Grumbling all the while, I wrapped the box back up. We walked a little further into the forest until we reached a clearing where we could spend the night. While Bowen pitched the tent, Giulia searched her book for the firestarter spell and had a roaring blaze going in seconds.

I gathered some herbs from a nearby bush. I found some good ones, too: rosemary and even some mint. They would be good for flavoring our meat and ensuring sweet dreams. I held the rosemary up to my nose and breathed in deeply. The scent always reminded me of my mother. She was the most beautiful elf in all of Elvenglade, so beautiful that even my father, a powerful sorcerer, was bewitched by her. Now both my parents were dead and I was all that was left: a halfling, with both elven and sorcerer’s blood running through my veins.

The only part of me that was elf-like was my slanted ice-colored eyes. People often didn’t believe I was an elf because I didn’t have pointed ears. But there were times that I felt more elf than anything else.