"Aye," said BoomFuzzy.

"You are not always a dick," Quaraun stated,

"I is big dick today. Twice."

"No you are not."

"Yes. But not always."

"Well, okay. Maybe, but only because you changed in front of me."

"No I didn't."

"Yes. You did. Your clothes changed and you walked off with nothing on. And when we had tea together today, you were just sitting there naked again."

"Dis be me house. I can walks around it naked if I want to, ya know."

"You have company visiting you!"

"I do? Where?"

"ME!"

"Ah! No."

"No?"

"No. Yis is no company visiting me."

"I'm not?"

"No!"

"Than what am I?"

"We is soul bound. Or has ya forgotten dat bit?"

"No. But I sometimes think you have."

"Ah. No. We is soul bound. Which make ya me wife."

"Your what?"

"Yis me wife."

"I'm no one's wife."

"Ya is."

"No I'm not!"

"Why not?"

"Because I am not a woman."

"Yis a female JellyFish."

"Living in the body of a male Elf. Which means yis actually female, De male Elf is just skin ya wears, like how ya wears pink dresses."

"Well, now you're being a dick again."

"Yar sure?"

"I don't know. It's probably not something you can control, it's just how you are. I don't want to talk about it any more. And anyway I think I'm getting cold."

"Here," said BoomFuzzy.

The Phooka pulled the blanket over the Elf's bare shoulders.

"Thanks," said Quaraun, wrapping the blanket tightly around himself, burrowing deep into its warmth.

"Is that warm enough?"

"Yeah. Thanks."

"Ye should not wear such skimpy dresses. Filmy silk. Bare shoulders. Iffy ya had boobs they would be falling out of dat. It not even a dress is it? What is dis t'ing?"

"It's called a Sari. It's a long yardage of silk, embroidered and beaded, and just wrapped around me."

"So's yis naked 'cepting a pink toga."

"It's not a toga. It's a Sari."

"Well, whatever it is, it too cold for where we is. Dis not Persia no more, ya know."

"I know."

Quaraun pulled out a book and set out to writing in it.

"What are ya doing?"

"Writing."

"I can sees dat, ya dolt. What'cha ya writing?"

"At the end of every day, I write down things that happened to me during the day."

"What for?"

"Some day someone may read it and find it helpful. I'm always finding mages' old books they wrote ad they are fascinating to read."

"So what dis book called?"

"It don't have a name. My name is Quaraun. This is my story. Does it need a name?"

"No. Me Name is Quaraun un Dis is Me Story is a good one."

"Well, you're in it too."

"I be glad. I be good hero."

"No you're not."

"I be."

"No you're not. Everyone knows you are evil. I know you are evil, I'm just willing to look past it. Most people aren't."

"I am. I know. I is evil. And yet. I not evil."

"How is it you, of all people, are not evil?"

"I am a predator. Humans judge evil, by ill intent and malice and greed and lust. Yet a hawk is not evil if it kills a mouse. A wolf is not evil for killing a rabbit. Humans say because they are predators. It is in their nature to kill to survive, to hunt for food."

"I is predator. I kill for food."

"What about the millions of Elves you killed. To the point of bringing Elves to extinction. I am the last Elf. You ate us all, remember?"

"I is Elf Eater. I eat Elves. It is in me nature to kill to survive, to hunt for food."

"And when you ran out of Elves you startling Humans. They felt you were a great evil. A threat. They didn't see you are a predator. They saw you as an evil demonic monster."

"Humans is inconsistent. They judge evil, by ill intent and malice and greed and lust. They say a hawk is not evil if it kills a mouse, but if it kills a baby, they call it evil and monster. They say a wolf is not evil for killing a rabbit, yet a wolf who kills a Man they hunt down out of vengeance and slaughter it, calling it evil and monster. Humans say because these are predators, they are not evil when they kill. Because it is in their nature to kill to survive, to hunt for food. But when Humans become food, Men forget they said the wolf was not a monster, not evil. I am no different. I do not kill for fun or sport. I hunt. I ea. I am not evil."

"Their are those who would beg to differ."

"Ya don't believe me?"

