Unlikely pair.

The sun was shining down on grassy lands that humans were farming. There was a few families who settled along the line of meadows and forest. Though recently one family was taken by an illness execpt one daughter of theirs. She lived through the illness as it strengthen her body but altered her appearance. Her one long raven black hair was now snow wite and her green eyes sparkled like emeralds. Her farming lands were vast and so was her home. The young maiden walked among the herbal plants of her small garden with a wolf like dog walked beside her sniffing the ground. Though he stopped as Lily looked at the gray creature as his amber eyes looked to the shadows.

"What is it, Leon?" She asked as the wolf kept his ears perked. The wind in her area was picking up with the tree tops whipping and the plants swaying against her legs. "Go check it out, Leon...Don't be gone to long." She said as she patted the massive beast's head. Soon the male wolf took off to scout the area.

Lily found this wolf with his body torn in places that she left him he'd be dead by the end of a week. So she brought him back and nursed him though gaining his trust was hard. Sighing softly as she returned to haversting her herbs with her soft green gown flattered her slender features.

Aldren tried again to open his eyes. The first time, he'd been blinded by a brilliant white light. This time, he took his time to allow his pupils to adjust to the brightness. The light coalesced into shapes - white puffy clouds, blue sky, a line of trees, and stalks of grass. He was lying in a meadow. The first question in his mind was: How did I get here? And where is "here"[i/]? He tried to think backwards, but all he remembered was darkness. Darkness, and the sensation of falling. Falling. Falling from where? Why was I falling? He sat up and glanced around, trying to look for clues.

All he saw was the meadows, and a tangle of yellow fabric stuck in a tree. He looked down at himself, but found he was only wearing a green shirt, green trousers, and black boots. There were strange markings on the clothing, but Aldren couldn't remember what they were for. He also had a belt with some things hanging on it - an "L" shaped thing, and a long stick. What are these things? he asked. Suddenly, he heard something. His long, lobeless, pointed ears pricked up and cocked in the direction of the sound. Was it danger? If it was, could he defend himself? The things around his waist - he remembered - they were weapons; but for the life of him, he couldn't remember what they were or how they worked. What's wrong with me? he thought. I'm in a strange place, and something is coming, but I can't remember what I'm doing here or how I'm supposed to defend myself!

Leon, the large gray wolf sniffed around and his head poped up. Growling as his hackles came up as he advanced slowly forward but saw it was a male of some sort. He gave off a sharp loud bark as if alerting someone nearby.

Lily stood up hearing Leon barking. "Leon..." She said as she droped her basket with her running in the direction she heard him. The closer she got the more his growlign grew. "Leon, stopd harrassing tho-" She stopped as she saw a man was sitting there looking lost. She stood there as locks of her white hair hid her face. Reaching down as she touched the massive beast's back and he fell silent. "Leon..Easy big boy.." She said softly as soon the wolf's tail was wagging with him knowing she was alright.

Lily moved to where she could look at the man closely but noticed his ears were different. "Are you alright?" She asked softly as she thought he was from a foriegn land since his features weren't from her area.

In a flash of recollection, Aldren remembered the thing at his side. All he had to do was point the long end at something, and that something would fall dead. That's just what he did when the four legged hairy beast appeared before him, snarling and giving off a loud bark. Unfortunately, the thing did not fall down. Aldren just stood there, looking like a fool, pointing his "weapon" at... What was this hairy looking thing?

Suddenly, he heard someone, a girl's voice calling to the creature - "Leon". The Leon ceased snarling, and drew back besides the person who hailed it; a young woman with long white hair and wearing a gown the same color as Aldren's clothes. Perhaps she knew where he was.

"Er... Not really," he said, in response to her question, dropping his useless "weapon". "I... This might sound silly - but... Where am I?" For a moment, he hesitated. There was something different about this girl, but he couldn't put his finger on it. Was it just his imagination, or should she have ear tips sticking out that hair of hers? And the hair, something told him it was a bit - unnatural.

