"Aranel is her name, father." Aranel. I really do not think a name can get any more beautiful than that. My father smiled and said,

"Any more information?" I shook my head, after that I left her alone. I needed to get away from her. Although I found her most remarkable and the prettiest living thing on this earth, it scared me. I am not used to feeling this way especially towards an elf. God! An elf! Can you imagine?

"No, she will not give me any more. But I am sure I can get a few more answers out of her when I bring her lunch." Durza smiled and said,

"Do not forget the poison." The poison was just something we put in their foods, so they forget things like spells and such. It helps with getting answers out of the prisoner as well.

"I will not forget. Anything else you need for me to do?" Durza shook his head and smiled,

"No, that is all. You may reside until lunch." I turned away. I get a break, alright! But in an instant my father was in front of me. I hate it when he does that appear and then disappear thing right in front of me.

"Kobal, make sure we get some more answers from her, yes? I do not care if you have to beat it out of her, in fact, that is what I want you to do. I do not want you to be spellbound by her beauty, do I make myself clear?" Maybe that's what it was! Just hypnotized by her beauty, that's all. Nothing else. Good.

"Father, do not be ridiculous! She's an elf, how can I have any affection for her?" My father smiled, and that's a good sign,

"That's my boy! Alright you are free, until lunch. Spend your time wisely." Then he vanished. Man, I wish can do that as frequently as he can. But he says I am too young to vanish in and out like it was as simple as walking, so I do it in only emergencies. I walked back to my room and plopped on my bed, maybe I could recover some sleep. But the awakening sun would not allow me to do so. The sun, another thing I am not too fond of. Even if the sun was not present I would still not capture any sleep. And it was all because of her, Aranel. I don't get it, I just don't. How can a shade like me be so weak around a pathetic elf like her? But no she was not pathetic, she was … Oh, I really do need sleep don't I? So I rested my head against my pillow and had the most uncomfortable nap in my life. I woke up every ten minutes and thought; is it time yet? Time for lunch? Why was I so excited for lunch? I would have to poison her and I don't want to do that… wait, yes I do, don't I?

When the time finally came for lunch to be served I jumped out of my bed and ran down to where we poison the food. I wish I could vanish and appear like my father for it was a long way. But do not think I got tired! I can run for days without getting tired, it is just aggravating going down stairs to the kitchen while my father can just appear there. When I finally got down there only a few soldiers were in there preparing food. I was late? Maybe I did get some sleep. No matter, I went over to the end of the table and got a loaf of bread, four pieces of cheese and a mug of water. I took the knife of the table and split the bread in half so I could position the poison in properly. I went to a different counter and went to one of the many flasks lined up on the shelf. I brought it over to the bread and opened the flask. As I was about to drop the poison in I stopped.

I could not continue, no matter how hard I pushed myself to my hand remained frozen. Now I can't pour a simple drop of poison? I knew I would have to deal with this confrontation with myself. I thought of what my father would do if I had not poisoned her, but I just did not want to hurt her again. There! I said it, call me pathetic all you want, but, and I do not know why, her pain does not please me. My hand melted out of it's frozen position as I placed the flask on the table. It echoed through out the vacant room and that's when I realized I was alone. For some odd reason I did not want to be alone, this was probably one of the first times I felt that way. I quickly grabbed the tray of food and went somewhere I would not be alone.

I walked swiftly down the hall without a single water drop in the mug out of place. As I reached her cell I quickly reached for the key which was in my pocket. After putting the key in the lock the door opened and I saw her. She was lying on her back with her dark hair sprawled out like a fan on the floor. Her eyes darted to mine and I was speechless. She gathered herself and went into a tight ball against the wall sitting up right. I walked in slowly and placed the tray of food on the ground by her feet. She did not move so I told her,

"You should eat. I bet your starving." She quickly shook her head and said,

"I am not eating that. It is poisoned." Now isn't she smart, but what she does not know is that I did not poison it.

"It's not I swear. Eat it." I demanded, but she still did not move a muscle except her mouth which formed the words,

"I don't trust you." I chuckled out,

"Well I don't blame you. I wouldn't trust me either." She lifted the corner of her mouth slightly yet quickly showing a nippy smirk but still made know effort for the food. I guess I needed to teach her to eat. I grunted and sat down on the floor and said,

"Alright, alright. Here I will prove to you that it is not poisoned," I grabbed the bread and bit a chunk out of it, I bit off some cheese, and took a sip of water to prove that nothing was poisoned.

