A.N. Guess how long I spent cleaning my room and closet yesterday. How long? Half an hour? Two hours? Nope. It took six hours. Six. Long. Hours. And it isn't done yet. I even found a piece of homework in my closet from the first grade. Maybe that is a hint that I shouldn't let so many years pass without cleaning my closet.

Anyway, I thought this story needed a push. This chapter was longer than expected and covered less than I had hoped, but the next chapter should really set things off. Tip over the first domino, if ya know what I mean.

Oh, awesome. did you know that Google Chrome spell checks anything you type on FanFiction? Reviews. Documents. Everything.

Enjoy and don't forget to review.

–I am being told by a particularly rude werecat that if I continue to be sentimental and relate the events of my childhood, this story will never get anywhere. The pest is completely insensate, but I have to agree, however grudgingly, that I should move on. There is one more thing, nevertheless, that must be told before I relate my adventures in the real world. The Agaetí Blödhren. –

Nine years had passed since I met Vanir, and in that short time, we had become the closest of friends. We had spent every waking moment together, and we had become the two most notorious people in Ellesméra. He had taught me swordplay. And in return for his teaching, I had taught him the simple thing that elves seem to lack, the ability to enjoy themselves and be free. Together we had made it rain whenever Islanzadí stepped outside. Together she had punished us by forcing us to dig a hole, two feet deep by only moving one grain of dirt at a time. Together we had turned Vanilor pink. Together we had gotten into more trouble than anyone ever had before in elven history

But in that time, I also discovered what it felt like to be alone. I was surrounded by people and was close to many. Vanir was my best friend. Gwendolyn had, through numerous lessons and trips, become a close companion and role model. I had my parents also, but I was alone. I was human. I was mortal. And I was alone. It was difficult to stay happy sometimes. I was growing up, but no one else aged. Vanir seemed to, but at eighteen he too seemed to become trapped in time. And I felt out of place. I knew eventually I would have to leave.

The year before the Agaetí Blödhren, the queen became pregnant with the heir. If I learned anything during that time, it was that playing pranks on the already irritable elf queen while she was pregnant was a good way to get myself killed. Later in the year, a small child with emerald colored eyes and raven black hair was born and all the elves rejoiced and celebrated. She was named Arya.

In my opinion, the newborn was a nuisance. She screamed constantly and kept half the city from sleeping for the first few weeks. The elves believed children were a great blessing, but I was not so convinced. If that baby was anything to judge by, I never wanted children.

And so was the state of Ellesméra thirteen months before the Blood-Oath Celebration.

Vanir had gone to Osilon for a couple of weeks to visit a cousin he had met several years back. She was one of the only elves I had seen whose sword fighting was at a level comparable to my friend's, even at his young age. I didn't begrudge him his time with family and friends, but I was at an all-time low in my relation with the queen, and my boredom was pushing me to scheme, a bad thing as I had yet to learn the good sense to restrain myself.

I found myself walking down the now familiar path to the house of my mentor and friend. When I knocked, the door opened immediately and Gwendolyn smiled at me. She waited for me to ask a question.

"Would you like to go for a walk?" I asked politely.

"Yes."

I smiled. "Then let's go. I need to get out of the city and I perfected that last spell you set me to learn."

"Show me."

I slipped my golden necklace off my neck and paused to gather my thoughts. "Kuldr." A ghostly replication of my necklace appeared beside it and she nodded.

"Excellent."

I replaced the necklace and looked up. "Are you ready or do you need some time."

"I'm afraid I am busy, Meira. I cannot go for a walk with you today."

"But you just said… Oh. I asked if you would like to."

She nodded.

"What is it that has you so busy?"

"I am working on my piece for the Agaetí Blödhren."

I stared at her. "Gwendolyn, it is over a year away still." I complained.

"Yes, only a year is left. Time has really gotten away from me. I spent five years on my last one, and the elves will expect this to be superior." She sighed. "Have you given any thought as to what you are going to do? They will not be happy if your work isn't quality."

"I will make a plan soon. Are you sure you can't spare any time for a walk?"

"Not today. Perhaps soon. After your next lesson?"

I sighed and nodded. Everyone was shunning me. I began to walk back toward Ellesméra before turning around. I could still go for a walk alone.

It was cool out, not uncomfortably, but enough to notice. I decided to make my own path out of boredom, too see new things. As I walked, I thought about what I would present for the celebration. Any form of writing or poetry was out of the question. I was only adequate, but there were elves who were masters at poetry. Neither could I paint. As I went through my options in my head, namely running away to avoid having to present anything, I absently peeled the bark off a dead stick.

