Getting back to old times was divine. Life would be alot better without the worries, pain, the fights and the what nots. 
    It was what she felt and saw standing on the brush of the mountain which descended to the lake below the cave. 
     Prince Drukk walked majestically to her side with a sigh. He wasn't feeling it, he didn't agree to whatever her demand was. 
    But he was even more disappointed when his one and only sister didn't come to see her.
    "I have missed you, Drukk…" wishing it could change something.
    "But that's not why you came…" Prince Drukk led his arms behind his back. "What you ask for it's almost impossible" 
    "But I need help. I need to save my friends, please. You can understand that, don't you?" 
    "The only friend I had was you. I can't understand" he replied abruptly. 
    "Then I would have to meet father" iliya stated with a determined grip. 
    "Huh?" Said Prince Drukk, waiting for iliya to realize what she was talking about. 
    "I need to try—" 
      "And what are you going to tell him? You need the best squads to save your friends from what? To save your Meiv friends to be exact, Meivs, Iliya? We shouldn't meddle with their matter." 
    "But she? She's a human, by the way things are really not how it's used to be, chaos is coming, for all of us, brother. And I think I know the perfect words to convince our lord with" Iliya said with a smile. 
    "Good luck then, sister" Prince Drukk took to the side of the cave where it was all trees and green life, beautiful creatures enjoying the ecosystem the Elves were blessed with.
      "So you're not going to help me?!" Iliya yelled after him. 
      "Are you?" He replied, right before getting engulfed edit by the forest. 
     "What?" 
****
      Her quest brought her to the heart of the kingdom in which path she would follow to see the lord. 
     Stepping foot into the heart of the kingdom, she had a tingling sensation as old memories rushed in waves seeking for refuge. A smile appeared beautifully on her face as her eyes took in the wonders for her brain to process. 
    It was everything and anything she'd ever wanted. It was her home and she had been away for a very long time.
    Was it the fountain that had an invisible source at the very center where white and large statues of great leaders stood, perhaps, they also lived forever with their people, right in their hearts. 
    The ground she walked on was designed like a puzzle, but a beautiful and intriguing one you could be lost in. 
    Green grass trailed on the sacred pallets of the ground while being cornered by the flow of water through the puzzle. 
    Was it the birds of the air that sang beautiful melodies and said of good tidings that brought her the unexplainable feeling from the air, like a welcome message. 
    It was great to see and be in the midst of her kind again but she had to maintain a low profile, for her stay would unfortunately be timed.
     The sky was so bright with the warm sun smiling so beautifully within, which made the gold textures of the kingdom glitter, green leaves fell on the path of the puzzle, some hung, swimming majestically on air. 
    Even if they were dead, on falling to the waters, they were made anew, ever flourishing and green again, for only life, good life runs within the kingdom. 
      She quickly walked past the query tendencies and hurried to the palace. 
    Normally, she would take the routes known to her and Prince Drukk alone to meet her father. 
    No formal, welcome home appearance was needed, but if she was going to have a better shot at convincing her father then she would have to come in like a prodigal daughter. 
    After successfully passing the activities around the Palace, she took to the steps which directly led to the entrance of the palace. 
    It largely stood in the middle with two golden statues of their first two Lords holding up the kingdom. 
   Two guards stood at the entrance with their spears in their grasps and swords in their sheets. 
    "What is your business with the palace?!" They stopped her halfway across. 
   She wore a priest-like hood which covered her face. She uncovered her face. "I'm here to see my father" she said. 
    "Forgive me, your highness" they bowed to her and the door to the palace opened for her. 
    "Always…" she said with a smile. 
      One would pass the welcome hall before getting to the general hall, and then to the palace hall for official meetings and summons, where the throne sat, being occupied by it's honourable, rightful and deserving lord, Lord Eradnel. 
     "Oh Great Lord Eradnel! How Gracious you are!" Iliya smiled wholeheartedly as she set her eyes on her father and greeted with a bow, with two knees on the ground. 
     Lord Eradnel stood with a smile, though he was old enough to be weak, his strength was as fresh as youth. The Lords of the Elves were blessed with a partial immortality, but so less so that there would always be new Lords. 
    "What a pleasant surprise. Stand, my daughter, Legolas Elanaoragorn rejoices today. Come!" 
   She rushed Into his arms and he kept her in his warm, loving and comforting bossom. 
    "I have missed you so much, father" 
    Lord Eradnel smiled. "Same, my princess, same…" after patting her back, he brought her out. "You must be hungry? Where have you journeyed to? …" 
    Iliya parted her lips to talk but he cut in, taking her by the arm. 
    "Come and dine with me, I'd love to hear about your adventures, princess" 
    "Who said I've been on an adventure? …" Iliya asked, a bit confused, but certain that it was nothing much. 
    "The princess of Legolas Elanaoragorn doesn't go away from home for nothing, does she now? Mm?" The table was always ready at the lord's order and various recipes and types of foods were set before them. 
     An exciting and deceiving aroma it was, enough to make her forsake her mission but right before she sat down on the other side of the table to supper with her Father, she caught Prince Drukk's figure behind a pillar. 
    Her already existing nervousness was aroused as she wasn't the patient type. 
    "Hey um, Father…" she digged in on the nearest plate. She cleared her throat…
    "No, don't choke on your food please, words can wait, my dear" 
    Iliya smiled. "I wish it can" she muttered to herself. 
    "What?" 
    "Um nothing…" she smiled. "Let's eat, nevermind" she said with a giggle. 
    Lord Eradnel stamped his eating utensils on the table and Iliya shuddered with a gulp. 
