Elven Roses

"P … please, master elf," the bartender quavered, shielding his face with his hands, as if Aldrec's face were now emitting some sort of blinding light, "I … I didn't know she was a friend of yours! If only she told me …!" "I did tell you, you twit!" Mericlou snapped, absolutely incredulous.

"Next time, have a care about who you decide to pick on," Aldrec warned, leading Mericlou towards the door. "You may lose valuable customers."

Not waiting for another excuse, Aldrec quickly left with Mericlou in tow. They walked quickly, silently along the lighted path through the human sector, back towards the Selisna, stopping at last when they reached the bridge to the opposite bank. Letting go of Mericlou's hand, Aldrec slouched heavily against the bridge's wooden railing, staring at its rows of interlocked planks. A cold, grim look was in his blue eyes.

After several moments, he turned his gaze in Mericlou's direction. She stepped back, as if the glare in his eyes had burned her.

"Please, don't look at me that way, Aldrec," Mericlou whispered, turning her head away.

"I'm … sorry," Aldrec said, as if finally realizing what he had been doing. He silently turned back towards the river. A family of ducks was feeding on the bank beside a park bench.

"That … racist … waste of a human!" Mericlou spat out, her own anger rising to the top as she glared back in the direction of the tavern. She slammed her fist into the bridge's railing beside Aldrec and left a considerable dent. "Now do you see? Now you know what I have to go through just about every day!"

"He's not as bad as he seems," Aldrec said, despite the fact that he shared her same feelings. "But it's true that I've never seen him act that way before."

"Bring in something that a human hates, and he shows his true colors," Mericlou said. "I swear, Aldrec! Even after a year, you can still be so ignorant of the problems in this world."

"No, I know the problems far better than you realize," Aldrec assured her. "It's just that they still have an uncanny knack for showing up in the worst places. I'm just sorry it had to happen to you in there, Meri."

I should be used to it, you know," Mericlou said, exhaling her useless frustrations. "But I think that I never really will be." She made an imitation of a human massaging the stress from a vein in the temple, one that did not exist in Androids. "I guess I'll just never understand humans."