A Fairy Tale

Ella was young, foolish and shy. Her beauty was exceptionally rare, renowned, prized. She had kind, penetrating eyes of the most mesmerizing green.
Silas also being slight in age, was an anxious man of deep troubling thoughts. He spent his days contemplating the changing of the seasons and never once thought of love or sharing his burdens...
All of that was about to change though, as the fates of these two young people were destined to entwine.
It started on a warm spring day just after a thunderstorm, in the heart of an ancient and mystical wood.... Ella embarked into the wood on a most important quest... She was compelled to retrieve an herb with powerful healing abilities, for you see her mother had a sickness that was wasting her away...
Silas had embarked on a hunt by demand of his overbearing father, forced to participate in the cruelties of men or be punished. Silas only planned to be the worst possible hunter in hopes of warning the timid forest creatures.
They journeyed into the heart of this forest, together in time , yet so far apart...is this the sweet scent of destiny I smell?
* * *
Silas had always hated the hunt, it seemed an incredibly cruel way to get ones food. Thank the Gods he was only subjected to the torture once in a blue moon, probably because Borick was such a terrible hunting dog. But Silas loved him even more for his tender nature, they had been together for many many moons and were the best of friends.
Today was different though. Today Borick made after prey... Today Borick became hopelessly lost in the vast and unforgiving underbrush. Silas frantically pursued his one and only friend, into the unknown depths.
* * *
Standing in the meadow, Ella grimaced at the sight of the dark and foreboding forest that loomed before her...
She sucked her teeth and clenched her fists, whispering quietly to herself, "For mother......".
She tenderly picked her way to the edge of the wood and plunged into the thick of it, gracefully sidling along the trees, swooping under branches, mindful of her footsteps, sympathetic to the plants. And although her heart so loved the living, she was fearful of the wild and wonderful creatures that inhabited the wood... Just the starflower, all she needed was this, and she could save her mother...but the starflower only grew at the fabled spring deep in the wood....her journey would surely be long.. Just then a crashing sound to her left made her heart leap in terror.
A man's voice rang out in panic, "BORICK!! BORICK COME BACK!' Ella hid, behind the trunk of a large cottonwood, anxious to defend herself, for she knew not the thoughts that might lay in this man's heart....
* * *
Silas stopped to catch his breath...He had been chasing after Borick for a good score...His breath was labored and a sharp pain crept through his mid-section. He steadied himself against a sturdy oak, sliding down to sit on the mossy forest floor.
He stroked the moss, natures finest flooring... A twig snapped nearby, a small rustle from the brush. Silas responded at once, jumping to his feet searching the area where the sound had come from, when he suddenly spied a lock of copper red hair, sticking out from behind a pale cottonwood tree. Could there really be someone hiding behind that tree? Did he really want to find out?
* * *
Ella held her breath, sure that the young man had heard her. It seemed like ages had passed in the long silence since he stopped before her tree....and then he spoke, and the sound stirred emotions she had never felt...something in her changed, at the note of his voice.
"Why are you hiding behind that tree?" A hot flush rose in her cheeks, something about being called out like that and something in the tone of his voice, set her heart all a flutter.
She gathered her resolve though, remembering the purpose of her being in the woods all along. She decided to remain hidden behind the tree, there was a certain measure of comfort she received in that.
" I am hiding because you are a man, and I a woman, of small stature and I am alone in these woods. Any rational girl would do the same." He responded with a different tone, but still melodious to her ear.
"Well does a woman, of small stature, alone in the woods, have a name?" A smile played across her lips upon hearing his query, she stepped out from behind the tree to face this mystery person... And it was love at first sight...true, everlasting, love at first sight, for both parties... Ella regained her words first and answered his question with another of equal importance... "...and what is a name, when the face is before you?"

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