Lugos paced back and forth on the wooden floor, his soft leather boots making no sound of any kind. Finally he sighed and turned to Fennel and Angelica who were thoroughly soaked.

"What am I to do with you?" he asked helplessly.

"Well," Angelica started but Fennel quickly elbowed her.

After an exchanged glare the sisters looked back to their father putting on the most innocent smiles they could manage...Which were not very good.

"Father, father," Fennel began walking over to Lugos and placing an arm around his shoulders.

"We are adults now and should be given a chance to do as we please!"

Angelica kept smiling like she had just eaten a bad apple and Fennel winked at her, hurrying to follow Lugos who had began to pace again.

"A thousand is hardly an adult Fennel," he informed her.

"By most standards father we're actually old hags," Angelica said nonchalantly.

Fennel nodded emphatically and Lugos shook his head.

"Not to my standards and those are the only ones that matter...And you do realize that you just insulted yourselves right?" Lugos asked them not sure anymore.

Angelica kept smiling but Fennel seemed less pleased. However, she was not going to let this spoil her plan.

"Being an old hag is not necessarily a bad thing father. Most old hags are actually quite wise!" Fennel told him.

"That's beside the point. What happened?"

"Do you want the long story or the short?" Angelica asked.

Lugos sighed and walked out onto the stone ledge glancing down at the river bellow.

"At the moment neither...But that doesn't mean you'll go without punishment!" Lugos hurriedly told them.

"Get cleaned up and wash those dirty clothes. Then you can go down to the river and clean the dishes from the banquet."

Fennel and Angelica let their jaws drop to the floor and stared in disbelief.

"A-all of them?" Angelica asked, already knowing the answer. 

Lugos turned toward them with a smug smile and nodded.

"That is correct."

....................................................................................

"I told you we shouldn't have done it!" Fennel scolded.

"You never told me any such thing!" Angelica countered nearly tripping over a large rock.

Fennel didn't answer and continued to walk down the stone steps towards the river. After every banquet the servants brought the dishes out to the river bank to be washed and there were always plenty. 

"Even if we do have to wash a few dishes wasn't jumping in worth it?"

"A few dishes?" Fennel burst tossing her hands in the air.

Right in front of them was a pile of dishes almost as big as fishing boat.

"Okay maybe not a few but when we're done we can go follow that lead," Angelica told Fennel happily.

"No! No, no, no! I will NOT go gallivanting around over a helpless cause!"

Angelica stuck her tongue out at Fennel when her back was turned and knelt down beside the riverbank, peering in at the silver fish.

"Its not helpless unless we don't succeed," Angelica remarked.

She bent down closer to the water until her strawberry blonde hair touched the shiny surface and she watched as a couple of fish darted at each other.

"What makes you think we'll succeed? Come on, stop daydreaming we have to wash these dishes," Fennel answered grabbing a rag and pot.

Angelica grabbed a pot as well and dipped it in the water scaring away the fish.

"We have good information. We could be helping people instead of washing a bunch of dishes!"

Fennel scrubbed the bottom of her pot and then emptied it out and dried it with a rag. 

"No we don't. Nymphs are known for lying," she told Angelica.

"You're thinking of Mermaids. Nymphs are actually pretty honest once you get to know them."

"Forget it Gelly! We're not going to go running off on some wild goose chase!"

Angelica made a pouty face and grabbed another pot, scrubbing it down with more force than need be.

.....................................................................................

After they had washed all the dishes, which took about three hours, the sisters climbed back up the bank with arm loads of clean pots, plates, silverware, goblets and other random odds and ends. It took several trips to bring them all in and put them in the right cupboards but they managed to finish before the sun went down.

Angelica was as stubborn as a mule and didn't feel like sticking around Fennel so she ran up to her room. It was a simple place but served its purpose well. In Salliet it never rained and the weather was usually fairly warm so most of the houses didn't even have walls. Plants did manage to grow for some explainable reason. The rooms had rails and for night time heavy curtains were drawn. Fennel and Angelica shared a Queen sized bed that was covered in Autumn colored blankets. The headboard was carved with two giant waves crashing against each other in a peak and curling over elegantly. At the foot of the bed was a giant wooden chest where the sisters kept all of the things they did not use very often. Mostly camping gear and winter cloaks along with some traveling gear. On the other end of the room above the doorway was a book shelf made out of branches woven together. This was where Fennel and Angelica kept their few books. Books were rare and often the only ones that anybody had had been passed down from generation to generation and therefore had very old covers and the language was a bit different. So Fennel and Angelica didn't really read them much.

Angelica walked about her room trying to find something to do. She thought about climbing a tree but then decided against it when she realized that it was getting to late afternoon. She also thought of reading but decided against that as well realizing that she had already read them at least a hundred times each. 

"My life is so dull," Angelica mumbled to herself.

She threw herself on the fluffy bed dramatically and lay there for several minutes just staring at the painted ceiling. One picture especially caught her eye. It was of a young elf girl like herself carrying a traveling pack on her back. She was walking through the woods looking for the Nymph pool of Tralem. Angelica knew the story well. It was told to every elf from the day they could talk. 

The story was about an elf Princess who lived in the time of a terrible warlord who wanted to kill anyone who disobeyed him. Now the Princess did not find it right and she packed her bags and headed off into the Tralem forest where no one had ever dared to go before. There she knew she'd be safe for the warlord would not dare follow her into the forest. Apparently a few other people had the same idea. She met two brothers, twins, who had also ran off into the woods. Together they all built a cabin and lived there while they searched for the Nymph pool. It is said that the Nymph pool of Tralem shows you what you need to know, so the elf Princess and the twins went looking for it and they found it. There they were told what to do about the warlord and together they devised a cunning plan to dethrone him.

