Housen Sea Village

Several days prior to the princess's quest for the perfect human, in Housen Sea Village, the night of the Spirit Feast was made known to a human.

She laid perfectly still under her warm covers as the door to her room slowly opened and a dark figure stood still. It watched her with a small smile on its face before slowly approaching her and whispering.

"Iona, wake up." It placed its hand on her head moving the hair from her face.

"Sleep." She murmered turning the other direction. The figure laughed.

"It's the Spirit Feast." It taunted as she then jolted out of bed rubbing her eyes with a big smile.

"I get to see it?" She jumps up and puts her arms around his neck.

"Only if you get your shoes on." She smiles.

"Ok! Ok! Go get mom!" She looks for some socks but stops him before getting to the door.

"Wait Damon! Do I need a coat?" She tilts her head.

"I think you will find the Spirit Feast to be rather warm." He smiles.

"Ok, you're the Dark Elf, you know whats best!" She smiles brightly all excited.

Damon then knocked softly on his mom's door.

"Mom, it is Iona's first Spirit Feast. She wants you to come as well." Damon walked into the bathroom and brought his mom a glass of water. She sat up slowly and smiled taking a sip.

"Alright, hon. Hey do you have any of that pure energy?" She coughed a few times. First Damon looked worried closing his fist and looking away.

"Only a little, cause you are sick. You know it is bad if you get addicted." Damon took a deep breath.

"Ah that feels better, thanks sweetheart." She slipped her feet into some slippers and began to descend the stairs. At the bottom the found a very excited 6 year old.

"We should get down to the water." He places the Iona on his shoulders.

Their mom followed the two down. He owed her everything. If it wasn't for Kryslin he wouldn't have a family, though Kryslin cared not about any ideas of who the Dark elves were or what they stood for.

"Guys, its time." They watched as the sunset. The dark murky sea water turned clear and vibrant. Coral that wasn't there appeared within moments making the water glow all sorts of colors.

Fish appeared as well with different glowing designs and shapes, the Spirit Feast brought the ocean alive in a whole different way then it did in a forest or mountain setting.

"Get your feet wet." He placed down the girl.

"Iona, be careful. Damon watch her." Krislyn said as if to make sure the girl didn't get in over her head.

She looked to Damon who smiled and nodded, then held out his hand to which she took. He stood close to Iona as she took one step into the sea. Instead of hitting water she hit wet sand. They looked down to see the water was moving around her, more like it moved around Damon.

"Stay close. You will be fine."She takes another step as he does as well.

"Take Damon's hand." Krislyn squints at Iona following her own instructions as well.

"Ok" Iona took a deep breath.

With one on either side they began to walk at a slow pace, slowly the water came up over them. They neared one of the coral pods.

"We can't go any farther. We will disrupt the ecosystem." Damon instructed

"What's that?" Iona looked as a piece of coral broke off the main part and used the current to move towards them.

"This is a Karopice. Humans know not of its existence. Hello, friend." Damon spoke as a large creature comes from the coral.

"He makes himself look like nearby coral in order to capture lightning fish. They are the fish you can only see during this time."

"Wow."

"They can understand you." Damon informed them.

"Can I touch it?"

"Why don't you ask him?" Krislyn smiles.

"Caropice, can I touch you?" She asks through the water as Damon let go of Ionas hand and placed it out towards the floating coral. It reaches through the air bubble to meet Damon's hand.

"Its not wet, and its warm and so soft." Iona reached up touching the paw like arm, now seen as a brown patch of fur.

"It looks like scales to me? It even feels like scales." Krislyn reaches out.

"What does it look like to you?" Asks Iona as she realized how special this creature truly was and how important it was that it was never found.

"Stone, smooth stone." A small smile formed as he closed his eyes to feel the magic fading.

"Time to go." He smiled as the creature pulled back its arm.

"Ok."

He walked them up until it was only their feet, and then the water collapsed in on their feet. The time of the Spirit Feast was over. He walked them back to the house and placed Iona in her bed. She was already asleep.

"Goodnight, get some sleep." Krislyn places her hand in his hair and rubs.

"Ok mom, goodnight."

Damon had showed Krislyn all sorts of elf traditions. This was one that he didn't do often. They also wouldn't speak about it during the day to keep the time sacred. But it had been a few months and Krislyn had finally agreed to allow Iona to go. She thought it would be smart to teach Iona the proper ways to deal with this extremely delicate time.