"There, trust me now?" She still did not move as she said,

"Barely." I threw my hands in the air at my unbelief of her.

"I do not know what else to show you that this is not poisoned. I know you are starving so just eat." She said back to me,

"What does it matter to you if I am starving or not?" She got me there. I could not tell her that I did care. She was so damn pesky about this.

"You are right, I don't care. Starve and die for all I care!" She slightly smiled, so I guess that was good? I don't know, I just knew that I had to get down the questions for her to answer. As I was about to ask her something she reached for the bread and nibbled on it. I smiled and said,

"Trusting me a bit more, yes?" She swallowed the bread down before she said with speculating eyes,

"Why is it that you are being nice to a prisoner like me?" I was hoping that question would not come. What do I say? I decided to dodge the question and say,

"I am the one to be asking the questions here. So you eat and not say a word. Do I make myself clear?" She looked down and nodded. I closed my eyes and sighed then opened them again. I always say the same questions over and over again to prisoners. My job was to ask questions and when they refused it was my father's job to beat them until they bled the answer. But not this time she was all mine. I mean mine in a prisoner sort of way, oh you know what I mean!

"How old are you?" She seemed to give in easily I thought I would have to use my charm again.

"Twenty." Twenty? Well that was much younger than I had expected! I thought she was around Arya's age which is what, a hundred? No wonder she is so vulnerable and prudent. She was, in fact, younger than me by two years! I continued,

"Where did you come from, well that's a given. Ellesmera, yes?" She nodded her head slowly. Ellesmera was disgusting, I'm glad that we are warded off from that wretched place. I think I might have to kill myself if I ever had to go in there. Now we had passed the simple questions, it was now time for the questions to get in her face about. I came closer to her, smelling whatever erotic perfume was on her. And even though I was inches away from her face, she was still eating the damn bread! This angered me. I ripped the bread from her hands and through it across the cell as I cornered her and saw the fear in her eyes starting to sink in.

"Now, tell me, Aranel, where has Arya has taken the egg that she has so daringly to steal." My voice was harsh yet calm, but she did not respond. She looked speechless, I would be too if I were in her position. Intimidating her more, I moved my face closer to hers so my nose was almost touching hers. Through my gritted teeth I said,

"You do not want to get yourself into this. Tell me, Aranel." She quickly shook her head. I had no time for this nonsense! I grabbed her by the shoulder tightly and raised my right hand as I was about to smack her, but somehow she managed to reach her hands over her face and cry out,

"No! Please, Kobal, don't hurt me! I honestly don't know where she brought the egg!" She said my name. She actually said it. That made me feel like we knew each other and I liked it. My hand suspended in the air and I faced the same dilemma I did in the kitchen. Hit her or put the hand down? I must have had my hand in the air for about a minute breathing heavily down in her face as I began to quarrel with myself. I finally came to my conclusion. I slowly put my hand down as I said in my soft voice, which I use to convince her with,

"I'm…. I'm not going to hurt you." My hand wanted to come upon her face again and I just could not help it. I wanted to feel her soft face along with her warm tears. I brushed my fingers through her silky hair and repeated what I said but even softer, a whisper,

"I won't hurt you, I promise." She finally took her hands out of her face and it was wet with newly formed tears. Right when I saw her face my hand automatically touched it softly. I felt those warm tears again and I flashed a smile and said,

"Your tears, they're so warm." She smiled a bit back and said,

"As they should be." Well I never knew this so I told her the reason why,

"I have never cried before." Her smile faded away. Oh no what did I do now?

"I'm sorry did I say something?" She looked at me with her eyes that drew me even closer to her. She did not even jerk back when our noses almost touched, she remained still but her mouth moved as she said,

"You never answered my question before." In curiosity I asked as I breathed my cool breath on her,

"And what's that?" She looked down at her hands then locked her gaze back in mine as she said,

"Why are acting so kind towards me?" I went numb. My face froze in place showing no emotion. Why was I acting kind towards her? I could not answer that question for I did not even know the answer. I finally moved my hand off her face and stood up with much stiffness in my back. I honestly did not want to leave her this early, but I had no other choice. My posture was extremely straight as I walked out of the room. I wish I did not see the pain on her face, but I did. She looked like she was about to cry and I wanted to be there and hold her to tell her that I was there for her. I still cannot believe I am thinking these things. I locked the door and dreaded dinner time. You might think it was a selfish thing for me to do, but I simply could not answer that question.