Days had gone by, and Elysia found herself thinking more and more about the human encounter she had in the woods that day. It weighed heavily on her mind. "I really am not attracted to that human, but it was fun to tease Ruxx. I hope he didn't take me seriously. I would hate to put him off about me, and I really do like him. Maybe I should just tell him? Uh, what if he really doesn't have feelings for me like that? He was awfully quick to end that embrace once I accepted it. Why can't he just know how I feel? He really should be able to pick up on that, shouldn't he?"

"Elysia, can you give me a hand with this incantation?" her father called out from the other room.

"Sure, Dad, coming," Elysia walked into the room to help her dad. "Dad, you're a guy, right?"

"Yes, last time I checked anyway. That's a little humor."

"Yeah, Dad, but seriously, why is it that guys never seem to know how a girl feels?"

"Ah, I see. Well, the best advice I can give you is to tell him how you feel."

Elysia immediately shoots down the idea in her head, as she couldn't bear the embarrassment if Ruxx didn't feel the same way. She goes on to help her dad with what he needs. "Thanks, Dad."

She walks outside and begins to tend to her herb garden, still thinking of Ruxx and wondering what he is up to today. She decides to go out and look for him, curious about what kind of trouble he might be in.

"I remember where the fawn was last, but I'm not sure if they will still be in the same area. It's the only area I know, though, so I guess I don't have a choice," she thinks as she makes her way into the woods. A few hours later, she reaches the edge of the woods where the fawn and its group had rested for the night. She can see that the tall grass is still matted down from their previous sleep. Suddenly, she gets a strong pain in her head, as if a plant is crying out in pain to her.

"What is that?" The pain makes her close her eyes temporarily and stumble in the direction she believes it's coming from. She is horrified to see the same human at the edge of the woods, carving into an old, beautiful tree that cries out in pain. "Stop that! You're hurting it!" she yells out quickly out of instinct.

The man gets frightened, drops his knife, and picks up his gun, scanning the area. "Who's out there? Show yourself."

Realizing she shouldn't have said anything to the man and that she has broken the law, Elysia stops communicating with him and observes his actions.

The man is still cautiously peering into the woods. "I've heard you before, a few days ago. Do you live here? I won't hurt you," he says as he puts the rifle down and leans it against the tree. "Did you not like me carving my name into the tree?"

Elysia walks closer to get a better look at what he was carving while making sure not to make a sound. She knows he can't see her.

The man picks up his knife. "I only managed to carve my first name into the tree, but I'll stop if you want me to. It's an old custom where I come from."

Elysia can't help but let words slip out of her mouth. "Great, you're a bunch of tree murderers." Realizing she said it aloud, she quickly covers her mouth and sits very still.

The man is startled by the voice once again. "Whoa, there is someone there! Sorry, it's difficult to talk to someone when you can't see them. Look, I'll even put the knife down." The man turns and throws the knife as far as he can in the opposite direction.

Elysia snickers and covers her mouth again.

"Oh, you thought that was funny? You're not going to hurt me, are you?" The man moves stealthily around the tree, believing there is someone just on the other side.

Elysia watches, struggling not to laugh out loud, as the man looks really foolish trying to sneak up on the tree.

The man sneaks up and quickly looks around the tree, expecting to see someone, but he is disappointed when he doesn't find anyone.

Elysia snickers again at the man's foolishness.

"Where are you? Wait, you're not the tree itself, are you?"

Elysia decides it's a good time to speak to him, possibly to scare him off so that no one else will come and hurt the trees. "What if I am? Are you going to keep hurting me? Going to hurt my brothers and sisters?"

"Really? You're the tree? Are you a female tree? You sound like a female. I didn't know trees could talk, let alone sound like a female."

"Nice to see that all men are dumb, no matter what kind of man they are," Elysia remarks, taking a dig at the man.

"So there are men trees, and they are dumb?" the man looks at the tree, scratching his head, and says to himself, "Man, if someone catches me talking to a tree down here, I am going to be locked up and given a psychological evaluation."

Confused by the man's words, Elysia responds, "A psycho... what?"

The man, feeling clever, responds, "Oh, I guess us men aren't that stupid. Did I use too big of a word for you?"

"Be gone, human, before I awaken the trees and let them carve into you."

"Relax, it was a joke. You don't joke around much, do you?" The man sits down, showing no signs of going anywhere.

"It's time for you to go now, and don't come back."

"Well, if I do come back, will you be here? I don't get to hear a woman's voice in the barracks, and it's nice to hear yours, even if you are just a tree."

"What part of 'go away' didn't you understand?" Elysia uses her magic to make the tree's roots move, giving the impression that the tree is about to uproot itself.

The man jumps up, grabs his rifle, and holds his hands up. "Okay, relax. I am friendly, I mean no harm, but I'll be back tomorrow. You better be here, or I might have to carve the rest of my name in the tree." He walks off back to the mountain.

Elysia looks at what he carved into the tree but is unable to read it, as it is not written in Elvish. She sees "Beren" carved into the tree. She leaves and heads home, now more curious about humans than she has ever been.

Elysia returns to the same spot each day, listening to the man ramble on about his life. She learns that he is from a far distant world and is only here for training for some great battle happening far away. She is careful never to reveal that she is an Elf, and as far as he knows, he has been talking to a tree this whole time.