A person develops an immense crush on Wraithvine and starts following hir around trying to ask them out on a date. -- Anon Guest
Love, as the Bards frequently say, is strange. Many people take it for a game. Not Wraithvine. Bernhardine Mev really should have known that. She also should have known that when a Human falls for an Elf, it never ends well for the Elf. It never ends well for the Human, either, but it generally takes them all their life to realise that.
Elves are beautiful. They've worked on being so for centuries. Millennia. It's natural for Humans to at least have an aesthetic appreciation for any passing Elf. Following them around and professing their undying love is a stunt reserved for the truly bold.
Wraithvine tried to ignore her at first. It didn't work.
Ze was between adventuring groups and spending time in libraries and bookshops. Reading up on new advancements in assorted magics. Every time ze sat still, ze had an hour at best and twenty seconds at worst before Bernhardine would begin sighing audibly at every turn of a page.
An immortal's patience is near to infinite, but she was dancing on one of hir last nerves. Nevertheless, it was a month and a week before ze broke. "Can you be helped?" Wraithvine snapped.
"Oh," she swooned. "I'm completely helpless. Left distraught and disturbed by the sound of your melodious voice. Say that I am yours and I may be cured."
Wraithvine rolled hir eyes and muttered, "Bards," as if it were some kind of curse on the greater universe. "Are you at all aware of the lifespan gap betwixt Humans and Elves?"
"It's right tragic, it is. Soulmates left cleaved apart by the wear of time. If only someone could wish all life to have equal spans."
An entire planet of immortals, and many would still be fecund according to old habits until the clue finally bored into their heads. "That would not end well from my lips, miss."
"Mev. Bernhardine Mev. Though that may soon change..." She finished that introduction with what she thought was a flirtatious giggle.
Wraithvine put a bookmark down and closed the tome. There would be no studying today. "Madam. Do you know who I am?"
"I would call you divine," she cooed.
Eyeroll. "Bards..." Ze cleared hir throat. "I am Wraithvine; the Eternal, as they say. Eons ago, when the gods still walked the mortal plane, I put my hand to a gods heart and made a foolish promise. I have paid that price in tears and tribulations for eons since. I have seen empires rise and fall. I have buried husbands, spouses, and wives alike who have perished from old age. I have buried children of mine, who have also perished of old age. I have buried grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Not just halfbred, but full-blood Elves. Knowing all this, would you ask me to suffer that pain again?"
"Aye, but what a sweet agony it is," she said. "I would weep a million tears so that you may be spared them."
"Then you are not in love. Merely in fascination. Love means wanting what is best for the other and not for yourself. You are a selfish young lady and I wish you well, wherever you may wander. Know that I break your heart now so that I do not suffer yet another fracture in mine. Begone. Find someone else. Learn what real love is."
"But I love you," she sighed.
"Madam. I am still mourning my fiftieth spouse and it has been three thousand years. I will be burying our grandson tomorrow. Do not talk to me about love." Ze brought a device out of hir pocket and flipped a little switch. "The city guard has been summoned. If you are still here in ten minutes, you will be arrested."
"For being in love?"
"For being a public nuisance. This is a library. People are trying to read."
[Image (c) Can Stock Photo / connect]
If you like my stories, please Check out my blog and Follow me. Or share them with your friends!
Send me a prompt [78 remaining prompts!]
