Obviously, I didn’t miss that nice little aside that Thranduil shot towards me in reference to my shock. Warning for what? I certainly wasn’t going to fight this jerk but I also wasn’t just going to roll over and allow him to berate me for fuck’s sake! All of these males acting as though I had lost my mind. I had apologized, hadn’t I? And Leif hadn’t seem any worse for it.

I was quite happy to move on from the ordeal if he was.

“Thank you, we’ve established I reacted poorly.” I quickly bit back in a low voice during one of his pauses, intended only for the golden Thranduil to hear but perhaps the others were close enough to hear.

But then Banjo, as the hatted creature introduced himself, was speaking. I had to admit I didn’t understand half of what he was saying - it was full of metaphors that I didn’t quite get. Though I mostly caught on to the same one Leif did - warm as piss? How was that even remotely supposed to be an encouraging thing to say??

I couldn't help but picture Banjo and a dozen of other thick-tailed creatures pissing all over the newcomers as some bizarre initiation ritual. No thank you.

Still, I started to relax and it encouraged me to drift a couple paces forward so that I was more properly in the conversation instead of lingering on the outskirts. Not to say I wasn’t prepared to bolt at one ill move from any of those nearby but, well, I wanted to make up for my explosive greetings. And I could at least answer the question posed. “There are four main herds in Helovia - the World’s Edge, the Dragon’s Throat, Aurora Basin, and Hidden Falls.” My golden brown eyes flashed in a smile as I added: “Strange names, I know. I’ve only been in Helovia for a season and I’m still getting used to them.” They had baffled me the first time I had heard them. The Dragon’s Throat sounded like a fearful place, as did the World’s Edge. It gave me an odd sense of pride to belong to the herd that had the nicest sounding name.

“I’m from the Aurora Basin, it’s a herd protected in the mountains of the north. There are no other elk there, I’m afraid, but… there’s a few equines with antlers such as yours.” Would that help? I had no idea. But if nothing else it would warn him for the first time he saw someone who was not quite “horse” and not quite “deer”. “But it is safe and you would be welcome there.”

Even with her misgivings about the politics of the Basin, she couldn’t deny that no harm had come to her since arriving there in the thick of winter.