Lily stood there looking at him seeing him holding his sword. smiling softly as she snapped her fingers and Leon backed further away. "You're not to far from my home, Stranger. You're in the land of Timura." She said as she puched her white hair behind her rounded ear. "Let me take you to my home so I can look you over for injurys." She said with a smile with her stepping back. "Also...Put your sword away..Leon will attack you if you don't." She said as she walked ahead of him.

There she picked the hem of her gown up as she moved through the grass blades, not crushing them but moving them aside. Soon the wolf moved behind Lily as if he watched over her. Though after awhile she stopped wondering if he'd follow her. "I can give you shelter and food until you are well!" She called out to him as the air was starting to smell of wet soil. "I'd suggest you'd take the offer as a storm is heading our way."

Sword thought Aldren. That's what that little thing was. [/i]Now where is it[/i]? Aldren patted his belt looking for the little thing, but instead found the long thing. Suddenly he had a flash of memory. The long thing was the sword. So what was it he pointed at the Leon? It didn't matter. It didn't work anyway, so what was the point of carrying it around anyway.

Now the land of Timura... That's where he was. But how did he get here, if he even came from somewhere else. Speaking of which, where did he come from?

He was distracted when he saw the girl brush her hair back to reveal an ear. Aldren's ears and eyebrows shot up in surprise. If he knew one thing, other than his own name, it was that people had long, pointed ears. This girl had - rounded ears, with flaps of flesh dangling beneath them. What in God's name? He shook his head, trying clear his vision, incase he was hallucinating for some reason. He scarcely noticed the girl was walking away followed by her Leon. Then she offered him food and shelter. That sounded appealing. Especially when she mentioned a storm. That was something Aldren recognized. He could smell the coming rain, and could see the couds billowing up over the treetops. He hurried after the girl.

"Thank you very much, Ms." he began. "Who are you?"

She stood there watching him bolt up after her. Smiling as she walked on with him rushing to her side. "Lillian...Or Lily for short." She said with a smile but she looked to the west seeing the thunderheads forming. The smell of wet soil as hitting her in full force. "Good, I need the rain." She said softly to herself but lead Aldren to her modest sized home. Once she opened the door the smell of boiling stew hit her nose. Among that smell was fresh bread that she set aside earlier. The massive wolf stayed outside as he laid down to rest.

"I noticed your ears are different...Where are you from?" She asked with her pulling a couple of bowls out and poured some of the stew into his bowl but his had very little meat in it. She assumed he didn't like the taste of meat or the texture it had. The stew had bit of herbs for taste, potatos, carrots and many other vegtables from her garden. "I...Didn't get your name." She said with her setting the bowl aside for him as she turned taking the large loaf of bread and setting it out for him to grab a piece.

"Lily," Aldren repeated, commiting the name to memory. The smell of food made Aldren realize how hungry he was. Like everything else, he couldn't remember the last time he ate. He graciously accepted the bowl of - something. It looked like a liquid, but with chunks of - something - floating in it. A soup of some kind? The bread he recognized - though it was strange to him. It looked dark brown, and when Aldren pulled off a piece, that looked dark brown too. It was odd. He returned his attention to Lily when she asked his name.

"My name is Aldren - at least I think - no, I know it is," he said. "As to where I'm from..." He tried to remember, but all he could remember was opening his eyes and being blinded by the light. "I don't - know where I'm from... Just... Did you say my ears were different?" He snorted. "I don't know where I'm from, but I do know where ever it is, people have ears just like mine. I thought all people did. What happened to yours?" Aldren was starting to get confused.

Laughing softly as he commented on her own ears. "Everyone in my area as rounded ears." She said withher pulling her hair back revealing her ears to him along with her slender neck. Though she released her snow white hair as it fell against her back. "Though I would say my hair color is odd..." She said with a smile that was faint. Slowly she sat down and tore a piece of the bread for herself. "There was a sickness in my area...My whole family was taken but I survived and was left with white hair to remind me." she said as she looked in her bowl.

"My neighbors took care of me until I could care for myself and farm.." She said softly as she sound of rain pelleting her roof could be heard. Slowly getting up as she walked to the fireplace placing more logs into the fire. "The rain brings a slight chill." She said as if educating him of this land and its weather. The sound of horses outside made ehr smile as she allowed wild horses to venture on her land but they stayed away from her gardens.

