Hey what's up pups?  You've reached the voicemail of Leda.  Leave a message at the beep peeps, and I'll hit you back.

There was plotting going on. Specifically, Iranon was plotting to lock Leda and Polaris in a closet with a bottle of wine.

In the meantime there was more fun to be had. There were several nice trails around, some hot springs and mud baths, and a scavenger hunt.

And Smoke and Ember had invited anyone who wanted to to go for a ride. Actually Smoke had offered to let anyone who was interested, ride him. Leda still couldn't tell if he was actually confused at the laughter that offer generated.

The black dragon looked down at the large mug sitting on the table. Of course to him it was about the size of a thimble.

"Really?" he rumbled. "This isn't even a sip."

Leda looked at him blankly for a moment, then turned to his sister, who had assumed human form as a statuesque redhead.

"Is he serious or has he actually grown a sense of humor?"

Ember snickered. "Smoke's been joking around with you since you two met. It's just that his delivery is so dry, you've never noticed."

There was Elven coffee and pastries and other breakfast staples set up on a huge banquet table, as well as a large supply of Leda's Grandmother's favorite human import, hot chocolate.

[For them what knows who they is.]

Between Iranon's people and Leda's other friends, there was almost a carnival feel to the sprawling complex of homes and lands surrounding them. Which suited Leda's grandmother just fine. This, she'd said, was how it was meant to be. She particularly doted on Wiseguy's son and Silar, and delighted in the raucous sounds of the other children at play. It'd been getting too quite around there for her taste.

The place where Leda's family hailed from was set in a valley deep within a heavily forested mountain range. There were some spectacular falls nearby and beautiful natural seeming gardens.
But the place really lit up at night, when the nocturnal Piskies who shared this valley with them lit up like fireflies.

Leda sighed happily and wished she could stay here for more than just a few days.

[For those know who they is. Totally ripping off Peter Jackson's version of Rivendell for this place.]

"You're not being quite as subtle as you think you are." Iranon smired as he rode up beside Leda. She was on her way home for her birthday, enjoying the lull in hostilities. Iranon and his friends were escorting her, along with her 'entourage' so as to make sure she was safe. Also to make sure the journey was as fun as it could be.

"The hell you talkin' bout?" Leda grumbled, slipping into a Bordertown accent.

"The oh so clandestine looks you keep casting at yon single mother." he said. Leda heard Wiseguy snicker from her other side. "Polaris might not have noticed them, but I'm pretty sure she's the only one."

Leda kept her face inscrutable. "There could be lots of reasons I'm looking in her direction. And not necessarily at her."

Iranon laughed. "Oh yes? Pray tell."

Leda scowled. "Give me a minute."

Leda's feelings for Polaris had not faded with time, in fact if anything they had deepened. And it hadn't helped that Leander had ever so casually remarked that;

"Should you marry Polaris her girl would become the heir to the throne."

She had retorted that she could never do something so horrible to Silar. But it had surprised her. As backward as many of the Elven traditions were, they seem to have never had any prejudice against same sex marriages, or gender restrictions on who could rule or inherit.

Leander's remark had come from a discussion about how the nobles were starting to get restless for her to marry and furnish an heir. There had already been some preliminary attempts to win her favor with this son or that daughter. Her chief advisor had been hoping that he could at least interest her in marrying for love, rather than politics.

"Meddling kids." she grumbled.

From Fandom Pics

Eli wouldn't have thought it possible to be any colder in the lands of House Alton. But this close to the border, it was colder than one could imagine. Perhaps a further deterrent to keep anyone from attempting what he was after.

If I can just stay calm, they won't know I'm gone until it's too late. he thought.

He shivered in his t-shirt and jeans. All the clothes he was wearing. The human outfit itself would be enough to earn him a severe, horrific punishment. That he had been able to obtain the clothes at all was a testament to how successful the Queen's attempts to change Faerie culture were.

The frigid wind stung his golden eyes and made the veins in his exposed skin stand out in blue spiderwebs upon his skin. Only the Elvin blood within him allowed him to survive at all.

His shivering caused the tiny silver bells on his bracelets to chime softly. Fifty nine bells on two bracelets. An archaic tradition to signify Trueblood Royalty. But on him, they were an alarm system. If he removed the bracelets, the bells would cry out a warning to his master, who would then hunt for him.

He took a deep breath and blew it out. It was now or never. Before he lost his nerve, before he could be missed.

He dreamed a willow tree, and it appeared. It's long branches swept over the ground and swayed in the wind. He had formulated a theory that the bells could be fooled if the bracelets stayed in motion. He quickly transferred the hated ornaments to the tree's branches. It seemed to work. No alarm cry went up.

Even the smuggled literature he had gotten his hands on strongly advised against what he was about to do. Travel across the border could only be done safely at the place where it is thinnest. The guidebook pages he had tucked into his back pocket claimed in bold, capital letters that it was virtually impossible to jump the border and survive.

Eli dashed forward, and dove into the border.

The bells on the bracelets sent up the cry, and almost immediately, Corwyn's hounds began to bay.

[Kicking off a plot based on the Bordertown short story "Dragon Child" by Midori Snyder.]