Survivors of the Wild - Larry Stylinson

Chapter 26

Louis says to him through the bond, Look a little closer.

Harry shoots him a confused look, but his soulmate just points and raises his eyebrows. Harry sighs and turns back to the hollow. He cocks his head as he notices something off, and suddenly everything is shifting into focus. The strange-looking trees he'd taken to be part of the hollow were actually buildings, grown out of the ground to look like trees.

In fact, every building is different. Some of them are multiple floors, with little hidden balconies up top and some of them are covered in lichen with hidden, dark doors. It strikes him, then, what Louis has told him of the elves' affinity towards nature, their inclination to mold themselves into nature instead of change it.

The elves appear out of seemingly nowhere, and Harry can only imagine the elves he's met blending in perfectly with these graceful people. Their hair is silver and gold, like the elves he knows, and they wear it long; the women, at least to their waist, and the men, at least to their shoulders, with flowers braided in to the lengths.

An elven woman steps forward. She has bright yellow flowers tucked into her hair, dressed in greens and muted colors like the rest of the elves. "Louis Tomlinson," she says, inclining her head to the rest of them. "Welcome back to Osilon." Her eyes flick to the rest of them. "I'm Aryelle, head rider here."

"Hello, Aryelle." Louis shakes the elf's hand. "Lovely to see you again."

Aryelle smiles at the rest of them before saying, "Follow me, yes? I will take you to my home."

She leads them further through the hollow, and Harry realizes it extends even further than he thought. Aryelle has a deeper elven accent than anyone he's heard before, and she speaks softly to them. "Osilon is a mainly agricultural city. Our farms are to the east," she gestures vaguely. "Third largest settlement in the forest. Ellesméra, of course, is the largest."

She keeps talking for a bit, before finally leading them into a home tucked away in a dip, covered in twisting birch trees. She stops before they enter and addresses the dragons, "My apologies, my home is not built for dragons to come inside. My own dragon will come soon to keep you company."

The six riders go inside, and Louis sets the bag of eggs on the table. Aryelle carefully opens it, laying the eggs out. "Beautiful," she murmurs. "Only one that's come around again. You'll be leaving in the morning, I presume?" She waits for Louis to nod before continuing. "Well, you've come just in time. We are having a celebration today, for our latest successful harvest."

Louis' eyes brighten, and Harry can feel his delight through the bond. "Oh, great. We look forward to it."

The elf smiles, twirling some dark hair around her finger. "Good. Here, let me show you your quarters."

Their bedrooms are built up in the trees. The dragons can fly up, but Aryelle leads them up a staircase built into the trunk. "I assume you and Harry will be staying together?"

Harry feels the blush rise on his cheeks, but Louis just nods. Aryelle leads them to a room and gestures them to enter. Before she shuts the door, she says, "You will hear the music beginning when the festivities are starting. You are welcome at any time."

The room is beautiful, with a large open side that shows the trees beyond them. It's built entirely out of wood, and it looks like something Harry could do with his own magic, growing it as a part of the tree itself. There's a little couch area, a separate room that Harry assumes is a bathroom, and a large bed.

Garza flies in through the open side first, landing first on the open balcony, followed shortly by Opheila. There's a large space in the room lined with what looks like a blanket. Opheila sniffs at it curiously, and Harry assures her he'll make her bed later.