The elves watched the human revelry with bemusement. They deigned to participate, content to sit by the fireside and observe the rowdy humans as they drank, joked and laughed. One particular elf, Leahran, who could by their standards be called a youth despite his already unnaturally long life, watched the humans with heightened interest. Having known nothing but the serenity of elven glades and the calm of nature, he was excited by the energy of their mortal companions. Others, wiser and older than he, who had traversed the human world before, were less keenly interested, if still mildly amused by human antics.
But to Leahran these humans practically breathed life. Their movements were energetic, violent, as they strove to live as much as they could in what to elves was a mere blink in time. They laughed louder than any elf and smiled broader. They were so animated while the elves sat straight as tree trunks, unmoving and without the barest emotion on their stony faces. It was no lie the elves were superior in their beauty, as ethereal as it was, but there was raw beauty to the humans as well, that Leahran felt drawn to. The beauty of living.
His eyes were drawn to a particular knot of humans directly across the fire from him and he watched through the dancing orange tongues of flame. Central to their rowdy little crowd was a man in a particular style of uniform Leahran had come to recognise as being a sign of commanding rank among humans. He had dark, laughing eyes set in a weather beaten and creased face. His teeth flashed as he laughed with his companions, occasionally slapping another on the back as they roared with laughter at a particularly amusing joke. The commander held a cup of that gold drink human's called ale in his hand but Leahran observer he only sipped the drink, choosing instead to talk with his companions in sobriety.
Leahran had lost himself in their noisy, nonsensical conversation when he was jolted from his reverie by the commander's smouldering dark eyes. They stared straight through the flames and into Leahran's startled green ones. The man smirked and Leahran panicked. He'd been caught spying on the humans, how embarrassing. But he couldn't break his stare. The humans didn't seem to mind that their commander had fallen silent and continued their revelry.
Leahran almost didn't notice but the commander made a subtle gesture and stood. He wandered away from the fire, patting his men on the back and whispering in their ears, bidding them goodnight. They waved him off distractedly as he ambled into the shadows edging the camp. Leahran sat frozen for a moment, unsure if the gesture was meant for him and whether or not he wished to follow the man if it was. His curiosity and the memory of those dark, dark eyes got the better of him though and with elven elegance he rose and glided off in the direction the man had disappeared. He'd only made it a few steps out of the light when a firm hand closed over his wrist.
Leahran let himself be drawn aside by the human man, too caught up in those smouldering black-brown eyes to care much as he was lead silently away from the amiable chatter of the fireside. Neither the humans, rowdy with drink, nor the composed elves who were their company, paid the pair much mind as they disappeared into the shadows, back towards the tents. Leahran looked back to his elven companions, enchanted as they were with the spluttering embers and curious human revelry, not noticing him being dragged further from their midst. Apprehension stirred in his gut and he wondered if letting this mortal man steal him away was wise. Yet he couldn't bring himself to break the man's grip on his pale wrist, or tear his eyes away from the rugged, weather-beaten face, so handsome in the faint light of the receding fire. So he let the man lead him off alone, into the dark confines of one of the multiple sleeping tents the human's had rigged up in their makeshift camp.
They pushed through the canvas flap and into one of the larger tents near the centre of the camp. The interior was dark and it took even Leahran's sharp elven eyes a moment to adjust. The faintest of light filtered through the canvas walls from the distant fire, providing the barest golden glow to the tent. Leahran could make out sparse furnishings with only a single cot and small, cluttered table.
The commander pulled him to the centre of the tented space before releasing his wrist. He made no move to light a candle or lantern, leaving them, to Leahran's surprise, plunged in darkness. Leahran could feel an expectancy hanging in the air, a heaviness of some tension he could not name. The human paced around him, jovial demeanour fallen away to reveal to Leahran a coldness, a rawness, a greed he had not felt before. It unsettled him.
"Who are you?" Leahran asked, eyes following the circling human who had dragged him here.
"I present myself," the human replied, pausing to address the elf with a shallow bow, and wicked smile, "Commander Beau Harken."
"Well met," Leahran replied as courtesy dictated, with a similar bow, hand over his heart, "I present myself Leahran Duskwalker."
There was a drawn pause as the two eyed each other. Beau watched the elf with eyes that seemed to burn through him, raking across every inch of him, sizing him up, and appraising him like a cut of meat. It was a long moment before the human spoke again.
"We are both diplomats," the man whispered huskily, "tasked by our people to try to understand each other and to build an amiable relationship between our races. As representatives for our respective races, I have a proposal for you."
"What is your proposal?" Leahran replied curtly, but his voice trembled, uncertain of where the man was heading.
"Let's play diplomats and become acquainted...," he purred, stepping forward so he was inches from the elf's face, "intimately..."
Leahran shrunk away. Was this human suggesting... Surely not... Leahran backed away, reeling with shock and repulsion. He did not want what this human was suggesting - yet he found the thought strangely titillating. In a life as long as his, spanning the centuries, one had to find inventive new ways of filling it. The human, Beau, waited, what could have been a sly smile on his lips, as Leahran battled indecision.
"C'mon, elf," he goaded; stepping forward to make up for the distance Leahran had backed away, "You wouldn't have followed me if you weren't expecting something. I'll be gentle... promise."
Leahran shivered, but this time with an unquenchable longing for whatever wickedness the human was tempting him with. To feel mortality in the most intimate way possible - the idea drew him like a hunger. Indecision still rippled across his face as he stared down into those liquid brown eyes.
Then the human was pressed against him, hot mouth at his neck, kissing and sucking at the soft white skin of his throat. A hot tongue ran along the cool elven flesh and Leahran squeaked at the sensation. He bit his lip, embarrassed at making such an undignified sound and Beau peered up at him with mocking eyes, running his tongue in circles over the sensitive skin under his chin.
The human pulled away, lips twisting into a haughty, daring smile as he regarded the elf, trembling with shock.