The Holidays

[IolaAvalon]

Iola smiled as she looked around her at the village. She'd missed her friends and family but she was glad that she had the opportunity to go to school. Her father had said that she could invite Humphrey to the forest as she honestly believed that she could trust him. Very few non-Elves were invited, humans especially, as the Elves didn't always trust anyone new. They would often meet the person before they formed an opinion. But everyone was excited to meet someone new as they didn't always get news from the magical world.

[Humphrey Williams]

As he was walking around, exploring, Humphrey came across the most beautiful place he had ever seen in his entire life. It was filled with silver beeches, birches, and all kinds of trees. Not only that, but there were houses in the trees, and connections, it was one of the most breathtaking sights he had ever seen. This was the advantage of exploring; sometimes, on a rare occasion, you would find a place that few people knew about. These peaceful forest areas were where he loved to be.

Suddenly, a girl appeared to just glide gracefully out of the trees. It was Iola, the girl he had met at the creatures meeting. She had been one of the creatures who was nice to him. "Iola, is that you? You are so silent, that I wasn't even sure you were there until I saw you walk out of the trees. What is this place?" Humphrey asked her, the wonder showing in his voice.

"It is the most beautiful place I have ever seen. You seem more, at peace here as well. Who built the tree houses up there?" he asked, smiling at Iola. "Would they be offended if I painted them?"

[IolaAvalon]

Iola laughed gently at Humphrey's questions.
"This is the Elven forest, my home. Those houses were built by the Elves. They'd be fine with you painting them, to be honest, the only reason you could find this place is because the Elves let you through the enchantments, most people just pass this place by." She smiled happily.

[Humphrey Williams]

"Whoa, you live here??? That is awesome, how do you ever get any work done, with this beautiful of a place to live in. This is easily the most beautiful place I've ever seen, ad, well, you are pretty as well." Humphrey said. For some odd reason, girls enjoyed him complimenting them. He didn't understand why, but he decided if it worked then he should keep it up.

"Really, they have enchantments to keep people out?" Humphrey asked, his curiosity coming up from where it always was. There was a huge creative, and curious side that had always been a large part of her brain. "I'm honored they decided to let me in. Why don't they let people in most of the time?" he asked her.

Setting up his canvas, he was carrying his backpack with the supplies since he was exploring. That was his routine, if he was exploring an area, he would bring paint supplies; so, he would be ready to paint the place then and there. Instead of having to go back and find his supplies. Because he had not been able to find some of the places except for that one time. This place, though, he would pay close attention on how to get here. "Well, these houses are amazing. Not to mention all these trees, I feel like the forests these days are so sad. Here, though, it feels like the land is alive, and that is how it should be. Live harmoniously with nature, living off the land, and making the land flourish."

He began to mix some of the colors he would need. There was silver, black, dark blue, green, light blue, medium blue, white, gray, red, pink, yellow, pretty much every color on the color wheel. It would take a while to mix the proper shades, then once he had those shades, he could go on from there. Beginning with mixing, a light, and dark green, that was what a lot of the ground would be. Plus, the leaves on the trees as well.

He preferred either starting with a landmark, or working sky to ground. Sometimes though, it was easier to work from ground to sky, it just depended on the lace. Humphrey decided he would start with the grass, and then the stumps of the trees, while he also filled in the wildflowers, and ivy, and weeds. Always felt good to plan his art beforehand. Good art, he had discovered, was taken one slow step at a time.

[IolaAvalon]

Iola smiled.
"We're used to working outside a lot, where we can look around us as we work, it is beautiful though. The enchantments are to protect our way of life. There are those who would try and change how we live our lives, deciding that their way of life is better than ours. Also, we have lost so much because of ordinary humans, we only let people in if we feel they can be trusted." She replied, blushing lightly when he said she was pretty.

She watched as he started to paint, admiring his skill.
"This land is alive, Naneth Arda, what most people call 'Mother Earth' is all around us. In most places, her presence is weak, but here she's able to use her power more." She smiled again, spotting some of the Elvish children running to see the Humphrey, not having seen a non-Elf before.

[Humphrey Williams]

The way Iola smiled made it feel as if the sun was coming out after a storm. Stunningly beautiful, and he found himself blushing just a bit. "So, if you don't mind my asking, are you an elf? I've seen you at Hogwarts, but I wasn't aware elves were allowed. Or are you like, a half-elf or something like that?" Humphrey asked, trying to ask the question as politely as possible.

"I love working outside, wish I could do it more often. I can see your people spend a lot of time working out of doors, the giant tree-houses do kind of give it away." he said, joking around a bit. "I see, that is very interesting. Clearly, the precautions are keeping this land very special. Most humans don't respect nature as they should, so I can see why you made this place so hidden. If only all humans could see this place, maybe then they would not be so eager to tear down nature. Again, I am honored you allowed me to come to this place." Humphrey said, inclining his head slightly as a gesture of thanks and respect.

As he began to paint the ground, he could feel her watching him, and his paintbrush as it moved across the canvas. "It most certainly is, Iola. Naneth Arda, that is a beautiful name for it. Could you teach me more of the elves' language? Would that be permitted? I would love to learn how to speak elvish, or whatever you call your language." he said, showing how little he knew of their culture. "I can most definitely tell Mother Earth's presence is on this land. Who are these children Iola?" Humphrey asked, laughing as the elvish children were running towards them.

[IolaAvalon]

Iola laughed happily."I'm a half-elf, my mother was human but I've spent my entire life surrounded by elves. I could teach you more elvish if you wanted, most elves will be thrilled that a non-elf wants to learn. The children are the children of this village, I'd imagine they're rather curious about you. They've never seen someone who has no Elven blood before." She replied with a little giggle as the children surrounded Humphrey excitedly.

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