Lissiromiel whistled...

Lissiromel whistled, and the night air was filled with the fluttering of wings.

The dark-haired, dark-eyed elven maid sat almost motionless in her eyrie high in the outermost trees of Ellerianath, and gazed out at the Roskyevan grasslands. She looked far out on the deceptively flat prairie, watching the approach of a walker.

She raised her arm. Her pet and guardian, the hawk Gwaralin, settled on the leather pad which covered her right shoulder. He eyed her intently, and Lissiromel caught the distinct impression of a large, heavy-set man from his mind.

The man had a face covered with hair, and piercing brown eyes that caused a flutter in the elven defender's stomach. He wore heavy chain armor, possibly dwarven truesilver, and a large axe swung at his side.

Around his neck hung a pendant in the shape of a harp, with a shining green stone in the center of the silver, and on his hand was a ring, half of a fellinandorel, the dual harp of elvish lovers who create music of surpassing beauty with it.

Lissiromel leapt from the tree with a cry of delight, the long fall to the ground a graceful curve from bough to blade of grass. She tucked her legs in as the earth approached, and she rolled, coming to her feet and immediately breaking into a broad, loping stride.

Gwaralin had taken flight from her shoulder when she had cried out. He was a hawk, but he too recognized the man who was coming to the eaves of Ellerianath where no man is allowed to go with impunity. He soared above his mistress, first following, then guiding her toward the one who approached.

Lissiromel remembered the night so many years before when they had first met and begun their forbidden friendship...

Dawn was far off when Lissiromel va'Symbelin, youngest of the daughters of the elf-lord Ceradwelon, undressed and slipped into the hot springs at Sileri Sindal. She swam easily through the warm waters and enjoyed the play of the liquid over her body.

She stood upon one of the many ledges that lined the pool and felt the cooler water of the branching falls pour over her. She sighed with pleasure as the streams fell upon her and broke into cascades and rivulets over her head and shoulders.