culture, then the
elves were no better. "I don't believe this story about elves and
dwarves," she muttered. "What's the second reason then?"
"Keeble is not in complete control of his
faculties."
"He isn't?" He had seemed a bit distracted
at times, but it was a bit hard to tell in different languages.
"No. It is known that without community and
organization dwarves quickly become ill and die."
"They die of loneliness?"
"That is correct. And Keeble failed some
type of test set by his superiors and was banished. He spent quite
some time wondering alone in the forest. I personally saw evidence
of his having commenced tasks that he left incomplete. For a dwarf
that indicates a grave sickness."
"You're kidding?"
"I do not kid."
"Bloody hell." Kim shook
her head. Elves and dwarves. It was ridiculous.
But back at the hospital she'd watched the
reports of the alien attacks. She hadn't dreamed them. So, if there
could be aliens attacking earth on the backs of giant bats, then
why couldn't elves and dwarves cross from another world through the
'magic faraway tree'?
And, sitting next to an 'elf', she took a
deep breath.
"The earth is being attacked by aliens," she
said softly. Like everyone else, she was going about her business
as if the world hadn't recently gone though the greatest moment in
recorded history. Admittedly, it was unusual business, but she was
sitting on a train chatting amiably as if she would wake up
tomorrow, or next week, and everything would be the same as it had
always been.
"What's your world like, Meledrin?"
"Pardon."
"Your world, what's it like?"
"Very much like this one. There are trees
and rocks," she waved her hands towards the window, "mountains and
streams."
"Obviously," Kim said. "It has to be a lot
like Earth or you'd be dead. Carbon based life, oxygen,
photosynthesis, minerals, gases. You could probably drop me
somewhere on Sherindel, and I wouldn't be able to tell for sure I
wasn't on Earth."
Meledrin nodded. "I could inform you that
there are mountains that touch white tipped fingers to the sky,
lakes that so perfectly mirror the sky that you can shoot birds
just by watching the reflections. There are trees that sing the
breeze in perfect choruses and fields of crowded sun worshipping
flowers in a thousand colors. I could tell you these things, Kim,
but the things of simple beauty in this carriage would have more
meaning."
"The things of beauty in this carriage?" Kim
looked around, not sure what things the elf was talking about.
"You do see not the beauty here?" Meledrin
asked, with one perfect eyebrow raised. "How terrible your life
must be."
"Terrible?" Kim looked around again in the
flickering fluorescent light. "Point this beauty out for me
then."
Meledrin looked around the carriage. "The
face of the child." She gestured towards a little girl sitting on
the other side of the aisle a few rows back. "Her smile, the
concentration so apparent in her eyes, the line of her jaw, the way
her hair outlines the delicate curve of her ear." Meledrin looked
around again.
"And the old lady over there. Her shawl. The
colors are perfect -- slashes and swirls against the plain,
straight lines of the seat. That young couple over there. Their
clothes could not be more different, their features could not be
more different, but look at the expressions they wear. That is
beauty, Kim: a smile, a look, a simple, unexpected pleasure."
Kim knew what the elf was
saying but couldn't truly see it. When she turned to Meledrin to
say so, she wondered if the elf really could see it. Meledrin knew that
beauty was there, perhaps, but she looked with the eyes of an art
critic, not an art lover or an artist. She was so emotionless that
she could not possibly see it any other way.
Kim closed her eyes. She wondered where
Keeble was. The dwarf didn't like Meledrin, and she was starting to
agree with him. Meledrin had seen her people slaughtered and
crossed between worlds. She left a man, a good friend at the
elves were no better. "I don't believe this story about elves and
dwarves," she muttered. "What's the second reason then?"
"Keeble is not in complete control of his
faculties."
"He isn't?" He had seemed a bit distracted
at times, but it was a bit hard to tell in different languages.
"No. It is known that without community and
organization dwarves quickly become ill and die."
"They die of loneliness?"
"That is correct. And Keeble failed some
type of test set by his superiors and was banished. He spent quite
some time wondering alone in the forest. I personally saw evidence
of his having commenced tasks that he left incomplete. For a dwarf
that indicates a grave sickness."
"You're kidding?"
"I do not kid."
"Bloody hell." Kim shook
her head. Elves and dwarves. It was ridiculous.
But back at the hospital she'd watched the
reports of the alien attacks. She hadn't dreamed them. So, if there
could be aliens attacking earth on the backs of giant bats, then
why couldn't elves and dwarves cross from another world through the
'magic faraway tree'?
And, sitting next to an 'elf', she took a
deep breath.
"The earth is being attacked by aliens," she
said softly. Like everyone else, she was going about her business
as if the world hadn't recently gone though the greatest moment in
recorded history. Admittedly, it was unusual business, but she was
sitting on a train chatting amiably as if she would wake up
tomorrow, or next week, and everything would be the same as it had
always been.
"What's your world like, Meledrin?"
"Pardon."
"Your world, what's it like?"
"Very much like this one. There are trees
and rocks," she waved her hands towards the window, "mountains and
streams."
"Obviously," Kim said. "It has to be a lot
like Earth or you'd be dead. Carbon based life, oxygen,
photosynthesis, minerals, gases. You could probably drop me
somewhere on Sherindel, and I wouldn't be able to tell for sure I
wasn't on Earth."
Meledrin nodded. "I could inform you that
there are mountains that touch white tipped fingers to the sky,
lakes that so perfectly mirror the sky that you can shoot birds
just by watching the reflections. There are trees that sing the
breeze in perfect choruses and fields of crowded sun worshipping
flowers in a thousand colors. I could tell you these things, Kim,
but the things of simple beauty in this carriage would have more
meaning."
"The things of beauty in this carriage?" Kim
looked around, not sure what things the elf was talking about.
"You do see not the beauty here?" Meledrin
asked, with one perfect eyebrow raised. "How terrible your life
must be."
"Terrible?" Kim looked around again in the
flickering fluorescent light. "Point this beauty out for me
then."
Meledrin looked around the carriage. "The
face of the child." She gestured towards a little girl sitting on
the other side of the aisle a few rows back. "Her smile, the
concentration so apparent in her eyes, the line of her jaw, the way
her hair outlines the delicate curve of her ear." Meledrin looked
around again.
"And the old lady over there. Her shawl. The
colors are perfect -- slashes and swirls against the plain,
straight lines of the seat. That young couple over there. Their
clothes could not be more different, their features could not be
more different, but look at the expressions they wear. That is
beauty, Kim: a smile, a look, a simple, unexpected pleasure."
Kim knew what the elf was
saying but couldn't truly see it. When she turned to Meledrin to
say so, she wondered if the elf really could see it. Meledrin knew that
beauty was there, perhaps, but she looked with the eyes of an art
critic, not an art lover or an artist. She was so emotionless that
she could not possibly see it any other way.
Kim closed her eyes. She wondered where
Keeble was. The dwarf didn't like Meledrin, and she was starting to
agree with him. Meledrin had seen her people slaughtered and
crossed between worlds. She left a man, a good friend at the
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