Hidden Among the Trees

"I am thinking of my family," He barked, angry at the insinuation that he was letting them down, "It was her idea that I leave her to go find someone! I would have preferred to stay with her, but I agreed that it was not healthy for a newborn to stay outside in a forest where it may start storming again any minute! Would you have preferred it if I made her walk with me after she gave birth six hours ago? Since what you think is so important!"

He took a breath, and smoothed his hair with one hand, and after a moment said, in a calmer tone, "I... apologize. I should not have snapped at you. If you are telling the truth, you are helping her, and that is something I deeply appreciate. If you are lying, you will not live to regret it, but..." he looked at the strange, small person, trying to decide if he could trust them, and ultimately he knew that he had no choice but to, "My name is Mr. Dark, by the way. I do not know what you are, or why you run a shop in the forest, but if my wife trusts you, I suppose I ought to as well."
 
"She was quite wary of me at first, but once she saw me eat the same berries I was offering her, she seemed to calm down. After all, I wasn't planning to harm her or anything. And I got to see your daughter, too. She's a real cutie." Adatia smiled brightly. Sure, he was a bit pissed off that he was yelled at for nothing at all in his control, but at least so far he didn't feel like anyone was treating him like a girl... And that made him like the family already.

Twirling so his dress rose sligihtly, he stood straight after he reached the direction Tarot and the baby were in. "They miss you, you know. Let's go to them, and then we can take you to the shop for supplies... or maybe figure out how to get you out of being lost."

When Mr. Dark told him he wasn't aware of what Adatia was, Adatia couldn't help but giggle. "I'm a human, just a short one... Well, half of one, anyway. I get the feeling you two know a lot about the existence of elves, so admitting I am seems safe enough."
 
Dark half laughed, "She did not see you eat anything. She has never seen anything," He couldn't help but smile when Adatia complimented his daughter, because it was impossible to not feel proud, but he couldn't remark on it. Not after what he had just heard, "You do not actually expect me to believe that you're half-elf."
 
Adatia jumped slightly when he heard that Tarot hadn't seen him. "But then how did she know I wasreally eating the berries?" A pang of worry rose his heartbeat. Did he really not notice she was blind? "Your wife sure is something, Mr. Dark."

"I mean, I don't expect you to believe it, but I expect you to accept it as my truth, even if it's 'unscientific'....wait, is that a word?"
 
"She probably knew that you did not know, and trusted that you would not eat something else. And she could smell the berries and hear you chewing," He explained, knowing all of his wife's tricks, "and it is extremely unscientific. But elves are more Tarot's area of expertise. I stick with real things." Dark was fairly liberal in his way of thinking, but he was also an academic, and jaded. He did his best to deny anything outside of what he considered to be the real world. Although, yes, this person was standing before them saying, "I'm an elf" he couldn't quite consolidate that with everything he knew to be true.
 
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With the man's simple explanation, Adatia had more questions than one would realize by watching his unswayed cheerful smile. He could only imagine how tough life was for someone blind- but there were ways to correct vision, weren't there? He'd have to talk to the village elder to really know for sure.

"Your wife and daughter are this way," the young half-elf chimed in a sing-song voice. "We should go meet with them. It's not far, at least. I was relieved you were as close by as you were!" Without looking behind himself to make sure Mr. Dark was following him, Adatia simply began to walk in the direction of Tarot and the infant in her arms. As he walked, he casually noted, "Your daughter's lucky, having two loving parents. My mom died giving birth to me, so it's just me and my dad at home."
 
"At least you had one loving parent." He said, walking besides the other man. He needed to slow down to keep from walking ahead, soley because he was so much taller.

Tarot's mother had also died in childbirth, so naturally she was ecstatic to still be alive. She and Dark spent eight months afraid of month nine, so their baby took them by surprise so they wouldn't have the time to prepare for the possibility of her death. Then it never came, to their relief.
 
When they were finally at the point Adatia had met Tarot and the baby, Adatia waved eagerly, apparently forgetting what he'd forgotten- or perhaps, he was waving to the baby, whose name he still didn't know. "We're back, Tarot!" He chimed merrily, "Do you need more food? I doubt the berries I'd just picked weren't enough, especially since we shared..."
 
"Oh, I'm alright, thank you." She said casually, as Dark walked over and sat by her side. He kissed her on the temple, and she passed their baby to him.

"How are you feeling, Spider?" He asked her, wanting her to eat more, wanting her to do anything she needed for her health.

"Better than I was yesterday," She laughed, "Our friend here says his father sells diapers and things that Ivy needs. Do you have your wallet?"

Dark eyed Adatia, although not in a judgemental way, and said, "I doubt they would accept our currency."
 
Adatia couldn't help laughing as he felt Dark's gaze on him. It wasn't a nervous laugh- it was a laugh that said 'he's on to me', without words at all. But, when the topic of currency came up, the young elf perked his ears a bit. "We actually do accept it, mostly because we sell things to a lot of people who get lost in these woods. We can't really make use of it, though... It's just something we do in honor of my mom."
 
"Where is your shop?" Tarot asked, stifling a yawn, "we could do with diapers, unless we want his jacket to be ruined."

"I think it is already ruined," Dark said, with a note of genuine pain in his voice, although if he was being honest, he would have ruined all of his fancy, expensive suit jackets to swaddle his child, "I do not take handouts, though. I would rather work to earn it than give you paper you cannot technically make use of."
 
