This was my original idea for Shadowsblade, very little TG in the main plots

I am just posting it to see if anyone like this so far and understand this part would be about chapter 5 or 6 out of ten plus
and note BIG TIME if I did write this, it would not be 'cute and fluffy' think more long the lines of bloody revolutionary war

tell me what you all think PLEASE?

A very young looking girl was leading a pack of very well dressed business people down one of the huge walkways of an enormous indoor mall that seemed to have a very natural look to its design and overall appearance, as if it was almost grown versus made by hand. The place appeared that it was formed right out of solid rock and several parts looked like they were once trees or huge roots that grew to form the rest of the stones around them. The ceiling far above that let in light into the huge structure simmered of organic crystal rather than clean panes of flat man made glass. The flooring looked like marble in parts, yet others looked like river smoothed stonework of some sort and the patterns they showed flowed right along with the walls…not many right angles here, it all looked like the whole complex grew versus being man made.

The guide stopped and she pointed out one level below to the group she was leading, “That is the food court and most of this end of the complex’s sit down restaurants are connected to this section here.” A man with a TV news camera swung from her face slowly down to the levels below to get a better shot of what she had just pointed out.

“Are there any other restaurants in the mall and commerce center?” a man asked out, who seemed to be leading the group she was guiding through the mall.

“Yes Senator Goebbert, the mall or complex has a dozen other restaurants of various types or themes and costs. We tried to cover all the bases when we Sidhe built this place,” the girl said and she swept some of the loose hair covering her ear away to show that her ears were topped off by elegant points and as the TV camera focused closer on her face you could make out the purple speckled eyes she had, ones that had a rather neat soft glow to them.

“Nice and I can tell by that glow in your eye, that you are a magic user?” he questioned.

“I will be, I just finished my change five weeks ago and have yet to attend my classes or training.” she smiled back.

“Hummm so recent?” he asked again.

“Yes Senator I am just about the last part of generation four, five starts two months after my change month or is born and so on.” she sighed she was kind of sick of explaining how the generations of Sidhe worked all the time to humans.

One of the group, a Japanese woman, bowed slightly her way, “Where is my nation’s flagship restaurant going to reside?”

“Ambassador Matsui, your national restaurant and business offices will be in the east wing. We laid out the complex based on the earth. If a nation is east of the US, it's housed in the east wing and thus Europe is in the west wing.” she explained and pulled up a map on her large data pad to show the woman better.

“How is the construction coming along, I have not had too many updates.” The Japanese ambassador continued to inquire.

“The restaurant is fully built, now the owner and head chef are going over interior decorations. Then I am sure more staff will be hired and I will bet they will open the first week of next month if all goes well on their end…we Sidhe are finished with our part and it's up to you humans to finish off the rest to your satisfaction.” The guide got a quick nod back that signaled the ambassador's last question was answered fully.

“I have to ask, has your Queen found a member of your race that is Chinese?" an angry, stern sounding asian man asked as the camera man framed up his face in his viewfinder for the question.

“No Ambassador, it seems that the Sidhe only come from people descended from the areas of Ireland, the UK, parts of France, some of Germany and some of the Scandinavian nations.” she said while thinking to herself, ’maybe your nation should not have murdered all of the first generation to change or were ‘reborn’ that just happened to be inside or reside within your national borders at the time’. The TV camera noted her pausing while drifting off deep in her own personal thoughts.

“May we ask what you are thinking and feeling now?” the news person that accompanied the TV camera asked with a small stick mike aimed at the young elf.

She recalled learning that China had killed them all through cruel experiments and study while trying to pass the Sidhe racial trait over to a regular Chinese person. They were trying to pass over to unchanged humans, the Sidhe abilities to use and control magic. Most of the world did the same and murdered with their experiments all of the first generation of Shide to reawaken and change to new age Shide. The only saving grace was that the first generation only numbered less than a hundred. The next generation to change or be reborn, numbered in the thousands and suffered greatly till they freed themselves from the labs and prisons with the help of the very ancient elders.

The young elf snapped back to the here and now, said with a practiced fake smile, “Ahhh nothing really.”

