Black, White, and Gray

A long time ago, before humans had come to Earth and before they poisoned the planet, there were elves. 

As legend goes, Sun and Moon fell in love, and soon they had two elven children. One of the children was named Light, and she fit her name perfectly. Her white skin glowed, and her golden-white hair resembled the daylight. Her eyes were a pale blue, so pale they appeared almost white at first glance. 

The second child, named Dark, also fit her name. Her brown skin was almost black, with dark blue eyes like the sky at midnight. Her hair was black, fading to dark blue, which shimmered like the reflection of night’s sky on a pond. 

Light was like a bird. As she grew older she grew wings on her back, covered in white feathers tipped with gold.

Dark eventually had wings as well, but they were scaly, like a dragon's. The scales were black, with silver speckles like stars.

Moon and Sun were eternal, never leaving life. They watched over Earth, each on one side of the planet, watching everything. They grew bored with their job, and decided to send their children there.

Light and Dark began their life on Earth, and as Fate wished, they had an argument. Being opposites, they were bound to disagree.

Light left in a huff, flying far away to see her favorite parent, Sun. Dark stayed where she was, watching her sister leave with tears in her eyes. Moon didn’t speak to Dark, believing that the siblings could forgive each other without Moon and Sun intervening.

That was a mistake.

Young elves sat in a circle around an elderly Light Elf, staring open mouthed at the storyteller.

“Tell us more! What happened next?”

“What did Light do?”

“Don’t stop now, Storyteller!”

The young elves tiny wings flapped impatiently as they waited for their storyteller to continue the tale. Scales and golden feathers glinted in the light of the blue flame burning in the ornate lanterns that were strung diagonally across the small room. Every available space was full of young elves, each one waiting intently for the old Light Elf to speak again.

“Do you know what happened next?” the Storyteller asked, leaning forward to stare into the eyes of the nearest elf.

The dark-haired child stared wide-eyed at the speaker, shaking her head in response.

“Well,” the Storyteller continued, turning to look into the eyes of one elf after another, “Light never returned to apologize to her sister, though Dark waited for years. Sun and Moon fell and rose, future turned to present and present turned to past. Still Light did not return, and Dark waited and waited.

“They never saw each other again.”

The young elves stared at the Storyteller in surprise. Surely that wasn’t true? They had grown up being taught that you always had to apologize. The first elves hadn’t really done that, it was unthinkable. 

“You a big Elf, you not allowed to tell lies!” a young elf said, crossing his arms. He glared up at the Storyteller, daring her to argue.

She happily obliged. “Oh, but it is true, Melilot, they never apologized. Soon there were thousands of Light Elves and Dark Elves, and all of them felt the same mistrust Light and Dark had felt about each other. That is how the Elven Wars were started.”

“I is learning about the Wars in school,” a child complained, “I is not wanting to learn more about them in my free time.”

“Is this free time?” the Storyteller questioned, staring intently at all the wide eyes around her. “What time can ever be free when Fate decides our life for us?”

“What does time have to do with forgiveness?” an older Dark Elf asked, folding her wings as the elves behind her leaned forward in anticipation of the answer.

“When Dark and Light separated, Sun went with Light, while Moon stayed with Dark. Now, in those days, the Earth was flat, so Moon and Sun could see each other. But when they divided, they didn’t want to see each other and feel guilty, so they made the earth round, and hid on different sides of it. Light and Dark forever lived on different sides of Earth, and wherever they are, time is with them. Time on Dark’s side is always night, while time on Light’s side is always day. Once they find each other again, time will become simply an illusion, and all life will be eternal.”

“Why isn’t it eternal now?” several elves shouted, each trying to be louder than the other.

“Because, children,” the Storyteller smiled, untangling the children from each other, “time was separated when Light and Dark were separated.”

A young Light Elf raised her eyebrows skeptically. “You said that time on Dark’s side was night, while Light's time was day. Their parents were Moon and Sun, so you’re saying that Nighttime and Daytime is really Moon and Sun as time?”

“You kinda explained it to yourself in that question,” the Storyteller observed, picking up a gnarled black stick lying next to her. Leaning on it heavily, she waded through the sea of young elves. 

“Wait, you norra continue the story?” the smallest child complained, following the rest of the elves out of the house.

"No, young one," the Storyteller smiled, "look around you and see for yourself how the world continued after."

The youngest elves scattered about, supposedly trying to find a book or drawing to explain things further. The Storyteller let them search, laughing at their persistence.

