“So… this is normal?” He asked, looking over his shoulder before leaning against the table behind him, afraid he might knock off the violet jar.

Gold and pink-tinted light poured onto them from the stained glass, as they stood in Brigid’s potion room. Green vines, thick and curly, snaked their way across the walls and crept down to her shelves. Aiden couldn’t help but gawk at the vibrant elixirs held in glass bottles, each marbled with the colors born out of the rainbow. Brigid narrowed her eyes, the luminous glow of the gently bubbling elixir in the cauldron illuminating her mismatched eyes.

“What…?” She said absently, leaning into the cauldron trying to have a closer look. Aiden watched her blond strands drape over her shoulder.

“The whole elf-thing?”

“Yeah…”

The two stood under the sound of bubbling elixir for a while before she spoke. “I don’t see anything unusual with it…”

She looked up, her blue and brown eyes glinting with a hint of amusement. “Tell me… How’s it like being a human?”

“Pfft- “ He smiled, his eyes now lingering on the bookshelf on the other wall. “Nothing much… no magic, no pointy ears-”

“Better than you round-eared creatures” She scoffed haughtily.

“Hey!”

She swooped passed him, sending a whiff of fragrance into the air; Sweet and fresh, like earth after a gentle downpour.

“You’ve been on earth before?”

“Mmhmm-” She hummed as she struggled to reach a clear jar. “You humans live in some weird places.”

“What’s weird about living in a house?”

“Oh no, not the house” She triumphantly got her clear jar down the shelf and opened its wooden lid, “I was once caught in this snow blizzard in this place called Ant Articus!”

She whooshed passed him again, this time an aroma of nutmeg wafting through the room.

“Antarctica?”

“Whatever…”

With her delicate fingers, Aiden watched Brigid take out a nutmeg and toss it into her cauldron. The portion fizzed as Aiden felt a surge of heat. Brigid quickly took a step back.

“Why on earth would you— GAHHH”

The portion bubbled with rage and erupted into a burst of angry flames.

Aiden screamed and fell back, his heart hammering.

The cauldron radiated the whole room with a vile shade of green before diminished back to it’s bubbling form, leaving behind whisps of green, an unfazed elf and a horrified human.

“WHAT WAS THAT?”

“BHAHAHAHAHHAH-” Bridgid laughed, her light voice laced with bliss, “Look at you! Scared like a pigeon!”

“I NEARLY GOT BARBECUED!”

“Pfft- Are all humans this dramatic?” She giggled as she offered him a hand.

Aiden hesitated, then took her hand, pulling himself up. “If blown up in the face with green fire, yes!” he gasped, his heart still racing.

“You did ask what being an elf was like”, her mismatched eyes twinkled with mischief, “And here we are! Welcome to Avalorn.”

Aiden took a deep breath, recovering from the shock. “Looks like I gotta watch out for cauldrons.”

Brigid giggled and playfully nudged him in the shoulders. “Trust me, round-ears. There’s more to Avalorn than being a human Barbeek.”

“Barbeque.”

“Whatever.”