I had never seen a creature quite like her. Something about the way she moved - she lacked the grace of my people, but existed with a singular purpose that we elves lack. Something about her fascinated me - her way of thinking was so foreign, so fiery and all-consuming that it took me up with her every time we spoke.
It was never supposed to come to that. That… fascination. I could not help but watch her as she passed through. It felt like moments that she was gone, but I saw her come back with new scars, longer hair, sharper features. Before I knew it, she had grown from a young woman striking out on her own to an adult, and it brought pain to my heart. She was so fleeting, so beautiful in her ferocity - her singularity.
She was too smart for her own good. I should never have let her see me, should never have shown her my fascination. And yet, all too quickly, I found myself entangled in her. She spoke my name with words that dripped of honey, in an accent shaped by a tongue I did not yet know. She claimed to be from across the sea, but I did not think humans could travel so far. It did not matter, really. I believed her, could smell the salt-air engrained in her soul, could see the rope-scars that marred her hands.
I should have stepped away then, when she boarded her boat back to the ocean. I should have left, run deep into the forest and waited until her sun-amber eyes could not promise me more than I could take. I did not. I waited for her return, stood watching the sea each day, hoping to see the red and gold sail I knew she would be returning with. And when I did finally see it, when I saw her swing from the side of the boat with practiced ease, I should not have let her embrace me - should not have let her kiss me. But I did.
And now, as I sit next to her at our hearth, I know I should run still. I should take the memories I have of her youth and flee with them, hold them dear to my heart and let her thrive forever in my mind. I do not run, for she still speaks to me in honey-soaked words, still entrances me with her brightness, her fire. I am lost to her, lost in her, and we both know that one day this will end. Even knowing that, I am nothing more than a moth to her flame, and I will burn willingly, as long as she stays alight.