Autumn was wet. Kaitlyn found herself often working in the garden and muddy and wet. Washing herself became a priority, and she determined that she would have herself a real bathtub as soon as possible. The crates in the hut filled up with turnips, potatoes, onions, and leeks. Hanging from her rafters were dozens of herbs from chamomile and mint to echinachea and licorice.

Just before the first frost, she had an unexpected visitor. Fapallo was on the roof, his favorite place and whistled, “Someone’s coming.”

Kaitlyn was in the garden and rose to her feet. She whistled back, “Friend?”

“Unknown,” Fapallo replied as he climbed off the roof to the front of the house.

Kaitlyn came around the house and saw right at the edge of the clearing an elf. Kaitlyn had never seen an elf before, but she recognized them immediately. Slightly shorter than a human, slender, and the skin darker than any she had ever seen. The elf seemed to blend in with the shadows of the forest. Kaitlyn cautiously stepped into the open and said, “Hello? Are you alright?”

The elf almost collapsed against the tree, and Kaitlyn rushed forward. She put the elf’s arm around her shoulders and hefted the creature to it’s feet, leading it quickly towards her hut. The elf suddenly started to pull away and half-collapsed against the well. She stared at the creature. Dark skin would allow it to blend into the forest, but she couldn’t tell whether this was a male or female from facial features.

The form of the elf was slender, and their weight entirely negligible over Kaitlyn’s shoulder. They hissed in pain as she tried to get them towards the hut. The elf pulled away from her and collapsed against the edge of the well. Kaitlyn couldn’t help but remember her own exhaustion and pain when she arrived and found this particular spot.

“No witch,” it said and she was surprised at the tenor of the voice. She still could not tell if this elf was male or female, “thy shall not eat me.”

“I wasn’t going to eat you,” Kaitlyn said, shocked. “I was going to help you.”

“Don’t lie witch,” the elf almost growled. They pulled one of their arms against their chest and glared at Kaitlyn with some amount of anger.

Kaitlyn threw her hands up in the air and went inside. She got some linen scraps and a bowl of stew. She brought these out and said, “Where are you hurt?”

“I will be fine,” the elf said stiffly.

Kaitlyn put her hands on her hips and said, “Fapallo, go get Javorora for me please.”

Fapallo snorted rudely, a word Kaitlyn hadn’t learned precisely but she translated in her head as “bastard.” He flapped off into the air. The elf looked at the creature and said, “How did thee charm such a one as that?”

“I didn’t,” Kaitlyn said. “He’s my friend. My master approved him staying here as long as he likes.”

“Thy master?” the elf asked.

“Master Garthis is teaching me,” Kaitlyn explained and set the bowl of stew on the stool. Mentioning her master had cleared impacted the elf as they joined her and slowly sat down. She knelt beside the elf and saw two injuries immediately. The elf’s right arm was broken and a nasty series of cuts on the elf’s right side. She went and got her bucket from the well and doused her flame spell in the water. The water almost immediately began to heat.

She wet the cloth in her hand and said, “I can’t do anything about your arm until Fapallo and Javorora come back. It’s going to need to be set and I can’t do that alone. I’m going to start by cleaning up these cuts. You saw me pull this water and heat it, I haven’t been able to do anything else to it.”

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She wanted to get herbs, but she was frustrated that the elf had accused her of ill intentions. She didn’t want them to think she was going to poison them or something. She figured until Javorora and Fapallo returned, she could at least work on cleaning the blood from the elf. Hopefully the elf would recognize the dryad and listen to Kaitlyn’s friend even if they wouldn’t believe Kaitlyn herself. Then she could make them one of the healing tinctures Master Garthis had suggested she learn.

The elf nodded and raised the shirt they were wearing. Kaitlyn carefully began to dab at the wounds and asked, “This looks like some kind of claw mark, did you get into a fight with something?”

“Aye,” the elf sighed, “I was hunting a deer and a stag with horns of gold and claws instead of hooves attacked me. I do not know the name of such, but it marked me and then led away my chosen prey. I was attempting to get home but apparently wandered afield to find you. This is a witch’s hut, is it not?”

“It was,” Kaitlyn said firmly. “I am a magician’s apprentice, not a witch. I’m not eating anyone who can think so I don’t like the term. I don’t think there really is a name for someone like me. Oh, so sorry.”

The elf had hissed in pain when she dabbed a little too hard. She drew back and took a deep breath. She said, “I don’t have much I can use to bandage you I’m afraid. I’ll do the best I can.”

“Thou are truly not evil,” the elf said in surprise.

Kaitlyn made a face and said, “I try not to be. General principle you know.”

The elf gave her a look that was half-amused and half-shocked. They took their shirt off completely and began ripping it into shreds. Kaitlyn said, “Wait!”

The elf stopped and said, “Are thou embarrassed at my nudity?”

“No,” Kaitlyn said, “but I can cut it up into better strips than you can rip it.”

“Oh,” the elf said, “thou are not what I expected to when meeting a human for the first time. I expected much more greed.”

Kaitlyn decided not respond to that, for a moment reminded of Claus and the choices he made when offered the opportunity. In that moment, she decided to prove not all humans were like her ex-fiance. She would show the creatures of this forest that humans didn’t have to be a bad thing. She couldn’t entirely blame them if Claus and his kind were the average human they encountered.

She called up her tool spell to carefully cut strips from the shirt. She was sad to ruin such a well-made garment. As a tailor’s child, she appreciated how well woven the cloth itself was as well as how well stitched the clothing was. There was only small embroidered leaves on the sleeves, otherwise the cut of the cloth was the artwork itself. With a small grunt, she prepared to destroy the work once and for all. She carefully boiled some fresh water and set it to the side with her flame spell contained within it to keep the water warm.

“This is a very nice shirt, I’m sorry I had to destroy it,” Kaitlyn said.

“It’s just a shirt,” the elf shrugged, “better the shirt than my life.”

Kaitlyn couldn’t help but look up at the elf in surprise. Even when she lived at home, she knew clothing wasn’t simple and tearing apart a perfectly useable garment, much less one as nice as the one she had just destroyed, would not have been lightly. Yet the elf ignored it as unimportant. She wondered just who this elf was. In some ways, they reminded her of Claus. Claus had also thought some things were less important than Kaitlyn, a pan or a shirt was so easily replaced to him.

In her current space, Kaitlyn really struggled to reconcile this attitude and she had to step away for a moment to collect herself. She wasn’t exactly angry, but she definitely thought the elf’s attitude was very entitled.

The elf was eating when the dryad and dragon-kin came back. Javorora looked at the elf and blinked in surprise, “You are awfully young.”

The elf’s face clearly showed embarrassment and Javorora put her hands on her hips and said, “You haven’t even chosen your form or caste, have you?”

“I have chosen my caste,” the elf said defensively, “I am a hunter.”

“You can’t chose your caste until you chose your form,” Javorora said with a hint of anger.

“Excuse me, what are you talking about?” Kaitlyn asked.

“Those elves are not like humans, they must choose their gender and after that they can also choose a caste,” Javorora explained simply. “The caste limits them to a certain set of skills, strengths, and weaknesses. They are lucky they didn’t end up in an entirely different elven territory.”

“I never heard of that,” Kaitlyn said, “that must be difficult.”

Javorora shrugged, “So what did you need me for?”

“I need help setting this arm,” Kaitlyn said. “I don’t think I can do it alone.”

“Ah, very well,” Javorora said. “Lay down elf child.”

“I’m not a child,” the elf growled, but obeyed the dryad.