Not looking up, I could sense that my path was blocked. I glanced ahead to see one of the massive trees of Du Weldenvarden had fallen. I paused to stare. Never before had I seen one of the mammoths fall. They were supported by magic. I ran up and looked at the tree. A quick spell told me the tree was sound, healthy, but had fallen a month or so back.

That it was healthy made me even more curious. What had caused it? I began to walk in the direction of the base. Eventually I reached it and saw what had happened. A river had cut a small canyon alongside the tree, weakening the roots on that side. Off balanced, the tree had fallen. I was pleased with myself for coming up with a reason when I had an idea. I resolved to come back the next day.

I sprinted home, thinking of the hobby I had had years ago. Vanilor! I yelled at the dragon just as he was about to take off. He folded his wings and looked at me. I need a favor.

Yes?

I need several fairths of you. It's for my piece for the Blood-Oath Celebration.

He stared at me for a minute. May I ask what you are doing?

I grinned. You will find out in a year.

I see. He snorted. So someone has finally decided to try being responsible for once. Do what you wish.

I ran into our house and came back out with some blank slates. I stared at him for a while as he stared back. Crouch like you are about to take off. He complied and I looked at him before sighing and shaking my head. Not right. Just stand normally. No, that's not good either.

Vanilor rolled his eyes, a trick I had taught him that I now regretted as he constantly used it to mock me. How about this? Vanilor stood straight and bent his neck slightly toward the right. He lifted his left front leg slightly as if he were about to take a step and curled his tail.

He looked exactly as a dragon should. Proud. Regal. Magnificent. I giggled. Perfect. I made fairths of him from every angle, including one from the top of our tree house.

"What in the world is going on here?" My father asked, his voice a mixture of confusion and amusement as he saw his dragon posing for me as I laughed and made fairths.

Are you done? He asked me. I nodded. Vanilor shook himself and blew a puff of smoke from his nostrils. He turned to his rider. One of Meira's many whims. She claims it has something to do with her piece for the Agaetí Blödhren.

"You are already thinking of that?"

"Gwendolyn said I should. And I have been bored."

"So long as you are not bothering the elves."

I retired to my room early with a block of wood and a knife. My father made some sarcastic comment and my mother genuinely asked if I was feeling alright. I ignored them both and sat on my bed, whittling the block of wood down to match the fairths.

It went perfectly, a miniscule representation of the violet dragon. Well, it went perfectly until I sneezed and decapitated the figurine. I made another the next morning and cast a spell to protect it from damage, slipping it under my pillow to hide it.

I reached my log and stared at it, glad I had a year. With magic, I cut through the hard wood and rolled it from the rest of the tree. After that, I had to rest for almost ten minutes. I stole some energy from the surrounding trees, a useful trick I had discovered, and looked at the giant log. I technically wasn't supposed to use magic to make my piece, but I decided it didn't really count and got rid of all the bark.

I used my sword as an axe, praying with all my being that for some reason Rhunon wouldn't come walking into the clearing and see the way I was 'disrespecting' my weapon. It was magically protected. Still, if she had seen me, I wouldn't have lived to see the Blood-Oath Celebration.

–Alright, I said a while ago that one of the only things that scares me is the elf queen. An angry Rhunon is another.–

All I managed the first day was to hack the block of wood into a shape somewhat closer to the shape of a dragon, but still not close. My arms ached, my head hurt, my hands were blistered, and I was exhausted and sweating. I hardly noticed when Gwendolyn was sitting on her porch when I walked past.

"Meira?" I wearily turned and looked up at her. "What…? You look as if you have been attacked."

"No. Just starting what I am going to show at the celebration as you suggested."

She smiled. "Do I get a hint?"

"I will trade you a hint for a hint. Otherwise, no."

"My project has to do with magic. I have made a new discovery."

I hadn't expected more than that in the way of a clue, but really, I would have guessed her piece was something like that. I decided to be as cryptic. "Well mine has to do with wood. I'm making something." She looked at me for a few seconds and then we both started laughing.

"Yours has to do with wood. And sweat. And blood." She shook her head. "Waise hael." My skinned knees and elbow healed immediately. "Did you fall out of a tree again?" She asked with a teasing smile. Once I had missed a lesson because I had fallen and broken my leg. I hadn't learned healing yet and the whole deal was rather embarrassing.

"Not far off from it." I muttered. I had taken an especially vicious chop at the log and lost my balance. With how thick the log was, I was lucky I had not tumbled to the ground.

She shot me an amused look and shook her head.

