I don't own the rights to the Hollow Kingdom. It's been a while since I last typed that.

I'll Try

When Aganir Agmun learned about the circumstances behind the goblin King's marriage, to say he was furious was an understatement. The goblin King hadn't even been looking for a wife, and one stumbles right into his arms, kissing him even. Sure she was drunk, but what women would want to kiss a goblin?

Why couldn't she have stumbled into his arms, and kissed him? That he would understand, he was an elf after all. His father being still alive was an issue, but nothing too big. He needn't be dead for Agmun to marry his wife, it was just against tradition, that's all. And if that blasted goblin could break tradition, than so could he.

So, when his father finally did die, Aganir Agmun set about finding his wife. He was determined that she be far better, and certainly prettier, than the one the Goblin King had. That would put the smug goblin in his place. Sure the goblin's wife had walked straight into his arms, but Agmun's would be far superior in every way. And she would be captured in the traditional way that a bride should. Then he would be the smug one.

In later years he would wonder if all young males were as foolish as he was at the time.

Edith Peterson couldn't believe the people who dare to call themselves her friends. All had been so determined to go hiking and camping in the wilderness, just like their ancestors had when they still lived in caves and the beautiful outdoors. Except she was the only one to show up at the Reserve, all the others having chickened out, citing all the weird happenings there. No matter. Edith wasn't the type to let that get her down. She would just continue with the hike, if only by herself.

Being alone was something she was used to. Her father had left her mother and her after becoming bored by them. Her mother had left her after discovering she had no skills which allowed her to look after herself and daughter, sending her daughter to a live with an elderly aunt instead.

Edith wasn't resentful of being by herself. Instead she thought it empowered her, by learning what life was truly like at a young age. She learned that men would leave a women once they grew tired. She learned that the only one a women could depend on was herself. That it was best to be self-reliant, not needing a man to depend on.

Growing up in the late 1960's, Edith quickly embraced the feminist movement. She also became a lover of the outdoors, where one's knowledge and skills were put to the ultimate test of survival. The Reserve seemed like a perfect to test these skills as huge and unexplored as it was. And being alone without calling on anybody else for help, would most certainly be the ultimate test.

For the first couple of days, nothing eventful happened, other than the odd feeling of being watched. It was the third night though, that proved to be interesting.

It had been three days since Aganir Agmun, more commonly known as Nir, had captured his bride. A beautiful redhead who shared his passion for the outdoors. At the time, he was certain that there was no more better bride than she was. Now, he was starting to doubt himself. Three days of being given the silent treatment would do that to an elf. It was almost enough to cause the elf king to ponder giving her the drink to take away her memories like his ancestors had done. Almost. He had not quite forgotten the peril the drink had once caused his people.

He had watched her for several nights before finally approaching her. They shared a pleasant conversation about living in the outdoors vs. the city, while she unknowingly helped him pick the flowers for her ceremony. At first she didn't understand what had happened, insisting that he had to be mistaken and to let her go. Soon she was giving threats, and had even managed a couple well-aimed kicks and punches at the elf. But those made no difference to the leashing spell that was on her, dragging her with him toward the elf camp no matter how hard she fought and screamed.

Once there, more yelling ensued, but the truth of the situation began to slowly dawn on her, that she was stuck there against her will. The elves danced under the full moon to celebrate the new King's Wife, while she stubbornly refused. Instead, she tested the boundary limit of the camp until exhaustion set in, and Nir had to carry her back to the tent to rest. While it annoyed Nir that she wouldn't join the dancing, he also knew it was best to let her get it out of her system. She would settle down in time, just like his own mother had.

After realizing that she couldn't make it out of the camp, she went on what she called, a 'hunger strike', until he let her go. Nir then ordered her to accept food from her, an action that earned him quite the glare for doing so. She begged the other elves to help her, only to discover none understood what she was saying. Nir explained that English was banned in the camp, and it was time for her to learn Elvish.

Thinking that would settle things and she would finally act like a proper Elf King's Wife, Nir couldn't have been more wrong. She decided on another tactic, silence. And unfortunately, the seven stars spell didn't seem to feel that ordering her to speak to him was reasonable. He detested the rare occasion when magic refused to work just how he wanted it to.