Aldren's ears drooped when Lily told him of her family and her hair. "I'm so sorry," he said. So that explained the hair, but not the ears. But she said everyone in the area had rounded ears. Aldren let that rest for a moment as he tasted the bread. It tasted good - thick, sweet, and heavy - but why was it that he suddenly thought it should have been a vastly lighter shade of brown, and have a more sour taste to it? He then tasted the soup. It was thicker than it should have been, but he didn't mind. It seemed to have absorbed the flavors of the soft, pulpy things floating in it. Aldren didn't know what it was, but he knew it wasn't meat.

"This is good," he said. "What is it?" He was very curious. This Timura place was all new to him. He wanted to know everything about it. And about her hostess. She was kinda cute, actually. In an alien sort of way. Though what was she that she had round ears? And what sort of sickness could have taken the color from her hair? And what color had it been?

"Its stew. It usually has beef, potatos, carrots and any other vegtables you can get to put in it. all you have to do is toss it all together and let it boil through out the day." She said as she leaned back in her chair and ate her stew in silence. The sound of the rain hitting the ground was relaxing for her but she soon crossed her legs together with her looking at her new guest.

He was rather odd since his ears were pointed and he seemed to appear suddenly out of nowhere. Though he could have been riding and gotten hit by a limb. From there his horse could have walked for days until he fell. "Aldren, were you riding? Or do you remembering riding?" She asked softly as this mystery was all to appealing to let go. "You're more than welcomed to stay here as long as it takes. You can have my brother's room if you like." Her voice was soft as if she was listening to the storm outside. Since she could remember she was more in tuned with nature than she was with people.

Aldren swivelled his ears. "Riding..." He tried to think backwards, but all he ran into was the light - that brilliant, blinding light. Then, a memory faint, and disjointed. "I was - falling... Yes, falling." He closed his eyes and tried to conjure up more details. Yes, he was falling, falling from a great height. Fields and forests stretched far below him. He could feel the wind roaring past him. He could see a house - Lily's house - and he was trying to direct his fall away from it. But - was that a memory, or was it a vision of some sorts from God? Perhaps She was trying to tell him something.

"No," he admited. "I can't remember." He smiled when he heard her offer. "That's very kind of you. I hope I won't be imposing on you. I just wish I could remember more. My mind's a mess right now."

When he mentioned he was falling she was taken back as in her lands the only way of traveling quickly was by horse back. Though she wondered what else lay out there that her young mind didn't know of. Sighing as she looked at him wondering what lands did he come from though she smiled at him as she got up with her empty bowl. "Its not a problem. It'd be nice to have another voice here other than some of the wandering farmers." She said with a slight laugh as the old men would come up and want to offer their help on farming her lands.

She often allowed them to plow her gardens but in exchange of a hot meal. Since she was a simple farmer's daughter who had little to no money. She walked by him as she looked out the large window seeing the storm clouds that were dark were now starting to lighten up. Smiling softly as she looked over her shoulder at him. "With time I believe your memory will come back to you."

"I hope so," said Aldren. "It worries me that I can't remember things. Now if there's anything I could do to make myself useful - don't want to just spend my time wracking my brains for missing memories." He smiled at the girl, noting how slim and slender she looked. He wondered how she managed all by herself. She looked pretty - for a creature with round ears. What was she anyway, that she had ears like that?

"So what exactly is your kind called?" Aldren out of curiousity.

She was standing at the large bucket washing her dishes when he asked what she was. Smiling as she didn't look over at him. "A human of course. What are you though?" She asked as she finished up and placed teh dishes aside to dry as she moved by him and disappeared to the back of the farm house. There she opened up her brother's old room as it was clean just needed airing out. With the rain coming to a end she opened up the windows and moved back out where Aldren was.

"On the subject of you helping me while you're here..You could help me harvest some of my vegtables and perhaps hand some out. I often grow more to help the older farmers out since they help me." She said with a smile but she grabbed a piece of dried meat she had hanging over the fire. Walking to the door she opened it up giving a soft whistle. Leon on the other hand perked up only to catch the flying dried meat. Lily smiled as she left the door open with her walking back over to Aldren. "Hows your stew? I assumed you didn't eat meat so theres very little in your portion. Sorry if the bread looked over cooked...I'm still learning."

