Chapter 3: Touring Valendale

	Passing between the two worlds was as easy as crossing a room, which amazed James.  He was now in an entirely different place.
	The warmth of the glowing from the doorway was quickly replaced by the light breeze and fresh air of the forest that James now found himself in.
	This particular forest was bright and teeming with life, the trees seem to reach up as far as they could towards the heavens, which when looking up into the beautiful blue sky, James saw not one, but two giant yellow suns sitting there beaming their light and heat happily through the trees towards the forest floor, they were definitely not on Earth anymore.
	The portal behind them closed with a pop.
	"This way James," said Saralond pointing in the direction away from the spot where the portal once stood.  "The town is a little this way."
	 "Where are we Saralond?" asked James taking in all that he could while walking through the forest with Saralond by his side.  "I've never seen a forest so big and beautiful before, not even in pictures!"
	"This, my eager little friend, is Valendale Forest," answered Saralond.  "It's my home-forest.  I was born and grew up within these trees.  We're heading towards my town, Valendale."
	James looked up into the bright, blue sky and noticed something different, something that didn't immediately catch his eye until now.
	"There's two suns!" said James amazed.  "That's so cool!"
	"Yes," said Saralond with a chuckle.  "I was just as surprised to see your one sun the first time I visited your world."
	A question bolted into James' mind.
	"The first time..." he asked.  "Exactly when was that might I ask?"
	"Oh... wow... couldn't have been that long since my first visit," said Saralond.  "One, maybe two hundred years ago."
	James stumbled at hearing this.  He wasn't expecting such a grand number.
	"Exactly how old are you then?" asked James.
	"Me?  I'm only 367 years old," she replied.
	James stopped in his tracks.
	"You're 367 years old?" said James stunned.
	"Yes," replied Saralond.
	"Then exactly how long do elves live for?"
	"Average life span of an elf is about 2000 years."
	Again, this wasn't a number that James was expecting to hear.
	"You can live for 2000 years?" asked James astonished by the fact.
	"Yes, I'm relatively young though.  In comparison to humans, I'm a... teenager I think you call them."
	"Well, You don't look a day over 250," said James with a sheepish grin on his face and a stagger in his step.
	Saralond blushed.
	Fifteen minutes had passed since they entered Allassea.  They soon came to a set of wooden gates towering over the forest.  They looked as if they were meant to keep bad things out of the quiet town.  James tried to get a peek over the walls, but they were just too high to see anything on the inside.
	Walking up to a sturdy looking door pasted in the middle of the huge gate, Saralond gave it a couple loud knocks.
	Not knowing what to expect, James watched as a small peephole opened in the door and a pair of eyes glanced out to greet the two visitors.
	"Who are you and what do you want?" said the eyes.
	"I'm Saralond, daughter of the Grand Elder," said Saralond in a commanding voice.  "I have with me the chosen one from earth who will be training with us."
	"Saralond?" repeated the eyes.  "Forgive us m'lady, we had no idea t'was you."
	At that, a rumbling could be heard inside as the huge double-set gates opened wide to allow them access to the insides of the town.
	It was only until now that James could see into Valendale.  He wouldn't of believed it had he not seen it with his own two eyes.
	From what could be seen through the open gates, the town looked as if it was built into the forest.  It was all so green that the mere sight of it was breathtaking, James figured during the autumn the town would look even more fantastic.
	"Daughter of the Grand Elder?" said James perplexed.  "Does that make you some kind of royalty or somethin'?"
	"Well... ummm... yeah, sorta," said Saralond blushing.  "I'm sure my father will tell you everything you need and want to know.  But, for now that'll have to wait till I've shown you around a bit."
	The gates closed with a thud behind them.
	Saralond stood out in front of James and spread out her arms.
	"Welcome James... to Valendale," she said courteously.  "I'll show you around the place a bit, but first we have to check in on my brother.  You'd probably enjoy meeting him anyways."
	James nodded in agreement.
	They started walking into the town.  James found himself speechless as to the wondrous sights that were now befalling his eyes.
	The town looked as beautiful and happy as the forest, maybe even more so.
	"What's that building over there for?" James asked pointing to a rather bulky looking building which looked to have been built around a tree, it had a large pile of wood and a bunch of logs sitting next to it.
	"That's the lumber mill," said Saralond.  "While we live in harmony with the forest, we do use what it supplies for us to live, and as you can see we do require lots of wood.  But, we only take what we need and we bless and thank the forest for giving it up for us."
	They passed a small, quaint river that ran through the middle of town flowing rapidly north from the south.  Along the sides of the river were creatures of many sizes, big and small.  The Elves apparently lived in harmony with not just the forest, but everything in it as well.
	A few more small tree type houses passed by, until they stopped in front of one of the larger looking trees in the forest.