Nir didn't understand what was going on with his wife. She was married to him, the Elf King. He provided her with food, shelter, and everything she could want. He brought her flowers, and even the books his mother had loved, and yet she still refused to speak to him. He begged, pleaded, and even threatened, but she refused to respond. What made it worse was that she would speak to the other elves in the camp, in English that they did not understand. Nir would then have to remind her to not speak English, but she paid him no heed and would continue to so.

A couple more days and Nir was about to pull his hair out in frustration. Even the elves had picked up on his mood. It was then one of his advisers suggested trying a different approach with his wife. What better way to understand a human, than to have another human talk to her? And there just so happened to be a such a human living conveniently nearby.

When Nir had lead her away from the camp, Edith had thought that she had won at last, he was about to free her. However, it soon became apparent that was not the case. She tried to run away, but could never get more than four feet away from him before getting dragged back to him. There was also the fact that he seemed to be leading her further into the woods instead of away from them, toward humans. Several times Edith had caught the question, 'Where are you taking me?' on her lips. But she would not give him the satisfaction of hearing her talk to him. She'd rather die than surrender.

Edith was rather surprised at the end location, a clearing surrounded by a circle of trees. The idea of him killing her had crossed her mind at one point. She decided that if that was the case, she would not go down without a fight. Once they entered the clearing, Edith saw a woman talking with an owl? No, that wasn't possible. Owls couldn't grow that big. Could they?

Nir turned to Edith and said, "The Goblin King and I have some things to discuss, and I'm leaving you with his wife, Aggie. Hopefully she can talk some sense into your head. Just because you might not see me, doesn't mean you can flee."

As soon as he left of course, Edith tried to flee the circle, but couldn't make it pass the first ring of trees.

"There's a leashing spell on you," said a voice from behind. The woman from earlier was looking at Edith like she was a specimen to study. Edith felt if anybody should be studied, it was the other woman. Her hair was dyed several unnatural colors and was sticking out at odd angles. She was covered in gaudy jewelry, and had a golden snake tattooed on her arm. Yet, she spoke in a normal tone, as if there was nothing out of the usual.

Impatient with waiting for Edith to respond she stuck out her hand and said, "I'm Aggie, the Goblin King's Wife. It's nice talking to you, I haven't talked to another human in over a year."

Edith shook Aggie's hand and asked, "Are you under a leashing spell too?"

Aggie merely laughed. "Of course not, love. I have no reason to run away."

Edith frowned at that statement. No reason to run away? She had every reason in the world, being forced to marry somebody against her will. "You want to be married to him, against you're will?"

"Oh," said Aggie, "I suppose my circumstances were a bit different than yours. You see, Marak wasn't looking for a bride the night he married me. I stumbled into his arms rather drunk at the time. My fiance had just dumped me for my sister the night before our wedding, for someone more, 'normal'. And I've been happy with the goblins ever since then."

Edith supposed, she might feel different about her situation if she had been in Aggie's. Though she did agree with Aggie's fiance about the 'normal' part. Aggie was anything but normal. But Edith wasn't in her Aggie's situation, and wanted to run away, far from the elves.

Seeing the down look on Edith's face, Aggie put her hand gently on Edith's shoulder and said, "The first couple days are the hardest. It'll get better, eventually."

That was something that Edith did not like hearing. "Get better?" she fumed at Aggie. "I don't want it to get, better, I want to go home." Then she pointed a finger accusingly at Aggie. "You, that's the reason he wanted me to meet you, so you would convince me to be some docile little obedient wife, well I won't! I won't obey him and I will continue to fight!"

Aggie took Edith's outburst in stride. Her sister used to throw similar tantrums when they were younger, and it was usually Aggie who calmed her down. "Fight what, dear?"

"Fight them. Did you know he want even let me speak my own language? That he insists on feeding me by hand like some sort of animal, and rubs my feet and combs my hair like a child?"

"Why, yes I do, and so would you if you bothered to learn anything about them. You're critical of them not accepting your culture, but yet you do the same to theirs. If you even bothered to understand them, you would know that an obedient docile little wife is the last thing an Elf King wants, since it nearly caused their extinction at one point."

Edith paused. Till then, she had been pacing back and forth like a caged animal, fuming the whole time while ranting to Aggie. But now, she was beginning to realize that Aggie had some good points. How could she realistically expect Nir and the elves to speak English, just because she refused to speak Elvish? It was impractical. It was their culture she was living in after all, and refusing to learn about it wouldn't change her situation a bit.

