The Princess and the Pirate, Intro

Princess Elanor of the elves loves nature and wishes to make peace with the dragons.

Another meeting. Elanor sat at the table and tuned out the droning voices. It was all the same, just an essential periodic meeting. She daydreamed of wandering the woods, discovering new creatures, climbing trees, searching for—
“What do you think, Elanor?” she suddenly heard her father ask. She snapped out of her thoughts and looked at him.
“What?”
He sighed and shook his head in disappointment.
“You need to pay attention, Elanor. I asked what you thought about the growing situation with our shipments.”
“The pirates?”
“Yes. Their activity has been growing every day. We can hardly get a single import lately. It’s almost like a siege.”
“Well, obviously they must be stopped,” she said. “I suggest we set a trap. Send out a ship with so many gold doubloons they cannot possibly resist. Hiding below-deck will be a small army of soldiers who will ambush the pirates. Or sneak aboard their ship to wait until nightfall, when most of the pirates will be asleep, to lower the amount of casualties.”
“That’s a wonderful idea. I’ll order it done immediately. Meeting dismissed.”
Elanor stood and made her way out, to the courtyard.
“Let me out,” she ordered a guard. He opened the gate, and she walked out into the woods, pacing through the trees, listening to the rustle of the leaves and the whistle of the wind. She reached out and ran her delicate blue hand across the rough bark of a tree, smiling softly. She heard tiny footsteps, and her ears twitched. Elanor turned slowly and saw a squirrel skittering across the ground. It tilted its head curiously at her, and she tilted her head back. It chattered quietly, crawling a little closer. Elanor bent down slowly and held out her hand. It hesitated, then came closer, sniffing her hand gently. Then it crawled onto her palm, and she lifted it slowly, covering its head with her other hand to keep it from falling.
“Hello there, little critter,” she breathed. The squirrel clicked and clacked, rubbing its face. Elanor lifted it to the tree she was next to, and it skittered onto a branch, disappearing almost instantly into the leaves and branches. Elanor giggled softly, putting her hand to her mouth. Her hand went to her neck, where her necklace hung. Her grandmother had given it to her years before, and she had always kept it clasped around her neck. It featured a dragon, with blue and green scales glowing. Her grandmother had told her it was enchanted, that with it Elanor could become any creature she wanted. Especially a dragon.
But the elves and dragons had been in a war for thousands of years. Elanor had never even seen one other than in scrolls. Both species, elf and dragon, had kept to themselves over the years, after the king and queen of dragons had been slain in battle two hundred years earlier, leaving only one egg to hatch months later and be raised by whoever raised orphaned dragons. Many elves had sworn that if they ever were to see a dragon, they’d kill it on sight. Not Elanor. Elanor secretly and silently resolved to make peace with the dragons. She imagined herself declaring the war over to both peoples. But the few she’d confided in had told her, not unkindly but quite sternly, that an elf could not just declare the war over. She’d been told time and time again that the dragons had been the ones to attack, so only the dragons could make amends. Elanor was determined to try anyway. Perhaps reason with the dragons. But that was impossible. She was not allowed to leave the island, and she had never learned to swim. The only way to get off the island were if she joined a crew of pirates. And, she knew, that would never happen.