"Ah!" the elf girls and Aria peered ahead as Rose indicated. "That is...not terribly typical," Ama mused, "The nice thing about Arvandor is a lack of orcs, drow, or hum- hee," she smiled at the shifter and kissed her cheek. Aria chuckled to herself and shrugged, thinking that after all she and Rose weren't<em>completely</em>human. Ama continued, "But this<em>is</em>near enough to be what I would call our home, and not some other enclave..." she strained to look, clearly trying to recognize the four.<br/><br/>Asha had simply bounded a few steps ahead, skipping brightly, waving her hands gracefully overhead and calling out some greeting in Elven which included her own names. She gestured behind herself and Aria told Rose, "She's saying we're with them, helped them in fact...I think the subtext is not to be shocked we're non-elves. Not so different from Prime elves, eh?"<br/><br/>The elves in the trees seem to look around warily before the two male ones descended, climbing down with unhasty grace and making use of barely visible knobs which seemed - almost as if the tree had somehow been coaxed to grow with a rather convenient two parallel columns of little knobs and dips for hands and feet.<br/><br/>The long-haired airs rushed up to them, always glancing around side to side. Ama and Asha seemed perplexed by their wariness. One of the elf men seemed to recognize the two elf girls with great relief on his face, though no especial or overwhelming emotion to suggest close kinship or romantic ties, then he spoke grimly.<br/><br/>Ama translated, "Something's wrong. Started soon after we left...our kin sent out a scouting party to find us, once it'd been long enough to merit worry. They returned, and they'd even come upon and been finely received hosted at Westkeep, invited to dine at a great host, to and play tennis against Astos and go out hunting with his apprentices, and so forth - hmmm," now Ama spoke her own thoughts to Rose and Aria, "Our presence kept from them, apparently, and theirs from us!" She resumed translating, "They returned here...but different. Subtly and first, then savage. They were caught...oh Corellon! -<em>eating</em>other elves. When confronted they simply went mad and attacked, and then fled. And days later, some of those who'd been bitten but lived;<em>they</em>began to change too. Fewer remain at our home than have fled, died, or become savage eaters of elves."<br/>