"I thank thee for thy kind words. 'Tis *errddening to know thou hast held me in such regard. However, I dret that this tidings *error* hath taken thee by surprise, prompting thy personal visit unto me. I should have pondered more wisely and paid thee and the *error* Queen a visit in the Great Forest."

  Burn creased his eyebrows. When Man spoke in the a elven tongue, her words dripped with honey dipped in stardust, leaving a trail of entment in its wake.

  Rekre and Yukre smiled. "Please, Your Holiness, of course, we must visit you personally. When you sent your messages to us, we almost slipped and fell in our haste to tell the Queeedly."

  "How fares the Queen, *error*? Doth she enjoy good *error* health and happiness? And what of the royal kin? I trust all is well within the kingdom, devoid of any *error* troubling plight," inquired Man.

  Those who heard her speaking could almost feel the turies-old wisdom resonating in her melodious tone, as if the very fabric of reality paused to listen in awe. But it was definitely different from the nguage Rekre spoke.

  "Yes, she has been awaiting your visit and was heartbroken upon hearing of your disappearahe elven unity wao go and search for you ourselves, but some circumstances held us back," Rekre g Yvain.

  "Please five us for not lending our help when you were at peril, Holy Disciple," Rekre added to the boy, who raised his fad smiled.

  "Thank you... for your... and kind words," Yvain said with a bit of a stutter, because he had only learned a little of the Elven tongue. Even though he could uand them, he couldn’t speak fluently yet.

  "That is why we are so surprised that your husband is the... ahem," Rekre turo Burn and cleared his throat. The man trembled and shed cold sweat, his eyes bnk when he tinued, "The... famous... tyrant."

  Man smiled softly aly dismissed it, saying, "The issues betwixt us hath been resolved. There lies *error* naught between us anon."

  “Excuse me,” Burn suddenly interjected. The two elves flinched violently in fear and Man turo him in .

  “What’s wrong, Caliburn?” Man asked. The timing was a bit bad as Burn realized Man might be worried he was offended by them calling him a tyrant.

  But he was curious about something else.

  “I keep hearing errors when you speak. At first gnce your speech pattern is different. It works fine for Sir Rekre and Yukre’s speech. And somehow it transtes your words to a on nguage,” Burn said.

  He added, “Also, why am I your mate or husband? We haven’t had a weddi…”

  GASP!

  Man gasped in plete shock, her face turning a delightful shade of crimson. She refuted, “No, there’s no word for lovers in elven nguage, please uand!”

  Oh, so she thought of them as lovers…?

  Burn silently held his grin.

  “There’s actually a word for refereng one’s lover, it’s ‘mír tresna’,” Yukre interjected, hearing the transted versatioween Burn and Man through the device’s speaker.

  Man immediately turo them, her te flushed crimson. "W-wherefore dost thou employ 'Love' in lieu of 'Lover'?!"

  “Well, you love your lover, so why not?” Yukre chuckled.

  Rekre snorted, “Youhese days like to make up words. Retionships beyond soulmates and marriages are a sin!”

  Burn uood why Man carefully introduced him as her ‘husband’ now, even though one part of it was because there were initially no word for lovers or retionships before marriages.

  Elves were strict about their retionships, so she didn’t want to plicate things by saying that Burn was the man she fucked.

  “And to answer why that device might regard Her Holiness’ certain words as 'errors,' it is because she speaks in the a elven tongue, with an imperial at, at that,” expined Rekre.

  Man frowned helplessly, “Dost not tell me thou speaketh not in this manner *error* anymore?”

  When hearing the elves speak, she did feel a bit weird about their speech, but she brushed it off as them using simpler terms and phrasing.

  “How thy nguage shift so *error* swiftly? Ye *error* are not humans who doth create new words every five years or so…”

  The device couldn't catch up with her eloquent literary skills... nor could the elves... or was it the opposite?

  "Egad…" Man cursed—

  Yep, she was the one who couldn't catch up.

  Burn bowed his head low, burying his ughter in his right palm, his shoulders trembling from suppressed ugh. Man spoke like the typical youth in on nguage, but perhaps it was a trick Vd had taught her—reading people's minds to analyze their nguage patterns.

  "Now, *error* instruct me in the ways of the new sngs and the quick shifts of nguage. Thou only take my hand," Maended her hand towards them, but Burn intercepted, withdrawing it swiftly.

  “Don’t… just… please don’t teach her the modern elven nguage,” Burn said.

  “Why not? I’m keen on learning,” Man argued.

  “No. It’s charming, so keep it that way,” Burn said as he held her hand, his eyes subtly warmed. “You souiful. Stay as you are.”

  At first, Rekre suspected something fishy between Man and Buroyed with the thought that Burn might be holding Man or Yvain hostage or some other nefarious purpose. But to his relief, it seemed Burn genuinely cared for her.

  "It’s a bit out of character to see you care so much about human affairs, Your Holiness. You tend to avoid involving yourself with them before. But you suddenly raised a disciple, and now... eveing a husband..." Rekre sighed in relief.

  "I’ve ne’er not cared about human affairs. 'Tis just that my past circumstances art rather plicated. Now, I wilt not turn away from any problem involving any creature in this realm. Now, more than ever, we o unite," Man referenced as she poi the sky.

  The outsiders.

  Now Burn grasped why they abhorred his appearan days of yore. Their bond with Man appeared intimate, and the knowledge of how he had tributed to her disciple's demise likely cast him in a rather unfavorable light. Oh, but that might not be the sole reason.

  The elves, it seemed, harbored a peculiar disdain for outsiders even more than humans. Burn's procmation of war could be strued as him needlessly plig matters, as one is wont to do.

  Oh, a us not fet the tantalizing whispers of sedition from Inkia and their silver-tongued political lobbyists—truly, they had the elves pting a feud with Burn. And then, of course, there was the paramount issue that weighed heavily on the minds of the elves...

  "As you know, our sed princess is stubbornly attending the Saint Lucia Academy as an honorable student. Meanwhile, our first princess is ill. This was the circumstance we mentioned earlier," Rekre said.

  The man raised his face, "Our unity had never faced this trouble before, ever. So I am afraid of the escation of the situation. Your Holiness, now that you’re back, we are sure you have the solution for our predit."

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  -------------------------------------

  Just a remihat Man is older than yrandmother :'v