"Where do I begin?" Evelina mused. "Well I suppose I should start by telling you about your father."

Evelina paused, so as to allow Flannery to ask questions if she so desired, but Flannery just gazed intently into Evelina's eyes, pressing her to continue.

"Your father, Leonis, was a great Faerie warrior." Evelina began. "As Faeries, we are, for the most part, a peaceful society. We work out of sight of the humans, but we work together to help the human race. We are the ones who help to make some of the most beautiful things in life come to be. We help the lonely find their true loves, we help the lost find their way, and we most importantly help the nature around us to grow and thrive so that everyone has a beautiful place to live."

"Yes, but there are the Mal Fées." Etoile interjected.

"Ah, yes, I was getting there, Etoile." Evelina said with a smile.

Etoile looked sheepishly down to his feet avoiding eye contact. His long, dark, hair curtained his face so that Flannery was unable to make out his expression.

"Who are the Mal Fées?" Flannery encouraged.

"The Mal Fées are the reason we have warriors, such as your father. The Mal Fées disapprove or our helping the humans. They believe that we Faeries are too powerful to be using our powers for the good of the human race. It all started years ago when one of our people was discovered by a human and tortured. He finally made it back among us, but he was forever changed. Despite pleas to the contrary, he broke off from us, the Bonne Fées, taking half of our people with him, and the Mal Fées were born."

"For the most part they don't disturb us, just disagree with us. However, I cannot say that they don't try to harm others. We set warriors at the edge of the wood so to be certain that the Mal Fées do not harm the humans. That is how Etoile found you tonight.

"You're a warrior?" Flannery said, looking over at Etoile in awe.

Etoile cleared his throat and for the first time since she had occupied this room with him, he smiled at her.

"Yeah." He said, smugly, tossing back his long black hair so as to expose his muscular shoulders.

"Way to be impressive, 'Toile…" Cora snorted. Etoile looked at her furiously, and said some few inappropriate things in response.

Pretending as if nothing had happened, Evelina continued:

"Your father was guarding the edge of the wood some years back when he happened to see a beautiful young woman picking flowers by the river. This was your mother, Tessa. Your father was instantly taken with her, but because she was human, your father couldn't dare approach her unless her life was in danger. So, for many days he admired her from afar.

He was a great warrior, but he let his guard down in her presence, so to speak. He forgot that he was most importantly there to protect Tessa. A Mal Fée by the name of Béatrice had become aware of his admiration for your mother, and so as to provoke a fight with your father (after all, he was our best warrior, and Béatrice was certain that if she could catch him off guard, she could easily be rid of him. You, see, only a Faerie can kill another Faerie, and for the Mal Fées your father was one of their worst enemies.)

However, before Béatrice could grab Tessa from the riverbank, Leonis was there ready to fight for her protection at all costs. He grabbed Tessa from the ground and placed her in a nearby tree.

'Stay put' he told her, 'I'm here to help you'.

Tessa, sensing that what he said was true, merely nodded and gave him a quick peck on the lips to show her appreciation.

Béatrice had been prepared for Leonis' strength, but not for his passion. Passion was a trait that she did not possess. That kiss lit a fire in him, and before Béatrice could even prepare herself to fight, he sped toward her as she flew toward him, and he pushed her down sending her plummeting downward. He didn't realize his own strength, and Béatrice fell to her death by cracking her skull on the jagged rocks covering the riverbed below."

"Perhaps we should stop for tonight." Evelina remarked abruptly. Flannery was jolted back into reality, and looked over to Etoile to see him shaking uncontrollably.

"No, no. Don't stop because of me." He said in a whisper. "I'll leave so that you can continue. Forgive me." He looked toward Flannery as he went to the door of the cottage. His eyes were full of apology, and though Flannery was at a loss as to why he was so upset, she nodded so as to let him know not to worry. He gave her a soft smile and muttered something that resembled "see you tomorrow" before jetting off into the night sky.