If anything, it was harming her. Hadn't she once insisted to one of her classmates at university who was complaining about learning French, that the best way to truly understand a culture was by learning their language? By learning their history, traditions, and values? And here she was ignoring what she preached. Talk about the pot calling the kettle black.

Aggie continued, while Edith contemplated this revelation. "No, Nir didn't arrange this meeting for me to convince you to be an obedient wife. Nir arranged it because Nir was worried about you. You refuse to eat unless he orders you too, and refuse to talk to him at all. He's worried about you, and thought you might talk to a human since you refused to talk to him. Elves are social little things, and it must be driving him crazy. Well, it has to be driving him crazy for him to ask the Goblin King for help," she said with a laugh at the end.

Confused, Edith asked, "Why would he worry about me? All he wants is the heir, and for that he could force himself on me."

Horrified at what Edith was implying, Aggie responded, "Is that what you think? That he just wants an heir from you?"

"Of course," answered Edith, "He said that the Elf King could only mate with a human, and that's why he married me."

"Edith," began Aggie once more, "while it is true that the Elf King can only mate with a human, there's a lot more to it than simply doing the act. Elves are emotional creatures to begin with, and have to be happy for a child to conceive. When it comes to the heir, the King's Wife's happiness is even more important. Until she settles in or down, no heir will be born."

Edith rolled her eyes. "So that's it, he wants me to be happy enough to have the heir, and once he gets it, he'll toss me aside like an old toy," she said with disdain; while also thinking of the way her own father had set her mother aside, once he had grown tired of her.

Aggie took a deep breath in; she could see this was going to take a while. "Don't be silly. While that may be true in the past with the Elf King's Wife, it's not anymore. She's the one human most elves interact with; all their knowledge about humans comes from her. She is the mother of the heir; what he learns from her will help him with dealing with humans in the future, and his own wife some day."

Once again, Edith wasn't impressed. "But they're so silly. All they do are frivolous things like dancing, singing, joking. They never do any work."

"Well of course they don't, love. They're elves, they're suppose to be silly, it's their nature. Elves don't do serious well, take a look at their chronicles someday when you can read Elvish, and you'll see what I mean. They have magic to do any serious work, leaving the rest of the time free for dancing."

Edith paused once more, considering what she had just learned. She had seen very little magic in the camp, most of which came from what Nir had done to her, or ordered her to do. There was the one time Nir dragged her out of the tent and some elves had stripped her of her clothes and put gunk stuff on her feet, but most of the time she refused to go outside at all, preferring to spend her time inside the tent, while giving Nir the cold shoulder.

She may have peeked out once or twice out of curiosity to see what was going on, but she certainly wasn't about to join in on the dancing. Aggie looked like the type who would do such a thing, but Edith wasn't. There were so many things she could be doing with her time, making the world a better place, supporting women's rights, cleaning up the environment, not dancing around under the stars. Though, she had to admit, it was very beautiful to watch.

"What do you want Edith? What will make you happy?" asked Aggie abruptly. "Why are you so angry?"

Angry? Edith wasn't angry, she was furious. She wanted to go home. "I want out of this marriage, the one I don't have a say in."

Aggie smiled at her. "You and I both know Nir's not going to let you go. As for having a say, you do have one. Marriage is all about compromise, give and take. Marriages where one partner is unequal, never end happily. Yes, Nir married you without your consent. If he asked you right there and then, you would have said no, and he couldn't risk you leaving the Reserve before marrying you. Yes, it's a cruel tradition to capture a wife, but you do have rights, Edith. It's just a matter of figuring out what they are."

By that point, Nir and the owl creature had returned to the circle of trees where Aggie and Edith where. Aggie embraced the owl creature. Marak was what Aggie had called him, and Edith presumed he was a goblin, or some such creature. Nir just grabbed Edith's hand quietly and said, "We're going back to camp."

As Edith left the tree circle, never once did she try to flee from Nir. Instead she was thinking, over what Aggie had said about Edith figuring out her rights, what she wanted from her marriage.

Nir meanwhile, was happy that his wife had stopped fleeing from him, but was still concerned since she still wasn't talking to him. Perhaps letting her to speak to the Goblin King's Wife wasn't such a great idea after all. If it didn't work, the Goblin King would certainly never let him live it down.

After quite some time, Edith finally spoke. "I will learn Elvish," she stated, while Nir's head jerked up in shock. Not only was she speaking to him, but it was about finally learning Elvish. She continued, "But in return, the elves have to learn English." Then as an afterthought she added, "And Goblin."

