She came upon his unconscious body quite by accident. She was running, fleet feet barely touching the ground. One moment, her head held high, euphoric and serene. The next, she was sprawled all over the forest floor, her face a scant few inches away from deer spoor. With aching slowness, she brought herself up to sit and check what damages she sustained. Despite some tenderness on her knees, elbows, and shoulders – which would turn into fantastic bruises in a couple of days – there did not seem to be any break she could find on her skin. They remained supple and smooth, like freshly made caramel. As she stood up, her amber eyes wandered around where she was. The forest was as it should be, except for one thing. A few feet from her lay a body partially covered by a robust blueberry bush. She shrugged and made to resume her running. Death was part of the forest, so there was nothing to be done about it. Then she heard a groan.
Quick as a hummingbird, she was beside the blueberry turning the body over. It was massive and undeniably male. He seemed to be unharmed, but deeply unconscious. Her soft hands caressed the unlined face before her. What are you? Memories of stories and tales told under the starlight swirled in her head, recalling hulking beasts, savage and brutal, that drove her kind from the meadows and the valleys to hide here in the deep forests of the mountains. The brutes of her stories were always covered in blood, clothed by the skin of other animals. This one beside her surely must be different from the horrific monsters of lore. As strange as he was, he did not seem any more different from her, except maybe for those ugly rounded ears and his bulk. A murmur escaped from his lips, unintelligible and alien, and sent shivers and tingles all across her body. A wink of mischief danced in her eyes. She would bestow this – whatever he was – a gift.
