"You were foolish," a voice says as I shoved my knife-sharpening tools into the purple velvet sack I found when I was first brought here. I still remember the note inside, written in something I couldn't read and I still don't know where the paper came from.

"You are not only putting yourself in danger, but everyone else as well."

"Why are you talking to me? He's fine." I respond aloud. In my house, I have no worries about being heard. This voice inside of my head kept talking to me ever since I got out of the hospital. At first I thought I had been talking to the person in the next bed until the doctors told me there wasn't anyone there. Then I thought I was crazy. Who wouldn't right? That was until they started telling me things about the time I went missing. Telling me things I had no idea of. This journey was going to be hard enough already while trying to hide this all knowing voice in my head and I was going to be exhausted when I came back.

If we come back.

"No, he is not," she says, her voice calm. She's always calm. Even the prince isn't calm all the time. It makes me wonder what goes on wherever she's from. "No one but the elves can be trusted. And myself, of course." Oh, did I mention that this voice detests my only friend but likes the prince? No? Well there's some good information for you. Didn't sound to trustworthy to me.

"I don't even know who you are," I respond, a sarcastic smile on my face. Carefully grasping the necklace around my neck I held it for a moment. It was the only part of my family I had left. " I don't even know what you are, let alone who you are and you expect me to trust you."

There are a few moments of silence before she responds. "You knew me before you lost the memory."

"Yeah, because that helps."

My house door flies open, and Jordan stands in the doorway, dressed in a white muscle shirt and dark green board shorts. His tan skin is drenched in sweat, probably from the training I missed this morning. Oops.

"Hey gorgeous," he says, with a flirtatious wink.

Apparently, Jordan wasn't affected by what I had said earlier about his flirting habits. "Very funny. What do you want?"

"It's time to go", he replied, before leaning against the doorway. His warm, brown eyes twinkle in the light cast from the dim light-bulb on the desk-lamp on my nightstand. "They are giving us half an hour to get our asses to the field. Oh, and this," he pulled an elf next to him, "Is Taldor. Cousin of the prince and nowhere near the attitude. He's quite dorky, trust me you'll see."

I laughed at Jordan. A dorky elf? That just couldn't be possible. They all seemed to have a problem with wanting to be emotionless and in control.

When we walked outside we saw a few children- maybe around ten years old- playing in the fallen snow. They chased eachother around throwing the icy lumps of snow at one another. Another one who must be only a few years old, was weaving something in her lap. As I walked closer, I see it has two little crowns woven out of branches, and the little girl was working on a third.

Her nimble fingers weave the thin branches to make a little headdress. She looked up at me and grinned, her pale skin nearly the color of the snow.

"I made something for you," she says, her voice reminding me of my younger sister and I cringed inwardly. "Can I put it on you?"

I nod my head, giving her the okay. She squeals loudly in response, and placed one gently on my head. Happy with herself, she runs over to Jordan and Taldor who were still making their way over here.

She talks with them, and they both ended up bending over so she can put the little stick-crowns in their heads. She runs back to where she was and watched them with a smile. I couldn't help but smile at both of them and the little crowns.

Taldor runs up, waving his arms excitedly. His dark hair was sticking up in odd directions under his headpiece. His dark brown quiver is strapped to his back, teeming with new, color-coded arrows, and his bow is slung across his right shoulder. "I got this lucky stick-crown! Fear me!" he shouts. Right before he crossed the tree border, he slipped, his arrows flying out of his quiver.

He's something alright...

Rolling my eyes, I readjust the backpack on my left shoulder. It's leather outsides are a bit worn in places, and it's straps are made from the same leather. Typical backpack, I guess.

Jordan caught up to me, putting his hand on my shoulder. He glances over to Taldor, who's picking up his arrows and putting them in grounds so according to color. "Lil, there's something I need to talk to you about."

Shocked by the sudden arm on me, my posture stiffens. "Is this about when I went missing? I don't remember what happened..."

That wasn't really a lie.

I let my voice trail off as he shakes his head, his eyes wide with... nervousness? I've never seen him look like this before. He pulls his arm back and awkwardly crosses his arms. "No, I... I can't tell you when there's anyone else around."

"What's up? You're acting really weird-"

"Lil, you said the other day I shouldn't be flirting with someone unless I actually meant it. So I stopped flirting other girls," he spits out, the words flying out almost too fast for me to understand them.

My mind totally spacing out, I cock my head to the side, confused. The wind begins to pick up, gently blowing my hair behind me. "Other girls? But you've still been flirting wi-"

Other girls. As in girls other than me. My stomach swells with a tickling feeling, like excitement and nervousness. The rest of my body feels numb.

"Don't let him win your heart," the voice says. "He will only crush it when he betrays the rest of  humanity."

Damn this voice.

"So, I was wondering, maybe we could... go out. I mean, after the journey," Jordan says, taking me out of my thoughts. His face is still serious, but there's a light flickering in his eyes now. "If you want to, I mean."

Just as I open my mouth to answer, Taldor walks up, his shoes crunching against the snow. "Look what I found!" he exclaims, pointing both hands towards his shoes. They were smooth and black, in much better conditions than the pair he wore this morning, with black ribbons to tie them with. "A new pair! They look great with my look, don't they?"

"Yep," Jordan and I respond in unison, not sure what else to say. This is what I get for awkward conversations.

He smiles, obviously pleased with himself. "Good. Now, I came here to give you something. It will provide you with a way to contact me or the others in an emergency."

He hands a small, handheld mirror. The border was silver, carved to appear like little detailed dragons were flying around the mirror. It was in pristine condition, except for on dragon on top. It seemed as if one of his horns have been broken off.

I grab the mirror, and shove it into the bottle-holder on my backpack. "Uh, thanks... how do we use it?"

"You'll figure it out," he says. "Just remember that we only have two weeks to complete this quest. Maybe the Elders will change their minds about you if you complete the quest in time."

He walks off without saying a word, the crunching sound under his shoes getting quieter with each step.

"That was weird..." Jordan mutters. His warm, melted chocolate colored eyes look at me expectantly, reminding me that I haven't given him an answer.

"Do not trust him," the voice says. "Only the elves can be trusted."

I hesitate, not sure what to say. Earlier, I knew what I was going to say; now I'm not sure. Do I want to deal with the voice's constant warnings? She said 'Only elves can be trusted'... not all humans can be bad, can they? I mean, I'm definitely not a bad person.

"So, about the whole 'going out' thing..."

"Yeah?" his entire face lights up, like a child on Christmas morning. His tan arms are still crossed awkwardly, but now his shoulders tense up. He looks like he's about to smile, but he's trying to hide it.

I run my fingers through my hair, trying to calm my nerves. My entire body closes with a nervous warmth. "I don't see why not," I reply, maybe grabbing onto the hilt of my knife a little too hard. "But not until we get back from the quest. We kinda got an entire country to save right now. Kinda hard to date under those circumstances."

At first, Jordan doesn't respond. His face doesn't change, although his shoulders go lax. Then his face breaks out into a huge grin, and he laughs, quite possibly the best sound I've ever heard in awhile. Unsure why, I laugh along with him. Our giggles come to a halt as I hear Taldor practically screeched in excitement.

"What'cha guys doing?" he asks, walking up to us. "You guys look a little too happy for people who can't perform any kind of personal hygiene for two weeks."

Jordan and I laugh nervously, and then glance at each other.

"Nothing," I respond, crossing my arms. "Just an inside joke."

Jordan nods, unable to keep his smile contained.