"With how few elves in general number, and how long they live? If you're half an elf or more, you can reasonably expect at *least* a few distant cousins around, more if you go further distant. As the saying goes, most elves are kinda related to one another somewhere in their family tree." - Jessa Calirwæn, elven history scholar.

While they dined, Cal learned from the second oldest member of the council that Mimia and Drietven, and thus by relation, she herself, was descended from elves of the Forest of Shadows' lineage.

In fact, the way the council member spoke made it clear to Cal that he saw that relation to one of the Bone Lord's eternal disciples - what they called unliving disciples of the Bone Lord, of which they number only four - and his butler of over a millennium a great honor unlikely to ever be surpassed.

Cal also learned that the closest link to the forest was from a time long ago, as the last common lineage they had was during the time of Drietven's mother, who had been the head of the forest's council during the time the elves chose to fall under the Bone Lord's banner.

At the time they were threatened with extinction, as the neighboring Elmaiya Empire - the second regime, at that time - had become aggressive to them, all while a man-made plague targeted at elves had been unleashed and felled many of their number.

That desperate situation made their council meet, as they deliberated together, and finally decided to roll the dice. They threw themselves at the feet and the mercy of the one figure in the vicinity they knew was powerful enough to defy the empire as a whole and save them: The Bone Lord.

Even someone from as far away as Cal had read a bit about that incident in her history books, though the one she read had not noted these parts, and mostly related how a man-made plague had gone out of control a millennium ago and caused the end of the second Elmaiya Empire.

The bit with the elves' involvement and how that incident was what basically forced them to submit to someone else was new to her, but she couldn't say it ended up badly. Before that time, the elves of the forest were little different to how old stories often portrayed them, savage raiders who ate their victims and all.

Their embrace of more… "civilized" ways was noted to be amongst the first of their kind, and had in a way set a precedent for others to follow. Cal did note Drietven and his lineage had actually served Ptolodecca since centuries before that, as he was apparently captured during a raid when he was a youth, and eventually made the Bone Lord's butler over time.

A position he continued to hold to the present day, and the foreseeable future, since the ancient elf had become Unliving.

While Cal herself was descended from Drietven as her great-grandfather, apparently some of the elves in the forest still shared the lineage from Drietven's mother. Drietven had had a sibling back then, and that sibling's descendants still lived in the forest to this day.

The old councilman beckoned over a young male elf, maybe two hundred or so, and introduced him to Cal. Seniority wise Cal would technically be his aunt, as he was her second cousin once removed, a generation below her despite being older, as Cal was born very late in her father's life.

That young elf also introduced his mother, and grandfather to Cal, all of whom were direct members of their shared lineage, and she made acquaintance with them. They were quite interested when she told them about her own extended family - now all in Paradise - and promised to pay a visit when they have time in the near future.

Cal went to sleep at the abode prepared for her group on a good note that night. The meeting with her distant cousins was an unexpected, but pleasant surprise to her trip. Her nieces were mostly excited to visit the other big elven forest, while her students were just in general awed by the experience.

As for Dan, he had not seemed that surprised, but then again, as a Ptolodeccan native, it was far from his first time in the forest. Kino was similarly quite stoic, but Cal chalked that up to the woman likely having seen most everything the world had to offer with her own eyes.

The party stayed at the elvish settlement for around a week, as they relaxed and enjoyed themselves. Fheeri took quite an interest in what the elvish hunters could share with her on the art, and took to the woods often, with Cal's permission.

Her students often sparred with the local warrior types. To her satisfaction they won more than they lost, usually losing only to the old, experienced veterans who knew how to handle physically superior opponents all too well. Much like Aideen knew how to handle an opponent like her.

Meanwhile, Elaina and Sidonie had grown a bit closer to those their own age as well as Leissa. Some of the ones close to their age were also half elves like themselves, though due to the regional differences, half-elf half-therian hybrids were as common as half-human ones here.

When they departed a week later, the elves had gathered to send them off. Leissa also sent them off, as she would be returning to Tohrmutgent with Hócht once Cal left. The elves had offered to lend them some steeds for the next trip of their journey, with a note that Cal could just return them to their brethren at the imperial capital.

The steeds were fine stags, with velvet-like fur and as large and solid as a large horse. Cal thanked the elves for the offer, but accepted only the loan of two of the offered nine stags, as she cited that she has some plans for the rest, and that her students needed some training for the road.

Those steeds went to Kino and Dan, while Cal smirked as she looked over her students once they left the elvish settlement.

"Willa, you carry Fheeri. Ognar, Elaina. Giselle, Sidonie. Keep up with us, and make sure you don't drop your passengers," said Cal as she made each of her blood mage students carry another on their backs.

Then she exchanged a mischievous look with Kino, and both of them started to get their steed up to a gallop, or broke into a run themselves. Behind them, Cal's surprised students quickly caught on, and ran as fast as they could to catch up, while Dan followed more leisurely from the back on his own steed.