The TV camera swung over to the Chinese ambassador for his reaction to her answer and he looked so angry that he might burst into flames at any second, he was in a very large club of nations that had ZERO Sidhe naturally within their borders. China, Russia, all of Africa and the middle east were in the same club and all of them murdered off that small first generation of those that changed and large parts of the second. Even the United States joined in on the experiments aimed at trying to control what some saw as the new “nuke” of the age…magic!

“Let’s keep going on our tour shall we? We have a huge complex to look over today before you sit down with the council of elders and the queen elect tomorrow.” the young elven woman suggested and started to continue walking and thus drag the group along with her for the most part.

As the group moved along the news woman put her mike closer to the Chinese ambassador, “So ambassador Yongliang how do you feel…your nation feels, not having any natural Sidhe or magic users within your homeland or borders?” The snarl that crossed the Asian man’s face was the answer to the probing question and the silence left the air of the tour on edge.

“In this section we have most of the shops the Sidhe have set up to trade with the rest of the human world, the rest are your ambassadorial offices and the medical wing to the south and to the north where we cure humans of everything from ranging cancer to major nervous diseses.” the guide went on trying to steer the group away from the bad taste left by the last series of questions.

“Is it true you demand billions from some people to be cured of ailments and other diseases that threaten their lives?” the reporter asked and hoped she had landed a sound bite for her show. She was that utterly beautiful type of reporter that needed a real “scoop” of importance and substance to jumpstart her career up to the next level of gaining her own show.

“Yes we have, AND the cost is based on your personal ability to pay to save your life. The one person I am sure you are thinking of is that rather mouthy billionaire that went on a tirade after we Sidhe saved his life. He thought the whole process should only cost him a few million and not ninety percent of his nearly six hundred billion that he amassed in personal wealth.” she gave flatly back and seemed very ready for that question.

“Is not asking…no demanding a prepayment of over five hundred billion excessive before you cure a person’s cancer and save their life? It's like their lives are being held ransom!" the reporter jabbed back verbally.

“All I can say is we base all fees and costs on a person’s ability to pay…what they are worth. We just cured a ten year old child from the UK of their leukemia only last week and their total cost out of pocket was two hundred and fifteen dollars including transportation from the UK to right here and back to the UK for the whole family.” she grinned back knowing she had won.

“BUT over five hundred billion! That cost in the other man’s case is insane!” the reporter said again trying to gain the advantage in the debate and gain a headline or two.

“Mr Denzos is just fine, he is just mad that the medical costs to cure him of his cancer ended his chances at building the world's biggest yacht and he had to sell four homes plus his private Airbus A330 jet to fill our needs for a ‘donation’ for our services! He is now cured of his cancer, his eye sight was also fixed so he can toss his glasses, plus we fixed his limp and a major injury to his right hand that he received during that crash of his five million dollar Ferrari three years ago! I personally think he gained far more than he paid us Sidhe for." she laughed slightly at the question of cost for a man still worth nearly one hundred billion AFTER his life was saved.

“That maybe, but that cost is insane nonetheless.”

“Like I said, it's all based on ability to pay and he had the ability to pay that amount in question and with ease. He is still worth well over one hundred billion today…far far richer than ninety nine percent of the planet. He could just jam all that money in a simple government bond and be VERY rich for generations. But let's get back to our tour and maybe debate this subject later on in the tour or another day shall we?”

As the group strolls along, the girl guides them and keeps them on track. Down the huge walkway a group of four well armed elves walk towards them, they look like they are enjoying the new mall and taking in the sights as friends.

One of the reporters gasps, “Look paladins!"

The humans call groups of shide like this ‘paladins’ the dungeon and dragons reference stuck to them because of the internet and that they do fight for a single cause...defense of their race from all comers and challengers. They are small groups of fighters that defended the Sidhe race while the humans sought to rule it or destroy it a decade back. Most groups are five in number, Two of the set are close in fighters that specialize in blades and hand to hand combat, two others are specialists in bows and using magic enhanced arrows. The last one is a very powerful magic user that empowers the group's weapons and defense…the other fours main purpose is to protect the well trained magic user from harm as they are very rare.

The group stops when it sees the tour and seems to mull over coming closer to them, as if it's distasteful to them to even be near humans now. The leader seems to overrule the group and they walk on towards the politicians and reporters.

“See Valandor, the group is led by one of us and she is cute!” the leader says.

