"When one sees the elegant inhabitants of the Great Emerald Forest these days, they would have difficulty in describing what they saw other than grace and beauty. Yet the very same people that nowadays embody grace and beauty, and often kindness, had in the past been a far different people. Meet an elf from a thousand years ago, and they would not offer you hospitality and kindness. They would slaughter you and feast on your corpse instead." Oliven Eradsun, Historian employed by the Levain royal court.
Among the many stories her late father had told Cal in the past, other than the stories of his travels, he also often told her of the sins of the race he hailed from once she was older. Those tales were always somber and serious, and the morale her father had driven home, was how the current elven society's predilections were often efforts to make up for their ancestor's sins.
An example her father often cited was how the current elven society had centered themselves around the great groves of Égørisvænovãēnæl, or usually called the "Great Emerald Forest" in common. While smaller societies do exist, typically in groves of their own, the vast majority of elves in existence called Égørisvænovãēnæl their home.
Supposedly in the past they had been a far more tribal society, and rarely if ever mingled between tribes. Most contact between tribes were that of war, and relations rarely grew warmer. It was when the world around them developed and pushed them back that they started to be forced to interact with one another more often.
Which led to the nearly unified race that existed today.
The way many elves embraced vegetarianism was also another thing they chose to adopt to "atone" for what their ancestors did. Cal's father, Calais Edrunviel, had lived a very long life. In fact, he was born among the first generation of elves who adapted to a more "civilized" way of life.
Elves of the distant past used to be feared as savage raiders, who were known to not leave even corpses behind, as they ate them with a perverse joy. They had practiced cannibalism, and believed that the act of eating a brave foe would have transferred part of their strength and courage to the devourer.
The current elves' frequent adoption of vegetarianism were seen and understood by most as an effort to portray themselves in a new light compared to their savage ancestors.
And with how long elves lived, those ancestors might be as recent as a parent to them.
Similarly, their pursuit of grace and hospitality were conscious efforts, made to distance themselves from their savage past. Perhaps those born of more recent generation truly lived their lives that way, as they had not known much about the more savage past, but those of the elder generation were well aware of the burdens of their past.
Great Emerald Forest, where Cal was headed to next, was the greatest expanse of forest in all the world. It covered nearly the entirety of north-eastern Alcidea, and provided an approximate five hundred thousand elves with homes.
Further to the south of the forest lay the metropolis of Alfheim, one of the largest cities in Alcidea, often credited to be where the elves started to embrace civilization. The city was situated amongst some of the most fertile lands in eastern Alcidea, and housed a great many farmers, who together made it the breadbasket of the region.
Cal would not head there this time, as she had planned to trek to the north instead, as per her talk with Aideen.
She made her preparations for departure, and informed Ying Xiao that she was not to slack on her training during Cal's absence. The girl's serious attitude made Cal feel more at ease, and with Aideen to take up the baton and help train the girl, she was in as good a hand as was possible.
When her students returned to Levain near the end of ther winter break, Fheeri and Fyodor went along with them. Cal watched with some melancholy as Ying Xiao bid farewell to her friends. The girl was still stiff, and far more formal than most, but she had opened up tremendously compared to when Cal first met her months ago.
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That night she discussed with Aideen and both agreed that they would introduce Ying Xiao to others and let the girl see the world some. Aideen too had grown fond of the girl, and volunteered to take the girl around on vacations around the world from time to time, to which Cal thanked her.
She herself departed the next morning, as she packed her belongings and headed for the gate relay building. With firm steps she went through the gate that leads to the Great Emerald Forest.
The scenery that greeted her on the other side surprised her. Unlike Levain, Paradise, or Al-Shan, the Great Emerald Forest had not kept their gate in a building. Instead it was placed in a large open plaza. All around the plaza Cal saw many other portals, all of them larger in size to the one she came from.
They must be the famed "Ether Road", the one and only large-scale teleportation gate network in the world.
From some gates, she saw caravans of wagons emerge, while others disappeared into another gate. Young elven guards checked the credentials of those that arrived once they left the gate, and waved through those already verified.
Cal followed suit and walked away from the gate towards the center of the plaza, where many guards busied themselves with verification of travelers. She quickly gained the attention of a young elven guard as she approached, an elf probably only her own age, one that only recently entered adulthood by elven standards.
The young guard asked for her credentials, and Cal produced her identification tags, as well as the signet ring Aideen gave her. She watched as the young guard grew wide-eyed at the signet ring and her adventurer tag, before he politely returned them to her and bid her to wait for a moment.
Apparently he was not qualified to confirm her credentials and needed the aid of his superior.
She waited only less than ten minutes before the young guard came back, but by then she no longer paid attention to him.
No, all her attention were directed to the older elf that had followed the young guard. The female elf wore clothes that denoted her higher rank and status, but those were not what attracted Cal's attention.
What attracted her attention was the female elves' snow-white hair, pale skin, and red eyes, so much like her own, as well as the features that looked so much like a younger feminine version of her late father.
Apparently the realization was mutual, for she saw the female elf also stared at her in surprise, and recognition.