Stumbling Skyward

"sure there's a few of them over in that direction" Verira said and pointed in the direction the others were. "Do you want a ride?"

Aleena looked up at fenja seeing that she wasstarting to cry "ok fenja calm down here's what were going to do elves like music wine and erm dancing as well as a good meal,so i'll set things up here you get after that elf and i'll go give grip some advice"she says smiling she fly's down from fenja's hand over to an elf's ded body she takes the male elf's clothes and flies with them into the sphere putting them ontop of grip "put these on"she says smiling she flies out and gathers some flowers and a tree stump she set the flowers out upon the tree stum smiling to herself.

As angella was walking she thought silently to herself and without realising it fell into a pitfall trap she let out a small scream as she landed at the bottom rubbing her head she looked desperatly for a way out she tried to climb out the sides but only fell back into the trap so she resolved to sitting and waiting for whoever set the trap to arrive.

"Sure!" said the little naga. Then she paused. There was something she had been wanting to ask Verira.

"Can I...ask you a favour?" she said as Verira picked her up.

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Fenja leaned down to Baras.

"Hey, can I please ask you a favour? It's going to take awhile to find that elf and I would really, really appreciate some help."

Grip put on the clothes. He didn't know what the fairy was planning...but he was willing to try or do anything at this point.

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And where Angella was, an elf looked over the edge of the pit.

"Ah! Look!" she said. "It's the escaped criminal"

Another elf looked over. "Well, this is convienent, isn't it Angella? Now justice can be served." The elf popped open a bottle of podmaw nectar and poured it down the hole.

"Alright. We need to get out of here, but leave some scouts to make sure she does get eaten this time. She's too lucky for her own good."

Angella sighed she dodged the podmaw nectar and watched it hit the floor of the pitfall trap with a splash she tried once again to climb out of the hole without success she screamed out calling for she was starting to wish she hadn't left grip.

Aleena smiled she was so good at this kind of thing she brought grip two flowers put one in his hand and one on the clothes he had put on she then went rummaging throught the bushes sighing she walked over to baras "hey baras i need help preparing a romantic dinner for the lovebirds can you help"

"I'd be glad to help you, Aleena, but Fenja just asked me for a favor, and I think it has to do with getting Grip's elf friend back." He looked up at Fenja, saying, "You do want me to help get her back, I take it?"

"Sure" Verira said and moved towards her traps, at a steady pace. "Ask for anything you want"

"...Yeah." said Fenja, unwilling to admit that she needed a bit of help. "I can't see through the lower forest very well in some parts...It would help to have someone looking at ground level."

Grip opened the shower, as there was a small mirror in there. These elf clothes were rather odd. He wonder what the fairy was thinking.

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The little naga twiddled her thumbs. She was nervous about asking this.

"Well...if it's not too much trouble, I mean. I mean, I can deal with it myself later, but...I was wondering, if its not a problem for you and if you have any ideas...if you could maybe....give me a name? Or help me get one? I...feel kinda...wierd...now that I met people..."

She trailed off, feeling pretty embarrassed. She wasn't sure, but nagas probably weren't thinking of naga names all day.

Aleena smiled she flew back into the sphere next to grip "right here's whats going to happen your going to go on a romantic date with the elf now i could tell you what to do and say if you'd like after all i'm not going through all this trouble just to see you mess it up again so what do you say?"She asks smiling as she holds her hand out for grip to shake.

"But...how on earth are you going to get her away from the elves?" he asked as he tentativly shook her hand. "And...how can I not mess it up?"

"well for the elves leave that to fenja"Aleena say's smiling as she put's an arm around grip's shoulder "here's what you have to do you have to woo her you said the more you try and talk her out of her custom the more she goes into it right so don't try talking her out of it see it from her point of view and talk to her as i you were talking to another human"she paused thinking "then give her a flower and say something like i found this and thought of you before giving it to her then talk to her over the meal talk about her customs and take n interest in them basicly do the opposite of what you did before and don't let her go if she goes to leave gab her arm and tell her firm you don't want her to leave and demand that she stays show some force and of course if that fails drag her back into the sphere"she finishes her speach wih a smile

"Drag her back...?" said Grip, slightly mortified. "I can't control whether she leaves or goes. That's her choice." Not what I want, he thought, but that didn't matter.

"But...I'll try to listen to what you said...to talk about..." He realized he would probably mess that up too. He was no good at any of this.

Aleena sighed she was getting no were with him then she thought of somethingshe smiled cheekily and pushed grip oughly "you coward"she says in a mocking voice "your going to let the woman you love push you around"she gives him another harsh shove "shame on you she'll respect you more if your strong now be a man boy"she says mockingly pushing grip again harder.

He grabbed the fairy's hands to stop her pushing me. He was starting to get angry.