One of the reporters speaks up as they recognize the leader of the group of paladins, “Its Sylvaris Eldorin, he was just elected Master Eldritch War Mage for the Queen!”

The young beautiful reporter that is looking for a headline thinks she just found her’s, “So you are Sylvaris Eldorin, the same elf that testified before congress on the mass genocide of your race’s first generation and many of the secound?”

The elf gives the young woman a stern look, “that is all of the first NEW generation were murdered to the last soul and many of the second NEW generation…we say NEW because this is the NEWEST age among many the Shide have had! Then add we are not “elves” but we are SIDHE! Please call us by the correct terms or we will not speak with you any farther!”

“Understood, but you are that Sidhe, yessss…?” she questions again.

“I am”

“Well Senator Mike Goebbert is right here,” she says, pulling the senator forward by his arm and then asks “Will you comment on your testimony to congress and the senate?”

He chuckles and mutters in Sidhe to his buddies, then they all laugh, “Yes I will comment about my time testifying before senate when Senator Goebbels was leading the panel.”

The senator stiffens as anyone can tell he was just insulted, “My name is Goebbert, NOT Goebbels…I am not that Nazi monster!”

“You could have fooled me Goebbels,” he said again with scarasium dripping on each letter “with you leading the way in the press and on TV each night to make us Sidhe into monsters that must be destroyed. You wanted us all dead or controlled by you only or steal our powers and long lives for yourselves!”

“We did not, at the time you were dangerous!” He insisted, taking note of the Elvin leader’s overcoat and delicate embroidery all along its cuffs, four bands of gold, one fully black with one weave of red and gold to mark the murdered first generation of the new age. The second one was his generation and its band had several bands of red in it showing he was part of that generation and was wounded in combat more than once.

The rest of the sleeve was covered in embroidered vines and leaves, each leaf represented a month of battle and color marked how much he was involved, silver for some combat, gold for lots of combat that month and then each leaf had berries on them. A black berry meant he killed one person, silver over five, gold over ten and a crystal meant hundreds…his vines had all gold leaves and almost all leaves had several gold berries and a few even had crystal ones.

This Sidhe had seen many fights or battles in the last few years and been in them all on some part and each death marked by a berry, was one of the Senator’s fellow humans and most likely a US citizen or soldier that died by this Sidhe’s very hands...and the large embroidery on his overcoat showed he was proud to do so!

“Was that the time you killed off a whole generation of my kind, the now dead were dangerous or were we dangerous while you carved my body up on an exam table and nearly gutted me like a fish…” the Leader Shide growled back and anyone could tell that he was angry at what had happened to him at the hands of humans.

The reporter remembers back to Sylvaris Eldorin and his testimony before congress, where the video of his eye being removed from his head was shown. He had no anesthesia at the time and his chest was already cut open and his rib cage laid to one side so the medical team could examine his guts and beating hearts easier.

These images being released to the internet swayed public opinion that the Sidhe race was being wiped out and experimented on even worse than the 1940’s holocaust in Germany. The outcry from the public ended many politicians careers except the senator here…he seems to have the luck of the gods themselves protecting him from being voted out of office or impeached for his crimes!

“Now…now Mister Eldorin,” the Senator starts but Sylvaris stops him with a bark, “My title is Master Eldritch War Mage for the Queen or for you “Mage” will do for now…human!” he spat back at the man.

The Senator clears his throat and starts again and steps towards Sylvaris, but is stopped in his tracks when one of the sword masters by Sylvaris’s side grabs the hilt of one of his blades and starts to draw it out. The Senator understands the threat and steps back…the cameras take all the interaction in for the viewers to see when it's all edited for broadcast later.

“But Mage, let's put the past in the past. We settled this war of ours with a treaty and let our races become friends? He asks and extends a hand to the elf.

“I can do that, become friends ONLY if you finally admit your part in the experiments on my race that you led and help fund with your secret senatorial votes on the committee of the time? I know you wanted our longer lives for yourself and even tried a transfusion of one of our fellow Shide’s blood for yours…sadly it did not kill you Senator like it did many others! I hear you might have gained decades from the process, it's VERY rare for it to work and the amount of processed blood kills at least three of us Sidhe along the way.” (little does the Senator know the other Sidhe have a connection with him now, one that he is unaware of, one that lets them almost know his very thoughts)

The reporter suddenly asks when she hears the revelation “Is this true Senator, you took part in the experiments yourself and benefited from them…the deaths of Sidhe?”

