The Battle of Devotion was an incident at an inn in northern Brightland that began when the innkeeper refused to accept payment from an elvish patron.
Cause
The story occurred so long ago that the names of the patrons are no longer remembered. But a young elvish man was traveling to visit a cousin, and stopped at an inn along the way so he would not have to travel through an oncoming storm. The elvish man was very well treated by the innkeeper and the other patrons. He was given an excellent room, a good meal, and a hot breakfast in the morning. But when the man asked what was owed for his stay, the innkeeper refused to accept payment. A common superstition at the time had led the innkeeper to believe that elves, being more magically powerful than humans, would play tricks on those who they felt had not treated them properly. This had become a sore spot for some elves who found the careful movement of humans around them to be an annoyance, and this would eventually lead to the Elvish migration to
Suxad.
Though most elves tried to be polite about this misunderstanding, the young man in question lost his temper. After several minutes of arguing with the innkeeper, he insisted that if he would play tricks on the innkeeper if he was not allowed to pay, and violently upturned the chair he had been sitting in. His actions led to a tavern brawl which caused significant damage to the main room of the inn, and led outside into the fresh mud of the day before. Ironically, the innkeeper himself was not involved in the resulting fistfight, but did make efforts to stop the incident.
Result
Once the brawl had ended, the elvish man was embarrassed by his inappropriate actions. He apologized profusely for his actions and offered a hefty sum to repair the damages which had been done to the inn. Though the amount was more than enough, the innkeeper did not refuse. To this day in Brightland, when someone refuses a gift or insists on paying their share (or more), they are said to have "elvish devotion."
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