[Lavinia's Pov]
[Kingdom of Nivale]
We stepped out of the magic portal—and… boo—
Wait. Wait, hold on.
I blinked. Then blinked again. Then frowned. "Umm… where are the trees?"
Instead of finding myself in an enchanted forest bursting with glowing flowers and birds that sang in harmony, I was staring at… an estate.
A very large, very clean, very normal-looking estate.
You know, with windows and stone walls and actual doors instead of tree bark or magical vines or floating cloud entrances or whatever it was I thought elves lived in.
I whipped my head toward Grandpa Thalein, completely, utterly, tragically betrayed. "Grandpa," I said, with the seriousness of someone who had just discovered Santa wasn't real, "where are the trees?"
Grandpa tilted his head, slightly amused. "Trees?"
"Yes," I said, throwing my hands up. "Weren't you supposed to live in some majestic forest home? You know… tree houses? Wooden bridges? Owls that deliver mail?"
