After spending years learning to control my shape changing, my mother decided that I was finally ready to go out and socialize with the villagers. To this day, I think it was more about the fact that they knew that she had given birth to a child but for some reason they had never met me. A shape changer has to keep their cover story straight, you know.
As I had said before, one other woman was "harmed" during the raid upon Kithkara. Her name was Selaria Elifel, and she, too, bore a half human child.
During my first visit to the village, I came upon a spot where the elven children could often be found playing; a patch of wildflowers on the eastern edge of town, just between my home and the village proper. They chose to play here because of the natural beauty of the place (and the fact that it was far removed from the daily dealings of the adults). I walked over in the guise of a half elven child, as my mother had taught me. They were huddled around something, but one of them saw my approach.
"Look, Valerian, another impure blood," laughed the eldest of the children.
"Yeah, Kailen, we should show him what we do to his kind around here!" sneered, presumably, Valerian. He appeared to be a miniature henchman to the eldest.
They group of children parted to reveal a figure huddled on the ground. It was a half elven child, beaten and bruised.
"I'm telling the elders!" I screamed before taking off into the woods, towards town.
"Let's get him! Teach him to mess with us!" the other children screamed. They began to chase after me.
I found a hollow, fallen tree and hid inside of it. Then I began to change. This one would be a little more difficult, because I was trying to impersonate the elder, Alvorn, someone twice my size. I figured they wouldn't realize a slight difference in height, so I stopped at a comfortable size.
When I emerged from the brush, I stood waiting; trying not to laugh at the looks on their faces as they ran upon the village elder.
"What is going on here?" I asked with an officious tone.
"Nothing," replied Kailen, "We were just playing."
"That is not the story that I heard. As an elf, you should realize that all life is beautiful," I lectured. "If I hear again that you have threatened or injured the half human children, I will be forced to banish you to the caves beneath the city," I said with a grave face. All of the children "knew" about the monster filled caves beneath the village. The fear on their faces nearly made me cry out with laughter.
"WE"RE SORRY! PLEASE NO!" the children cried together. "We promise we won't hurt them anymore, just please don't banish us!"
"Ok, I will forgive you this time," I explained. "But one more offense and you're out of here."
I cursed myself silently for using such childish language as Alvorn would never say anything of the kind.
"Thank you!" they sang out, running towards their respective homes.
When they were out of sight, I changed back into myself and ran back to the clearing to help the other child. He was just rising to his feet when I approached.
"Thank you," he said, clearing the tears from his eyes. "My name is Maliel Elifel, what's yours?"
"I am Sylk Mai'Kiali," I replied, helping him brush the dirt off of himself.
"I have some lunch hidden near here, would you like to share it with me?" he offered.
And so we ate. When we were finished eating, we played. It continued in this way for our formative years, each of us a pariah because the other children couldn't pick on us, but they still wouldn't include us in anything.
It was during our nineteenth summer that we fell victim to the longing stirring within our hearts.
We were practicing our fencing when Maliel made a sudden lunge. It sent him off balance and he fell into my arms. He stayed there for a long moment. We stared into each other's eyes, silent.
Then he kissed me.
We rolled in the grass; holding, kissing, caressing.
We knew that each of us felt the same way for the other, but we kept our love a secret. We met more often than we ever had, professing our loves in the sanctity of our grove. We spent two years like this before I knew I had to tell him my dark secret.
It was the week of Yule. We met, as usual, in our hidden sanctuary and exchanged our gifts. He knew of my specialized "training" under my mother and brought me a master worked set of thieves tools. I brought him a black cloak of the finest make my mother had, embroidered with his name. We kissed and began to talk.
"Maliel," I started, tears beginning to well in my eyes. "I have something to tell you…"
"What is it?" he quietly asked, expecting one of our little games.
"I have a secret. A secret I have never told you. Or anyone in the village for that matter. You have to promise me that you wont tell anyone."
"Of course," he said, worry beginning to show in his expression.
"Just know that I am Sylk Mai'Kiali. I am the same person you know and love, no matter what I look like. This doesn't change anything. I love you."
"What is it?"
Then I changed into him. A slow change, but with every feature I saw confusion grow into terror on his face.
"I am a changeling. The product of a doppelganger and a human," I tried to explain.
But it was too late. He ran, screaming.
I left that grove, intending to leave town forever the next day, my heart broken and my life in pieces.
I returned the next day with the intent of leaving the thieves tools with a note explaining where I was going. To my surprise, I found a note tied with a red ribbon. I opened it.
S,
I don't care about anything other than being with you. We can overcome any obstacles together. I'm going to ask the elders that we be hand fasted on Yule. Then we can go adventuring together. I know how you always say that you want to get out of this town eventually. I will meet you at the home of the elders at dinner time.
All my love,
M
Tears streamed from my eyes like the ever running waters of the rivers on the Godplanes. I realized that it was almost dinner time, and began to make my way to the village.
That's when I heard the screams…