A week passed without me noticing I was so involved in my carving. It still looked like a lump of wood, but at least it had the right shape. There was a definite head and tail. I was taking care not to decapitate this one as I had the miniature. I had set spells to prevent rotting and warping, and every night before I left I set a spell to protect it from damage.

–I have never put in so much work as I did on that statue, but even now I don't regret it. I want to take a break, but Solembum won't let me until I finish the Blood-Oath Celebration. Stupid cat. Oops, I may have said that aloud. Tip: do not upset a werecat. He is currently threatening me that he knows my secrets and is not sworn that he will not tell them. I will have to finish this just to appease him then. No excuses. But really, my hand is cramping up and I'm not even the one writing! Alright. I'll continue. –

I was woken up earlier than normal the next morning by a pounding on my door. I opened the door to find Vanir, grinning like mad. He stepped forward and embraced me. "It's good to see you."

I smiled and hugged him back. "And I didn't get into any trouble while you were gone."

He raised his eyebrows. "What did you spend your time doing?"

I punched him in the shoulder. "I can be good."

"Yeah right. What did you do?"

"Started my project for the Agaetí Blödhren. Have you given any thought as to what you are going to do?"

"I have ideas."

I laughed, wondering what it was he would present, but didn't ask because I knew he would demand as many clues from me as he gave, and I wanted mine to be a surprise.

The next few months, I was busier than I had ever been in my life. I spent all my time studying under Gwendolyn, with Vanir, or working on my carving. Vanir pestered me constantly about what it was that I was making until when I would leave my work I cast a spell to make it invisible in case he followed.

It only followed that I had become extremely tired. I needed something to do for fun, something to take my mind off everything. It only followed that the next day I had come up with a plan.

Of course, in the middle of the night I found myself outside Vanir's house. Vanir?

His mind briefly brushed mine and I felt sleepy annoyance. What time even is it, Meira? And why did you feel the need to wake me up?

Despite the fact that I knew he couldn't see me, I crossed my arms across my chest and frowned. When did you become a lazy bore? He did not deign to give a reply to that. I sighed. If you must know, I have a prank that will beat all the ones we have done before.

I smiled. He was curious. Five minutes later, he was at the door, completely dressed. "I am amazed you have not grown out of this yet, Meira."

"You enjoy it too."

No reply. Then, "What are the chances that this is going to make Islanzadí try to kill us?"

My eyes were sparkling. "Fairly high. Here's what we are going to do." I whispered my plan in his ear and he frowned.

"Are you sure that is going to work?"

"It should. I tested it."

We were silent as we approached the building where the elven nobility was sleeping. I crept up to the door and whispered in the ancient language. The door immediately sealed. I tested it, trying to open it, but it was as solid as if I was pulling on a wall. Laughing quietly to myself, I continued around, sealing every door and window of the building. I sealed the last window and grinned.

Vanir looked at me. "Um, Meira, there are quite a few elves in there. One of them will be able to overpower your spell."

"Not so." I smiled. "The spell it not drawing on my energy but that of ten of these trees. Half of the elves in Ellesméra could not hope to overpower that spell. Eventually they will break it, but it will take a while." I found myself yawning. "I am going to get some sleep. See you in the morning."

I woke to a hand clamped over my mouth. My eyes shot opened only to fall on Vanir. I bit his hand and he released me, swearing under his breath. "What was that for?"

"I don't appreciate being woken that way, Vanir. "Why are you here? And how did you find me?" I sat up and stretched. Once I was up, I was up. No sleeping in today. I was behind our house in a good smelling bush.

"I woke you that way so you didn't make any noise. And I found you because you weren't blocking your mind."

"I was sleeping."

"Whatever. If you are done snapping at me, I could warn you that everyone is awake and furious. In minutes they will be searching for you to undo the spell. Unless you would rather be sleeping when Islanzadí gets out."

My eyes went wide and I shook my head. "I think maybe it is better if I go into the woods for a while. Just in case."

He nodded. "Where will you go?"

"To work on my project. Only four months to the celebration. I will meet you at the giant tree, the one you fell out of, two hours after noon." Casting a spell to make myself invisible, I sprinted off into the forest and didn't pause until I reached my wooden dragon. I leapt to the hollow behind its shoulders and caught my breath there.

In one of my many trips to the glade where I was making my piece, I had decided that my dragon needed a name. I talked to it constantly as I worked. Well, really I talked to myself, but it felt a lot less strange directing my words at the massive carving. I had named him Skogrdýr, literally wood-beast. Not extremely creative, but I didn't really feel that a hunk of wood would take offense at the name.