“It's not true, there is no proof!” the Senator says quickly, "Ask him how many of our soldiers he killed!”

“I killed many in battle, a battle you sent them to die in while you yourself cowered in DC behind miles of land and divisions of troops and your human tech!”

“Still there is no proof that I took part in those experiments or ordered any of them!”

“Yet,...” the elf says, letting the statement that there is no evidence “for now” sit and hang in the air there like a threat “but Senator I am not going to debate you here today or shake your hand…I can not forgive a monster like you that easily!”

“Let it go for now Sly,” one of the archers says in the Sidhe language to his friend and one of the sword masters, she pats his back as she says “Yes lets leave him here and the media will feast on what has been said so far, it will take him weeks to fix the mess you made of him today.”

The young girl steps forward and speaks to Sly in Sidhe, but it's a bit broken and hard for her to speak. It's obvious she is still learning the language or really trying to train her body to speak it.

“Speak english young one…we do not care if they hear us.”

“I am going to be in your first class!” she boasts.

“Nice and then we will see if you can keep up, but I see the flow is deep within you. We just have to teach you to tap into it, control it and you will be great! Sly smiles at her. (the ‘flow’ is magical essence the elves all feel, not all elves command magic on major levels like Sly does…its rare)

“I hope so,”

“So how long have you been reborn?”

“Just over three months, I have issues with our language, it seems?” she said, sad that she seems not to be able to speak Sidhe as well as she thinks she should by now.

“Well then, we will work on that and little hint speak it all the time even to yourself. If you talk to yourself in english you will have trouble…think Sidhe, speak Sidhe and be Sidhe! Understand?”

“Yes…but I will see you soon?”

“You will, I will send a message for a class meeting and greet before class starts. But what is your name?”

“I am now Alariel or I was Mary in my human days and my old job was PR, so they gave me this job till I start class.” she explained.

“Well you practice that Sidhe and ask ‘the chorus’ for help, we are all brothers and sisters now…we help each other.’ Sly says switching back to Sidhe for privacy and she nods to him.

(the chorus, every Sidhe is a part of ‘the chorus’ within a second of them fully changing from a human to a Sidhe. They can hear each other's thoughts and feelings, it sounds like a huge beautiful song that never ends. Rarely does one cut themselves off from ‘the chorus’ unless it's to save the group from pain or when you need privacy. ‘The chorus’ is what connected and helped most of the Sidhe through tough times, like when many were being experimented on by the US and other nations. There are many rules of ‘the chorus’...top most is if you ‘hear’ the song of your life partner join in on ‘the chorus’ after their change finishes, you have to close them off for one month after they change. That is so they have time to adjust to their new life. Anyone that hears their lifemate in the chorus will know them instantly. As you both have your own “song” that only you both can hear and your kids are or will be on the same "frequency' is the only way to put it.)

The group of paladins walks away from the tour group, “So where to head for lunch, all that arguing made me hungry?" one of the sword masters says.

“Zephryna please, you just stood there as I tore into the Senator,” Sly says to his companion

“Yaaa but it still made me hungry?" she laughs.

“I am sad our little group has to break up, we have been together everyday since the rescue at the labs. We have fought together, killed hundreds if not thousands of humans together and they never had a chance!” he laughs at the group.

“Well we are at peace with them now?” says Aerannon one of the swordmasters of the pack of five better known as a “hand of the Shide” a ‘hand’ has five members. Two archers for distance, two swordmasters for close in work and a magic user at the core…the others protect the magic user, the BIG GUN of the unit!

“For now we are at peace…we took two of their nukes they tried to use on our race to murder us all and we used one of their own nukes on them to prove a point, now we hold that second one as an ‘ace’ for now. Too bad they don’t understand magic can be even more deadly than a nuke made by human science!” Sly said, leading the way towards them having a nice lunch inside the new mall and commerce center.

I have to thank, Both Branek and Nuuan for their vast input and the ability they both have to 'bounce' off ideas and improve them!

To all my readers who have e-mailed me and given support--THANKS!

Please feel free, to add a review to this story and others. As those kind words are 'cookies' that keeps that muse well fed on the 'sometimes' long breaks between stories!

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