Rocks crumbled and rolled down my pile from me sliding down it. Pitri  was still asleep at the top. I jumped between different jutting rubble, balancing perfectly even with the smallest areas. I would be an amazing dancer. I raised my leg into an arabesque.

"What are you doing?"

I tilted back so I could look up at the silver eyes peering over the edge. Waving, I straightened.

"Dancing."

"Why?"

"Why not?"

I smiled as he disappeared with a groan. The smoke coming from the top slowly dwindled with the fire being put out. I hopped to another rock, going up onto my tip-toes. Rocks were sent skittering everywhere as I kicked them about. Where could it be?

"We should leave." Pitri called out.

His dark skin shined with a layer of sweat in the sunlight. He had decided to put a t-shirt on today, hiding the malnourished protrusions of bones and the scars of a wingless harpy. His feet though were still light, gliding and creating barely a sound when he approached me. I shuffled a pebble around with my foot.

"We?"

"Yes we. I'm not just leaving you out here all alone."

"I can handle myself." I shot out, suddenly defensive in his lack of faith.

"I know." He adjusted, his bow nervously. "Still, it doesn't mean you should be alone."

I blinked at him, thinking. "You are an odd half-human."

"I have a name you know." He growled, brushing past me.

I skipped forward to keep up with him. "I know and it's your name, correct?"

"Yeah of course."

How interesting that was, to have one's own name. I hoped someday I could get my own name.

He chuckled. "Plus if anyone is odd around here it'd be you. How old are you anyway?"

"Hm." I tapped my finger against my temple, counting the years. "Well, I was sixteen before I was buried when the building collapsed. Now, I'm not so sure."

"Sixteen, huh? Never would have guessed it by the way you act, a total ten year old." He stopped, causing me to run into him. He turned quickly. "You were buried when the building collapsed?" A nod. "That's not possible, the building fell over fifty-seven years ago. That would make you..."

"Seventy-three."

"That's just no possible." He stumbled, leaning against a half-standing wall for support. It caved backwards making him tumble with it.

I looked at him curiously. He would not have made a good dancer at all. Something glinted catching my eye. Launching myself over him, I leapt through the rock. I began digging through the rubble to reach the reflection.

"What are you doing now?"

It was a stupid question. I was digging, so instead I ignored him shifting through more and more of my former life. A set of dark hands joined mine. Pitri dug right alongside me. I smiled, a goofy grin at the moment. Pitri jerked back suddenly, revealing a small trail of blood from a pricked finger. I shoved him out of the way and reached into the hole. My hands wrapped around sharp familiar edges. In careful, delicate movements, I withdrew my prized possessions, my swords.

The filtering sunlight caught them, making the metal radiate beautifully. They were forged with iron and stolen Adamantin from the stores of dwarves. The backs were deadly sharp and would never dull. The hilts were pointed pikes at the end with a elegant arc over the blue ribbon handle. Hooks curved from the ends. My weapons, the twins hook swords. The only thing I had which the names were mine, Ursus and Polar. Named after the great white bears that used to roam the ice of the Earth before they became extinct by climate change. I was ready.

"Pitri." He paused from brushing the dirt onto his pants, looking at me. "I was wondering could I possibly...could I possibly be your Alice."

A red hue crept across his face. "Um, I just met you and not that your not pretty, which you are for a seventy-three year old woman, but we just met..." He stuttered. "What I'm trying to say is I can't have a girlfriend of someone I just met."

"I'm confused. You don't want to be my friend?"

"That's not what I said, what I mean is...well I don't like you that way."

"You don't like me?" Tears began welling in my eyes. I thought I had changed his mind.

"No don't cry! What I mean is...uh..."

I spun to leave him. I'd someone else to be Alice for. He was mean. My feet sunk deep into the Earth with anger. The prints' depth much bigger than they should be for a girl my size. I was rather small after all at only five feet. The scientists had said it was an unfortunate side effect. I stopped at the edge of my life, looking from the woods to the rock. There was nothing left for me here, but perhaps out there the world had change. Perhaps out there I could finally become the hero and savior I was born to be. Who cares if one halfling didn't like me? I was meant to save humans, not strays of Others.

However, I didn't know any humans. The last ones I'd seen had called me those things and hadn't wanted me. They had even tried to kill me. I could win their affection though...maybe...

A hand laid on my shoulder. I followed it to Pitri's silver eyes, full of empathy.

"I guess you can be my Alice, at least for now until we figure out how to get you your own name. Right?"

I nodded, silently crying. He reached down and gripped my hand tightly. Together, we left the past behind.