“First, you have to pay your respects to the person Miss Chise mentioned last time,” Althea sternly reminded Elnea. “Please make sure to leave a good impression.”
This did nothing to quell Elnea’s enthusiasm. Perhaps being an immortal high elf meant that she’d always be young spiritually, or perhaps she had lived for so long that she wasn’t concerned about most things anymore.
“It’s almost time. Let’s go, everyone,” I said.
“The Great Elder is waiting at Lady Witch’s mansion!” Teto chirped.
I guided Elnea and Althea through the transfer gate, and we emerged behind our mansion in the forest.
Althea started looking around the room. “So this is your home, Miss Chi—” she started, but stopped dead in her tracks when she saw what was in front of her.
The Great Elder sat in repose in the plaza behind our mansion, his bluish-green scales (which he had gotten polished by the dragonkin in preparation for today) glimmering in the sunlight as he looked down at us.
“Oooh! Chise, is that...?” Elnea started, looking up at the Great Elder in awe.
Althea, on the other hand, was shaking like a leaf. “A d... A dragon?!” she squeaked.
“Heeey, Great Elder!” I called out. “We brought them over!”
“M-Miss Chise! Shhh! The dragon will notice us!” Althea urged me in a panic.
“Calm down, Althea,” Elnea intervened. “Chise would not keep company with some brainless feral dragon.”
I approached the Great Elder and she followed me. Elnea’s and the Great Elder’s eyes met, and for a moment, no one said anything. In the meantime, Teto and I headed back towards Althea—who had fallen to the ground in fear and was fighting tooth and nail to right herself—and the two of us tried to comfort her.
“I am glad to see you chose to come, Fairy Queen and her dark elf attendant,” the Great Elder greeted Elnea and Althea after a minute. “I am the Ancient Verdigris Dragon. Well, to be completely honest with you, I am but an old dragon looking after my children in Lady Witch’s land. Everyone calls me ‘Great Elder.’”
“I am Elnea, queen of the elves and a high elf. I have a question, ancient dragon; are you the dragon that made a peninsula float in the east to protect the mythical beasts living there?” Elnea asked.
Over twelve hundred years had passed since the Great Elder had created the floating island.
“If you remember that, then you must indeed be the fairy queen herself.”
“Indeed, I am. Though my appearance may belie it, I have lived for over two thousand years,” Elnea said, and the two exchanged amused smiles. “What a delightful coincidence!” she went on. “For the longest time, you and I had only heard rumors and stories about each other, unable to leave our respective domains. After you made that peninsula float, I stopped hearing rumors about you. To think that the two of us had the opportunity to meet at last!”
“Truly. I always believed I would never get to lay eyes on the rumored fairy queen of the great forest. I am truly grateful to you, Lady Witch,” the Great Elder said.
Both he and Elnea turned towards me, and I pulled the hood of my robe up to hide my reddening face.
Once she saw that the Great Elder wasn’t hostile, Althea started to relax as well.
“So? Why did you want to meet Miss Elnea, Great Elder?” I asked my dragon friend.
A distant look crossed his face. “Back when the floating island still existed, there had been a few instances of mythical beasts falling from the sky—both by accident and of their own volition. The only place with enough mana for them to settle in on this continent was in the great forest, near the World Tree. I was wondering if the fairy queen had seen them,” he explained.
Every ten-odd years, the Great Elder’s floating island would dip low enough that it was visible from the ground. This must have been the moment those mythical beasts chose to try and leap down. There were many tales and legends about what happened to those critters after they arrived on land. The Great Elder knew about them, but he must’ve wanted to know if Elnea had more information to share with him.
“We indeed oftentimes found mythical beasts near our World Tree whenever the floating island approached. Every beast we found, we placed under our protection. I remember being surprised to see them making their way into our forest all by themselves, but they took well to their new homes; some even started new families,” Elnea said with a cackle, drawing an amused rumble from the Great Elder.
We all knew deep down that not all of the mythical beasts had made it to the World Tree; some must have died on the way from monster or human attacks. But the Great Elder seemed happy to know that at least some of them had found their way to a good life after leaving the floating island, even having children of their own.
“Fairy Queen—no, Lady Elnea, you have my thanks for placing my children under your protection.”
“Do not mention it! Mythical beasts are our precious neighbors. It is only natural that we should endeavor to help them.”
The Great Elder seemed satisfied by Elnea’s response and returned to his cave after bidding us goodbye.
“Dear me, one really does not want to make an enemy of such a fearsome being,” Elnea muttered as she watched the Great Elder’s retreating form.