Backstory

“Melfelban, you need to think a little deeper”

“Deeper? I’m deep. I can sit in a trance for 3 days! And how many elves do you know that speak primordial? I’m deep as an ancient matriarchal elephant in a thousand-foot well at the bottom of a cave!”

“You see! Always joking, don’t you think there is anything more important in life? Something profound at the heart of this mean existence?”

Melfelban brooded over the lines summoned from the depths of his memory. That was 40 years ago. Eloween had spurned his advances and crushed him with those words. He was a studious elf. Strongly draw by obscure spells and difficult rituals. His persistence had made him a pretty decent wizard, inclined to learn all that was required for his art.

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But Eloween had shaken all he knew of himself. He had always been a small elf. Standing a mere 5’ 3” and weighing only 100 lbs. He was rather shy and never very good at picking up the social clues that others seemed to grasp so easily. Eloween hadn’t just rejected him, she had rejected the most important parts of himself. Her words struck at his strengths. He knew he wasn’t the most attractive elf, with his sea-green hair and lightning bolt eyes. He wasn’t the strongest, his father hadn’t even let him carry a quarterstaff. But he was bright. He had read more books than many elves had read by the time they were 300, and at 155 he had learned a great deal. He was especially expert at natural history, knowing many of the plants in the deep woods around the elven city and the animals around them. He knew maps better than most sailors although he had never had the constitution for long travels. Eloween had attacked his strongest attribute: she had gone for his brain.

He had lain awake for weeks after that. He started by examining his philosophy texts to prove the meaning of life but something told him that wasn’t what Eloween had meant. He took to trancing on the large rock in the meadow glen 15 miles beyond the city gates. It was a magical place, graced by an earth spring which kept the green of life in the meadow even in the deepest winter. After ten days he returned to the city and burst into Eloween’s study. She was there, gracefully seated upon a satin pillow in front of a Skyping pool. Drunsfeld sat beside her and was in the process of whispering something in her ear.

“I found depth!” squeaked Melfelban, his voice reaching an octave most elves leave behind in their 80s.

“Have you?” replied the demure Eloween with her dark blue eyelashes still covering her eyes. “What did you discover?” Drunsfeld turned to look at him curiously, his silver skin sparking with the movement as his eyebrows lifted in a gesture typical of a high elf studying a particularly strange item on a menu.

“Nature hold secrets, and I think I love you.” he blurted.

Eloween opened her eyes with such slowness that his heart ached. She turned ever so slowly towards the door with one eye raised slightly above the other to look at him. Her eyes burned so deeply into his soul that he flinched at the memory, even after 40 long years. He often wondered what she was about to say. However, instead of waiting to find out he had darted out the door, packed his bags, and left the city forever. Well, maybe forever. He might go back some day.

In the 40 years since that painful day he had wandered the forests and mountains of the continent exploring the most fantastic landscapes and learning the secrets of the wild. He had learned the skill to survive on the road and resilience in hard times. His skill with the primordial language was vastly improved as he learned to converse with the landscapes. His travels were only constrained by the sea and a need to visit his mother once a year during the Leonids. He would bring her trinkets from his travels and she would trade out books with him from the great Elven library which was in the city and thus beyond his visiting powers. He had grown tough through his travels and learned a bit more about what it meant to be truly wise. He was even considering returning to life among the elves, maybe for his 300th birthday. But that was a problem for the future. For now he was going to keep traveling. There may be more secrets out in the east.

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