Seeing the traumatized expression of the little elf in front of me as she started to hyperventilate, I began to have a bad premonition that the situation was not as simple as I had imagined it to be. Seeing her enter into an anxiety attack, I quickly knelt down and began hugging the little elf as I tried to comfort her by saying:

“Hey hey, it’s okay, it’s okay. I’m here right now, no one is going to harm you, so please calm down, ok?”

Seeing that she was starting to cry again and wasn’t paying attention to my words, I decided to stroke her back and continue saying comforting words. Thus, we stayed in this manner for the better part of 20 minutes until she finally began to calm down.

Once she had calmed down, I pulled myself back slightly in order to look at her face. Seeing the tears and snot on her face, I used my own sleeves to wipe them away as I talked to her:

“You okay now? Come on now, I’m here, so nothing bad is going to happen. Look at me, what exactly happened to make you so sad?”

It would have undoubtedly been more prudent for me to not keep inquiring into her matters. Really, I don’t know what I was thinking at the moment. However, after staring at me for a minute, the little elf seemed to have found some resolve, most likely thinking that since I was alone just like her, I would be able to relate to her pain. Thus, after opening her mouth and having her quivering lips attempt to produce a word for about a minute, the little elf began her recount of the tragic events that led to this moment…

“I-I used to live with my mother in the outskirts of the forest village of Arbest. My mo-m-mommy and I lived by ourselves away from everyone else. She said that It was dangerous for me to be seen by the others, so I stayed inside our house most of the time. When I asked her why, she said it was because my father was a human and that the people in the village didn’t like humans, so that I should make sure to not let others see me.

When I asked her why we didn’t live with my dad then, she said that It was because he was a great adventurer, and had duties he had to fulfill and would be traveling around and facing great dangers, so he couldn’t take care of us…

My mo-mo-mo-mo-mo”

Seeing that she was about to cry once again I leaned in and gave her a soft hug. After I performed this action, the little girl looked at me, blinked once in which two tears fell out of her eyes, and continued on with the story.

“My mommy said that I didn’t need to worry that dad wasn’t here, since she’d give me enough love to make up for dad. Because of this the only person I ever talked to was my mommy, and when she was away at the village working I would just talk to the animals in our backyard. Mommy worked as a doctor to make money, so for the most part she didn’t really need to leave the cottage and would be with me every day.

However, there were times when she had to leave to help inside the city, and would normally stay away for a few days. She said that I should never go outside when she went to the city and I always kept my promise but...”

At this moment the little elf began to cry once more, but she still kept going, saying in a sobbing voice:

“I didn’t want to break my promise, I swear! But someone knocked on the door and began calling for my mommy. Normally I wouldn’t answer the door, but the person at the door was saying my mommy’s name while also saying that she was her mom. My mom had told me about my grandparents before so I knew their names, and my mom said that they were nice people. S-so when the person at the door said her own name, I was sure it was my grandmother and I went and opened the door.

T-the thing is the person at the door was my grandmother. B-b-but she wasn’t kind at all like my mo-m-mommy said she was. My grandmother got angry after seeing me and yelled at me asking where my mom was. After I told her that my mommy was at the city, she pulled me by the arm and took me to a carriage and we rode to the city. 

Once we got there, my grandmother tracked down my mommy and then started yelling at her some really mean things. My mommy pulled me from my grandmother but then a bunch of guys in armour started to surround her and they took her away. After that I was taken to a prison and kept there for 7 days. After that I was released and then…”

At this moment the little girl began to hiccup and cry heavier but didn’t seem like she was going to stop, so I decided to hug her tighter and stroke her back while she continued saying:

“W-w-when t-they l-let m-m-me out to see-e my mo-m-m-mo-momy she was all cov-v-vered in bru-bruises and was v-v-v-v-very skinny. Once I-I-I saw her, my-my mommy hugged me a-and told me t-that everything w-was go-going to be ok and t-tha she l-l-l-l-loved me a-a-and t-t-to l-l-look for my da-dad. T-then an old guy w-who said that he w-was my m-m-mommy’s friend came and took me f-from my mom-mommy. 

A-a-after that they dra-dragged her away tied be-behind a ho-hor-horse all the w-way t-t-to a pla-plat-platform. Up there they t-t-tied her to a po-pole and t-t-t-t-took her cl-clothes away and star-started throw-throwing stones at her…”

After getting this far in her traumatizing recollection, she began to hyperventilate again, but still for some reason, did not stop and tried to say the rest as she continued to break my heart by saying: 

“Then they-haaaa… they-haaaa… they-haaaaa… they-haaaa… they set f-f-f-fi-fire to wh-wh-where she was at. My mo-mo-mo-mommy was looking at m-me and try-try-trying to smile, but th-then she-she-she started to scream and yell, ask-ask-asking for forgiveness. But… all the people a-a-around her j-ju-ju-just cheered at her. Then a m-m-man in rich clothes s-s-s-screamed at me an-an-and said it-it was all my f-f-f-fault.

After… After they had fin-finished bur-bur-burning her the-the man quickly dragged me away one-once they l-l-let us le-leave. He th-then t-took me to the out-outside forest and tol-told me to g-g-get away and l-l-look for my d-dad.”

Finally finished recounting her tale, the girl fully let out her wails of anguish as she gave out a primordial scream and continued to sob in my arms.

Meanwhile, all I could to was realize how stupid and naive I had been, as tears had also began to trail down my face as I hugged the poor little half-elf tightly in my arms…