"Father tree...?" Abraham questioned, his black eyes fixated on the ink drawing. That name sounded familiar. Reaching into the vast, murky depths of his photographic memory, the jolt of skimming through bibles and other religious texts struck him like lightning. He tilted his head to peer at the dark elf. "Is this Aiglin also referred to as the Tree Of Life?"

At the mention of the tree, Johann Krauss perked up. Though he was no longer a heavily religious person, he'd studied the Bible enough in his childhood and youth to be familiar with the term.

The ectoplasmic man stepped toward the scroll in Nuada's hands and pointed at the drawing. In his distinguishing German accent, he recited, "Ah! The Tree Of Life. 'Then, the Lord God said, "Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever—" ...and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life.' This Aiglin of yours, I don't suppose that its fruit grants the wish of immortality?" Quite proud of himself, the smile in his tone was evident. Though his memory of the Bible was choppy, it didn't fail to serve him.

Maerwin turned her head to look at the two men. Impressive, indeed! It was surprising to see that anyone even heard of Aiglin, who was a deeply rooted (and incredibly significant) figure in elven folklore, and not many outside their heritage knew about him.

"Yes, that is correct. Some... human religions have called him that," she answered simply, extending a hand out to Nuada to take back the scroll.

The elven prince had his eyes glued to the page for a good few minutes now, searching feverishly for some sort of clue or context. He paid no mind to Maerwin, even as she cleared her throat in indication to take the scroll back. It was to no avail; he was just that good at ignoring her.

The dark elf couldn't help but roll her eyes. It was childhood all over again... except Nuada was far more handsome—not that his looks were of any importance. She cocked her head to the side and cleared her throat. "Ahem. The scroll?"

With his concentration broken, Nuada handed the parchment back grudgingly. For once, he stayed silent. On his face was an expression of deep contemplation as he stood by, one hand at his hip while the other grasped his chin.

Abraham glanced over at Nuada. The prince's pose brought to mind the famous bronze statue, The Thinker. It was a curious sight to see the elven prince in a position where he wasn't acting aggressively, and Abe was thankful indeed. He supposed that this Maerwin was a good person to have around, having found a possible solution to this conflict between elves and humans. Even so, he couldn't help but feel a stab of jealousy when the princess greeted her with such familiarity and happiness.

He longed for that moment to happen with him—that the beautiful, Bethmooran princess would embrace him that tender and intimate way. He had never seen her in such an emotional state, and he wanted to be the one to comfort her in her time of need. Being the observant creature that he was, he noticed the small kiss that this Maerwin had given to Nuala on her temple, right beside her brow. Seeing that had immediately put a frown on his fishy face.

Abraham inched his way over to Nuala, trying to act casual as he stood at her side. He coughed into his hand unceremoniously as to gain her attention, and gave her a little, "Oh, hello..." in a trailing voice, similar to that of a young schoolboy in regards of his crush. Nuala lifted her head to give him a small smile, then quickly went back to tending to the small bean in her palm, stroking it gently with a finger. She had a faraway look on her face, and was in no doubt pondering over Aiglin.

After he put his gun away once he deemed that all was safe, Hellboy took one look at the scroll before scratching his head at the scene before him. Nuada wasn't acting like his crazed, neurotic, 'I'm going to kill all humans' self; very unusual, in his opinion. In fact, all three elves in the room (the only ones who knew extensively about this tree in the first place) were quiet. Nuala stared down at the little bean in her hand, her soft, feminine face aglow from the illuminated bean. The dark elf—Marren? Mayrin? Whatever her name was, he couldn't remember—was examining the parchment silently as well. The BPRD agents stood by, not sure what to think of the situation.

This, he thought, was not a good sign. As always, he was the one to state the obvious—and this happened to be the perfect time to do so. He finally broke the silence and asked, "So, where exactly can we find this giant, immortal tree?"

His question made both Nuada, Nuala, and Maerwin look at him at the same time. It almost made him wish he didn't ask the question from the expressions they were sending him. He noticed the royal twins cast one another foreboding glances. No, this wasn't a good sign at all.

Maerwin stepped toward the red demon. He could sense that she felt tense as he watched her stiffly roll the scroll into a cylinder and sliding it back up her sleeve. She spoke slowly. "I'm ... not exactly sure."

Liz couldn't help but shift her weight on her feet, looking around the room. From the expressions on the elven twins faces, it was clear that they had no idea where this tree was either.

