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Chapter 24
A week later Cal gazed out over the breathtaking vista spread before her. The mountains would never fail to enthrall her. “Sometimes I still can’t believe this place.”
She and Relian were perched on a high hill, which gave an unobstructed view of what looked like miles. They’d craved solitude and privacy. Though the royal wing offered more of those than most other places within Eriannon, they’d wanted to leave the palace and town behind for a few hours. Relian certainly knew the best spots. This time, he’d brought guards, but they were at quite a distance from them.
Relian shifted behind her on the blanket they were lounging on, settling her back comfortably against him. “The mountains or Eria itself?” His breath played over her cheek, stirring the tendrils that lay there. “I would say Eria, but you haven’t seen much of it outside of Eriannon.”
“Both, truthfully. Everything has a natural air of beauty about it here.”
“Is there not beauty in your land?”
Cal mulled over how to answer that question. “Of course there is, but it’s not so...concentrated as it is here.”
“So there are places of beauty but also places of...” He trailed off, apparently waiting for her to finish the thought.
“Ugliness. No, that isn’t quite right. While there are places that are ugly, the more accurate description would be ‘lacking in beauty.’ My world, while it has its own beauty, has a cold sterility in some areas.”
Relian rested his chin on the top of her head. He was so touchy-feely with her. Caution and reserve usually seemed to rule over him, but with her he was different. She doubted he’d shown this level of affection to any other female. At least she hoped not.
As she drank in this newest revelation, he spoke again. “It sounds as if nature has been removed from the equation.”
“In many cases, it has.”
“That’s a sad thing.” His voice reverberated against her head and back, sending a chill through her.
“Yes, it is.” And Cal found it was.
Until coming to Eria, she’d never thought of herself as a nature lover. Like many Americans, she knew the importance of recycling and taking better care of the environment, but those facts were mixed in with cars, electricity, and all the other modern amenities missing here. Those very conveniences often led to half-hearted attempts at negating the errors of a consumer-driven lifestyle. Though she always recycled her empty cups when possible, she’d tended to overlook the three-mile drive, one-way, to get the precious liquid that came in those cups.
But it wasn’t that simple. She couldn’t be naïve and look down on her world overmuch, though improvements would certainly be beneficial. Eria and Earth were two very different places, and she couldn’t hold them to the same standards. It really was like comparing apples to oranges. Modern society couldn’t function under the same auspices found in Eria.
Cal shook off her thoughts, not wanting to think too deeply. Her mind turned to something that had nagged at her for the last couple of days, but Relian spoke before she could inquire.
“In Eria, hot and arid areas exist—not the kind of beauty you see here but still with a loveliness of their own. We also have the luxury of time that most mortals don’t have. We can perfect techniques to an art and have done so. What you see here wasn’t constructed in its entirety for many, many years—far more years than a single mortal has.” He said this with no hint of bragging, just with a strong conviction of knowledge long held.
“That stands to reason, though I never thought about it in such detail.” The perfect segue for acquiring other information had arrived. A thrill of gratification shimmied down her spine. “The land is that diverse? Now that you’ve mentioned Eria, I have a few questions.”
“Yes?” His voice sounded a little wary.
“Eria is the country your father rules, the home of the eivans or the elves, as I call you?”
He moved his lips over her hair. “Mmm, that’s correct.”
Cal took a deep breath and then released her flood of questions. “Is it the name of this world, this dimension? What other countries and peoples are there? Are they elves or from another race? From what I’ve gathered, there are few humans in Eria. And they’re only here because they bonded to an elf thousands of years ago before you guys removed yourselves from Earth.”
Relian remained silent until he chuckled. “So many questions, my lady! Did you even stop to breathe?”
She elbowed him lightly in the ribs. “Are you saying I talk too much?”
“I would never tell a lady any such thing.”
“No, just think it.”
He shrugged. “Possibly. But I find that you, as of yet, do not speak overmuch.”
Cal frowned. “Thanks, I think. Do females here ‘speak overmuch?’”
“Don’t females of any race?”