"What?" said a flustered Nir. "Why should the elves learn English, and Goblin of all things?"

"Because, learning another culture's language is the basis for understanding them. Why should I understand your culture,when you won't even understand mine?"

Nir pondered this, and the request made by his wife. Other wives in the past, including his own mother, had tried to get the elves to learn English. His predecessors deemed it unnecessary, and vital to the further existence of elves to learn their own language, the old ways before the Elf Harrowing. Nir himself was only allowed to learn English because it would be the only way for him to first communicate with his wife, explaining the situation she was now in.

His wife. The human now standing before him, under the moonlight, finally speaking to him. Perhaps going to the Goblin King wasn't such a waste after all. "Once again, I ask, why should I allow this?"

"Because," she said locking his dark eyes with her blue, "marriage is a compromise, it doesn't go one way. If you want something from me, you must give me something in return." She looked down at the faint outline of flowers on her hand, then back up. "And since you won't give me what I really want, give me something else instead."

When asked by his advisers later why he would agree to such a demand, he would tell them to try having a wife who refused to speak. It was quite maddening, and after nearly a month of such behavior, Nir was ready to agree to anything. Besides letting her go of course. That was truly the maddest idea of them all.

"Fine," Nir conceded, enjoying the smile spreading on his wife's face. The first smile she had ever given him. "You teach the elves your English, and they'll teach you Elvish. We'll start there before beginning with Goblin. Since we are negotiating, I have some demands of my own."

Edith who had been smiling at that small win, suddenly felt her stomach drop from under her. What would he ask of her?

"I want you to join the elves and I when we dance under the stars. I want you to eat food without me ordering you to."

"That's two demands," Edith pointed out. "So I'm allowed to have two in return."

Nir nodded, waiting for her to elaborate. Now that she was finally speaking to him, he'd let her say whatever she wanted to.

"I want to meet more with Aggie."

"Easily done," answered Nir. "It's tradition on each full moon for the wives to gather and introduce the heirs to each other. What's your other demand?"

"I want you to ask me to marry you."

The Elf King was taken aback from this rather unusual request. Meeting with the one human who might understand what she was going through, Nir could comprehend. But asking his Wife to marry him, when they were already married seemed absurd. Where all humans this confusing?

"Why should I ask you that when we are already married?" asked the puzzled elf.

"I want a say. I didn't the first time. So ask me."

Deciding to play along, Nir asked, "Will you marry me?"

"No."

"No, what do you mean no? What was the point of having me ask you, if you were only going to say no?" said Nir who was starting to become enraged. He was starting to understand why his ancestors gave their wives the memory potion instead of bothering to understand them. Human females were possessed the most complicated minds on the planet.

"Because, if you keep asking, one day I'll say yes."

Then without waiting for a response, Edith moved past him, leading the way back to the elf camp.

And suddenly, Nir finally understood why his grandfather and his father before him, had stopped giving their wives the memory potion. Yes, it was to prevent the switching of heirs, but it was for another reason as well. Because as perplexing and confusing as the human female was, the challenge of understanding them was worth it. With no magic that could be worked to make the arduous task easier, only a truly intelligent and caring elf king was worthy of such a challenge. A challenge that Nir was looking forward to.

In years to come, there would be many fights, more instances of silent treatments. Fights such as Edith insisting she was capable of feeding herself, or concerning the living conditions of two girls. But there would also be understanding, and a day when Edi, as she became called by the elves, would say yes. A day when Nir would complete the ultimate challenge, and hope that his son would manage to do the same.

**Author's Note**

Well I'm back, for a bit. I've been busy school and other projects, but the inspiration struck to write this after two things.

The first being I received an awesome message from PrincessQF about how much she enjoyed After and wondering if I would ever get around to writing more about Alex and Finn. While I do have an idea for a one-shot, I realized I couldn't write that before writing about Edi. The second being that JayLah sent me a message that the Ever After series was on tvtropes. Basically somebody liked (I'm going with liked) the series enough to recommend it, and analyze it.

The combination of those two things motivated me to write this. And given that it was timed around finals, just like Ever was when I wrote it last semester, seemed like a nice fit.

Reviews are always appreciated. I hope to have the Alex and Finn one-shot up eventually. Hopefully before my next round of finals.