The small house was positioned precariously on a cliff face. Many other houses with intricate designs carved into the stone or wood were scattered over the steep cliff and on top of the mountain where the highest peak was barely taller than the roofs of the houses next to the edge. The shingles were dark blue, with magenta moss growing along it. The stone was white, and the wood was its natural aqua color. Giant trees grew between the houses and paths, their blue trunks and branches nearly hidden behind the bright pink-purple leaves. Magenta vines with brightly colored flowers grew everywhere, on walls, gates, fences, chimneys, trees, and down the cliff. The sky was a bright blue, with a smattering of puffy white clouds dipped in gold. The grass was a green-blue, and the forests spreading out from the base of the cliff were all aqua and magenta. Blue-flame lanterns hung from trees, while strands of them were connected between houses. Low, stone walls small enough to jump over marked yards and gardens.

The most noticeable thing was that there was life everywhere.

Light and Dark elves flew through the sky, where the sun was rising, while others tended to gardens or visited with friends on the ground. Children climbed trees and practiced flying as their parents gave them tips.

Everything seemed perfect, many of the elves believed, as they scattered to go find their friends, leaving just one elf with the Storyteller.

“What is it, Star?” the old Light Elf asked as together they walked through the village.

“Have there ever been any elves like me?” Star wondered, staring intently at the apparently fascinating ground.

“No, of course not, Star, you are special.”

“Oh, okay,” Star sighed, “thank you for the story.”

The Storyteller smiled at the young elf next to her. “It was my pleasure, ask me to tell you a story any time.”

Star nodded, then waved goodbye as she turned to walk into a large patch of giant trees on the mountainside. Once she was out of sight, she dashed off, jumping over fallen trees or bushes, and swinging off of branches, the entire time staying on an almost invisible trail.

Finally, Star slowed down and pushed aside some tall grass. She stepped onto tons of tiny pebbles that rolled beneath her feet, but she stayed steady without any trouble. In front of her was a small pond, reflecting the bright sky above it.

Star stepped towards the water slowly, staring up at the first stars that appeared. She didn’t realize she had reached the water’s edge until a splashing sound reached her ears.

She recoiled quickly, feeling the cold water run off her bare foot. Star looked down at her reflection, wondering why she was so different from the others.

Her skin was dark brown, but nowhere near as dark as the other Dark Elves, and not as pale as the Light Elves. Her eyes were a green-blue, not black or icy. Her long, straight hair was a dark blue, with tiny, individual silver strands.

Star was tall for her age, with long arms and legs. Her wings were far larger than even the oldest elf, and they were a dark blue. They weren’t white with gold tips, or black with silver specks. The strangest thing about her, even if it wasn’t the most noticeable, was that she had feathers and scales on her wings.

Each dark blue scale had a tiny, silver feather protruding from beneath it. The feathers were so tiny they were hardly noticeable, but when you stepped back and saw them all, they created a fluffy star effect. Or like wisps of clouds shining in the moonlight.

She was the only Twilight Elf, her mother being a Dark elf and her father a Light Elf.

Star sighed, turning away from the pond. She beat her wings and they carried her up into the evening sky. She hovered far above the treetops, watching the elves play.

The Light and Dark Elves had all come together, after years at war. Star believed that everyone was truly relieved that the wars had ended, and now they all lived peacefully on the mountain. But, as the only Twilight Elf, she was avoided, as if she was different from them all.

Which she was, but it still didn’t seem fair.

The world wasn’t fair, of course, she knew that, but it could be a little more fair.

Star cocked her head to one side as she watched the elves below her. Everything looked normal, as it should be, with the young elves playing and the parents hanging out with friends or enjoying the warm day.

But now, when she looked closer, it all looked wrong.

The young elves were playing together, in lots of groups spread out through the sky and the ground, yet the older Dark Elves and Light Elves rarely mixed.

Even as Star was watching, she saw a group of adult Light Elves walking together down a path. A mother Dark Elf with a child was sitting on a bench next to the path ahead of them. 

Star glared at the Light Elves as they turned a corner, then walked around a large house to reappear on the path far ahead of the Dark Elf and her child, both of whom hadn’t seemed to notice.

Star turned around to see two elves playing in a meadow. One was a Light Elf, the other was a Dark Elf. And they were playing together.

Maybe it was just because they were young elves, or maybe the older elves were still at war with each other. Maybe they were battling their own thoughts, preferring to be with those who looked like themselves.

Star shook her head, it was probably her imagination. It had been years since the Wars, surely they were at peace.

Tucking her wings closer to herself, she dived towards the ground, landing gently on a path that meandered through an orchard. Walking slowly, Star enjoyed the quiet of the day. She could hear the distant sounds of laughter from the children playing, but that just added to the peaceful atmosphere.

As Star approached a fork in the road, she heard voices up ahead.

