I asked Cuinean how it was that I, being human, was able to learn the Elvan picture speaking. He explained that when I had first arrived, the village's perception was that I was either a visitor from the world of the dead or that I was a wizard. While humankind did not recognize female wizards, Elves did and accorded them equal respect with their male counterparts. I had tried to explain that I was visiting in a dream state, that I was dreaming all that happened. Cuinean insisted I was visiting from another realm and time and that what transpired was not a dream. He further explained "Time Hendge" and that Elves had long ago lost the ability to "time step". For any Elf, being alone was the ultimate hell.

I insisted to Cuinean that I was dreaming all that happened. As proof, I offered that my hand did not bear the scratch from the branch when I woke up, the scar only appeared in my dream state. Further, how could I understand the picture language so readily. Cuinean explained that the scar existed in a different time. and that I must have some Elvan heritage since I was able to learn to 'speak' so rapidly. He concluded I was from the future because of my manner of clothing and the inventions I had described. My being part Elf, they insisted, proved that Elves had survived into the future and caused the village great happiness. I gave up trying to talk sense into them.

Cuinean, and several other Elves, expressed concern that humans consumed the land around them like the fire that burned in human hearts. Even Dwarves were not as greedy as the humans. The Dwarves, in fact, had worked for strange blonde humans from the North at one time, digging precious metals from the caves they knew so well. When the humans were done with them, they killed the Dwarves and left their bodies to rot in the sun. Furthermore, humans did not love themselves and that was why they had no love for any other beings.

Cuinean explained that in the beginning, there were three races of beings before man came. Each represented an element of mother earth. The Dwarves represented earth, lived in caves, and loved to dig for the minerals and rocks held deep within the earth. The Little People, my perception was that of Tolkein's hobbits or Leprechauns, loved water and their villages were always built by streams. Their blood had been the first to flow upon encountering later humans and their blood was the representation for water. Elves were the third race and represented the wind, or spiritual nature of beings. Later on, the fourth race, humans, came and represented the element of fire, which they eventually captured from the sky storms.

Cuinean expressed sadness in that he felt the humans would one day destroy the other three races. The Little People had already abandoned their villages and taken refuge with nomadic Elves somewhere in the thick forests to the south. The Dwarves had moved deeper into their caves since the disastrous encounter with humans and were rarely seen except for one that frequently visited Cuinean's village. He was known as Garth, which the Elves said meant strength.

Some Elves had ventured out to live with Humans and were much prized as Warriors. This did not happen often however as these warriors found it difficult to return to their villages after the taking of life. One Elvan warrior from the village did return home however. He was Anwyel, Cuinean's third son. His arrival in the village caused much occasion for joy and celebration by everyone except me. He was a dead ringer for the character Legolas in the picture that had started the dreams in sequence. It was almost as if I knew him before I knew him and for some unknown reason a sort of apprehensive dread filled me.

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