Well, if I was going to be there, I might as well get some work done. I stepped back to examine the dragon. The last week I had devoted to carving his tail. I was dreading doing the legs for fear of the whole thing tipping. So I walked over to his head.

"Skogrdýr, would you like a face?" The great wooden lout simply stood there. I crossed my arms and sighed. "I suppose you would, wouldn't you. You're not very pretty yet, you know." It simply stood there. I brought over my ladder I had formed from magic and climbed to the block of wood that was to become the head. I had already carved two long curved horns on the dragon. Vanilor's were straight, but I did not want the dragon to be him, merely a representation on the species.

With a steady hand, I set the edge of the knife on the wood and carved off a strip that curled as it separated from the main block. I smiled as it fell away and continued to work.

I had missed breakfast, and it was near lunch time, but I did not dare go back into Ellesméra so I found some mint leaves to chew and take the edge off my hunger. I knew eventually the queen would cool off. Either that or her mate would convince her to not be baited by a human. Evander was one of the few elves who actually appreciated my pranks. He told me once that they lightened the mood and broke the monotony of Du Weldenvarden. I had been amazed when he had told me that. Even the king of the elves grew bored of the never-ending world of Du Weldenvarden.

My knife removed another piece of the soft pine. With a start, I noticed the sun was a bit past its peak and I was supposed to meet Vanir for an update on my safety.

Vanir was leaning against the tree when I finally arrived. "Hey."

He looked up. "You have wood chips in your hair." Without waiting for a reply, he walked over and picked several pieces of wood from my hair and put them on the ground.

"Thanks." I mumbled, embarrassed, but I was thankful he didn't seem to notice.

"The entire royal house besides Evander is fuming. Evander thinks the whole matter is amusing. He pointed out that over thirty elves just got beaten by a young human woman. Meira, it took Gwendolyn two hours to reverse your spell. They had to send for her because no one else could figure it out. And the whole time they were locked in there, little Arya was crying because she wanted to go outside. Drove everyone crazy."

I laughed and could not help smiling. At the same time, I was immensely proud of myself. Not only had I pulled off an amazing trick, I had stumped Gwendolyn in magic for two hours.

"I think it is probably best if you lie low for a day or so. Let them be vexed without you there. I don't think you will be punished though. To punish you would be admitting you bested them. Likely they will not mention it. I have to go. I promised my mother I would help her clean the house today." He looked back. "Oh, I almost forgot." He handed me a basket and disappeared down the path.

I lifted the cloth on the basket and looked. In the basket was a fresh loaf of herbed bread, some fruit, and several of my favorite sweetcakes along with a small flask of faelnirv. I smiled and walked back to Skogrdýr, eating a piece of the fruit.

Vanir was right. A day later, when I returned to Ellesméra, I was given the cold shoulder by the elves I had pranked, but not one brought it up. When I passed, a small smile graced the king's face and he nodded to me. Gwendolyn congratulated me on my magic, but chastised me upon the use of the same magic. But her reprimand was halfhearted and she seemed to be having trouble not smiling or laughing. Long ago she had told me that she though I only got away with all my tomfoolery because I was a human and now I began to see she was right. I was not one of the queen's subjects. To the elves, I was still a mere child. And I was seen as inferior. Because of this, I was tolerated.

I threw myself headlong into my work again until suddenly, two weeks before the Blood-Oath Celebration, I realized that there was no more to be done with my knife. Each scale had been intricately carved and smoothed. But Skogrdýr was not to my liking. It seemed dull, especially the eyes. After two days of thinking, I burnt a pile of wood and took the charcoal. I began to accent the sculpture, giving it more life.

The process took three days, but when I finished, there was nothing I wanted more than for the ceremony to come so that I could present it before the elves. I cast final spells on it, sealing it from every kind of damage, and waited impatiently for the final days to come to a close.

–Hmm. That took a bit longer than I expected to tell. I suppose we can take a break and I will tell part two afterwards. What do you think, Solembum? No, I am not being lazy. And I am aware of the definition of soon. You will find out what happens. Soon. –

To me that seemed as if got really boring and drawn out toward the end, but I am not sure what to remove so I left it as it is. Also did not expect this to come out so long. I better get a good amount of reviews for this one. By the way, if anyone has any ideas or suggestions that would make for good story fodder, I'm in. Random little things that would provide humor or favorite quotes I could try and base a chapter off of.

Anyway, please review. If I get a good number of reviews I will try to update this before my school starts on Wednesday, otherwise it might be a week or so. If you don't know what to write, just tell me your favorite Pokémon (mine is Kingdra.)

REVIEW! ! !