Thorundur opened his eyes and looked around. He couldn't see Roe anywere. The panic started to rise within him. Maybe he had only dreamt that she had found him? But someone had put a loin cloth on him instead of the silk tunic. There were some green leaves under a bandage that covered his wound. It had to be Roe who had looked after him. With a great effort that made him realize how week he was he sat up. He looked around and realized that Roe had made a camp of this place. There were skins drying and baskets with food that she had collected. She had obviously been very idle and obviously he must have been here for a while. Why wasn’t she here? He realized that he was being irrational. She had told him that she needed to get some food for them. But the anxiety wouldn’t completely leave him. What if she wouldn’t come back? A wave of pain overwhelmed him when he tried to move to look around. Then he saw her!


She was sitting on the back of the black horse without any reins or saddle. Roe and the horse moved in perfect harmony as if they were the one and same creature. She was magnificent. Swiftly she jumped to the ground but when she saw him she looked alarmed.

“I told you to rest, you’re not strong enough to sit up yet,” she yelled at him. She rushed to him and looked at the bandage. Obviously she was pleased with what she saw because she relaxed and sat down next to him.


You have lost a lot of blood and the wound is not healed yet so you need to be very careful so it doesn’t start to bleed again. Please lie down and rest while I make you something to eat.” Thorundur didn’t protest. It was true that he was very week and the pain was really bad.

Roe must have seen the tension of the muscles in his face because she said, “I wish I could take the pain away. But I’m afraid that medicine that kills pain may be dangerous before your wound is more healed. I cannot risk that you would lose more blood.”

“I can stand the pain if you’re here to keep me company,” he answered. He could see that she smiled before she turned her head away. It felt so good bee friends with Roe again. They talked continuously with each other about numerous little things. She told him how she loved to ride on the back of the horse and how she had caught a rabbit with her sling while she had left him to get food. “If I had been as skilled as you with the bow I would have got us a deer,” she said. It was silly, but her acknowledgement of his skill with the bow made his chest burst with happiness.

She put his head in her lap and fed him a rich soup that she said would be good for his blood. “You might be well enough to be allowed to get up tomorrow considering how quick elves heal,” she said. “I doubt that any other creature would have survived the blood loss that you suffered but you are already surprisingly brisk.”


She slept close to him with her arm over his body to keep him warm. Not that he really needed any more warmth. The summer night was warm enough and he had thrown of the skin blanket that Roe had put over him. He knew that it would be natural for the Forest people to share their warmth with each other but he was an elf and not really used to such closeness. It felt good but this was dangerous. No matter how close friends they were he had subconsciously always kept their friendship to a certain limit. But he was wounded and her closeness felt so good. He moved even closer to her. After all he had almost died and returned to life thanks to Roe. Tomorrow he would put up the limit between them again. He put his hand over hers and felt the tight muscles under the warm and soft skin of her arm under his own arm. He studied the contrast between his pale skin and her dark in the week moonlight. He didn’t need to see her arm to know that it was completely smooth without a hair while his own arm was covered with fine almost white hairs. Her breaths were deep and even and he could feel her chest moving and her warm breath against his neck with every breath that she took. She was soundly asleep but he didn’t believe that he would be able to sleep much this night. Tomorrow is another day he thought as he squeezed her hand gently.



Roe had been right, Thorundur’s wound looked better next day and she allowed him to sit up and even walk carefully supported by her.

“I went home when I left you sleeping yesterday to tell my parents not to worry. They are not very happy with me but I will make it up to them,” she told him. “It’s amazing how fast the horse can travel.”

“I’m sorry to keep you away from your family Roe,” Thorundur said. “You’ve been so kind to me and I was so terrible to you before I left to go looking for Aliendre.”

“No, it is I who was terrible,” she said and looked down. “I’m so sorry that Aliendre chose the human. You must be so very sad.”


Thorundur chook his head, “No, I was stupid and confused. When I travelled together with Aliendre I realized how different we are. It didn’t take me long to realize that her company bored me. She’s wonderful and beautiful but I mistook admiration for love. Obviously I will still have to wait a very long time to find the love of my life.”

“But I thought that you risked your life to rescue her because you loved her so much.”

“No, that was not the reason. I like her very much and don’t want her to die of course. Don’t laugh at me Roe, but the real reason was that I thought that if I could bring her back home I would be a hero. It sounds really stupid now, I know. She has made her choice and there’s nothing anyone can do about that. But now that she has left, you and I will have much more time together. Think about all the good hunts we will have this autumn.”


Roe didn’t look as happy as he had expected. She looked down and swallowed and when she looked up her face made his throat thighten, and then she said the words that he had always known would come one day.

“I will not be able to see you anymore after this summer,” she said.”I’m going to move to Bear to become his spouse.”

Thorundur’s reaction took him by surprise. Of course he had always known that Roe would take a husband of her own people some day, but somehow it had always been something in a distant future. Now it was reality, Roe would not share his life anymore. It couldn’t be possible. He couldn’t stand the thought of Bear being more important in her life than him.


“But you don’t love him, you said so yourself. How can you take a husband that you don’t love? You said that this wouldn’t happen until next Forest people meeting.”

“I’m not an elf like you Thorundur. Forest people don’t think about love like you do. Bear will be a very good husband and we will share a good life together. It’s time for me to grow up.”

“I don’t believe that you don’t care about love. Everyone does. You’re not that different from me Roe. Do you truly believe that you will be happy with Bear?”

She looked like she was going to yell back at him, but then her face smoothened and she told him calmly; “I will miss you very much Thorundur and I will always remember you, but when you have healed enough to leave this place we must say goodbye forever. Besides you’re wrong, you and I are very different.”

This was even worse than he had expected.

“Roe, how am I supposed to be happy if we cannot be friends?” He didn’t try to hide the despair in his voice.

Her face was filled with sorrow when she answered. “You know that it will happen anyway. You’re immortal and I’m not. I will age and die and you will live forever and forget me.”

“Never,” he protested violently. “I would never forget you. But you’re just going to throw me away and replace me with someone better than me.”


She flinched when she heard the anger and accusation in his voice but her own reply was calm. “I’m of the Forest people and have to live with my own kind. Time is hunting me like you cannot not imagine. You have a great gift Thorundur but that gift is not mine. You cannot expect me to give up the chance to have a family just because time lasts forever for you.” She rose and walked away to prepare some food, but he suspected that it was just an excuse to leave him.


Of course everything Roe had said was true. He had no reason to be angry at her. But what would he do without her? They belonged together. It was impossible to deny any longer what he had always known deep down. He loved her more than his own life and a life without Roe was impossible to imagine. All his happiest memories involved her. One thing he knew, he would not let her know exactly how quick elves healed. He needed more time.