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Your favorite dress is bright vermillion, with no sleeves, and very little back. Your people have always favored the loose, simple chiton styles, as opposed to the structured heavy velvets and silks that the humans wear. It makes you look almost like a princess, complete with the fresh flowers woven through your hair, though your mother would pinch at your cheeks and claim otherwise, with the way that your face is currently twisted up into an expression of wide-eyed wonder.
It's not directed at Licht; rather, it's directed at the two humans with him. You're not alone in your reaction; many other elves are watching the humans with wary eyes, giving them a wide berth as they venture through the village.
"They're humans," Your elder sister Lenna murmurs, and something dark flickers across her expression as she takes your hands in hers and turns away. You're forced to turn away with her, and you're left with an abrupt sense of loss as you're no longer able to see the boy with the golden crown glittering in his hair. "( Your Name ), let's go."
Ironically, it's a human who ends up saving you.
Your parents, wary of the humans who keep coming back to the village, have forbade you from leaving the house. Restless, looking for diversion, you turn to exploring the gardens of Bougainvillea House. The place is half-wild with papaya trees, mango, wild orchids, spider lilies, and an abundance of bougainvillea after which your house has been named. At the back of the house is a small lake, its grassy banks ending in coarse lallang upon which monitor lizards sometimes sun themselves. You've seen minnows, and crabs and crayfish stalking about the weeds.
One second of misplaced footing is all it takes, and you slide right off the banks and into the water with a shriek.
Before you even hit the surface, you feel its chill and see your skin turn an icy blue. As the water erupts around you, it pours into your still shrieking mouth. You cough and splutter, gulping down even more. Your legs flail as you search for the bottom, more resembling an octopus than a human being. Your lungs begin to burn and scream for air, and right as you're sure that you're going to die, a gentle grip yanks you out of the water.
Your dazed mind thinks that he's an angel at first.
"Are you alright?" He speaks slowly, so that your still-reeling mind can have a chance to understand him.
You can't form words, only cough, but he rubs circles on your back reassuringly, and sheds his damp cloak to drape over your form. Later, you would look back on this gesture and blush; it's tradition for husbands to drape fabrics over their newly-wed spouses during the wedding ceremony, and you can't fault him for doing so unknowingly, since he isn't aware of your customs.
"Do you need anything?"
As the spots clear from your vision and your mind comes back to the earth, you realise that it's no angel. The man standing in front of you is a human. The male human, hanging around Licht. Up close, he has pale skin and small, delicate features. His eyes are the blue of the warm summer sky, and his thick blond hair is plastered wetly to his face. His strange clothes are soaked through, though it's nothing compared to how sheer your dress has become, but he still manages to smile brightly at you, asking once again if you're unhurt.
