Who are the Sylph anyway?

On the first ring of my alarm, I wake up.

"Good morning Karina, I hope you had a pleasant night?" My virtual assistant chimes.

"Morning KARIS," I quickly hop out of bed.

"Someone's in a hurry this morning," KARIS says.

"Yes, I'm meeting up with Kalon and Kaedan for breakfast in my sunroom. We're going to make preparations for the king and prince's arrival and to make sure everything's perfect, by properly studying them because they're a race of people that literally spend their entire lives so far off in the sky."

I quickly brush my teeth and try not to take too much time in the shower. For my skin care routine, I steam my face and use oils and lotions to moisturize my skin. After much struggle, I finally tame those wild obsidian coloured locks and release my hair to flow freely down my shoulders to my waist, then I proceed to wear a long sleeved floor length yellow and white floral patterned maxi dress that has two inconspicuous pockets on both sides of the dress.

"KARIS."

"Yes, your grace."

"I need you to look for a suitable replacement for Elva till she returns." I say as I slip on my jewelry.

"But you don't like anyone attending to you except her," Answers KARIS.

"Yes, I know. But I don't have much of a choice. It's quite difficult to get ready each day without help and a struggle to get this hair to stay put." I say as I wear my sandals.

"Alright then, I'll make sure to have gotten a suitable replacement by the time you get back." There's a beeping sound like he's putting something down.

"Thank you KARIS. Anyway I have to go now. I'll contact you on my coms if I need help." I tap the device imprinted on the skin behind my ear.

I walk out of the room only to bump into my personal royal body guard who has been away since the birth of his sister's first child a couple of weeks ago.

Balin is a soldier. Father has a deep respect for him. He grew up with my father and they've been friends for as long as I can remember. I think he's actually one of the few people who can talk to my father and he'll listen mainly because of the deep level of trust and respect father has for him. It's no wonder he was put in charge of my protection. We're practically family.

"Uncle Balin," I give him a warm smile, extending the first two fingers on my right hand folding in my thumb and gently touching my forehead with it then returning it in his direction while my left arm is on my chest close to my heart. A typical Yavannian greeting.

"When did you get back?" I hug him.

"I just arrived." He gives me a wild grin.

"So, how was your trip? How's the baby? Is it a girl? Is it a boy? Is it a girl or a boy?" I say all at once.

"It's a-,''

I cut him off before he answers. "Oh don't tell me. It's a cute little boy isn't it?"

"Actually it's a baby girl." He chuckles.

"Even better." I clap excitedly.

At his age I wonder why he hasn't settled down yet.

"Anyway we'll catch up later I have to get some things done."

"Catch up later?" He looks confused. ''You haven't replaced me have you?"

"Replaced you?"

"Never."

"I just wanted you to settle and get some rest, you just got back after all." I say,

Uncle Balin says. "Nonsense. I'm fine."

I move closer to him and take both of his hands in mine. "I insist."

"Now I'll see you later." I give him a gentle kiss on the cheek and head to the direction of Kalon's room to avoid any further argument.

"Good morninggg." I say in a high pitched voice as I walk into Kalon's room.

"Oh, it's you." Kalon's long brown hair is anywhere but down at the moment.

"Good to see you're up, Now get dressed and meet me in the sunroom on my floor in 20 minutes."

"Fine." She grumbles.

Next on the list is Kaedan.

I take the teleporter to Kaedan's floor.

As usual I knock again and again but there's no response at the other side of the door.

Looks like I'm going to have to drag him out of bed.

"Rise and shine." I open his curtains.

"Ahhh my eyes. It burns, it burns." He screams and while trying to avoid the light he falls off his bed and gets tangled in his sheets.

"What's it going to take for you to wear a shirt?" I squat beside him.

"You couldn't have been gentler about waking me up, could you?" Kaedan groans.

"But I haven't even laid my hands on you yet." I giggle.

Kaedan tries to stand. "Well you must be really serious about this whole thing if you're up early and waking everyone."

"Whatever, just get ready and meet me in my sunroom for breakfast and further discussions. You can bring any material you know will prove useful and can help us. Please be quick about it, Kalon and I will be waiting for you."

So while Kaedan gets ready I meet Kalon in the sunroom already digging into her salad. We both eat as we talk, shortly after, Kaedan joins us.

"So what do we know about the Sylphvian elves?" Asks Kalon.

"Well, we know they're air elementals." Replies Kaedan.

"They are a race of elves who spend almost their entire lives soaring high in the sky because they have big powerful wings. Their wings aren't only huge and strong but the wings of the Sylph are colourful, their feathers are arranged in colours." I add.

"So basically they're just like any typical elf that is very tall, have long hair, very good hearing, keen eyesight with sharpened and heightened senses...yes?" asks Kalon.

"Yes". Answers Kaedan. "I think the only physical difference about them are their eye colour and wings."

"Yes, the book says the Sylph have an almost unnatural eye colour. Unlike the three eye colours that we Yavannian elves posses, the Sylph posses a lot more." I read out loud. "But I'll have to disagree with Kaedan on something. Those aren't the only physical differences they have." I continue reading.

"Like the Phoenix or other magnificent birds, the Slyph have very keen eyesight just slightly above a typical elf as they can spot things when in the air from a far distance. And Kalon, unlike us most of the males actually keep short hair."

"Looks like I'm gonna find myself a hot Slyphvian elf." Kalon smirks.

Kaedan rolls his eyes.

"Oh and not only do they have a broader range of eye colours but hair colour as well." I point out.

"Alright alright apart from wings, pretty eyes and hair what other important thing should we know about them." Kaedan picks at his finger nails looking bored.

"Well they eat meals that are cooked with meat. There's a variety of food and recipes here that I can tell the chefs to prepare." I grin widely.

In your face Father.

"Oh...yeah." Kaedan joins me.

"Ughhhhh." Says Kalon.

Moving on...

''They don't like swimming and don't like unnecessarily hot places."

"Noted." Replies Kaedan.

"So if you should push one into a pool what'll happen?" The question comes from Kalon.

"Kalon, what happens when you put a bird that spends most of it's life in the air into the water." Kaedan says sarcastically.

"Kalon let's not try to find out okay?" The last thing I want is to upset our guests or drown them as the case may be. "But overall, from what I'm seeing here the Sylph seem generally friendly. I wonder what happened though."

"What happened?" Kaedan looks confused.

"Oh nothing, I'm just wondering why it's been such a long time we've had a Sylph king visit Yavanna."

"Anyway they kiss both your cheeks in greeting or give a slight bow." I continue reading from the book.

"Oh guys, I'm so glad we don't have classes today." I pause my reading.

"Yeah me too." Kaedan says.

Kalon is home schooled or palace schooled as the case may be.

There's a national holiday in honour of the royal Sylph's arrival and it's going to last a while because we've not had one on Yavannian soil in centuries so it's a really big deal for the people of this nation.

We talk some more, spending the rest of the day doing more research and making arrangements for the arrival of the royal monarchs.