"It's not the cooking," Aldren said. "It's just - I don't know why, but - I thought bread was supposed to be lighter in color and have a more sour taste to it... Oh well. It's good anyway. And don't worry - I know I like meat. I was beginning to wonder if there was any in it, though I don't think I've ever tasted 'beef' before." He didn't mind helping Lily harvesting the vegitables. At least he'd be doing something. As to what he was - he knew what he was: a person. And not just any person. He didn't know why or how he knew it; he just knew his people called themselves a particular name.

"And as to what I am - " Aldren meant to say something else. The words that came out of his mouth said it, but what Lily clearly heard was "I'm an elf." The whole time Aldren spoke, she never noticed his lips never quite matched up with his words. Aldren didn't notice either. It was as if each one was telepathically translating each others languages.

It took her abit but she noticed his lips didn't sync with his words. Curious as she sat beside him thinking she wasn't exactly hearing him correctly. She sat there hearing he was an elf or she thought he said so. "You're an elf...." She said as she heard stories from travelers who came through here spoke of elves helping them through areas that was so new to them. Sitting there in silence as it was mind blowing to actually meet one.

"Wow...I've heard of your kind before but I thought it was stories for children." She said with a soft smile as she looked at him. "Never expected I'd meet an elf in my life time since.. I'm stuck here." she said with a sigh as she got to her feet. "If you'd like more stew just fix yourself another bowl. I need to make sure none of the hroses forced their way into my gardens."

That would probably explain why Aldren had never heard of "humans" if is kind was believed to be characters in children's tales, then that meant his people didn't have that much contact with humans. Of course! As Lily went out to make sure none of the "horses" got into her garden, Aldren helped himself to more stew. This serving had the "beef" in it - Aldren recognized the texture of meat, though it was like nothing he'd ever tasted. It was good. He finished quickly, then went outside to join Lily. He didn't know what else he was going to do, and the Leon was giving him wierd looks. He also wanted to see what "horses" were.

"Oh no..." Lily sighed as a young foal had followed its mother in but couldn't find its way out. on the other side of the fence the dual colored mare was prancing in a frantic mood. The mare nickered softly as she was trying to find a way to get her off spring back. Lily slipped through a small opening and moved towards the frantic foal. She was singing softly as the foal backed away from her slowly but Lily stopped short of the tiny creature.

The foal had long legs that didn't seem to fit his tiny form. The black and white foal was trembling but shortly Lily slipped her hand under his chin as her singing didn't stop. "Come on..." she said softly as she found the break in the fence and escorted the little back out of it. Its tiny hooves hit the broken boards as it ran to its mother. Lily never ridden a horse in her life but always loved to watch them from a distance. Years ago she'd try to venture closer but grew scared everytime one of the massive creatures walked closer to her. Now she managed to get close enough to stroke their cheeks before they bolt off from her.

There she turned from the broken boards to see Aldren standing there. Smiling weakly as she moved among her plants. "It seems they broke through the fence. Luckly the foal wasn't hurt." She said as the small herd still lingered nearby grazing on the freshly rinsed grass.

Aldren's jaw hung slack. He was sure never in his life, before the bright light washed it all out, he had never seen such grace or beauty in all his life. It wasn't the horses that caught his attention, but Lily: approaching an obviously distressed animal, and gently guiding it out back to its mother. If God were to take a physical form, Aldren was sure She would choose Lily as a template to start.

He shook his head and readjusted his ears when she noticed him. "I could help fix it," he offered. "It doesn't look too bad. I could probably get it done by sunset."

Blushing softly as she smiled at him. "Thank you. There is wood and the other materials are in the small barn nearby." She said pointing to the old small barn that was used for her father's horses but he released them before she was born. So he used his neighbor's horses to plow the fields. From what she understood he didn't want her nor her borther harmed if the horses got out of control. "While you're handling this I'll get your room ready for you to sleep in tonight." she said with a weaken smile as she lived alone for a year now and she never got use to the feelign her family were gone nor understood why she survived.

