Misthaven." She hoped that her friends would not notice the heat rising up her neck.
"Well he's human, so I'm fairly certain that he will want to leave our city at some point," Elsa reasoned.
Emma knew that this would happen, eventually, she just feared that it would happen far too soon for her liking. She nodded and gave her friends a thin-lipped smile, hoping that it wouldn't show too much how it would pain her to see Killian leave. Then a thought struck her. "Have you guys noticed his ears?"
"Whose?"
"Killian." Emma took a deep breath. "I mean they certainly do look very much like elven ears."
"You spend an awful lot of time with that guy." Ruby had finished cleaning up her desk. "Can't say that I blame you; for a human, he sure is a fine-looking man."
"But what if he's somehow part elven?" Emma looked intently at her friends.
"You can't be serious," Elsa exclaimed, staring at Emma with her ice-blue eyes.
"I sense something in him, but it's not our usual elven magic, it's something different," Emma mused. She didn't dare speak of the darkness she'd sensed in Killian a few times while they had spoken.
"Have you asked him?" Ruby asked.
Emma shook her head. "I'm sure it would be something he wouldn't want to discuss. I mean if he knew he was elven he would have told us. Wouldn't he?" She rose from her seat and rolled her neck. "Never mind, it's probably just a crazy idea."
"Yeah." Ruby said in a low voice, her eyes following Emma's movements. "But you do like him don't you?"
"What? How?"
"Wolf senses here," Ruby grinned. It was well known that Ruby somehow connected to wolves and had some enhanced senses in regards to smell and hearing.
"Just leave it." Emma motioned to the door. "Could we do something fun?"
"I'm off for today, so I'm ready," Ruby said and tossed away the last tools into one of the storage crates.
The group of friends walked out of the greenhouse. Emma's mind still reeling with the scene that had played out between her and Killian.
They weaved through the streets of Misthaven and they suddenly spotted two men walking out of the royal stables. Emma recognized Graham right away, his long wavy hair was partly pulled back in a small ponytail at the back of his head. The other man wore a traveling cloak and had the hood still draped over his head. But when he turned towards the three friends, Emma saw who it was. "Aiandil?"
"Let's go say hello," Ruby suggested. Emma spotted a red tinge on her friend's face and she smirked. It was no secret that Ruby might have certain feelings for Graham.
Aiandil looked surprised to see the three women, then he looked closer and seemed to recognize at least two of them. "Princess Emma, and Lady Ruby." He bowed his head in respect.
Emma smiled and said, "Welcome back." She looked closer at the man. Even with the hood still draped over his head, she could see gray hair peppering his dark hair, but aside from that he very nearly looked as well and young as he'd done 30 years ago. "You look well."
"Thank you." Aiandil shrugged. "Life on the road keeps me alive I guess."
Emma nodded in agreement. "So what brings your travels to Misthaven?"
"I'm merely passing through. I'm in search of an artifact that I believe is beyond the mountain pass to the west, in the land of Oz." Aiandil adjusted his hood. Suddenly his eyes focused on Elsa standing next to Emma and Ruby.
Emma turned to Elsa. "You haven't met Aiandil, as you only came down here to Misthaven like 20 years ago." After her initial tutoring under Regina, she'd chosen to stay in Misthaven, having formed friendships and settled in the bigger elven city.
"We've come a long way since then," Elsa mused, then seemed to remember her good manners. "I welcome you to this great city." She smiled at Aiandil who by now seemed a little tongue-tied as his eyes had never left Elsa's tall and slender form. Her ice blond hair had slipped from the intricate braid and small tendrils framed her face.
"Thank you…" Aiandil stumbled over his words then looked back at his friend as if asking for something.
"My friend this is Elsa, a friend of the princess," Graham offered and smiled. "She is a wielder of great ice magic."
Emma could see that the news of this was a big surprise for Aiandil, as he merely blinked a few times and nodded in understanding.
There was an awkward moment of silence before Graham suggested to his friend, "Let's go find a place for you to sleep." He nodded to the elven ladies. "I'll see you around."
"We have someone you should meet, Aiandil," Emma blurted out before the men left.
"Oh, who?" Aiandil slipped his hood down and ran a hand through his long unruly curls.
"Emma saved someone," Ruby explained with a tint of teasing in her voice. She nudged Emma's shoulder. "She took real good care of him. Now he is fully recovered and can leave whenever he feels ready."
"Oh, we would need to hear more about this new elven we have in our city," Graham said with curiosity.
"He is human," Ruby provided with a grin.
Both Graham and Aiandil looked at Ruby in surprise, then Graham spoke. "Is that a fact?" He looked at his friend. "We should go meet this new visitor. Perhaps he would know something about the thing you're looking for."
"You will most likely find him at August's workshop. He's been helping him out with various work, practicing doing stuff with one hand," Emma explained and saw Graham raise a curious eyebrow at her mentioning the part about Killian only having one hand. She nodded to confirm her story. "He lost his hand in a sea battle."
"You went to the ocean again." Graham sighed at this information. Emma knew that the guard often tried to prevent her from venturing out on her own.
"I had Ruby with me."
Graham just shook his head and clapped Aiandil on his shoulder. "Come, my friend, let's go meet this new human we have in Misthaven."
Aiandil nodded and the two friends said a polite farewell to the three elven women, Aiandil's eyes kept sweeping over to Elsa as he turned to follow his friend.
Ruby nudged Elsa's side and said, "I think someone's got an admirer."
"What?" Elsa said in a high-pitched voice. "No!"
"It's not completely unheard of with elves and humans falling in love…"
"But it won't happen." Elsa shook her head. "I mean he's… you know… I couldn't possibly…" Elsa shifted nervously on her feet and Emma gently touched her arm.
"Calm down, don't let Ruby's words shake you so much. Whoever you fall in love with will be the one true love for you," Emma tried to soothe her friend. The Misthaven elves were believers in true love, and especially high magic elves were known to find their true love in even the strangest circumstances. Few elves chose to be bound to a male or female they only had deep friendly feelings for, but as a general rule, true love was at play at almost every joining of two elves.
Elsa gave Emma a feeble smile and nodded thanks as the three friends continued their walk through the city.
NOTE
*curuni= Witch in the elven language
