Helani convinced one of Emit’s staff members to take over checking the guests as they continued to arrive; she wanted to apologize to her sister for taking so long to join in the celebration, and her feet needed a break from all the standing around. Hoosal had finally realized that she was going to need some time to gather her thoughts, and had been luxuriating in the festivities for a while. The royal elf went through the back door, down the steps into the yard, and she crossed over to an empty chair on the right of the citizen elf who had a crush on her. The seating had been purposely arranged in that way, and she smiled as she sat down.
Honor was in the middle of the speech he’d written for his wife, she did not want to interrupt him, and leaned over to whisper in his ear, “Hello, again, stranger. Has he been at it long?”
The citizen smiled, he leaned her direction, and whispered in her ear this response, “Hey, there, better lookin’ than me, I was beginning to wonder if you’d lost your nerve”.
“Me, lose my nerve? Let me tell you one thing, my name is not Helani Hellcat for nothing, I don’t lose my nerve, but you might, buddy”, she whispered back.
“As long as you didn’t run off with your tail between your legs, I’m alright with waiting however long it takes you to return. Look, I know Honor like the back of my hand, and I can tell you that he’s going to be gushing about his wonderful wife, with all of her distinguishing attributes for quite a while, you wanna take off, get out of here for a little bit?” Hoosal asked.
“I cannot do that to my sister, she invited me here to help her celebrate, but because you take my breath away, I volunteered to greet guests and check their coats, along with the gifts they brought so that I know no one is trying to assassinate my sister before Inheritance Day. Therefore, I am just now joining Emit’s graduation party, and you want me to run off with you while Honor is in the midst of his award-winning speech? Have you lost your mind?” Helani asked.
“Fine, stay here if you want, let him bore you to tears with his mindless droning on and on. I’m going down the hill behind us where there’s a tiny little beach, and some of the bluest water your eyes have ever seen. I’m going to get undressed, and I’m going swimming because it’s the end of May, and the nights seemingly never end during this time of year; it’s my favorite time to swim. Now, you can be a prude, and stay up here with your sister, or you can be open-minded along with brilliant-minded, and you can join me down there. Either way, no matter what you do, I’m going swimming”, Hoosal challenged. As he spoke to the young elf, he’d begun to shed his boots and his socks and his shirt, and by the time she realized it, he’d started to unbutton his trousers.
Helani’s hand went directly over her eyes, and she whispered loudly, “What do you think you are doing? You’re getting naked in front of everybody, now I know you’ve lost your mind”.
“You don’t pay attention very well, do you think our seats were placed the way they were just so that we could talk? If you do, you’d be wrong. My brother, Honor Michelson, he knows that I’m not going to stick around while he’s in what I lovingly call ‘speech mode”, because he’ll still be talking three or four hours from now, and he knows that I get easily bored. So, he strategically placed our chairs around the table so that I can get undressed, right here, and not one other elf can see me, except you. Please join me for a nice, cool, evening swim, I’ve already talked to your sister, and she agreed that you didn’t have to sit through Honor’s speech unless you absolutely want to. She’s forgiven you for your absence ahead of time, and said that if she wasn’t married to the elf, she’d jump in the water with us. However, because they’re married, and because he’s talking about her accomplishments, she won’t leave, unless there’s an emergency. So, I’ll ask you for the third time to please come swimming with me, but I won’t ask you again. You see? I’m a proud one, and...