The Girl You Can't Have

I nodded despite my lingering confusion.

"I've been thinking about a name for you," she said while touching my plump new lips with her finger.

"Your old one won't do, and that part of you will fade from your mind in time. What name would you like?"

I could only think of the name of the girl I saw in the reflection. "Elnara," I said.

She laughed, and playing pinched my nipple till I yelped.

"No, silly goose," she said. "That would get confusing. I think that I'm going to call you 'Kylie'. Would you like that, Kylie?"

I agreed, but then I would have agreed to anything that she wanted to call me. She had become my whole world, and it was difficult to imagine any kind of existence without her.

Time and seasons passed by like the wind through the trees. The things that I used to know and care about faded into time and dust. Elnara was gathering mushrooms, and I had wandered to the edges of our secret clearing. I could move through the dense vegetation with now that it was my home. My home-spun dress would never be torn by the plants it touched. When I made it through the thicket I found the road, and a pair of eyes looking at me.

It was a young human man: a soldier by the look of him, marching off to some new war under some new king. The stranger had sandy blonde hair and a very kind face. He looked at me, and smiled at a rare and beautiful elf girl. That's all that his eyes would see of me.

I had to return his kindness with a small, but sad smile of my own because Elnara had taught me what we were and why we had to be away from those who were not like us.

"You like me," I said to him. "I know you do. But you need to stay away."

"What's your name?" he asked.

"Kylie," I said, and moved back into the forest where we hid from the world. As I went back to Elnara I wondered if the young man was following me.

Post Script: Thank you once again for taking the time and showing the interest in reading my stuff. I hope you liked it. I would love to hear from you in the comments section. Tell me what you liked or what you think needs improvement. I'm not sure if this story needs more or not. There is always room for more, but some things can just remain as they are.