“Oh… That’s helpful, I suppose,” she replied.
As Cerys to began to feel more wakeful careful, she looked around herself and began to realize that a crowd was starting to gather around the wagon. Once again, there were several children, but also many adults, both men and women, some young, some old. They were not crowding in too closely, but they were definitely interested in the newcomers. Nashtra opened the door on the side of the wagon, and held out his hand for Cerys. He helped her out first, and then Himeko. Peter climbed out without accepting his hand, but of course Bayani accepted his. They, too, looked around at the elves in the crowd.
“So what does the shaman want with us?” Peter asked. “And where is he?”
“He shall explain everything after the feast,” Nashtra told him. “Come, please, the feast has already been laid out. They are waiting for us.”
He led them to the central part of the village, where the mats that were laid down on the ground were much nicer than the ones in the first village, and the meal much fancier. There were many more dishes this is this time, but all of them smelled very appetizing. The human visitors were given first choice out of all the dishes, but Peter only picked from the modestly. Himeko was still not very hungry after having eaten so much at the previous meal, but it seemed that Bayani still had plenty of appetite left.
Cerys was excited to see some of the dishes that she had loved most from the other feast, plus a few new things to try. She and Himeko sat close on either side of Nashtra, Peter and Bayani across from them. The elves started to sit near them after that, speaking in hushed voices to one another as they watched their guests eat.
After a short time, a woman walked up behind Nashtra and knelt down close to him. “May I have a seat along with you?” The woman asked. “Or are you too busy spending time with foreigners for me?”
Nashtra blinked, having not expected anyone t come up from behind him, and turned o look up at the woman. A wide smile crossed his face and he set down his leaf of food to embrace her. She looked a little bit older than him, but with hair just as long and blond as his. She also looked just as happy to see him as he was to see her. They spoke words that Cerys could not quite make out, elven words probably, but they seemed to be very endearing.
Then he moved a little bit closer to Himeko, so that there was a little room for the women between himself and Cerys. She knelt down in that narrow space, her narrow body fitting just perfectly. She smiled to Cerys, and then looked over at Himeko. She also nodded at Peter and Bayani.
