The young man held a candle over his desk. His green eyes reading through the text of the book before him as fast as he could, darting across the word filled page, then another, and another. Brother Alex wore simple brown robes tied neatly together with light brown twine, signifying his rank with his temple. A low one. Pushing back his short dark blond he set the candle down, leaned back and watched the flame flicker shadows above the library.
Alex was ordinary. A simple human guy who joined the temple trying to find his own way away from his own family which was a good one. His father was a good merchant selling quality equipment to adventurers and who knows who else and his mother had her own healing practice in town. Alex however wanted very little of either. He wanted a simple, quiet life. Perhaps as a carpenter.
Which wasn't a problem. In fact, he kept his head down from attention from the higher ups, was a good priest for the temple for the few years he had been serving and had no outstanding accomplishments to his name.
But now, he was reading various books on partnering. Not just the binding of lives between two individuals, but elves. Two elves. Two elves in fact were born before this town existed a century ago. Two very wealthy elves that paid a high price for marriage counseling and specifically chose him to listen to their problems.
What possible advice could a twenty something year old human with no life experience offer two well off, successful and seasoned elves who's own pairing was older than the cumulative life of both his parents?
Seeing the shadows flicker against the amber lit ceiling was a relief for a moment. .He had been reading over book after book, thinking about his own parents marriage and even his own failings at finding a lover. Unremarkable, simple and plain but now everyone in the temple not only knew his full name, but his habits, work, experience, life growing up, his parents, what few friends he had and everything else. He had no shadow of ignorance to hide behind. All because two elves strode proudly into the temple and requested council, planted a small fortune to the relic wielder, requested Alex by name and left.
He hardly knew anything about elves. There were many in the nearby forest and several dozen or so in the city but they kept to themselves. Seemingly carved from a talented painter's rendition of a song and wine made flesh. Tomorrow he would be sitting in a room with them. Both of them. All he knew was that they were golden elves due to the light golden glint of their skin with various hues of complementary colors weaved in their hair, eyes and clothing. He wasn't even sure if that was what they actually looked like or it was simple enchantments for them.
Hearing a rat squeak by Alex leaned over to watch the wanderer search for anything to eat. He couldn't help it, he tossed the creature a small bit of jerky, quick to snatch it up and dart off. Rats lived for only a few years. He could live out the lives from birth to death of possibly thirty generations of rats before his own death. Keeping them as pets and training them to do simple tasks or tricks before having to teach their offspring the same thing.
That's what he was to an elf. Not even. He didn't live as long as a rat did for elves. Maybe a fly? What possible advice could a fly offer him? They surely knew what they were doing, what they were asking. Surely there were elves that could offer them better life advice than him?
What's done is done however. All eyes will be on him tomorrow and he was more than ready to sleep. Too many books and too much teaching from the others to prepare him. He had no idea what possible problems an elvish pair would have. But tomorrow was a new day and he was going to find that out.