Hellboy exhaled, lifting his arms and letting them fall at his sides in a sign of disbelief. "Well, damn."

[✿ ✿ ✿]

Nuada paced within the confines of the library in the BPRD, the only sounds that reached him were the crackles from the great fireplace and the arguing from the hallway between Hellboy and his bald superior, that Manning fellow. To find himself in that place again was aggravating, and to be working with these petty humans... He might as well call himself a traitor to his own race.

Nuala was nearby, reading poetry quietly while Maerwin weaved small braids in her hair. The elves were waiting for a decision to be made by the BPRD. While Hellboy and his ragtag team of agents were willing to aid them in their quest, they had little to no resources without the funding from the Bureau of Paranormal Research and Defense.

The hot-tempered elven prince was resistant to the whole thing and fiercely insisted that he and Nuala find Aiglin on their own; without the BPRD and certainly without Maerwin. Nuala would have none of it and, with much persistence, managed to persuade her dear brother to join them—not as an enemy, but an ally—and take refuge at the BPRD headquarters, or as it was so affectionately called, Area 51.

Nuala set the book of poems on her lap and took out a bundled piece of cloth from her pocket. She unfolded it to reveal the small bean she had been tenderly keeping safe. "What shall we do with the forest elemental?" she asked, raising and turning her head to peek at Maerwin from over her shoulder.

Maerwin looked below at her, unbraiding her hair and letting it fall loosely in small strands. "I hope we can use it to clean the city. Perhaps it will be able to revive the foliage and flora."

The princess smiled at it, inspecting the little seed by turning in her fingers. Just thinking of the blooming trees of their city made her heart swell with a hope so big.

It was then when she noticed something rather peculiar on it. Looking at it closely, Nuala saw that the bean was cracked on one end. It had seeped a glowing white liquid that now dried and crusted over the tear, preventing it from leaking further. It was almost scab-like.

"Maerwin, look," she started, obviously distressed. "It's been hurt... but I wrapped it so carefully—have I crushed it? What will happen to it?" Causing the death of the last forest elemental was a heavy burden to bear, and the thought of it was too much for her to handle.

At the sound of her panic, Nuada strode over to where the two women were. "What's all the fuss about? Sister, hand it to me."

She gave it to her brother with worry in her eyes. Nuada stared hard at the bean's small fracture. He rotated it with his fingers, and noted that it was much smaller than the seed that he had used to attack Brooklyn. This one was about the size of a plump grape.

Maerwin crossed her arms, watching Nuada's weird actions—as if staring at it long enough would suddenly heal it! She took it from him after he'd examined it fully. "Goodness, you're going to kill it if you keep looking at it with that terrifying expression," she said half-teasingly, poking fun at the prince just like the good ole days. Nuada sneered back at her.

The dark elf then brought the bean very close to her face, squinting. Upon closer inspection, the forest elemental did not look too well. "I suspect that this might've happened when it fell. It dropped several stories high; I presume it being freshly released made it more susceptible to injury. I don't have prior experience in handling newborn elementals, so to speak—it takes several months to full year for an elemental seed to grow to adult size, which is typically the age it's introduced to water and hatched."

Nuala tilted her head at the small legume. Her motherly instincts kicked in, and Nuada felt the slightest pull of it in his heart through their invisible connection. The gentle princess stood up and cupped her hands together, to which Maerwin carefully placed the bean in. "It's still just an infant," Nuala commented, wrapping the bean in the fabric once more for safe keeping.

Maerwin pursed her lips, pondering over the injury. "If we continue to let it grow like this, it might end up deformed or crippled..."

"Maybe even vengeful," Nuada added casually to spite Maerwin, causing both the females to scowl at him.

"What should we do, Maerwin?" Nuala asked with concern, holding the bean close to her chest. Both she and her brother were looking at her for a decision.

Maerwin was silent, still weighing out the pros and cons of each option. Should they let it grow as a bean, its growth and development might be stunted. Activating it now, however, might pose a problem within the BPRD headquarters and be difficult to keep it calm in such an urban, concrete environment.

After a few moments of silence, she met their gazes and said, "We have no choice but to awaken it now and tend to its wounds."

Nuala nodded. "I'll draw some water."

April 25, 2013: I made grammatical changes, nothing big.

June 30, 2015: More changes and revisions that haven't affected the storyline.