Jade

Nilmath, the Elf Queen, was sprinting through the forest of Unger, her feet moving faster than the Boars of Azaroa.  The sack of coins in her pocket jingled in time with her fleet footsteps.  The forest heard her approach and shrank away.

Something stirred in the darkness of the wood.  Nilmath halted, her tigress eyes glinting as they scanned the formless shadows.  Nilmath was on a quest to capture the Elf Assassin Groot and she could sense that her prey was nearby.

Ahead, a spear of light pierced the trees, forming a luminescent halo around a clearing.  Inside the halo, surrounded by a smaller halo of sticky blod, lay Groot, dead, and, kneeling over him, was  a smaller, darker elf.  Nilmath recognized him instantly.

"Joel?" Nilmath sputtered, incredulously.

Joel the Elf didn't turn, but continued to loot his kill.

Nilmath corrected herself.  "Finrod?"

"What do you want?"  The elf Finrod spoke in a guttural whisper, keeping his back to Nilmath.

"What are you doing?"

"It's a free mission, open to anyone.  I got here first."

Nilmath approached the clearing cautiously.  "I KNOW that, but, I mean, what are you doing in the World?  I thought you said you weren't going to play any more?"

"We both said a lot of things we didn't mean, the last time..."

Finrod reached into his cloak and produced a jade and yellow strip of cloth, elegantly woven into a starburst pattern.  Nilmath could see that it was a teleportation cloak, but it needed three turns to be cast and, right now, it was Nilmath's turn.

"Look, since you're here..."  A step closer.

"Don't.  Seriously, Joy, I mean it."

The teleportation cloak had begun to glow, casting a sickly pall on the entire scene.

Nilmath, or Joy, took another step onto the mossy grass of the clearing.  "We tried to make it work, didn't we?  But, I mean, what was I supposed to do?"

Finrod's eyes flashed anger.  He was holding the still glowing teleportation cloak with one hand, but Nilmath could see his other hand sinking closer to his sheathed weapon  "I moved to Delaware, Joy, not Mars.  We could have made it work.  You didn't want to."

The last accusing words stung.

Nilmath extended her hand and took one more step forward.  She was almost there.  Looking at the gray elf's grave face, she could almost see a vague expression of regret and was almost positive that the more human visage behind the elf held the same expression.

"I'm saying I was wrong.  We shouldn't have broken up."

The teleportation cloak flashed red.  Three turns had elapsed.  Finrod's eyes widened.  His mouth started to form a syllable.  Then he was gone.