Derrix’s small smile didn’t leave his face as he listened carefully to Vaeri. At the end of her rehearsed speech the man put her hand on her elbow and spoke gently, yet naturally commanding, “in my eyes, we are one and the same. You will have to tell me the ways of your people, the elves, and I will tell you of the Charlinites and the Karkarthians.”

	There was a humble look in his golden eyes, as well as a look of understanding of a possible different interpretation.