    "Nonsense, Iliya. I'm the Lord of the Elves, do you not think that being sensitive and attentive to even the tiniest details isn't one among my qualities?" 
    She held her breath "okay, you got me…" she drank wine before she released her breath. It would quench the incoming heat… 
    "Something's bothering you, what is it?" 
    Iliya nodded her head and cleared her throat, a bit nervous, she started, whatever the outcome was, a trial would tell. 
  "I um, there's a problem I need to solve, and I —" 
   "Hmm when did the princess start getting herself into trouble?" 
   "Father, I wouldn't be here if it wasn't very important, please, you need to listen to me, I—" 
    "What do you need?" He asked, giving more attention to his food. 
    "Really?" It was too good to be true. How could he agree without even knowing the whole story?
    "Isn't that why you came? Because you needed something. And I wonder…" he faced her. "What is it that a princess would need the Lord's approval?" 
    "Oh please father don't guess" she put her palms together. She could had remembered that Lord Eradnel was a wise Lord.
    He smiled. "If you need warriors to solve your problem, then it's a really big problem?" 
    She sighed. "Yes, Father. Very big" 
    "And you know what my answer would be?" 
   "Yes I do…" she said reluctantly and slapped herself once she realized what she just said. "But! That's why I came to you…" 
    "Of course, you did. Who else would?" 
    She relaxed her back on the chair with a heavy sigh. She was already feeling anger for her brother. 
    She looked at the side of the pillar, he was still there. "Drukk told you something, didn't he?" 
   "I haven't seen Drukk since you came" 
    "Isn't it what he always does? …" She said through clenched teeth. "He never helps me, never cares, never considers me, never—" 
    "Don't you say such things about your brother, you know it's not true? He's pure, he loves you as much as he does himself, and—" 
    "Does he?! …" She knew that it was already a lost game, but raging up on her father was going too deep, she wouldn't have a chance again, but her emotions were getting a stronger grip. 
   Her father looked at her surprisingly, but remained calm to hear everything she had to say. 
    "We were best friends when we were younger, we watched each other's back, but he was his father's favourite after all and would always hurt me, still, we were best friends, not until we grew and he started acting like we aren't even so close—" 
    "Prince Drukk grew up! He knows what it takes to make sure our kingdom stays in peace and free of war, he took up his responsibilities, but you won't, and you didn't. Sacrifices must be made—" 
    "Even choosing the kingdom over his own blood?!" She was speaking from her heart, and it was all bottled up rage, tears were strolling out.
     "For the greater good princess, I don't expect you to understand, but his loyalty and and self is to the kingdom, because someday he would sit on the throne, he's constantly watching out for the kingdom—" 
    "Is that so?! But the Cruks has risen and you don't know!" 
    Her father's facial expression changed. "Huh? That's impossible!" 
     Prince Drukk Drew closer, his face painted with uncertainty and the fear in anticipation. He knew about the Cruks, but only from stories. 
     But Lord Eradnel had seen them and their terror. 
    "Yes, it's impossible. But there they are anyways, I'm telling you that I saw one, it attacked the Thogwarts and the Meivs, I saw them, an—" .
      "What in the name of the Lords have you gotten yourself into?!" Lord Eradnel srpung up in rage. 
    "Thogwarts and the Meivs? Have you been drinking with the enemies? I forbid you—" 
    "No it's not like that, i—" she was going to explain herself but taking in context everything that had happened, including the realizations, she threw it away. 
    "You know what, it doesn't even matter what you think! But the human killed a Cruk father! The human did!" 
    "Humans?!" Prince Drukk growled. 
    "Human?" Lord Eradnel was astonished. "How did the human enter our realm? What or who gave it passage?"
    "That's a mystery for another day, we—"
   "No, no…" he said shook his head. "Humans are strong, but they are not fighters, why are you making this up?!"
    "Look into my eyes Father and tell me that I'm lying!" She looked into his eyes but he removed his after a moment. 
    "The human is something, she has the strength of thousands of warriors, she—" 
    "If she killed a Cruk, like you claimed, why doesn't she save herself?" Prince Drukk asked. "I'm guessing she's the one you need to save" 
    "It's complicated, but we need to do something, her not withstanding, our kingdom is in grave danger—"
    "Humans were banished from this realm to one called Earth, and forbidden to ever return. You can't be an ally to this human, they weren't just thrown away, they did something wrong!" 
    "What has it got to do with this? Look, if we don't do something, they will only be multiplying…" 
    "The Cruks would only resurrect by the presence of a powerful force, a dark force, as powerful as the God of the strange, and it's just impossible that he has return, never happening again" 
    "But anything can happen, Father. I'm telling you what I saw. What if they attack the villages outside the city?" 
    "Iliya, if what you're saying is true—" 
    "Can't be" Prince Drukk interrupted.
    "I can't risk putting my warriors in so much danger, this thing, this monster… there is a reason it should remain non-existent ever heard of the Lynx lynchs?"
    "Yes, I have seen them, I've fought them, and I have seen one die…" she said courageously, attracting weird stares from her father and Prince Drukk, in fact, they doubted it. 
    But if true, She had really done and seen so much than the future Lord of Legolas Elanaoragorn.
    "And I assume it's your… your human?" 
   "She's stronger than them. I've seen it" 
   "No she can't. Lynx lynchs are close to indestructible, they are demons, evil and dark, and if there's anyone who can deal with the Cruks, is them" 
    "But they are not. You don't understand, this is not—" 
   "That is all, Iliya. If you will excuse me…" 
   "Father?!" 
    "You can leave again if you wish. The world outside is big enough"