“Shall we walk through the orchards? It’s a lovely place in the light, and so quiet.”

“Don’t you think Flair and Flash will destroy that peace?” another voice asked, and Star could easily imagine the speaker was smiling. Then a different voice spoke up.

“I wanna see da orchards, mama!” that voice obviously belonged to a young elf, Star realized.

“Alright, Flash, but you and your sister will have to be very quiet. We don’t want to disrupt the other Light Elves there,” the mother replied.

Interesting, Star thought. They think that only Light Elves will be there. Why wouldn’t there be Dark Elves?

Star decided to do an experiment. She waited until she heard the family’s footsteps and judged that they would come around the bend in the trail, then she turned around and began walking back towards the orchards.

Behind her, she could hear the family stop walking, and she listened to their hushed voices.

“Flash, Flair, I think we should take this other path, it goes to the orchards as well and it takes a much nicer route.”

“One with more flowers an’ people?” a child asked, dubiously. The footsteps started up again, but this time they weren’t headed towards Star, they were going on the different path.

A path that Star knew didn’t lead to the orchards. It led to a small marsh, where the trail ended since the bridge had fallen apart and hadn’t been repaired yet, so nobody could cross the icky mud and slime.

Star whirled about in anger, how dare they not want to go near her! She couldn’t help it if she was a Twilight Elf!

The children had run up ahead, but the two parents had stayed behind. They glared back at Star, then turned around and, with their noses in the air and their wings spread as high as they could go, they walked away.

Star was speechless for a moment, then she was fuming, but she kept it inside. It would do no good to yell at them, they would just use it as proof to themselves they could be cruel to somebody just because they were different.

If this was the way they treated a half Light Elf, how would they treat a Dark Elf?

Star left the path and made her way into the forest. There she could be alone. In the forest she could be who she truly was without having to worry about what other elves thought.

Star knew where she was very well. She had played in this path of forest since she was a child, and had built so many forts she had lost count of them all. In the center of the forest she found a small stream, which was just wide enough she couldn’t jump over.

So she flew over. When she landed on the other side, the largest, thickest tree in the forest was in front of her. The trunk was wider than Star’s wingspan, and a dark blue. Tons of thick branches spread out high above her, each of them with bright magenta or orange-pink leaves. 

Star climbed into the tree, using the talons at the tips of her wings to help pull her up. Very soon she sat at the highest point in the tree, able to see the sun climb higher into the sky. Star looked out across the only world she knew, thinking about why it was the way it was.

She saw the elves talking in separate groups, the stone walls separating the houses, the paths the elves took, and the way they avoided each other.

Star sighed and stared at the sun, watching clouds slowly move in the bright blue sky. Gradually she became aware that young elves were gathering at one house. She watched as they dove out of the sky, ran through the grass, and leapt over fences. They all gathered in a large crowd, outside the Storyteller’s house.

Star jumped out of the tree and flew to join them, but stopped halfway there.

She watched the elves, Dark and Light, talking, touching, smiling, and joking with each other.

Maybe the old elves still had their biases, but the new elves, the ones who hadn’t known the war, maybe they could change how things were.

Maybe they could fix the world.

Star hurried to join them as they entered the house, and she arrived just in time to hear the Storyteller start to speak.

“One day, Dark and Light will find each other, and they will be sorry. They will forgive each other, and Day and Night will join them as well, and finally, the poison in the world will be gone.”

“What poison?” A young elf asked, and Star realized it was Flair, Flash’s sister.

“The poison is the hate. The mistrust. The unkindness in the world,” the Storyteller answered, staring out a window.

“Children,” she said, “look out the window, what can you see?”

Star was jostled out of the way as the elves crowded over to the windows. Gasps of delight and surprise greeted Star’s ears, and she looked at the Storyteller, confused.

The old Light Elf smiled at Star, then stood up and, leaning heavily on her stick, she walked back outside, motioning for Star to follow.

“Look, Star, what can you see?”

Star peered up at the sky, then looked again. The sun looked normal, but next to it, Star could see the moon.

It was as if they were holding hands.

Star turned to the Storyteller with a question.

“Ask away,” the old Light Elf told her, anticipating her curiosity.

“Does this mean that Night and Light have forgiven each other?” Star asked, and she noticed that all of the elves had dashed out of the house and were waiting eagerly for an answer.

“Or maybe they’ve just taken a step closer to doing that,” the Storyteller smiled.

Star stared up at the sky, and she found that she too was smiling.

Maybe it would be okay.

Maybe the future elves wouldn’t know the meaning of war.

Maybe everybody would someday be equal.

Maybe she wouldn’t be alone forever.