Zela: Elfin Dawn


Prologue

The first night.

The new-made stars glittered in the black sky. The stony earth, clad in soft moss, was as ready as possible as the peaceful darkness could allow.

The immortals trembled in anticipation.

Somewhere, something stirred. With speed like thought, the immortals were there, invisibly, watching.

The elf rolled over and stared up at the stars. They twinkled back, and it laughed, and then lay in silent contemplation for what seemed an eternity.

There came a rush of communication between the immortals. ‘The laugh! Our work is good!’

At last, the elf began to explore its capabilities. It sat up and felt its arms and legs and face. Its body was covered in a short garment. Encountering hair, it stroked that for several minutes. Then, it began to crawl away. It came to a drop in the earth, where the moss gave way and the raw stone was exposed. It sat back and paused, young eyes straining to see what lay below in the dim starlight. The sound of rippling water came to young ears. The scent of scuffed earth and moss was thick.

Again, the elf began to move. Feet first, it slipped over the edge, long toes feeling for something to brace against. Finding a stone, it pushed a little to test it. ‘Cautious. Thoughtful. Excellent.’ The ledge was stable, and the elf sat on it, feeling lower, but the next foothold was only as far down as the length of its lower leg. This surface was soft and yielding, gritty, dry. The elf stood upright and walked forward carefully on only two limbs. Finding dampness in the sand, and then water, it waded in without pause.

Standing knee-deep in cool water, on its own two feet, with the bright stars blazing overhead, it laughed and laughed, making the world ring with pure, unsullied joy, with childlike wonder and delight.

And the immortals laughed with it.


As the elf felt the urge to do something new and waded to shore, more confidently now, the immortals made themselves visible. Unilluminated, simply corporeal, they waited.

The elf saw them and laughed, stretching out its arms in greeting.

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