"Of course I believe you. I wouldn't be here trying to restore you back to a physical, flesh body if I thought you were evil. I'm just saying, Humans think you are evil"

"Then ya do no see me as evil?"

"Why should I see you as evil?"

"Because I be monster and every one sees monsters as evil."

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

"Are you a demon?"

"Demon? Hell no. Demon is evil."

"Wait, why is a Demon evil?"

"They is from Hell."

"Does that automatically make someone evil? Just being born in one Realm or another? Is that all it takes to make a person evil?"

"So now ya ask de question, what is evil? What makes one t'ing evil and another not?"

"No. I don't believe in evil. Remember? It's hard to be a wizard and believe in good or evil forces. Magic is neutral. Neither good nor evil. And yet most Humans say magic is always evil, while others divide it off into levels of good and evil. Evil is only as evil as the cold cruelty of your own heart."

"Is it?"

"I ultimately hold all the power to create my perception of reality," Quaraun said to BoomFuzzy. "Nothing is inherently good or bad. This is why magic is neither good nor evil and people are never good not evil. One simply does good or bad at varying times in ones life, shifting back and forth between the two."

He paused briefly and stared off into space as he processed his next words.

"The way the Humans experience the world, they think it will be different every day and that makes them hopeful. But it is not; nothing has changed for them since before they were born. If we can change something, then we must learn to accept that there are things beyond our reach. We may not understand everything about ourselves but understanding those we have cannot help us become better. We can only learn by being hurt; learning by hurting others is what we do best, isn't it?"

"Is it? That not good t'ing to be doing."

"No. It's not. This is why I believe in hope. The first time I saw BeLuna, the first thing she told me was she loved hope."

"BeLuna? That not a name I heard ya say in long while."

"She told me that hope was a tool for her to use. In many ways, hope is an extension of myself because even though I don't have emotions."

"Ya has emotions, Quaraun. Ya just no show them outward well. Yis capable of empathy."

"I AM capable of empathy. That compassion can take us from one place to another, providing us with a second chance."

"I t'inks ya needs more den a second chance. Ya gone a bit loopy of late."

"Hope is an essential part of the Human heart and therefore an essential part of the universe."

"Ya t'inks Humans is essential now?"

"Humans have taken over the world. There's nothing we can do about that."

"We can eats them."

"You can't eat anything. You're a ghost remember?"

"I is Lich."

"Same thing. Either way you're incorporeal and food is not an option for you."

They both fell silent for a moment. Then Quaraun spoke again.

"The stars shine so brightly because they are connected together by an infinite number of paths to light and energy. That energy can power great magic. We must harness star energy."

"Must we? I t'oughts ya was a Moon Elf."

"The stars live along side the Moon. Why should I not use the energy of them both? All of these things are part of the universe itself. Stars fill us with hope."

"Can'na see no stars from in here."

"No. But we can see the stars from outside. Without hope, all the things we know could be impossible. If there was no hope, there would be no existence and there would be nothing."

"What does it mean?"

"It means, that everything in this world is a part of everything else in the Universe. Even though we can't see them, or touch them, or feel them, they're still there. We just don't have a way to tell where one ends and the other begins."

"Quaraun ya talk like a pretentious prick."

"Do I?"

"Aye. Ya does. Quite a lot."

"I'm sorry. I don't mean to."

"I knows it. And I do no mind it. But if ya talks to other people de way ya talks to me, most people is just gonna want to punch ya in de face. Break ya pretty lil nose."

"I like my nose." Quaraun ran his fingers down the ridge of his nose as he said this.

"I know. So stop being pretentious prick so no one breaks it."

Quaraun sat silent for a moment then went back to talking.

"Love is the only weapon that truly holds power. It can be taken from you, or given away to another. Love and pain, both."

"Ya just can'na help yaself, can ya?"

"What?"

"Pretentious prick."

"Have I said something wrong?"

"No. "

"I feel I have and I don't know what. I feel like I've offended you somehow but I don't know what I said that did so. I do not want you angry with me."

"I know."

"I've upset you."

"It's fine."

"No. It's not fine. Because I don't want to upset you. I wasn't trying to upset you."

