Bearers of the Black Staff

“Isn’t it beautiful?” Prue said softly, as if reading his mind.

Beautiful, indeed, Panterra thought, and he gave her a smile of agreement.

There were no walls in Arborlon, once you got to the heights. The cottages and assembly halls, the amphitheater and the gardens, and even the royal palace and its grounds were open and accessible to all. Home Guard protected the Kings and Queens and their families, and Elven Hunters would defend against attacks when called upon, but the Elves were forest creatures and lived their lives in the open. Their dwellings reflected this. Though most were ground dwellings set within the forest and along the waterways, some were nestled high up in the trees and suspended by cables so that they appeared to be a part of their surroundings. The entire city blended into the woods, making each a part of the other, so that it had a natural feel unlike anything found in the villages of Men.

Panterra supposed that something of the reason he felt so comfortable among the Elves was his affinity for their way of life. Like them, he preferred living out in the open, part of nature and the larger world. He was at home in the woods, and he believed in practicing stewardship of the land. Elves embraced the world in a way Men had never learned to, and their magic, although mostly lost, had left them a legacy of trying to do whatever they could to keep all the living things around them healthy. The differences between Men and Elves were striking in many ways, but none more so than their differing approaches to maintenance of the territories they inhabited. Elves took a direct approach to caring for the land. Indeed, they were raised to believe it was a calling. Men practiced what was mostly a benign neglect, accepting the land as they found it but doing nothing much to preserve it. They lived on it, cultivated it, took what it had to offer, but did little to give anything back. It wasn’t a deliberate, mean-spirited approach; it was simply the way they had always lived.

Of course, there were no absolutes, so some—Panterra and Prue among them—took a more direct interest in the land and spent time and effort doing what they could to preserve and sometimes restore it. But the Elves were more committed to that way of life than Men, and the boy and the girl felt closer to them for being so.

“If you’re more than human, what else are you?” Xac asked suddenly, back again on that subject. “Why are you being so secret about it? Why can’t you tell me?”

“We’re Elves,” Pan declared without thinking.

The boy stopped where he was and stared at him. “No, you’re not. You don’t look anything like Elves.”

“We’re in disguise. The part that’s Elf is hidden on the inside. Isn’t that right, Prue?”

The girl gave him a look and then nodded. “We were born human, Xac, but we have Elf blood.”

Xac shook his head. “I don’t think so. I think you’re crazy.” He gave them a suspicious look. “How do I know you’re telling me the truth about the Orullians? Maybe you don’t even know them. Maybe you’re here to cause trouble.”

“Tasha and Tenerife,” Panterra said, giving the names of their friends. “Twins by birth, but they don’t look a thing like each other. They have a sister who is about your age. Her name is Darsha. Is that enough to persuade you to take us to them? If not, just leave us here. We can find someone else who’ll do the job.”

“We aren’t here to cause trouble,” Prue added. “Tasha and Tenerife are friends.”

Xac still looked doubtful. “Well, maybe.”

“Come on, let’s just go.” Pan was impatient. “You can ask them when we get there. They’ll tell you that we’ve got Elf blood.”

The boy hesitated, but then started off once more. They maneuvered their way through the city streets, a maze of crosshatch byways and paths, all of it designed to confuse if you were not a resident familiar with the terrain. But Xac knew his way and led them. A number of Elves greeted him with calls and waves, some directing questioning looks at his companions, but no one actually saying anything. They passed through the center of the city and angled south past the palace and its extensive grounds, all of it planted with lush grasses and rainbow-bright flower beds, all of it carefully tended. Panterra found himself smiling in response to how the smells and colors made him feel, wishing as he always did that this could be his home. Even though he was committed to staying and serving as a Tracker with Prue, Glensk Wood was not where he wanted to spend his life. Besides, reality did not require that you forgo your dreams, and dreams sometimes revealed paths that led to new realities.