Letting out a deep, cleansing sigh, Soul rested his head against the trunk of the tree where he was perched. Over the past few weeks, he had been acting aloof and feeling as if he was stumbling through his life.

Allowing himself to seek solace in the most remote part of Mirkwood, far from all the housing dwellings, he reflected over his life, his mistakes, and the very essence of his being. This bought of internal self-examination was not without cause, though.

His best and only childhood friend had run off with a prisoner while only leaving him a note behind, explaining how she had fallen in love with the captured dwarf and that though she would miss Soul and her life in Mirkwood dearly, she could not ignore the new fire that burned deeply in her heart.

Many of the town's gossips attributed Soul's cold demeanor and poor attitude to overwhelming heart break from losing Tsubaki but that wasn't the case at. Well, at least Soul thought it wasn't.

You see, there is a very unique quality that all elves possess. When it comes to love and attraction, elves only feel it for one person during their entire lifetime almost as if they have one true soul mate. What confused Soul was that he never thought he felt that way about Tsubaki, or at least his feelings didn't line up with love stories he had heard before. But it just made sense that she was the one for him, they were extremely close, he missed her greatly, but did he love her?

"-Soularis!" the aforementioned snapped back to attention at the echoing call from the man beneath him.

"Wes, call me 'Soul'. You know I hate all that proper shit." The elven man grumbled while swinging his way down back toward the ground.

"And you, my dear brother, know I how hate that rude and distasteful language." Wes smirked causing Soul to chuckle. "Now, father has sent me to find you seeing how you conveniently forgot about your meeting, again." When Soul hung his head and didn't respond, Wes pressed further.

"Soul… we're all worried about you. I mean you've never been the warmest and most outgoing individual but your days of isolation since Tsubaki's banishment-"

"You know she chose to leave willingly, right?" Soul interjected.

"Yes, but with a violent prisoner who killed many of our people. A prisoner whom she set free! But I digress, since her departure, you have shut out everyone and are shirking your responsibilities to sit in trees."

Wes sighed seeing the metaphoric walls build around his brother's resolve but tried to get through to him one more time.

"Look, if anyone knows about losing people they care about, it's me and I am here for you in any way you need. Just know that."

Guilt instantly overwhelmed Soul. Wes had lost his husband roughly five years ago during battle and was just now starting to heal.

"Wes, I- this is nothing like what you went through when you lost Raedlyn. I guess I'm just wondering if Tsubaki was it for me or not."

Confusion washed away the pain which was previously etched on Wes' face.

"What makes you think 'Tsu is your love? I mean, I know you two were close but I never thought you felt that way about each other…"

"That's just it!" Soul cried out in frustration, beginning to pace. "I've never known what that, what love feels like. I've never felt that for anyone, so how would I know if I felt that way about her? It would make sense if she is my love, I mean you agree, we were so close! People in town had even been betting on whether or not we would marry and now, now I keep wondering if I missed it, my one chance to experience love and- " Wes placed a firm hand on Soul's shoulder ending his erratic rant abruptly.

"Soul," Wes soothed with strong confidence and a saddened smile.

"When you fall in love, you will know so undoubtedly. It may not be instantly, but soon enough you will look at them and it will be as if you saw a new color for the first time. When you hear their voice, it will transcend even the most beautiful song and the concept of the marriage ritual, the physical act of love, becomes something you desperately want and not a bizarre tradition."

Wes laughed at Soul's doubtful expression before he started his way back to the town's center.

"You didn't love her," Wes called. "If you did, you would have chased after her before she even made it out of the forest."

"*"

The dwelling of the Head Elf was by far the nicest and largest in Mirkwood.

Sitting in the gathering room, Soul waited for his father in an ornately decorated chair while servants tried to give him shoulder rubs and offered trays various delicacies to which Soul refused.

To be honest, being a part of the head elven lineage made Soul vastly uncomfortable causing him to avoided any special treatment.

Much to Soul's relief and apprehension, large wooden doors opened allowing an ethereal man with long silver locks and flowing robes of silk and gold to enter.

Out of habit and forced respect, Soul rose quietly and bowed slightly before being waved to sit.

"Soularis, my son, Mirkwood's finest blacksmith and, if I do say so myself, a fine swordsman too. I must say, it is nice of you to finally show your face." Ellistar chided with a small smile which, depending on the situation, could be filled with mirth or venom.

"Father." Soul responded gruffly, clearly showing he would rather be doing anything else at this exact moment causing Ellistar to drop his smile to a firm grimace.

"Now, in response to the fatal attacks by those rouge dwarves last month, we have been rebuilding our elite line with the strongest and most capable warriors. We have enough strong archers including Weslyn, but we are lacking swordsmen."

Soul clenched a fist under the table to steady his trembling.

"Father, I have not been in battle for quite a while. I'm not even sure if I can wield a sword right. Do you even remember the last time we tried this? Do really want to jeopardize the scarce Elite Line we have left?"

"I feel that if you work hard enough and train, you will be able to persevere past your weaknesses." Ellistar insisted but Soul was still hesitant.

The last time Soul was in battle was when Raedlyn was killed. It was an absolute massacre and every time Soul had sparred since then, he became unresponsive to those around him and acted as if he was fighting the horrible battle from memory, nearly killing every partner in training. He had been deemed unable to fight in combat and was solely responsible for crafting the finest blades and bows the town had ever seen.

"One slip up," Soul rationed in attempt to compromise," even just one altercation, and I'm done. I will not allow myself to become a demon, Father."

Nodding, Ellistar agreed with a smile reappearing on his face.

"Training begins tomorrow in the unclaimed forest just north of Mirkwood. I will let Caralorn know to expect your presence. That is all, thank you." And with a final bow, both men rose from their seats and parted ways.

That night, when Soul made his way back to his Dwelling, he nervously prepared to wield his blade again.

"*"

Appreciating the unique view of the North Forest, Soul climbed the first few branches of a nearby tree.

First day of training had gone well against all odds. Soul expected disaster, truthfully, but it seems that time may heal all wounds. The clanking of metal equally excited and terrified him reminding him of what he loved about battle but also the devastating pain it would inevitably bring.

Slightly sore and slick with sweat, Soul leaned reclined in the tree's canopy, pulling out and opening a crisp new message he found left on his window sill the morning.

Dearest Soul,

I hope you are continuing to do well and that you're not giving your father too hard of a time without me there. I'm just writing to let you know Black Star and I have married and have settled down in a newly restored city on the rise that is both inviting and full of wonderful people.

I want you to know I am happy and that you shouldn't worry about me but I am also not naïve enough to believe my word will stop you from doing so.

But I am so incredibly happy that my face hurts from smiling so much. Love has made me a new person and I wish- I hope- I know you will find your love too and when you do, it will blindside you.

Please write me back, I would love to hear from you.

Love and miss you dearly,

Tsubaki

Folding the letter before tucking it away again, Soul shook his head. How would he even find someone worth abandoning his entire livelihood over? If love was as wonderful and as powerful as Tsu claimed it to be, did he even want to experience it? Love had destroyed his brother and forced his friend to abandon her life so it was clearly dangerous.

"Hey, watch where you're throwing, asshole!" A high pitched shriek broke his train of thought enough to make him realize he had been tossing small twigs he had broken off absent mindedly.

Looking down, he noticed the shrieking creature was in fact a young female human with sharp viridian eyes which, at this point, looked like she was ready to murder him. Knowing well that any remark he made would just fuel her anger, he couldn't help but smirk.

"Can't a guy get a little bit of peace and quiet without some screeching banshee disturbing him?"