"There's always work to be done, so you can always help out around the shop then. In the village, it's mostly a bartering method of payment anyway. We either share goods or services." Adatia grinned, adding, "And you'll make dad happy by letting him say hi to your cute baby. He's always saying he misses when I was just a wee one."

When asked where the shop was, the young man wasn't sure how to explain it. "I think it's better if I just show you rather than tell." He remembered suddenly that Tarot was blind, but shook his head. She'd find a way to 'see' it. It wasn't hard to recognize.

In a moment, Adatia began to turn on his heels and lead them towards a large tree near the center of the forest. The tree boasted an insanely thick trunk, one that likely had been growing for thousands of years. On the trunk there was an ornate door made of lighter wood, the handle rounded but clearly oval and long. With a quick pushing of the handle to make it point at the ground, Adatia pulled the door open, showing a spacious inside with a wall of goods on the other side of the store. "Ladies and guests first."
 
Dark helped Tarot up, but she didn't need to rely on him to walk. Dark carried their daughter, and she held onto his elbow, just so that she wouldn't walk into anything. Typically she had a cane with her, but they were too frazzled to grab everything they should have.

Arriving at the tree, Dark was amazed with what he saw, and remarked under his breath about genius engineering before helping Tarot inside. As much as he didn't want to believe in elvenkind, the evidence was becoming harder to deny, and he was astounded.
 
"Dad, I'm back!" Adatia called as he followed Dark and Tarot into his home. He closed the door behind him quietly, then trotted over to his father with delight. "I found customers in the woods again. It's amazing how many people get lost there."

The man at the counter was far taller than the young man that smiled brightly to him. He was tall and muscular, taking much space in the spot he stood at. He had a scar over one eye, and his eyes were generally narrow, causing him to have a slightly gruff look. His smile, though, was just like Adatia's- and that was their sole similarity.

"I see, new parents are you? We've got plenty of baby supplies. My wife taught me to make them because it's cheaper and better for the environment to use things like cloth diapers. What's her name?"
 
"Ivy-Lucille Rose." Dark said. He was immediately endeared more towards Adatia's father than to Adatia himself. He knew how to behave with gruff men, because even though he himself was mannered and eloquent, at his core he was just as wolfish.

"She was just born today," Tarot added, tucking her long, blonde hair behind her ear, "we have everything we need at home. I'm glad you have cloth diapers, that's what we have at home."
 
Adatia's father beamed towards Dark, especially after hearing the baby's name. "Two plants in one name. Are you sure you're not the elf here? We elves have a strong attachment to Mother Earth. At least, this particular village does. That's why Ada knows the forest like the back of his hand."

"Dad, I told you to stop calling me that!" Adatia sputtered. His face had turned red. "If you're going to call me by a nickname, at least call me Timmy or Sport or something... Ada's just too feminine. The others laugh at me whenever they say it."

"My son can be a bit touchy, as you can see. It's rough on him, being half human and half elf. Most humans won't accept him easily, and he got mocked when he tried to go into a human town by himself- it really crushed him. But for a while, none of the other children would play with him because he wasn't a pure blood. Halflings have it rough. I'm sure your daughter will find a happy future, since my Ada's found happiness over time as well."
 
"We were originally just going to call her Ivy Lucille, but we planted a rose bush for every baby we lost before having her... it felt right to give them to the one who lived." Tarot explained, rubbing her back, more so out of habit than anything else.

Dark said nothing. He could empathize with Adatia feeling in between among both humans and elves, but he wasn't going to say that, because doing so would require that he opened up. Instead he just looked at his daughter's sleeping face, thinking about if the shopkeeper was right, if his daughter would end up with a happy life.

Tarot, a folklorist, then asked with both academic and personal glee, "So there are other elves, then? An entire community?"
 
"Well you did the right thing, giving her an extra flower. I hope she'll have as much of a fun life as possible for her would be siblings as well." The large man put his hands on his hips, giving another beaming grin. "So, anything you're in need of?"

While his father got into the sales part of the shop, Adatia was cooing over the baby with a smile, answering Tarot's question as he played peekaboo with the little bundle of joy. "Dad told me that mom always compared our elven community to human societies called 'small towns'. We're self sufficient as a community, and we tend to know everyone in our village well. Rumors run rampant, though not too often. Basically, the main difference between us, dad told me, is that we have a strong affinity for nature, thus our magical essence being stronger."
 
"As ashamed as I am to admit it, we need just about everything. She was not due until next month, and Tarot, my wife," he gestured to her, "went into labour unexpectedly. We were caught unawares. Our nursery at our house has everything ready, but I do not even know how far away we are from it."

Tarot still only spoke with Adatia, and yawing said, "I'm glad to know I'm not insane. I've always said that I could feel some life force unlike what had been established as factual. I think," she added, joking, "Everyone was too blind to notice it."
 
The larger elf, Hortense, roared slightly with laughter. "Boy, I can understand that situation all too well. Ada was born early as well- though we figured that was partially caused by him being a halfling. Unfortunately we lost his mother too soon, so I had to learn to make formula from one of the mothers in the village. I learned basically everything about making baby supplies from them. That's why I sell them now at the shop."

"I can't see why you'd think you were insane," Adatia soon responded to Tarot, trying to ignore his father's talk of when he himself was an infant. He was thankful that Tarot was blind, which bothered him at the same time, because he was certain she could still sense he was blushing and embarrassed by his father's excitement remembering those days from many years ago. Turning to Dark when he'd mentioned not knowing how far they were from home, the young elf chimed, "I think I've seen human streets not far east of our tree. I walked by it on accident while I was harvesting some medicinal plants that grow in the forest."
 
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