Really just a fairy tale but Angelica liked to believe in fairytales every once in a while. Mostly because she had nothing else to do. All of a sudden that painting on the ceiling seemed very intriguing. Angelica did not just feel like staring at it...she wanted to do it! She wanted to have some sort of adventure where she could almost get killed. Oh and then she could save Fennel from almost being killed and then she could find a giant cave filled with treasure and then...And then...

"That's it!" Angelica finally decided.

She quickly stood up but then fell back down again when her vision went blurry from all the blood rushing to her head. However she did not take long to stand up again, this time a bit more careful, and she quickly opened the giant wooden trunk. The cloaks were on top for padding and Angelica grabbed one stuffing into a travel pack that was a bit deeper in the trunk. Then she quickly changed out of her dark blue dress and slipped into her old traveling clothes. They were a bit tight at the shoulders but that didn't bother Angelica. She finished pulling on her leather boots and then pulled her long hair into a braid so that it would not get in the way. Satisfied at the turnout Angelica quickly grabbed the backpack and ran down the stone steps to the back wall making her way toward the pantry door. It was the annual adult meeting where all the adults, obviously, met and talked about the youngers so there would not be anyone in the pantry. Angelica didn't hesitate to take the good food for she was very fond of it and knew that the rest of the elves could just make some more when she could not. Cheese, bread, dried meats and fruit, a little cake (Which she would eat very soon), and a bottle of wine were all she too. Elves were very keen on good wine and could handle it very well. Even the younger ones. Angelica also grabbed two water skins and carried them both in her right hand, carrying the food sack in her left. She quickly ran down the steps and made her way to the corral where her horse was being kept. It was actually a corral with no fence so technically it was a clearing in the woods where all the horses were tied...Although they were not technically tied because the ropes were loose...So really they were just wandering around.

"Hey there Daisy," Angelica said fondly.

She was always fond of horses and spent a lot of time with them. Daisy had been a 1000 year birthday present from Fennel.

Daisy nudged Angelica and looked up at her with big beautiful eyes. Angelica laughed and pulled a couple lumps of sugar out of her pocket and gave them to Daisy. She always made sure to bring Daisy a treat whenever she could and this was better time than any.

Angelica pulled her saddle off of a nearby tree stump where she had left it and threw it on Daisy's back along with blanket and pulled the saddle girth tight. Then she put the rest of the tack on along with a saddle bag and filled it with all the things she had taken with her, rolling the traveling sack up and stuffing it in as well.

Angelica mounted Daisy and looked up at the trees framing the sky. She guessed that she had probably around three hours before they woke up and that was just about enough time to get to the old hunting cabin. Back in the old days when none of those bad things were going on the Humans had built a community hunting cabin in the woods for everyone to use but since the plundering had started the front battles no one dared even go half a mile into the woods. It was just too dangerous. Angelica however was not scared and knew she had time to get to the cabin before nightfall.

Squaring her shoulders confidently Angelica started off into the woods...but she was not so confident after that. Even though they were not awake yet the trees still seemed to stare at her. Angelica suddenly began to doubt her plan and looked back to where she expected to see the green grass of the clearing but all she saw were the trees slowly closing in on her. At least that is what it felt like. 

"Apparently," Angelica began.

"I've gone farther than I thought."

Of course she did not have to say it out loud but it made her feel better and that was one of the most important things at the moment. Stay calm and collected. That was all that was important to Angelica at the time. Of course another thought was 'don't die' but she did not want to put anymore doubt in her head then need be so she did not ponder on that thought.

Suddenly a branch snapped and Angelica froze, craning her neck in the direction of the sound.

"Shoot," she whispered.

Someone, or something, was behind her and Angelica had the funny feeling it was not friendly. Nothing in Tralem was friendly and there was no use in kidding yourself about it. When you hear a noise...You run.

Angelica dug her heels deep into the sides of Daisy and she bolted away down the overgrown trail with as much speed as she could muster. Angelica's cloak whipped behind her like a frightened butterfly and to be honest, she felt like one. Daisy was making too much noise for Angelica to be able to hear if they were being pursued but she did not stop Daisy from running all the way to the cabin. It came into view after an eternity of running and both Daisy and Angelica were breathing heavily when they pulled up to the uninviting porch. Several tiles on the roof were missing and the windows had boards nailed in front to block out the light. One of the rails was falling off and several of the boards in the porch were rotted out but after what she had just been through Angelica thought it the most wonderful thing she had ever set eyes on. Not bothering to tie Daisy up Angelica stumbled into the cabin just as the sun disappeared behind the mountains. She let out a giant sigh and bolted the door, feeling her way to a table she had seen when coming in. With the doors closed, the windows covered and the sun down the dark almost hurt her eyes. After a little bit of searching Angelica managed to find an oil lamp and a flint and stone, usually kept together.

She sighed with great relief and quickly lit it, thanking God for the light. But she was not so happy for long.

Picking up the lamp Angelica turned around and suddenly let out a giant scream as she stared into a pair of blazing furious green eyes. 

-Hello everyone! What did you think of this chapter? What do you think of the story so far? I'm trying to get characters to be different from each other and I would like to know, how am I doing so far? Thanks for your support so far :D - Anna