8 Feas

Surprised at being called out to, Leo quickly recalled his lessons and promptly relied,

"I am called Leo. It is nice to meet you Natalie." Feeling proud at getting past his first real interaction. Iris giggled at how proud he looked while Natalie looked confused. 'Why does he look so proud from simply saying nice to meet you?' Since she had been gone all day, she didn't not know that he didn't speak their language. She soon found out however by simply carrying on the conversation.

"Well then Leo, now that I've met you; you seem like a strong young man with some potential. How would you like to join the hunters and learn not to repeat your last mishap?" Poor Leo couldn't keep up with his limited lesson. He got left behind in the conversation almost as soon as the words left Natalie's mouth. Feeling the pride he just felt getting destroyed he immediately became dispirited.

This confused Natalie as well, while Iris fell into another fit of giggles. She then explained Leo's situation to Natalie, who then felt awkward at being inconsiderate,

"I'm sorry for my inconsideration, I'll wait a while before asking you again." She then promptly walked away while Iris was still giggling. While he still didn't understand most of what she said, he at least got the point that she had began with an apology. Iris then led him to the area where the rest of the villagers were setting up for dinner. As they were walking he thought he saw a cold expression appear on her face, but it disappeared a moment later when the village kids swarmed them.

He saw that as the kids swarmed around the two of them, Iris adopted a "big sister" attitude while the children whose ages ranged from five to twelve bombarded them with questions. He guessed that he was the source of the kids questions as most of them were pointing to him. While some surrounded him directly, he could hear many times the few words Iris taught him asking what his name was. Before he could say anything however, Iris got the kids to quiet down and walked over to Leo gesturing at him,

"This is Leo, he doesn't speak very well yet though. So each of you has to be nice to him until he can learn. Ok?" The kids nodded their understanding. The. One of them pointed at him asked,

"Iris, is he your husband?" While Leo didn't know what the kid said, he did notice that Iris's ears suddenly turned very red and she hurriedly sent the kids away. Confused on what the kids were saying he was about to try to ask Iris when he noticed some giggling a ways away. Looking over he saw the gardening ladies from before looking their way and giggling, while talking amongst themselves quietly.

Deciding it was better not to ask, Iris soon dragged him towards the people who were cooking the days kill. As they walked around, Leo kept an eye on His surroundings while Iris attempted to explain various things about dinner. Soon the food was ready and it was time to eat. With several tables set up, they were able to accommodate the entire village population and then some. Iris sat him at a table next to her along with elder grandma, Jack, Natalie, Lucy, and Austin. As they sat down he noticed that Lucy and Austin sat close together, as well as Natalie and Jack. Seeing the way they interacted with each other Leo realized they must be married and smiled.

The real surprise though, was a moment later when Lucy moved her hair and a slightly pointed tip showed itself. Gaping at what he saw Leo was only able to get one word out,

{ELF!} At his exclamation everyone looked at him causing him to become embarrassed at his outburst. He shyly apologized, and everyone returned to their meal. Thinking about it calmly, he wasn't sure she was a real elf. Everyone else in the village had shown some kind of uniqueness, so he reasoned he had simply confused slightly pointed ears for elf ears.

As the meal resumed, Iris was pointing out various dishes and telling him their names. What he saw on the table though was similar to what he would expect from his own world though. While he wouldn't be able to identify the different types of meat, there were potatoes, salads, corn, loaves of bread, and many other things he familiar with. Seeing him grabbing a little bit of everything, Iris gave up explaining and let Leo simply try everything on his own. She couldn't help smiling as she watched him scarf down all the food he had piled on his plate.

Austin the town healer also looked satisfied after seeing Leo's gluttonous appetite. While satisfied that he had his appetite after recently recovering, they were also hoping that he wouldn't eat like that all the time. They might not make it though winter if that was the case! After satisfying most of his appetite, Leo started looking around and examining the surrounding people. After doing so he realized something that shocked him. There were no people the same age as him and Iris!

Leo had been wondering why a girl as amazing as Iris would spend so much time and attention on him. As he looked around the towns inhabitants he thinks he could guess that was why. The youngest people out of those older than them were at least in their mid twenties. While the oldest of the children was around twelve. Apparently with the towns low population there was a generation gap, and Iris happened to be caught in the middle of it. After noticing this he also noticed something else, where were her parents?

He figured he would have met them during the day or at least while they were eating diner. Especially as it seemed like Iris had been the main one taking care of him. However the only ones he met and felt that she was relatively close to, were elder grandma and Natalia! Neither one seemed to have any familial resemblance to her though. Thinking about it he decided this probably wasn't an appropriate time to ask about it.

He did attempt to ask however, if there was an occasion for the feast that night. Getting his question across to Iris, she then gave him a blank look for a second and then pointed to him.