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“Told me what, Zephiro?”
“Oh, uh… the village is shielded by an elven artifact. So we’re safe in here.”
I give him a questioning look. “Was that really what you wanted to tell me?”
He nods.
“I know that, Zephiro. I walked here.” I laugh. “You sure you’re feeling alright?”
“Right. So the thing I wanted to talk to you about…” Zephiro says.
I stand by his side patiently, waiting for him to find the words.
“Like I told you, we were always going to be fine out there.”
“I know.”
“But still. It kind of makes you think about life a little bit, doesn’t it? One minute you have everything, and the next, it’s all up in the air, and you don’t know up from down anymore.”
“Are you okay, Zephiro?”
“What I’m trying to say,” Zephiro continues. “Well, I was wondering if you wanted to have a cub?”
“Like an ursain cub? That can get pretty dangerous, can’t it?”
He shakes his head. “Not an ursain cub. My cub.”
My mind spins.
Is that even possible?
“You mean like your child?” I ask.
“Or children.”
I try to think, not sure which question to ask first.
“I just figure, life’s so short, and everything’s so fragile…” Zephiro attempts to explain himself, but it’s entirely unnecessary.
I smile. “But we were always going to be fine, though, right?”
“Of course.” He laughs.
“So how does that work? You’re a lot bigger than I am, and we’re incredibly different…”
“The Zvori have always been able to breed with humans,” Zephiro says. “In fact, there are stories… myths and legends… that we may have come from humans many eons ago.”
I try to wrap my head around that, but it’s not coming to me easily.
“But anatomically, how does that work?” I ask.
The thought of a young Zephiro, running around our house, puts a smile on my face. I think of raising him. Showing him how the world works away from prejudice and away from the peering eyes of dark elves. Perhaps it’s what I’ve always wanted, and I just never realized it.
“I mean, you’re very large,” I add. “And I’ve seen your young. They’re not small by any means, either.”
“We have a special ceremony,” Zephiro says. “It’s been passed down through generations from my ancestors. It will fortify your body, and by the end of it, you’ll be much stronger.”
“So that it wouldn’t hurt so much?”