"Shut up!" he snapped, his cool facade breaking. "If I drag her around it's just as bad as you threatening her! She'll only be here because I'm forcing here to. If she doesn't want to stay on her own accord then..." He paused, thinking of how much he missed her. "then...that's her decision. If she doesn't like me then what is the point of keeping her around? It's just a lie, then." He then realized there was a part of him that wasn't entirely sure she did like him. After all...what was there to like?

Baras looked up at Fenja, saying, "Of course I'll help. That's what friends do, right? Anyway, we better go ahead and get a move on before something happens to that elf." He then began to walk quickly in the direction that she had gone.

Aleena shrugged "i'm just saying be man instead of a coward"she says smiling she had a feeling that she was finnaly getting through to him "anyway it was fun to see you expression"she says without a hint of concern in her voice as she exited the sphere.

back at the pitfsll trap Angella tried to escape the hole but couldn't she heard movement nearby and figured it was either the elves or something else but she didn't want to stick around and find out she tried yet again to climb out of the hole wich resulted in her falling back down into the hole.

"sure i'll give it some thought" Verira said to the little naga and smiled.

Verira suddenly got the scent of the podmaw nectar. "do you smell that?" She asked the the little naga. "seems like we have a criminal elf in my trap" Verira giggled a little, and went towards her pitfall

"there it is" Verira whispered and pointed at the hole with Angella in.

The little naga gave a squeel of delight. She happily followed Verira through the forest, working hard to keep up. She looked down into the hole.

"Heeeey. I think I know that elf..."

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Fenja could hear Verira, even if she didn't recognize her. "Hmm." she said to Baras. "Big predator over there. Might be eating the elf. Worth checking out, at least."

Angella sighed she heard talking nearby and looked up letting out a gasp when she saw the naga that had eaten her before angella got to her feet and attempted to once again climb out from the trap she pulled hrself halway out near to the little naga"

As he looked at where the elf had fallen, and looked at the naga looking down into the sprung trap, Baras said, "Wait a minute...that's Verira!" He then walked towards Verira and the small naga, saying, "Hey, you two! Sorry I left without an explanation, but it turned out that the Jotun, the fairy, and Grip along with an elf that he met were in a drastic situation with a dridder that had shrinking venom."

The little naga reached down, pulling Angella up and putting her head and shoulders into her mouth instinctivly. Elves tasted really good. Then she realized that Baras was there and she spit Angella out. She didn't want to get hit with more tranquilizers.

The little naga wandered off, disinterested now that it turned out the trap was empty. However, she saw something moving in a bush. To her surprise, an elf holding a bow was there, watching Angella. The little naga couldn't help herself. She jumped on the elf, opening her mouth as wide as she could. The startled elf didn't have a chance - she was halfway engulfed almost instantly.

The little naga slithered out with a pair of elf legs sticking out of her mouth. She noticed the others were staring at her. She struggled and swallowed the elf, filling out her stomach.

"What? The elf was spying on you. I think she was going to shoot you with a bow. And come on, I'm really hungry."

Fenja sniffed. "Actually...she has a point. There are a few elves in the trees watching us" she whispered. "They're probably waiting to see if Angella is killed. They'll keep coming after her..."

Suddenly, she had an idea. She began to speak loudly, to make sure all the concealed elves could hear her.

"Yeah, naga! This tasty elf is mine! So just get out of the way!" She then picked up Angella and popped her in her mouth, pretending to swallow her. She held her with her tongue.

"Mmmm." she said, before walking off the direction she had come and motioning for the others to follow.

The elf commander watched. "Alright. We can leave now. The criminal has recieved her punishment."

Angella screamed as the little naga put her in it's mouth and then spat her mouth she screamed when fenja put her in her mouth but when fenja didn't swallow she sighed she realised fenja had something up her sleeves.

Aleena flew up to baras "ok now were going to need somewere for the elf to change and also some dresses for her and something to dry her off with oh and priacy"

Baras looked at Aleena, saying, "Well, I've got a backup room on standby that seperate from the rest of the cabin. She can use that to change into clothes and for the whole privacy thing if she wishes. I've also got towels she can use, and I can also materialize a dress she might like."

Fenja carefully removed Angella from her mouth.

"Sorry 'bout that. Was all I could think of at the time."

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The little naga hopped onto Verira's tail.

"Sorry you didn't get an elf. But with so many around, one of 'em must have fallen into a trap, right? I'm sure you can get one."

Her face lit up. "Hey, maybe we can even find an elf with an elf dress that we can give to Angella. She gets the dress and you can eat the elf." She was glad she had thought of the idea.

Aleena smiled and patted baras's back "yeah that will be great thank you and with the elves no longer after her she should be staying this time"she says cheerfully to him
Angella shudder's a little "i i um thanks i i guess what do you want now?"she asks nervously.

"Indeed! Looks like our elf friend here will never have to deal with those other elves again!" Baras said happily. "As for what to do now...didn't you want me to help you prepare a romantic dinner, Aleena?" he asked.