The Drunk Elf Pirates and the Quest for the Wine-thieves

[Butterbeer]

just jack they called him ... though not for any moralistic reason that any could fathom ...

T'was a fine tree he thought randomly as he squinted melodramatically onto the open ocean and focused beadily on the ship sailing on for'ard tack straight towards the small island...

[Lady Willow Rose]

Enelya Tîwele stumbled across the island sand, grumbling softly to herself. She squinted her dark brown eyes against the sun while pushing her long brown hair out of her face. For those who knew of Eresse, they would be surprised to see the twin of her walking along the shore.

The half-Elven maid stopped suddenly when she spotted an odd looking pirate clinging to a lovely oak tree. He had to be a pirate, of course. No one could look like that without being a pirate.

Enelya gulped and pushed her spectacles up to their proper resting place, the bridge of her nose.

"Excuse me? Sir? Do you happen to know where we are?"

[Huorn]

That lovely 'Oak' tried to be still, but her leaves were quivering. Another person came stumbling along. This one was not as uncouth looking. She had long dark brown hair and dark brown eyes.

Oak Leaf quivering twigs caused a few of her ripe acorns to fall into the sand. Some even bounced off the Pirate.

[Lady Willow Rose]

Enelya blinked, momentarily distracted by the acorns rolling across the sand. She studied the tree a little more thoroughly. Is that a...?

The 'Oak' quivered again. Enelya gasped. It was! It was an Entmaid!

"Oh, goodness," she murmured before hurrying towards the pirate and the Entmaid.

[Huorn]

Oak Leaf squeezed her lustrous eyes shut and tried to look like just a tree. She could not hide the fact that she had a pretty face with leafy brows. her eyes were rather like those of a deer. Still she had a very human looking nose. She, otherwise looked like a slim, beautiful little tree with smooth, fair bark. Now the little Oak was trying to be still and let the ocean breeze play in her shiny leaves. Still she could hear the woman running toward her.

[Lady Willow Rose]

Enelya, completely ignoring the pirate, leaned close to the creature she was sure was an Entmaid. When Enelya was curious about something then all the world could vanish.

She spoke softly, in Elvish, to the little Entmaid. She told her of quiet valleys and misty hills. She told her about the beauty of her mother and the peace she knew growing up.

After ten minutes of uninterrupted speech, she caught the Entmaid's eyelid flickering upward.

[Huorn]

Finally Oak Leaf's lustrous green eye flickered open again and looked up at the woman talking to her. She squeaked in elvish. "Make the smelly Man go away. He scares me". Then Oak Leaf started to move more. She hid her face in her leafy bosom, lest the pirate see it. She didn't realize that action had caused her whole crown to move and wobble. She wasn't completely aware of all of that thick foliage on top.

[Lady Willow Rose]

Enelya nodded quickly and looked up at the pirate. "Would you mind terribly getting off this tree? I don't believe it fancies you hanging on its branches like that."

[Butterbeer]

Jack, with a juanty smile, obliged .... before falling into an exhausted heap on the floor ...

... with a cheeky smile on his face of course ...

[Lady Willow Rose]

"Well, um, thank you. You didn't have to fall quite so dramatically, though." Enelya adjusted her glasses slightly while taking a closer look at the pirate. "Now that I think about it, you look rather disheveled. Are you quite all right?"

[Butterbeer]

* in fact he looked jauntily dishelved in the xtreme ... in a rogueish way *

[Lady Willow Rose]

Enelya leaned over him in concern. "Sir, may I be of assistance?"

[Huorn]

Oak Leaf started to slip her roots from the sand. She worked them loose one by one. Then she slowly started to crawl away on her roots leaving Jack behind, sitting in the sand.

[Lady Willow Rose]

Enelya looked up from the fallen pirate when she heard the sudden rustle of leaves. The Entmaid was crawling away!

"Wait, stop!" she cried.

[Huorn]

Oak Leaf found a piece of drift wood on the sand and settled her root splay on it. She stared at Enelya and blinked with her deer-like eyes. She wiggled her branches, shaking the stiffness from them. Then she reached up to feel her hair. It was gone. All she found were branches. She pulled one of them down into her field of vision. It was covered in shiny red leaves. In fact her arm was a branch covered in twigs and leaves. She gave a distressed squeak. She felt something swishing behind her. She turned her head to see a limb growing from the back of her trunk. She looked toward Enelya, wondering if the Elf could explain what had happened to her.

[Lady Willow Rose]

Enelya cautiously drew closer to the distressed Entmaid. "Dear, could you tell me your name?"

[Huorn]

Now Oak Leaf's foliage was fluffing up like the feathers of a distressed bird. It made her round crown look bigger. She tried to pat down the leaves under her face. "I am called Doronlassil--Oak Leaf in the tongue of Men".

[Lady Willow Rose]

"It is a pleasure to meet you, Oak Leaf. My name is Enelya Tîwele." The half-Elf took a look at Oak Leaf's new foliage. "Goodness, you are growing quickly, aren't you?"

[Huorn]

Oak Leaf tried to pat it down. "No it's not growing. my leaves just stick up when I get sad. I used to have just a few leaves in my hair before I slept". The little Oak started to wimper.

[Lady Willow Rose]

Enelya gently brushed the leaves. "Dear, are you sure you aren't growing? Usually when one awakens with more of something than before, it means they are growing."