Brain: They're definitely a red flag.
Heart: But red is my favourite colour…
Brain: no.
You know: Hey-
Brain: You, shut up
You definitely know: But I didn’t say anythi-
Brain: we a part of the same body, I KNOW what you about to say -- Anon Guest
The adults of the Elven community called it the battle of head, hand, and heart. The wants of different parts of the whole. Qimaris was warned that this would happen when hir body began its slower journey to adulthood[1]. The heart would want one thing, the brain another and as for hand... that was purely for more physical wants.
It was politer to say 'hand'.
Especially in mixed communities like Kalfinda, where even the Unwelcome Peoples had their place of belonging. Where a Dragon ran the biggest bank as nominal CEO, and Gnomes ran the mint whilst the Orcs did the accounting. Where Ogres and Bugbears did the heavy lifting whilst Gnomes and Gobelliin created clever devices. There were Kobold assayers and Troll groundskeepers and Witon chefs with their wooly feet in special net slippers. And Hellkin on the Watch, because they knew what trouble looked like before it started.
Qimaris was stopped by one on the way to visit hir friend Tisian. Tisian was fun to be around and Qimaris liked him a lot. Getting to the tea shop on time was the most important thing on Qimaris' mind when the amber coloured devilborn stepped into hir way.
"Ho there, youngling. What's the hurry?"
"I'm late for a meeting with my friend. I didn't see any 'no running' signs and I looked both ways before crossing. I wasn't doing anything wrong."
"Never said you were," said the Hellkin. He didn't have weapons ready. "There's been a disturbance in the direction you're headed and I wanted to be sure you were safe."
Oh. Ze'd picked up a nanny. Qimaris tried hard not to blush. "This is embarrassing," ze whined. "I'm fully-grown."
"I'm sure you are," said the officer, falling into a proceeding pace beside Qimaris. "Standing orders maintain that it's an officers duty to maintain the welfare of all underaged citizens. Growth is not a factor. Time is."
Qimaris groaned in exasperation, which only made the officer snort.
"So tell me about this friend you can't be late for," prompted the officer.
Tisian was fun. Tisian knew all kinds of things, because Humans grew up a lot faster than Elves. Tisian had all kinds of stories and had had adventures and they had this smile that made Qimaris' heart light up and... Hir Rennie said Tisian was dangerous, but he'd never done a thing to hurt Qimaris. And there was that special floaty feeling whenever they held hands and...
...and there was a squadron of Brutes around the tea shop, and a grim expression on the officer's face when he reported to an Elven elder in amongst the armoured menace.
"Another one," said the officer. "From the sound of things, he didn't feed hir the tea yet."
"We were going to have tea," blurted Qimaris in confusion. "A rare treat. With saffron[2] in it."
"Oh, kitling," cooed the Elder. "You may have years before you discover how lucky you were, today."
They were right. Qimaris didn't understand. Not even when the news sheets were covering the trial.
[1] Though Elves are generally considered to be full adults at one hundred years of age, their bodies mature at the same rate a human child does [but without the growth spurts] until their maturation rate "slows" relative to humanity at around sixteen to eighteen. Anywhere between the ages of thirty and fifty, First Puberty occurs as an Elven body gears up for full physical maturation.
[2] Many herbs react differently for many different peoples. For Elvenkind, saffron is an aphrodisiac.
[Photo by Benyamin Bohlouli on Unsplash]
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