Slowly starting to wake up, I become aware. It's like coming out of a fog.

Head hurts.

Body hurts.

There's a conversation in the room. This isn't my bed. Someone is touching my arm. I crack my eyes to look. She doesn't notice. Is she praying for me? Her hands do feel good…do feel... Slipping back unconscious, my eyes slowly close. I didn't notice the soft green glow under Jenn’s hands.

"It does look like he saved them or at least stalled them long enough for us to get there." says the man dressed more like a park ranger than an officer of the law. "I did think he was part of it at first" he continues "but the evidence shows he wasn't there and they were certainly fighting on that back road where we found them"

"I don't care who he is." says a woman as she enters the room. "He saved and protected my Jenn. I will make sure there's not a mark or a scar on him before he leaves". As she continues the few steps over to the men speaking, even though dressed simply in common clothes, there is no doubt the race of elves is in her heritage. The grace and lines of her form. The elegance and lightness of her step. She glances at her daughter, still watching over the young man in the bed. "Do we know who he is yet?" she asks no one in particular.

"Not yet dear" a man in a white coat responds. A handsome middle-aged man. Fit, but not that of a fighter or ranger. "I asked Talon to bring another identification stone with him. I was hoping ours was just broke, but it's reading the same."

"What do you think is wrong?" Talon asks.

"I'm thinking we just have to wait until he recovers. I have heard of cases where the stone didn't work. Powerful spells can hide or wipe a person clean. I doubt he's a spy or a criminal. Spells like that are just too high level if, they're used at all. My best guess is, there is just some disconnect with him being unconscious. When he wakes, we can ask him or use the stone again then."

"Rowan, do you think he could just be a zero?" Talon asks.

"Ha." Jenn comments under her breath.

"Jenn!" Lilly verbally disciplines her daughter in a voice so soft the humans don't hear.

Rowan ponders for a moment. "If he were a child and somehow never did anything. Maybe some severe disability or disease. I'm hard-pressed to even try and think of a way a person would not progress in some way that even the stone would give a nil reading."

"Not a zero." Jenn again with the comments under her breath. A glance at her mother giving her that unapproving stare. 'That mother hearing' Jenn thinks to herself, while silently reprimanded herself for getting caught.

"Ok, I'll have to wait" Talon then turning and asking Lilly "Did you find anything?"

"Sorry, no" she responds. "I can find his tracks starting by the road, but not before it. Then again, dragging himself out of the grave. That was him, and it was after the lightning strike. I agree with you that the two who were struck, probably did put him in the grave, but I have no idea why."

"The other one, Fred," Talon explains. "Guards used a mind stone on him. They thought he wasn't giving up the information or answering their questions. Turns out he was just stupid and didn't know anything more. You probably didn't hear yet. They found a couple of other kids tied up, still under a sleep spell. Probably why they tried to grab Jenn, thought she was a kid. Anyway, as soon as the guards knew children were involved, there was no more tolerance. It escalated up the chain of command quickly. The Captain, Mayor, Judge, Priests, everyone wanted to know the extent of it. The Rangers were sent out. That's when the mind stone was approved for use."

Rowan, Lilly, and their daughter Jenn are now visibly more alert. They look to each other, and at the stranger in the bed.

Talon, now also looking over at the stranger. "He might just be a little hero. It wasn't just your daughter. Mayor was putting forth the idea that this was something isolated. But the Rangers were sent out and you know we're hunters. If it's something more, we need to find it."

Talon now walking toward and out the door. "I have to keep going. I just wanted to see if Lilly found something I didn't and bring the stone. They will be here soon. Everyone wants answers and your sleeping stranger is the next in line for someone who might have them."

As the Ranger exits the room, it is left with an eerie quiet. The family looks at each other for a few moments until the wife breaks the silence.

"Husband?" She asks.

Looking into her eyes, to his daughter, and back to his wife. "Go. Send word to your family. If there is something. If something is in or near their woods. I will hold the grudge no longer. Forgive me my flower."

With a step, she is already past her man. A gentle kiss to his cheek like the brush of rose petals in passing. A second step and one hand has already gracefully opened the window, the other turned palm up with a pause. A moment later birds are flocking in the view, one alights on her index finger. She gently speaks to it in an ancient language long past. The bird turns and flies from view.

Closing the window, a renewed joy in her step. "Come my daughter. I hear guests are coming."

Jenn watches as her mother leaves the room. Then to her dad, as she notices he is looking at her, waiting for her to follow. With a roll of her eyes, she gets up. Her father, locking the window, follows her out. Closing the door all but a crack. A young man still lying in the bed.