Walking past him as she rubbed Leon's ear when she slipped inside. The massive wolf slipped off the proch and walked over to the garden and sat down on the outside of the fence watching the horses.

Aldren watched Lily go, unable to figure out what it was he saw in the girl that made her so fascinating. It couldn't have been just the way she handled those horses. What was it?

He shook his head, and got to work. He examined the fence to get an idea of its construction, then started removing the broken pieces. He went to the barn and started rummaging around for tools and supplies. As he cut the wood and hauled it out to the broken fence, he had a memory. A very faint one, but it was there nonetheless. He was in a field of mud and puddles in a driving rain storm. Thunder boomed in the distance, though he knew this was no thunderstorm he was in - there was no lightening. There were other elves there too, all dressed in what he thought were suits of armor with helmets that covered thier ears. Aldren wore similar armor. No one else had swords though. Instead, they had long tubes lashed to thier backs, and knives clipped to thier belts. The reason this memory came up was because the other elves were building something out of lumber, though Aldren wasn't sure what. They were in an aweful hurry. This was a battle, and the wood construct was supposed to be something that protected them from attack. Aldren himself wasn't working. He was shouting orders to them men - and women(?) - who were. Suddenly, a shell exploded several units ahead of them, and another and another -

As suddenly as it came, the memory vanished, leaving Aldren more confused than before. He spent the rest of time building the fence trying to recover the lost memory.

Leon heard him stop moving and looked over with a not so caring look but it soon changed when he noticed the movements were rather, shakey? Whimpering softly as he walked over and nudged Aldren when he did pause for a small break. Leon may be the big bad wolf that farmers spoke off in stories to scare children but he was caring enough to be concern for others around him. Even if other beings said animals had no emotions or thoughts.

Lily on the other hand was moving musky blankets out of the small room and shook them outside and palced them on a rope that was strung from one pole to another. It took many trips to bring the blankets and sheets out to let the fresh air to clean the fabrics. After awhile she stood there smiling at her work but she looked over at Aldren seeing he was worknig hard. The way he looked made her blush so she turned away quickly with her trying to hide her blushing cheeks. For years she looked away from other men but him there was something different. Maybe thats why she felt attracted to him in a friendly manner.

Goaded on by the Leon's nudging, Aldren completed the new fence by sundown. He was tired and hungry. He never had managed to recover his lost memory, only the fragments that had come to him. After he finished, he walked over to join Lily. He had been stealing glances at her as he worked, noting how graceful she moved about while doing something as simple hanging up the laundry. She looked beautiful, for a human. Somehow, Aldren still remembered the standard of beauty by which he measured elven women, and Lily - even with her snow white hair - was at the top end of that standard, if she didn't surpass it.

He quickly thought of something to say as he approached - something that would not make it obvious he'd been staring at Lily. He didn't want to come across as either a love-struck fool, or a creepy pervert.

"That Leon is a friendly creature," he said, remembering the way the Leon had nudged him from time to time as he worked. "Does he - or she - have a name?"

Lily had finished but as she turned to wakl off she ran into Aldren. Her hands went to his chest. "Sorry..." She said as she looked up at him with blushing cheeks but she stepped back with her looking away until he mentioned Leon. Smiling as she looked at Aldren but her eyes went down to the ground. "Leon...Is his name. He is a wolf and I came across him some time ago and he was wounded so I brought him here and helped him. He is free to go as he pleased..." She said as she noticed he had worked hard. Smiling as she walked by him to head inside. "I'll get dinner ready. We may be having stew again...Sorry about that but I don't like to let food go to waste." She said with a smile to him but her cheeks were still red. She didn't know he had such high standards but she moved on inside and shifted a long blade from the door way which was hidden.

Lily moved the blade on the table as it had a golden hilt and imprints over it of vines. Its been in her family for decades so if she had to give up anything, this wouldn't be it. Walking over to the fireplace as she saw they had enough stew for this evening then that was it. Sighing as she stood up wondering who this Aldren was and where did he come from.