"That was in late fall. When winter arrived, I went back to that place alone, wishing to find the girl, for she had haunted my dreams ever since. I found her there, waiting for me. But she was much changed. Oh, her appearance was the same, but there was something else. Her short season was passing, and I knew with dread in my heart that her time on this earth was coming to an end."
The others had stopped to listen, deeply touched by the aged veteran's grief. "I wept when I saw her, for though she appeared as a young woman in the full bloom of youth, she was no more than a child, with a child's heart and a child's innocent love of life. She had waited for me to return, and somehow I understood that for her kindness to me, she had been granted the grace of a companion at the end. As I sojourned with her in her last days, I thought my heart would break, for in those final few days of her life I came to realize that my healing had come from her unspoken love."
"How . . ." said Dorain, trying to control her emotion, "how did she tell you her name?"
"She did not." replied Celedhan. "I named her before she died, and promised that I would never forget her. I like to think that part of her lives within me still, a part of herself that she gave freely to save me from death. Do not ask what name I gave her, for it is a private thing, and I would not taint her memory by speaking it to anyone but her."