	There was a door pressed upon the front of the tree.  Saralond walked up and opened it.
	"Welcome to my abode James ," said Saralond.  "Please make yourself at home."
	They walked in, James was astonished.  The inside looked much larger then the outside did.  It was a very much circular shaped room with hallways leading off of it, and a tall staircase leading up to the next floor.
	She led James into the kitchen which was down the hallway to the left.
	James was starting to notice a trend in this house.  All the rooms were circular, the kitchen included.  There were shelves, and a counter that looked and felt so smooth.  There was an older looking elven woman was sitting a table knitting.
	"James, this is my mother, Eowin," said Saralond pointing at the woman.  "Mother, this is James, he's the human who we've chosen to train.  He's shown some quite amazing abilities for one so young."
	James started to blush, he wasn't used to people giving him such compliments before.  He really liked it.
	"Nice to meet you James," said Eowin kindly.  "I hope you enjoy your time here in Valendale, please make yourself at home here, our home is your home."
	"What are you knitting ma'am?" James asked Eowin.
	"It's a cloak," answered Eowin.  "A magical cloak actually."
	"Magical?" said James curiously.
	"Yes James, magical," she replied.  "This cloak will keep the wearer forever warm, even on the coldest of days."
	"Wow, that's pretty cool," said James.
	"No, not cool... warm," said Eowin baffled.
	"Old elves will never understand," said Saralond laughing.
	Eowin shot a say-that-again-and-you'll-regret-it glance at her daughter.
	"Oops, maybe we should go," she said.
	They left the kitchen and made their way back to the front hallway.  Saralond beckoned James to follow him up the staircase.
	When they reached the top, they were met with 3 doors.  Saralond knocked on the far right door.
	"Are you awake?" she called through the closed door.
	There were sounds of stirring, and moaning.
	"Hmmm, that doesn't sound right," she said curiously.
They opened the door and entered the bright room.  There was a small bed opposite the door and what looked like a child lying there writhing in agony.
"Cirdan!  Wake up!" she called out, running to the boys' bedside to shake him.  "Cirdan, wake up!"
James decided it would be best if he just stood by the door and kept a close eye on the situation developing.
The boy in the bed finally started to come to.
"Wha... what's wrong?" he asked.  "What are you doing in my room?"
	Looking around the room, James noticed that it was a fairly large.  The bed, the dresser, and the shelving were all made entirely from tree parts.
	"Hey, wait..." he thought to himself.  "How come I have the distinct feeling I've been here before?"
	He looked back over at Cirdan's bed, and noticed the same design which he saw in his vision in detention and in Glen Forest before he met Saralond.
	"This is my vision," he said quietly to himself surprised.  "This is everything that happened... and so the person standing next to the door was actually myself."
	He focused back on Saralond and Cirdan.
 "You were restless and mumbling in your sleep," replied Saralond worried.  "I was worried.  I know I should let you sleep, you are ill."
 "I was just having a wonderful dream," said Cirdan contentedly.  "I entered a cave, and sitting there was mother, she asked me what I was doing there..."
"Cirdan, mother died many years ago," said Saralond matter-of-factly.  "You shouldn't worry yourself about stuff like that.  For the time being, just get lots of sleep, you're not going to feel any better until you do."
Saralond wetted a cloth in the bowl of water and placed it on Cirdan's forehead, just as she had done in James' vision.
Cirdan looked around the room, and noticed James standing at the doorway.
"Who's that?" said Cirdan inquisitively.
"Just someone I'm showing around, nothing you need worry about." She replied smiling.
Saralond walked over to a table on the other side of the room and picked up a small bottle.
"You have to keep taking your medicine Cirdan," said Saralond.
"Why?" asked Cirdan.  "It's not like it's doing very much anyways."
"Well, that doesn't matter.  The Elders said to make sure you finish the bottle," ordered Saralond while forcing a pill in his mouth.  "You wouldn't be in this mess if you had just listened to me before, but no you had to lose fathers necklace."
"I said I'm sorry, I didn't mean to," said Cirdan tears starting to well in his eyes.  "I don't even know what happened it was there one second, then gone, I haven't a clue where it could have fallen off."
"I'm sorry for waking you up," said Saralond apologetically.  "We'll leave you now."
She turned to James and motioned for them to leave the circular room.
Closing the door behind them, James had a couple questions doing laps around his head.
"Saralond... déjà vu." said James.
"What is déjà vu what?" replied Saralond bewildered.
"Déjà vu... it's when you feel like an event that you've experienced has already happened," explained James.
"And what does that have to do with anything?" said Saralond bemused.
"Everything that just happened in that room with you and Cirdan... I saw it all earlier today, in detention," said James just as confused.  "Is this part of the visions?"
