Run, Run, Run, As Fast As You Can

Chayton

I followed Mingan through the woods with my head held high. For all I knew, I was already being watched by the members of Mingan's species. 

"While we walk," I said glancing at Mingan briefly, "Will you tell me what your king is like and what is customary when you're meeting the king of the elves?"

 "For me, and anyone lower than a king, it is customary to bow when you enter the thrown room. You do not have the need to bow, but you should have your strong-arm," A low rumbling sound started to slip past Eros's lips but Mingan ignored it as he kept on talking, "actually, my king might recognize the royalty in Eros. Yes, I think he will. You will not need to worry about that particular custom. However; people of the same rank usually great each other by putting three fingers from their right hand on their mouth then on their heart. It is a promise to speak from the heart. Besides that, there really is nothing to it. You should be fine, Rose."

"Okay," I said, taking a shaky breath. 

"Be calm," Mingan said coming to a stop right out side a particularly tangled part of the forest, "And no words until you have used the greeting."

I nodded once and motioned for him to go on. 

Mingan jumped straight up to one of the branches above, then up again to one even higher. If I didn't know better I'd say it was a strange cat or perhaps a monkey, that was moving further and further away from us. There weren't any other animals that had the agility to leap so far and with so much grace. It only seemed logical that I was watching some wild animal leaping around the trees as if he owned them. 

Eros snorted in annoyance before starting to follow him. I clutched his fur with all the strength that I had. It wasn't that I was afraid of falling, I knew that someone would catch me, it was more that I didn't want to be caught. If I staid on I would look like a better leader. So, I clung to Eros with all my might, holding myself in place with pure determination as he leaped from one thick branch to the other, climbing like the monkey that was just now stopping to watch us get up to his height. 

As soon as Eros landed on the branch that Mingan was standing on I looked out at what was waiting below. 

It was a forest but there were tree houses everywhere, not normal tree houses. No, these were more like the kind of houses you would see in a human town, they were just build off the ground and only in natural colors. I couldn't see any of them well, but I could tell that they weren't small by any means. 

High in the tree tops I could see the outlines of people walking on branches of trees as if they were sidewalks.

One or two of the figures were small enough to be considered children. They were the most concerning of all, running around the legs of their parents without regard to the massive drop below them. They would jump up to the branch above them and grab an icicle before going back to dancing on the branches in front of their parents, sucking on their prize or using them to sword fight an imaginary opponent. 

My attention was pulled away from the incredible sight before me when Mingan started going down to the forest floor again and Eros followed him. 

As we walked, I could feel the eyes of curious elves peer at us from their perches in the trees. A few even swung down so that they were looking at us up close. Girlish giggles and amused whispers sounded from between the trees as the elves ran between them, stopping every once in a while to get a good glimpse at the strange pair that had been welcomed into their city. 

"She is pretty, for a human."

"Her hair looks like blood."

"The wolf looks bigger than most of the ones I have ever seen. He must be from good breeding."