Elf Story

Well, it's four votes for the elf story and none for the mermaid story, so it's pretty much decided. Trash Kesara, enter the Evlen Meadows! Don't ask me WHY it's called 'A World in a Pine Tree'; when I began the story it was pure inspiration, and the name stuck. It has nothing to do with pines or whatnot, but it's something I can refer to the script by.

A World in a Pine Tree
Copyright © 2009 by FLAMESTAR(ad-libbed fro my real name)
All rights reserved

Elven eye colors:
Light green: Content
Medium Green: Weepy
Dark Green: Mysterious
Light Blue: Joyful
Medium Blue: Slightly unsteady or nervous
Dark Blue: Longing
Light purple: Sinister
Medium Purple: Romantic
Dark Purple: Disgusted
Light Amber: Terrified
Medium Amber: Wistful
Dark Amber: Hurt/Offended deeply
Light Pink: Energized
Medium Pink: Angry
Hot Pink: A stage of smoldering fury, hot enough to burn or even mortally
wound the elf entertaining it. It is an extremely rare circumstance that elves feel this anger.

Prologue

In a clearing shrouded by unnatural mist, a creature stood hunched over in agony. Its silhouette could scarcely be seen in the moonless night. No owls hooted, no wolves howled. The only sound was the sound of a strange, bitter weeping.
The creature clutched a pair of bony hand-like objects to its torso and sent out a magical transmission from its brain into the cloudy night. The words, not spoken, but heard, echoed around the Valley of Suffering. Hearing the feeble, heart-wrenching cry, in mere moments more forms appeared on the hills circling the valley. They raised their strangely toned heads and emitted high-pitched sounds of no explainable emotion. The creature in the valley raised its head slowly, and in a pair of murky eyes shone the deepest hatred ever imagined. Far away, the surface of a legendary watching pool began to stir.

Chapter One
Sunlight Golden, Sunlight Yellow

Serelana galloped over the vibrant green hills, her long legs causing her to flash by in a blur. The young girl reached down with a white-skinned slender arm and ran it along the turf. When she returned it to her side, a jumble of Periahs, the sky-blue and lavender swirled cup-like flowers that dotted the greenery, were clutched in it. The elf laughed; a merry, chiming sound that rang under the brilliant sun.
Not far away through a porthole in a knotted old oak, a middle-aged maiden carefully tilted the fire-stick where brown nuts dangled by a thread, roasting them to a warm deliciousness. The woman straightened and wiped her equally brown hands on her homey apron and began humming a bouncy tune. Her eyes, chocolate brown and warm, were set in a slightly lighter shade of gentle face. Her hair was neatly compacted in a worn piece of fabric that tied it up each day. As the little tune she entertained hit the air, it took on words.
Roasting nuts on toasty fires
While elves in the distance string on lyres
Sunlight golden, sunlight yellow
Flowers bright and flowers mellow
Whilst elven children run and play
My world is perfect this fine day

The fire crackled warningly and the woman removed the nuts quickly, allowing them to roll off the stick into a clay bowl. Suddenly a whoosh of breeze buffeted the little hollow and Serelana was at the doorway, luminous green eyes sparkling and golden hair falling over her shoulders. She stalked in and fingered one of the sprigs of Periah vines that wound around a cream-colored candle. “What’s for the noonday meal Rinana?” Rinana bustled about, reaching into a cupboard built into the oak wood for a dish and answered, “See for yourself!”
Serelana walked jauntily up to the table and inhaled the scent. “Mmmm!” The spread on the table was fantastic. Fresh Ziggian leaves, a plant that had a tangy, sweet flavor, in a salad of boiled roots. A fish, seasoned with Periah (the main staple in many decorations and foods) petals, still sizzling from the fire, was stretched out. A fruit salad also presided. Many of the fruits were profits of trades made with the Northern Region natives. There were multiple seasonings spread across the table. A bowl of the tasty brown nuts was for desert, along with a bowl of sweet cream that had been sucked from the rare Cornilda flower. Serelana licked her lips with a surprisingly pink tongue as Rinana scolded, “Now go wash up, you’ve been scooting around the fields all day and look a mess!”
“Rinana, this is what I prefer to look like!”
“Nonsense. This very second, now go!” Rinana’s eyes, kind but firm, turned on Serelana and she reluctantly obliged, not wanting anything to ruin this exceptionally perfect day. Leaping out of the tree with her lithe body and landing soundlessly on the cool grass, Serelana waded into the little brook that ran along nearby. The water was cool and refreshing on her skin as she scooped some with her hands and splashed it on a smudged face. The young maiden’s green eyes faded to light blue, as they were accustomed to do when she was joyfully content. And seldom was she.
The elven girl rarely had anything to be content about. Her parents were both off battling an unknown force that no one mentioned or agreed to let her in on. All she had been able to pick up was that it was threatening her home dearly. That was the trouble with the Elven Meadows, she often pouted, the security was too tight for her to learn anything of her parents’ whereabouts. But Serelana was considerably lucky in having Rinana around to care for her. The wonderful old woman was a friend of her father’s, and had readily packed up her meager belongings and moved to the old oak tree.
Serelana’s eyes deepened in their blue shade as she wove between the slender branches, her elven body moving like twine. Her blonde-golden hair was thick and bouncy, and she swiped it from her face as she entered the little house. Rinana plopped and clay plate of succulent foods in front of her and the young elf’s eyes sparkled as she sat down cross-legged on a cushion made from intricately woven grasses; the elves refused to hunt for anything other than food, therefore the beds and seats were anything but animal hide. Serelana smacked her lips in enjoyment after downing the cream and brought her head up with a white smear on her chin.
“That was delicious Rinana!”
The old elf’s eyes glowed as she replied briskly, “Thank you. Now, hurry up and go or you’ll miss the twilight lyres!”
“Alright, I’m going.” Serelana adjusted her green tunic and earthy brown leggings before skipping out the porthole in a flash of blonde hair and twinkling eyes. Rinana listened for any noise, but the elven maiden made no sound as she bounded across the hill and over the crest, heading for the Circle of Music.

Much better. :oP

Joke-of-the Week

Mr Lego Guy and Jared Loucks are going to KILL me through the computer, but this one I can't resist. Phoenix told this one on her blog a LONG time ago.

Three men came to a river that was fast, wide, and deep. The first man knelt on the bank and said, "Lord, give me the strength to cross this river." He swam a third of the way across, then drowned. The second man knelt and said, "Lord, give me the endurance to cross this river." He swam halfway, then drowned. The third man watched, knelt down, and prayed, "Lord, give me the INTELLIGENCE to cross the river." So the Lord changed him into a woman, she read the map, went down to the bridge, and was across in two minutes.

Story-of-the-Week

Grr. I need to tell stories from my dad's Voice of the Martyrs magazine or something...here.

On a very hot day in a country unnamed, a Muslim official went down to the river to bathe. As he striped his clothes and waded in, he spotted a Christian baptism taking place behind some bushes close by. The Muslim resolved to finish his swim, then arrest the pastor and believers. The sun beat down on the back, so the water was a refreshing change. After he had completed his bath, he began to wade back to his clothes that hung securely from a bush. Suddenly, a huge gust buffeted the river out of nowhere, and the official's clothes went sailing downstream. He shouted and chased after them, but the wind did not die down until almost a mile away were he picked them up from the water, grumbling. When he returned to the original place of his bath, the Christians were gone and he had no way of finding them.