"Curious... very curious," said Saralond curiously.  "They're usually meant to get someone used to the idea of us and Allassea, and you have to admit that it's done its job with you.  But I've never heard of anyone having a precognitive experience.  Maybe your déjà vu isn't part of the visions?  Hmmm, we'll have to talk about it to the Elders."
"You mean, I might be able to tell the future?" said James excitedly.  "Cool!  I could live with that!"
They continued, leaving Cirdan's room behind them.
Off in the distance, screams and shouts could be heard coming from the river.
"Something's wrong!" said Saralond fearful.
They both rushed out of the house and with Saralond leading, they made their way to the river.
When they got there, they noticed that there were quite a few elves huddled around a body.
Saralond approached the crowd, which she noticed was starting to get a little uneasy.
"Out of the way!" she ordered attempting to disperse the crowd.  "What happened?"
When the other elves stepped aside, she saw exactly what was there.
"A goblin?" said Saralond shocked.  "What's a goblin doing here?  How'd it get by the gate?"
 "It just fell from the trees," said one of the people in the crowd.  "Nobody knows why it was there, maybe it was spying."
The poor creature obviously fell from the treetops and died when he hit the ground.  But, the burning question on everyone's mind was how and why it was up there.
"It's one of those things from Glen Forest, earlier today," said James disgusted by the look of the creature.
Saralond knelt down beside the creature to examine the body.  She gestured for James to join her.
Walking closer and closer to the body, James started to feel dizzy, images started to pour into his mind one after the other, blinking past him at an incredible speed.
"Uh..." was the only thing he could say before collapsing to the ground holding his head in agony.
"James!" Saralond called out leaving the dead goblin and rushing to James side.  "What's wrong?"
 "Pictures... pain... goblins... army... crystals... AHHHHH!" yelled James incoherently, pain searing through his head like wildfire.
The elves standing around him started to panic, they didn't know what to do, but Saralond took charge of the situation.  Sensing something was terribly wrong she clutched James' head in her hands.  Her eyes lit up a bright blue and James started to calm down.
"I've blocked your premonitions for now James," she said calmly.  "You should be fine."
His spasms came to a stop and so did the viral images that were poisoning James' mind.
"Oh man, what was that?" said James holding his head.  "I could see things... things that... ugh."
"Relax James, take a few deep breaths," said Saralond trying to comfort him.  "You had premonitions, as I said before, it's a rare gift, I didn't know you had it so strongly though, has this ever happened before?"
"Not since I met you," replied James still holding his head.  "It's almost like you flipped a switch inside me."
"Well, I'm sorry it was a painful experience for you James," said Saralond remorsefully.  "But, what did you see, you said you saw images.  You blurted out goblins, army, and crystals.  What was that about?"
"I... I saw... where this goblin came from... and... and what he was doing here," said James with a glint of fear in his eyes.
"What is it James... what did you see?" said Saralond anxiously.
"Umm... I'm not entirely sure..." replied James mystified.  "This goblin was spying on you... I saw lots of goblins... there was a fire... a cave entrance by a lake or some body of water."
"Is that it James?" asked Saralond.
"Yes, that's all that I can remember clearly," replied James.  "I'm sorry."
The other elves all heard the news brought forth by James, and they started whispering amongst them.
"Shhh," commanded Saralond to the other elves.  "There's nothing to worry about, we'll have everything under control.  Please return to your homes, there's nothing more to be seen here."
James watched as Saralond closed her eyes, she looked like she was concentrating on something.  It was then that a group of elves appeared out of the darkness of the surrounding forest and took control of the situation.
"Everyone go back to your homes," said one of the Elven Guards.  "Follow Saralond's command, there's nothing more to see here."
The elves were still eager to know what was going on, but they had already seen most of the events.
Saralond turned to one of the guards.
"Go through the body and see if you can find any reason why it was here," ordered Saralond.  
The elf went through the goblins belongings, took a minute and then got back up and walked over to Saralond.
"What did you find?" said Saralond to the fine looking Elven Guard.
"Here m'lady," said the elf, handing over a small talisman in the shape of a dragon with a small ruby set in its eye, hanging from a black cord.  "It was all he had on him.  He had no armour, no weapon.  Looks like a scout to me."
"A scout you say?" said Saralond with a very concerned look on her face.  "You think there could be more of them up there?"
"Possibly," replied the guard.
"Take a few guards to the treetops and make sure they're empty," she ordered pondering over the small trinket that she had grasped in her hand.
"I've never seen anything like this before," said Saralond.  "We'll take this to the elders for them to examine.  Come James, I think our tour has come to an abrupt end, we must see the elders at once."
"Yes m'lady," said James mockingly with a grin on his face.
Saralond shook her head and sighed at him.