Little yellow and white blooms spilled over Murk’s hand as he walked along the trail. Every so often he would pluck a small honeysuckle branch, each time thanking the plant for its gifts, and add it to his bunch. His friends and family would have laughed at his soft spoken words to the vines, all save for his brother.

Carefully, he chose some of the choicest buds, though never the best. Those he left for the bees and other animals so the plants could continue to bloom like this every year. Besides, they need not be the best to taste so sweet. Koth would like them all the same.

"Thank you," he whispered softly, pinching off a flower for himself.

"I haven’t seen someone so considerate in quite some time."

Murk spun to face the origin of the intruding voice. A young man, tall and thin, stood behind a bush, blue eyes twinkling from a pale face, covered slightly by strands fallen from a thick, blue braid. They stood there, watching one another, as the stranger’s smile softened farther, if that were even possible.

"Sorry if I startled you. I was just so amazed that anyone held any appreciation for nature anymore. It doesn’t care about being neglected, mind you, but I’m sure it’s glad to be acknowledged every so often."

Murk stared at the boy in confusion. "Who are you?"

The stranger laughed. "I’m so sorry! My name’s Ree. What’s yours?"

"Murk."

"Murk?" Ree cocked his head to the side. "That’s a rather gloomy sounding name, now isn’t it?"

Murk narrowed his eyes. "I’m rather fond of it."

Ree blushed. "I must apologize again, I’m afraid. I didn’t mean to insult you."

"Don’t worry about it," Murk muttered, returning to his collection.

After a moment, the blue haired boy cleared his throat. "So...uh...what are you doing?"

"Collection honeysuckle."

"Oh. How silly of me to not realize...what for?"

"My little brother."

"Oh...can...uh...can I help?"

Murk looked up at him for a moment, then shrugged. "Sure. Why not?"

Ree smiled and broke off a few branches, kissing the leaves in "thank you." It was strange, as Murk watched, however, for the boy could pluck the most obvious blooms and yet the bushed remained as if they were untouched. Amazed by this, Murk watched this small routine, though his eyes did not remain on the action for long.

After a few moments, he found his eyes drawn from the milky flowers to the ivory skin. Fingers, far too thin and delicate for any human male, pinched off the blooms and raised thin, green leaves to softly smiling lips. The sparkling blue eyes turned the smile to him, those hands holing out a nectar filled bouquet.

"I don’t think your brother will miss honeysuckle for a while. In fact, I think he may get rather sick of them."

It took a moment for Murk to realize Ree had spoken, that words had passed those gracefully moving lips. "Oh. Uh...yeah. Hey. Why don’t you come give them to him yourself?" Had he really just said that?

Ree’s cheeks turned a soft pink. "Er...okay..."

They stared at each other for a moment, then the blue haired boy cleared his throat, face a bit brighter, and scratched his head. "Uh...one question, though."

"Yeah?"

His face burned. "Can I...borrow some clothes...?"

Ree followed Murk, wrapped tightly in the humans trench coat. The feeling of the fabric against his skin was uncomfortable and alien, but it was a small price for the boy’s company. Talking to this mortal, he could not help questioning the reasons behind the inherent changeling fear of them. Murk seemed in no way dangerous, in fact he seemed kinder than most changelings Ree had met. Not to mention that Murk was rather beautiful in his own right.

The mortals were, according to the elders, ugly and dangerous, but Ree saw neither of those. What he saw was a being with beauty both inside and out. Murk’s face was not exactly pure in all its paleness, with dark smudges in the hollows under his eyes, but it was fair. It was, Ree thought, a delicate enough structure to hint at changeling blood. Strands of shoulder-length, reddish brown hair fell across his features, the rest held back in a bright green bandana. That piece of cloth, however, come nowhere near the hues in his eyes, his gorgeous eyes which screamed of immortality flowing through mortal veins. Perhaps it was these mingling perfection and imperfections that so attracted the changeling.

As they stepped out of the trees, however, the imperfections Murk lived in nearly deafened him. If Murk really had changeling blood, how the hell could he stand the electric noise? It sounded like millions of bees attacking Ree’s brain, flying in through his ears and beating their wings against the inside of his skull. The changeling could not stand it.

Ree crashed to his knees, groaning and clutching his head. How could Murk stand it? How could anyone stand it? How could a species be so in tune with something so unnatural? The screaming energy threatened to crack the boy’s bones, but did not seem to phase his new friend, who knelt beside him, looking amazingly worried for someone he had just met.

"Ree?" Murk frowned. "Ree? Are you okay? What’s wrong?"

Tears seeped from the changeling’s clenched eyes. There was no way he would turn back not, but his head was about ready to explode. He had to think of something to block the sound out. Ye gods, it hurt! The it stopped. Murk’s hand rested on his shoulder, and the howling died instantly.

"Ree?" the boy’s voice held an odd edge of fear.

"I...I’m okay," he smiled forcibly, wiping at his eyes.

Murk was crouched in front of him, looking rather upset, as he rocked back on his heels. "What happened?"

When the mix-breed’s hand left his shoulder, Ree’s ears began to ring, but that was all he heard of the electricity. he now knew for certain that Murk was part changeling, though he had no idea how much. All he knew was that a human could not dampen such racket. That was a trick used by only the most skilled of changeling mages.

"N-nothing. Just a...a headache...a really bad headache."

"I’d say. Your ears are ringing, aren’t they?"

Ree blinked at his companion. "H-how...?"

"Mine are, too," Murk smiled softly. "They always do after a walk in the woods."

He was most definitely of changeling blood.

"My great grandmother’s ears used to ring non-stop. She blamed it on the computers, said they hurt her head. She hated technology."

So she was probably the full-blood, Ree thought. Murk was rather skilled for only a quarter immortal. Wonder how strong she had been. But wait... If she had died... How...?

Murk helped him up. "Anyway... You kind of remind me of her, in some weird way. Not so much as that strange girl I ran into earlier today, though."

Ree blushed as Murk continued to tell him about his female self. He was flattered that the boy trusted him so much, having just met and all, but it was rather hard to hear these things about himself. What was he supposed to say, though? Do not talk about me in my presence?"

"She was a dream," Murk was saying, more to himself than Ree. "She was tall and thin, so pale she was almost white, with long, sky blue hair."

Ye gods! There was no way this boy was dense enough not to connect Ree’s two identities! How was he supposed to explain that one? She’s my twin sister, maybe? But what if Murk wanted to meet her? Oh boy.

Was he really that attractive?

"And her eyes... God, her eyes! They were such an amazing blue. I just can’t stop thinking about them. They’ve, like, burned themselves into the back of my mind or something. I can’t even begin to describe them."

Ree’s face burned.

"Actually, they...they looked a lot like..." Now Murk was blushing, too.

How embarrassing. they just sat there, staring at one another dumbly, falling into each other’s eyes because the orbs seemed safer than reality. Ree found himself wanting to just forget the rules, tell Murk everything. The boy was part changeling after all. Did he not have a right to know about his heritage? Still, it was law. No one could tell secrets without counsel permission. But could Ree really deny this boy the truth he deserved? Ye gods. Could he really deny this boy anything?