"Now come on!" Furious, Havir tried to grab the elf by the arm, but she fearfully kept dodging.  

"No." Shaking her head, she climbed up an old giant oak tree. 

"They won't hurt you!" His patience thread snapped. For what felt like an eternity now he tried to persuade her to go into the village ahead of them, but she simply refused. Nothing he said convinced her. 

"There is delicious food." He tried bribery. 

Shaking his head. 

"A cozy bed." 

Head shake. 

"A hot bath." 

Head shaking, all right, he'd guessed that. 

"Jewelry?" Head shake  

"Clothes?" Head shake. What on earth did women want, well apart from him? 

"Puppies?" Head shake. 

"Shoes?" Head shake. 

"Alright, how about a library? Yeah, yeah alright I know 'no'." to his surprise she jumped from the tree in a flash and pulled him by his sleeve towards the village. 

"Stop!" With his weight he braced himself against her. Irritated, she turned her head toward him and laid it on its side. 

"I'll have to camouflage you first. You'll stand out too much like this." nodding eagerly, she held still while he cast a transformation spell. Which enveloped her form in a fine mist until he released her transformed. Curious, Phoenice ran back to the lake they had passed a few minutes ago to look at herself.  

This was incredible! Fascinated, she turned over and over to see herself from all sides. She looked like a real person! Brown short hair with curls that surrounded her face, white skin, only her eyes showed her true nature. Questioningly she looked around at Havir. 

"Not even such a powerful mage as I can change the soul and with it the eyes. Take good care and always keep your head down!" Phoenice nodded. 

"Do you know the human language?" So far they had only conversed Nuola the language of magical beings. 

"Little one." She replied in human language. Havir's ears threatened to bleed at the poor pronunciation and bumpy grammar. 

"Well, we'll, tell you to be mute and stay away from humans! If they expose us, our heads will roll." Happy with his solution, he made his way toward the village, toward the pleasant things of life. 

Phoenice, however, was anything but happy. She firmly resolved to listen carefully to the people in the village, so as not to have to pretend she was unable to speak for the rest of the journey.  Otherwise she would be constantly dependent on him and that did not suit her at all.