Elven Roses

"Because Aldrec told me that he found all these plants himself, either as seeds, or the last of their kind. If this plant were extinct for that long, then there's no way he could've found viable seeds, no matter how old he was."

"Sedriil said nothing, but Mericlou knew even by this that she was spot on in her inference.

"Brother, do you think that he really may be lying about something?" She asked, suppressing her alarm at the possibility.

"You said before that elves don't lie," Sedriil answered at length, "at least, not outrightly. But as a rule, neither do we. Still, we are capable of giving half-truths, and refusing to speak rather than tell the truth. And even elves have been known to do that."

"So he's hiding something from me?" Mericlou asked.

"You said that, Meri," Sedriil replied softly. "Not me."

"True, but you have no idea how unsettling this is for me, Sedriil." Mericlou felt her face tingle as the blush reappeared. She desperately wished that it were something that she could control. It had the most disobliging habit of occurring at the worst times.

"You like him, don't you?" Sedriil said, a sly inflection in his voice.

"Where did you get an idea like that?" Mericlou squeaked. Her face burned red like a torch. And seeing Sedriil so unusually forward, especially with this subject was worse than embarrassing.

"From watching you," Sedriil replied calmly. "Don't be ashamed of it, sister. If you like him, then logic doesn't rule out the chance that he may feel the same way."

Mericlou shook her head. "You don't know much about elves, do you, brother?"

"Not as much as I should, no." Sedriil admitted.

"Well, even though they treat us with respect, they don't see us as equals. They frown on their own kind closely fraternizing with humans, and even more, they question elves that forge any kind of close relationship with us. Even if Aldrec liked me -which I doubt-, I don't think anything would become of it for the sake of his standing in elven society."

"But has he showed any fear of being with you?" Sedriil asked.

"Well, now that you mention it, no, he hasn't," Mericlou admitted. "We've known each other for a year now, and I have to admit that whenever he shows up here, and we leave together for the transcon station, we do get funny looks from the other elves. They're pretty used to seeing us now, but they still act kind of standoffish. But he doesn't seem to care. He just ignores them."