Anwyel, Cuinean's son, was loved by most everyone in the village and the village had thus named him 'Beloved'. The entire village therefore mourned his "weak and sickly" condition upon his return. While no status was given to anyone for their particular abilities, I had begun to become known for healing. Cuinean had warned me that gifts came in pairs. For instance, healing could be accompanied by destruction. In other words, I was as capable of destruction as I was of healing, and that both gifts were given to offset each other so that a person did not become unbalanced.

Because of my healing ability, it was expected that I give my time to Anwyel in helping him to heal. At first this was difficult because I had a chaos of mixed feelings towards this Elf that I could not explain, even to myself.

There were times I had felt guilty for usurping so much of Cuinean's time, but my curiosity often overbalanced my sense of 'pleinn' - a word for which there is no human equivalent and meaning to just allow the natural order of things to be. Eventually the conversations were gently and tactfully passed to Anwyel, who seemed to enjoy irritating me with questions that I couldn't answer. He knew a lot about humans and had spent a few days in one of their prisons. I grew tired of his anger but Cuinean explained that perhaps it was a way for Anwyel to release some of that which poisoned him. I then saw the conversations in a different light and worked on developing patience - a trait which I have always lacked.

Anwyel named me, a name meaning curious I think, because the Elves had apparently given up on waiting for me to name myself. I suspect it was also a corruption of my real life name that they could not properly pronounce. We argued a lot at first, he attracted to the human fire he said burned within me, and I attracted to the ethereal nature of his beautiful being. It was in the forest by a stream one day that I realized I was in love with him.

I did not know what to do or say, being raised on the useless matchmaking patterns of humanity. Fortunately Anwyel knew what to do and he spoke freely in expressing that he loved me. I argued that I was a lot older than he. He countered with the fact that although I perceived him as young, he was in fact much older than I.

None of my arguments could dissuade him and he finally asked me why I fought so hard against the love for him he knew I held inside. I told him I feared the twin gifts, that my love for him could one day accompany destruction and that I would die if I hurt him in any way. In response, Anwyel smiled that slightly crooked smile that told me he had decided my arguments were useless against his logic. There was no formal announcement in the village but after that day, we were never apart.

There are no human words to convey the love that existed between us. We often disagreed but seldom argued because we could express our emotions freely in front of each other. Neither had any secrets nor withheld feelings and we were free to say what we felt. Such perfect communication does not exist between humans that I have ever witnessed. Imagine a relationship in which you can express any feeling, any desire, any thoughts without apprehension of hurt feelings or anger or criticism in return. We supported each other in every endeavor and what interested him became my interest and my interest became his. After a while we seldom spoke aloud and preferred to picture instead, speaking volumes without lengthy conversations.

Eventually and little by little, I was absorbed into the Elvan lifestyle. In anthropological terms, I went native. The scientific precision for which I had been trained gave way to the simple logic and love of Anwyel. Only at times did my human logic and pride crop up and try to interfere in our life. Sometimes I can be very stubborn and one of those occasions became the instrument for the appearance of the dark twin gift that accompanied my love.

Anwyel and his father had disagreed, for the hundredth time, on what should be done to keep the humans away from Elvan villages. A group of soldiers had entered the plateau to the north of the Elvan forest. Beyond the plateau was a mountain range that ran east and west. A strange new breed of men came from these mountains and were at war with the humans from the west. They chose the plateau north of the forest for their battle ground. Anwyel feared the battle would consume the Elvan forest in the human quest for wood for fires and weapons. Cuinean felt the village should move to another location further south. Anwyel argued that his father's viewpoint belonged with the clothing and tools of the Ancient Ones, revered and buried, and that one had to see the world from the concept of the humans in order to understand and thus oppose them. Moving further south only put off the inevitable.

Anwyel also argued that Elves were needed to help the Western soldiers defeat the Northern threat. The Northern soldiers were tall and blond and stronger than their Western counterparts and could therefore easily defeat them. Although the Western humans were unmannered, loud, and atrocious at times, they were less threat than the Northerners who were bent on killing everyone, including the Elves.

Cuinean's entire village gathered to listen to the arguments back and forth and contributed some on their own. Most of the younger Elves wanted to go and fight to help defend their forest. The elder Elves knew what the sickness of fighting would do to their children.

I remained silent for most of the conversation but jumped in when I saw that Anwyel's arguments were winning in logic. I sided with his father and opposed the idea of joining in the war. Wars killed people and I didn't want my Elvan people to die. After my short, hot-headed speech there was sudden silence by all.

At first I thought I must have displayed bad manners somehow but then realized my declaration was interpreted that I prophesied many Elves were going to die. The look of sadness on their faces made me angry at their inability to grasp what I was saying and I walked away from the group. Anwyel followed, urging me to stay and abide by whatever the village decided. At least stay near him, he implored. When Elves go to fight an enemy, the women go with the men and sometimes fight alongside them as well. If an Elf is killed in battle, his or her lifemate is there so they do not die alone.

Anwyel was not asking me to go into battle with him, which I couldn't do as I had no knowledge of how to fight. He asked only that I go to the place where the battle would be and stand by as a source of advice, inspiration, and a lifemate to help ease his death if need be. At that moment I chose to favor my human side and fuel my need to be right. A bird hovered near my shoulder, a humming bird, and I swatted it away in anger. I was intent on having my decision become that of the village. In reality, I was afraid I would lose my Beloved. I did not even look over my shoulder as I said I needed time to think over my decision. And then I suddenly woke up.

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