Aliel

Chapter 4

I returned my attention to the procession, and realized with a start that one of the elves that I had been staring at was looking directly back at me...

Our eyes locked for what seemed like ages. He was farther away down the street, so I couldn't make out any specific details. All I knew was that he was looking at me fiercely, and I could not look away.

Then I felt something touch my leg, and I snapped out of whatever it was that had held me, looking down.

"Oh, no!" I exclaimed. The sack of flour had fallen over and the white powder was spilling out onto the ground beside the steps. I rushed to pick up the sack before all of it was ruined, but still a good pile of it was sitting there on top of the packed dirt.

I looked around for the cause of the bag falling over, but it was impossible to tell. A crush of bodies filled the streets and alleyways, composed of almost equal parts gray-uniformed men and others dressed in every other color. Some came close enough to the little pile of white to scatter it even more across the road with their uncaring feet.

It seems no one around me noticed it. I just sat there on the bottom step beside the sack, staring at the flecks of white against the background of brown dirt. That could have made at least two loaves of bread, maybe three, and would be sorely missed in the bakery. I dreaded having to tell Renai. She wouldn't be angry, but I hated doing anything that disappointed her, or caused any kind of trouble for her.

Tears sprang to my eyes, but I blinked them back furiously. Even if no one else saw me, as I seemed to have achieved my wish of becoming invisible, I would not cry over a bit of spilt flour.

"Excuse me," I heard a voice say.

I looked up, and was startled to see the elf that had been staring at me, just standing there right in front of me. Everyone else noticed him, too, and backed away from him as if he had a contagious disease, leaving a small semicircle around the steps, myself, and this elf.

He gazed into my eyes, then suddenly crouched down in front of me and began speaking in a tongue I didn't understand. He reached forward and took the sack of flour from my hands. He opened it, and the spilt flour began to flow back into the sack one particle after the other. I stared in amazement until every last speck of white was gone off the ground.

"There," the elf said, setting the sack back on the step next to me. "Good as new."

"Thank you," I said when I found my voice. He nodded, but didn't say anything or make a move to leave. He continued to stare, crouched there in front of me. I returned his scrutiny. He had long silver hair and wore a green tunic and trousers like all the rest of his kind. His skin was fair and devoid of any blemish, his features at once masculine yet decidedly beautiful. My curiosity was appeased as I caught sight of the tips of his pointed ears peeking out from underneath his hair.

But his eyes were what held me. Green and flecked with gold, they were steady and strangely inviting while they stared at my own features. We could have remained that way for years, I'm sure, except for the rest of the world moving around us and inevitably intruding.

"Lorien?" An elf woman called from behind him, and I again snapped out of the sort of trance he had put me under. The she-elf sat upon her black horse, looking at me above the heads of the crowd with a curious expression.

"Yes, I am coming," the elf, Lorien, called back, not taking his eyes off of me. Then he took my hand in his own, and I felt a small shock go up my arm the moment our skin touched. It suddenly felt like I was seeing him clearly for the first time, exotic and breathtakingly beautiful. At the same time I felt like I was meeting an old friend after an extended period of absence, his presence comforting and familiar. "Tell me, what is your name?"

"My..." The words stuck in my throat. What is this, what's happening? He eyes bore intensely into my own, waiting for the answer to his question. "My name is Claresa."

"I am Lorien of Valenass. Claresa." I felt a thrill go up my spine as he said my name. "Claresa." He seemed to be trying out each syllable on his tongue. "I will see you again." With that he stood, releasing my hand. The moment he let go I seemed to return to reality, sitting there on the steps, a crowd of people and an elf staring at me. He gave me one last look, then turned away. I watched him stride through the crowd of Splethantowners, easily a head taller than even the men. He mounted his horse, which was the same dark black as the elf woman's, and they rode off together down the street.

What... was that?

"Claresa?" I saw Renai pushing her way through the crowd, followed by her husband. "What happened?"

Yes indeed. What happened? Was I caught in a spell of some sort? He was obviously capable, after all he did somehow return those miniscule specks of flour to the sack with just a phrase of mumbled gibberish. Mysterious powers were attributed to the elves in every tale I'd ever heard. But what exactly did he do to me? Renai was still waiting for me to answer her, but I only stuck with the obvious.

"I spilt some flour, but that elf used magic and picked it up for me."

"Well, no harm done then." I was surprised at the ease with which my employer dismissed the strange encounter. But then she always had a go-with-the-flow attitude. Perhaps she was just distracted by the return of her loved one.

"Claresa, I'd like to introduce you to Adeem, my husband." Adeem was a large man, with a full beard and large twinkling brown eyes. He offered an enormous hand to me, and we greeted each other cordially.

"Renai's told me all about you through her letters. Thank you for keeping her company while I was gone, I truly appreciate it."

"It's been my pleasure."

"Well then, shall we go? I think the show's almost over, and I can't wait to get back home," Adeem said, and, picking up the sack of flour as if it weighed nothing, led the way back to the bakery.

The rest of the day was spent in happy delirium for the reunited couple, and a person really couldn't help but catch some of the emotion. Adeem was jovial and had a booming laugh, and was not lacking in hilarious stories about his time in the army. Renai was all aglow and could not keep the smile off her face. I just watched them both, feeling happy for them.

Later that night, as I lay in bed, trying to summon sleep without much success, my thoughts turned to the elf who had stared at me so intensely that morning. I rubbed my hand where he had touched it, remembering the slight shock and the otherworldly feelings that followed. Just the memory of the encounter was enough to make my heartbeat quicken.

I will see you again.

How could he possibly find me again in this giant city? And then... why would he want to? I was no one special, just an orphaned girl working in a bakery. What had I to do with an elf? No, I should just put him out of my mind. Nothing could possibly come of any of it.