A Peaceful Forgiveness

Ayslin Morlinor

 Ayslin Morlinor sat on top of a rock as she washed her hands in the stream. She had been skinning a rabbit, one of the many catches from the successful afternoon, and had accidentally slipped the knife onto her hand. The thin layer of skin she had sliced had been torn off, and blood started to swell up in the wound. She knew she had to wash it out and bandage it, so she had come to the stream, where she wound up now. She had spent endless minutes cleaning the cut, and trying to get the bleeding to slow down. Finally, she gave up, and began to rummage through her pack for some bandages.

August Torfan ran through the thick trees, ducking under and dodging branches. His arrows had run out a long time ago, and he had been running for ages. We'll just say that he had gotten into a little trouble at the last kingdom, and he was definitely being pursued by guards. Even worse, the kingdom he had disrupted happened to be Rivendell, and the ruler of Rivendell was unforgiving when in a bad mood. Today, he was definitely not feeling chipper. Also, the Rivendell elves were very agile, and would probably catch up with him within the next half-hour. August tried to stay light on his feet as he rushed on. The sounds of the forest, the chirping of crickets and chirping of birds, echoed through the air. He barely had time to hear all the living things that sang in the woods. However, very suddenly, his keen elven ears picked up on a different kind of song. An elven song. He stopped almost instantly to get a better listen of it. He was right. An elf was nearby, singing the most lovely melody his ears had ever heard. Naturally, he started to go towards it. He stopped again. The guards, the chase. He was in danger and if he went towards the singing elf, then he would be putting her in danger too. His soul fought with itself. Eventually, he set off the find the elf. He would have to be quick, and then he would have to run even faster to not let the Rivendell elves catch him. It would hopefully be worth it. He was almost positive that it was a woman elf, for many of the male elves could not sing the high, beautiful notes that an elven girl or lady could. The sounds of the song lead him to the edge of the treeline. He could tell that there was a stream and a clearing on the other side of the trees. The singing was very close. Another thing behind the trees, would be a fair elven lady. Was he really going to just show up and introduce himself to a strange elf woman? What would she think when he just popped out of the trees? Would she run away or stay there and actually meet him? He prepared himself mentally for whatever she might do. He was ready to go through the fauna and greet her. Wait, no, he wasn't.

"What if she's ugly? What if it was really a bird or something?" he thought. "No, it was definitely a maiden. What if I look too ragged or scratched for her liking? Ya, what if she thinks I'm ugly? No, preposterous, I'm not ugly. And she's an elf, so she must be fair, right? I don't know. Let's just... go for it." He ducked and pushed his way through the dense green. The sun caught his eyes as he tried to stand back up. For a moment, he was blinded, but when his vision returned clear as day, he was blinded by a more beautiful sight than the afternoon sunlight. On a rock sat a young woman, obviously elven. Her back was facing him, so he could not see her face, but he took in all he could. Her head was full of long, loose red curls. She was about average height for a woman, about 5' 6", and she was obviously active, but also well fed, because she was not too thin, nor too thick. His guess was about 115 pounds. He had certainly met women much heavier than that. He willed her to turn around and notice him, but was afraid to say or do anything to make it happen. She wore khaki pants and dark brown woolen boots. The bottoms of the boots were wet, so August assumed she had been splashing in the river a bit, because the water was more spread out than it would have been had she stepped directly into the creek. She got up from the rock and picked up her satchel from off the ground beside her, still facing away from him. She moved her hair out of her face and turned. She stopped dead in her tracks the moment she noticed him. He was grateful, for she had given him a perfect view of her facial features, and a better look at her figure and apparel. She was athletic, yet delicate, and confident in her stance. Her skin was tanned and fair. Her shirt was clean, white, and loose fitting, with a dark brown leather vest over the top. It looked like the type of shirt that village men of the human world would sometimes wear. At the vertex of the shirt's scooped neck, there was a small v-shaped cut-out that had been halfway closed by some leather strands. She wore it all very well. She had tiny feet and graceful fingers. Her face was breathtaking. She had striking green eyes and a small amount of freckles across her nose and a bit on her cheeks. Her nose was a cute little button on her head, but her serious and concerned expression ruined the innocent effect of it. She ever so slightly turned her head to the left, and he couldn't help but realize she had a scar on her right temple. It was a line, white as snow. It messed up her hairline a bit, and August couldn't help but think it was really rather cute. He realized that he should say something before she got too afraid or before she fell madly in love with him. He cleared his throat.