"Quaraun. Just stop obsessing. Ya has a problem wid dat. It quite annoying."

Quaraun sat silence for several moments. Now staring at his hands and running his last few lines of dialogue over and over again through his mind, trying to determine what he had said to upset his friend.

BoomFuzzy meanwhile had stretched out in his chair, put his feet on the table, and closed his eyes. Quaraun watched BoomFuzzy wondering if the Phooka was asleep and if ghosts could sleep.

"Are you asleep?" Quaraun asked.

BoomFuzzy opened his eyes, but otherwise didn't move. "No. I'm a Lich."

"Liches don't sleep?"

"No. We can'na do any t'ing. Can'na eat. Can'na sleep. Can'na drink. Can'na fuck. No on can'na see us. No one can'na hear us. We exist and watch de world go by. And we can'na be part of it."

"But I can see you. And I can hear you?"

"I know. Somet'ing to do wid dat spell ya cast. Made ya be able to sees and hears me."

"I killed my children."

BoomFuzzy sighed and looked away. "Aye. Ya did."

"Why didn't it resurrect you completely?"

"It did no resurrect me at'all. I has no changed. It just opened ya eyes and ears to seeing and hearing me."

"But that's not what I was trying to do. I wanted you alive again."

Tears filled Quaraun's eye.

"I know. But it better dan not'ing, eh? I had no company before. No one to talk to. I do now. Dair's dat at least."

"But I hurt my children to help you. I can't ever forgive myself."

"Yis has to move forward someday, Quaraun."

"I can't. I just... I can't. Everything I do... I end up... I hurt everyone around me. I hurt you. I never wanted to hurt any one. I never wanted to hurt you."

"Nah nah nah. Ya did no harm."

"I killed Gibedon and you loved him."

"Aye. But we both know Gibedon were plotting to kill me. I was hurt when ya did it, but I over it now. I know now what Gibedon were doing. And it were Gibedon who hurt me. Remember?"

"I didn't know."

"I know. I hid me wound from ya. I should of tolds ya I was hurt."

"I wouldn't have left if I had know how sick you were. And hadn't planned to be gone so long. I was just going back to get my things from the tower. They locked me in."

"I know."

"I was going to come back.

Quaraun began to cry.

"Do no cry."

"Oh, BoomFuzzy. It makes no sense at all."

"What?"

"How can I bring someone back to life after they died? That's not how magic works! No one's ever done it before. Yet I keep trying. Hoping."

"I think he did," said BoomFuzzy.

Quaraun sat silent for a moment. He finally managed a nod, although tears continued to fall.

"He did," he whispered. "Yes, he did. That makes perfect sense. Oh, Boomer..."

BoomFuzzy smiled slightly. "You can call me BoomFuzzy if ya wants to. Ya can call me anything ya likes."

"...thank you. For helping me understand."

"No worries. Don't worry none about it."

"Thank you for being honest with me. I don't know how anyone can love someone for who they are and still be okay with them hurting themself and others...

"Then why shouldn't I believe you? You've been nice to me. You are kind to me."

"Ya know I not very kind to ya, Quaraun."

"You're kinder than any one else every has been."

"And dat very sad to hear. Yis so starved for any kind of kindness at all, dat ya cling to me, even after what I did to ya."

"You've never hurt me."

"I did. Ya just too stupid to know it. Ya was to young to understand."

"You raped me. I understand you shouldn't have done what you did. But I also... on the grand scale of all the things people have done to hurt me over the years, what you did really was a lesser thing."

"Aye. I know."

"You built new hands for me." Quaraun held up his hands. The gold armour shimmered in the light. "After my real hands were crushed and dead and useless. No one else would have done that for me. You are nice."

"Nice? Me? Nice? I am nothing like you. Ya should know better."

"We didn't expect to come across a demon. And you're not evil. At least, not all the time, anyway."

"Dey's all evil. Dair's always some donger at the bottom."

"Some who deserve what they get?"

"No, ya silly. Some who deserves what we gives them. These are evil people."

"I don't think so. I don't believe in the existence of evil. To call someone 'evil' is to, dehumanize them..."

"Dehumanize? Yis an Elf."