"Why? Wow... is that a sorcerer's instinct?" Nana exclaimed softly.
"No!"
With the reputation of sorcerers at stake, Annan had to explain. "Yi... Tadel said you represent your respective peoples. If I got you to like me, it would bring the Elven Royal Court and Free City closer together."
Tadel was an Elder. He could take the blame.
Annan's shoulders slumped as he spoke. "But I think I failed..."
"You didn't have to do that at all." Nana crouched in front of him, as if coaxing him. "Elder Tadel told us to like this place, but I already do."
"I guess that's true..." Annan paused. "What about Iris and Morrigan?"
"Hmm... those two are a little tricky." The lively Wood Elf offered him some advice. "Ai-ris is a lot like me, but she'll probably want to observe you for a while longer. Morrigan... her temper swings too far. The Orcs offended her, so she might end up hating you too!"
"How about this? I'll ask around about Morrigan. You go strike up a conversation with Iris first! I remember she likes children. You could try that!" Nana volunteered.
"You're a good Elf."
Nana blinked. "Does that mean we're friends now?"
"Of course!"
"Yay! Then you have to let me see your next work before anyone else."
"Of course!"
The process had gone differently from what Annan imagined, but the result was the same: he had made his first friend among the envoys.
On his way back from the Park to the City Lord's Mansion, Annan asked where Iris was.
"Lord Annan, she went to see Minister Dade at the Ministry of Agriculture."
Ai-ris had not forgotten the envoys' mission—to learn about Free City.
Over the past two days, she had visited the Wheat Field to the north, the Industrial