The Elven Princess wlw

Chapter 4

Without a moment's notice, Princess Lily appeared in front of me, still wearing her dress, looking ethereal. She looked embarrassed that she had been caught and almost hesitant. "Sorry, I thought I was about to be attacked" I spoke again as she stood watching me, this seemed to help as her face softened and the worry dripped away. "I did not mean to startle you, I was just checking that you returned home okay", and there was her voice, something I had not heard in a while. I had dreamt about her a lot over the coming months and yet I had not realised how much her presence had affected me.

"I did not realise that my safety mattered to the Princess" She did not seem to appreciate my humor or my reference to her royal title as she began to walk away, "I appreciate it nonetheless, Lily" I let her name linger on my tongue. This caused her to halt and proceed cautiously closer.

As I took her in, I felt breathless seeing her under the light of the moon and stars. Her eyes shone brighter than ever before, the rumors I had heard about her were true, but they still could not do her any justice. "your safety matters, even to the Princess" She seemed to be someone who spoke little and was careful when they did. "Did you have a good evening?", it had plagued my mind, whether she was even interested in the conversations, especially after overhearing what the other servers said. Lily smiled "Yes, did you?", I found it hard to believe that she wished to know how my evening went when it was clear I was serving others. 

She must have realised what she said because she looked to the ground and nervously ran her hand through her hair, "Sorry, I wasn't thinking" she acknowledged. I leaned against my door, "It's okay, I had a good day too" I smiled. "Have a lovely evening Gabi", the Princess whispered, it was time for her to leave but all I could do was watch her leave. I did not move a muscle until she was out of sight, she must have known I was watching but I could not help it. I was in a trance.

That awkward encounter only grew more awkward as I ran it through my mind, I had come to the conclusion that I was going mad and that I should stay away from her if she causes my soul this much trouble. Lily too was very troubled, how had a low elf caught her attention this much, something about the girl fascinated. 

I fell asleep eventually and woke up rather early for a Sunday, but this only meant I would have longer in the woods.

Today I felt like wearing trousers rather than a dress, especially to go running in, I matched them with some knee-high boots and a long draping jacket. I grabbed my bag and headed out, today I was looking for some flowers to cut and mushrooms to eat. I ran through the forest for a while even jumping through the trees when I felt like it, the wind was blowing calmly and the sun was shining. 

I was exploring a different part of the forest today that I did not usually go to but only because it would have everything I needed there. I came to a clearing that was known for mushrooms and pulled out my knife to pick a few, placing them carefully into my bag.

I stayed in the clearing for a while, marveling at the beauty that nature holds, I was fascinated by it and always had been ever since I could remember. I came to a waterfall nearby to collect some water to drink, when I heard a loud sound come hurtling towards me, I turned around and was confronted by what I only knew as a gnoll. 

It was extremely tall and frightening, I had basic training and could defend myself somewhat, but one on one with a gnoll was pushing it. The gnoll launched a full attack at me that I was able to dodge by jumping out of the way as it swung for me with its big long axe, I gasped as I jumped up onto some rocks and behind the gnoll, pulling out my knife I tried to cut it. This only made the gnoll angrier as I had cut his leg, and he swung more viciously. Out of nowhere appeared another elf, but not just any other elf, it was Lily.