Elven Roses

"Well, as I live and breathe," Aldrec said, running his fingers over the back of Mericlou's hand that rested on the book. "We think alike, Tulyr; this is exactly the one that I was planning on showing you." "It is?" Mericlou asked, looking up from the book.

Aldrec moved her hand from the page where she was reading. The pages automatically flipped in rapid succession and then stopped at his command.

"Here," he said, pointing at the last paragraph on the page that he had revealed. "Read this."

"'And the Divine was wroth with his high children and thus passed judgment upon them,'" Mericlou read. "'Because ye have bent the world to your own will instead of mine,' spake the voice of the Divine, 'and because ye have chosen to war against my will and purpose, behold, you and all your seed shall be cursed. The seed between you shall be changed into the seed of another, and the seed between these two shall be barren, and thus shall this be until ye are no more in this world."

"Do you know what this means?" Aldrec said, noticing her confusion.

Mericlou shook her head, but her expression remained expectant. "Should I … know the meaning?" She said.

"It means that the High Elves were the parent race to all the races in this world, with the exceptions of Dragons and androids, of course," Aldrec explained. "It means that regardless of the feelings that elves share about humans, or that humans share about androids or vice versa, we're all the same."

"But what does that have to do with what I just read?" Mericlou asked. "Besides, isn't this story just a legend? I mean High elves are only an old myth. No one can even find any evidence that they really existed."

"Oh, they existed, all right," Aldrec said, smiling more broadly than usual, as he closed the book, and then pointed to the writing upon its leather bound cover. "Here, read the author's name."

The ancient elven script was faded, and even more difficult to read than the text inside the book. Determined, Mericlou slowly and deliberately sounded the name out.

"Aldrecliis Orhiinisel Quantelithelis," And then, she slowly looked up from the book, into Aldrec's radiant face.

"No …"

"No?" Aldrec said, eyeing her curiously. "You can't be … I mean, you're not telling me that you're …"

"A High elf?" Aldrec said, letting an equally curious grin crease the side of his mouth. "Is it really so hard to believe, Tulyr? Think back on the year that we've known each other. Think back on all the things that I've told you, all the things that you've known about me."