The Elder flew down to her face and looked at her eyes. "Pure solid aquamarine." He said as he tried to reach out and touch Ariana"s face. Ariana leaned back, avoiding him completely. Ariana looked at the Elder with a very confused face. "My apologies." The Elder said as he flew back a foot. He placed his left hand over chest and bent at a 90 degree angle. "You are too beautiful, I couldn"t resist." The Elder said in apologetic tone. Ariana and Lobo"s jaws dropped to the floor. "re y-y-you t-t-talking about me?!" Ariana stuttered as she drew back her jaw. Lobo couldn"t believe that the Elder had lowered his head to Ariana. As far as he knew, almost all magical creatures had a sense of pride and would never lower their heads to someone they would consider beneath them. Unfortunately just like his clan, beast folk were at the bottom of the hierarchy.
"Shall we go inside?" The Edler said as he raised his head, completely disregarding Ariana"s question. The fairies that were taking care of Vasu heard the Elder"s words and quickly flew towards a different tunnel entrance, just behind the Elder. They raised their orange glowing hands and started to fly around in a spiral pattern around the entrance. Unlike Mirela"s way of widening the tunnel, these fairies had expertly widened the tunnel for Ariana and Lobo to walk through.
The Edler turned to the tunnel, the pixies and the sn.o.bbish sparrowman went ahead and the Elder followed right after. Ariana looked at Lobo and could feel her anxiety rising. This was not what she had hoped that would happen. Lobo held out his hand and looked Ariana in the eyes. "You"re not going alone." Lobo said. Ariana took his hand gently. She smiled at Lobo before they walked after the Edler.
Ariana gasped as she laid her eyes on the earth fairy domain. Underground the fairies had dug out a giant canyon. Ariana peered further down from the ledge where the tunnel entrance stood. "Elder this is absolutely beautiful!" Ariana shouted as her pure aquamarine eyes sparkled with amazement. The Edler brought up his fist and coughed into it. "You are allowed to fly over it if you want a closer look." The Edler said as his slightly pointed ears started to blush pink.
Ariana was tempted as she looked back down. The area looked like a luminous wonderland of plants and rock formations. Roots, fluorescent Green foliage hung from the ceiling, a small waterfall cascade down from the opposite ledge, different shades of orange fairies had come out into the open and stared up at them. "Thank you but I don"t want to frighten your people." Ariana said with a slightly reluctant face. "I think my people would be more then excited to watch you fly. The blood that flows through you is something we all appreciate... its unfortunate that it was tainted by something so vile." The Elder said as he dropped his voice an octave on the last of his sentence.
Ariana"s eyes widened as s she paled. "What"s wrong?" Lobo whispered but Ariana could only show him a shaky smile as she let go of Lobo"s hand. "Nothing. Everything is fine." Ariana whispered back. Lobo looked at her suspiciously. Ariana quietly followed the Elder as they walked down the path lined with neon green moss, glowing blue, stacked mushrooms and tiny fluorescent white flowers.
"I don"t like this." Lobo growled under his breath as his hair started to puff out. They had just entered the fairy domain and to Ariana it looked more magical then up above. There were tiny fairy houses made of various crystals and gems. Enchanting gardens of glowing flowers, luminous leaves and shrubbery, radiant climbing vines that twisted and curved around the houses and landscape. A small river pa.s.sed by the domain and even that had glowing water lilies with sparkling, luminous koi fish.
Fairies started to slowly approach them with sparkling eyes but the Elder"s stern look kept them at bay as they walked. "It"s fine. I just came earlier then expected that"s all." Ariana explained to Lobo. His neon pink eyes flashed with horror as Ariana spoke. "You mean they would have received you differently if you came when you were supposed to?! So when was that exactly? Were you ever going to tell me?" Lobo hissed as his eyes darted between the fairies. Ariana stayed silent.
She did plan to tell Lobo but she was hoping that she would be in her normal human form rather then her beast folk form. However she never antic.i.p.ated that the fairies would want to get so close to her. She had originally pictured them flying into their little crystal homes, baring their doors as the held their young in their protective arms. Not fighting eachother for a closer look.
"I apologize, we were expecting you later so we do not have our meeting place finished. However if you don"t mind we can sit at our open market place, I believe there will be enough room for you and.... Your companion." The Edler said as he turned around to face Ariana. He openly eyed Lobo and dropped his gaze to his hands. Though they were no longer holding hands Ariana could see what he was thinking.
Ariana nodded at the Edler. "That will be fine we are the ones imposing on you but I would like to make things clear. Lobo is not my companion or partner or significant other. He is my loyal knight, so if he thinks I"m in any danger he will not hesitate to remove me from your presence." Ariana said as she held the Elder"s gaze.
"Very well." The Edler said as he lead them further into the domain. "You feel it too." Lobo asked under his breath. Ariana nodded her head, something was not right in the earth fairy domain. Though they all looked happy and friendly there was a sinister darkness lurking behind their smiles.
The open market area was a giant, flat, dirt field. The Elder went to the center of the field and raised his right hand. It started to glow a golden orange and he sliced the air. A stone throne rose into the air and the Elder sat down. "So, what do you know so far?" The Edler asked. Ariana looked into his face as the fairies started to take seats in bleachers that they created from the dirt and roots.