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| - It had gotten to the point where Echo could no longer deny it. Much as it pained her to admit it, she was jealous of her cousin Eresse. Not that Eresse was more beautiful or anything - not even close, really - but she was a full-fledged cleric of Corellon Larethian now, and it was so not fair. After all, she was only sixteen. And the youngest ever in the history of the village to be ordained in the Temple, as Echo was constantly reminded. Echo suspected that the elder elves were a little disappointed that she herself showed no hint of magical power or fighting prowess. Not that disappointment was quite the right word, though. Surprised, maybe, but no one in the village ever seemed to be particularly concerned about her, or anything for that matter. Everyone seemed to have this infinite patience with the world, an attribute that was common among elves. Echo had not been gifted with this trait. Maybe it was because she was one quarter human - and one sixteenth tree, her father Amras liked to tease her, ruffling her leafy mane. It wasn't that the other members of the village didn't care about her, it was just that they didn't seem to expect anything of her, either, especially at such a young age. She had centuries to achieve her potential. But Echo wanted to exceed expectations and prove her limitless potential. She often thought that if perhaps her family pressured her more she might have journeyed farther along the path to becoming a druid. Maybe. She fidgeted in her seat in the Temple as the head priest presented Eresse with a beautiful silver headpiece with the crescent moon emblazoned upon it, and glared enviously at her new azure robes. They had surely been a gift from Eresse's mother Eamane, the finest seamstress in the village. Eresse always had the most beautiful clothes, and Echo had been desperate for her aunt to make her a set of robes for as long as she could remember. Aunt Eamane, however, was dreadfully prim and proper and did not approve of anything Echo did. As if on cue, Eamane looked over and frowned at Echo for fidgeting during her precious daughter's ceremony. Echo made a face behind her back that only Illwyn, her best friend, saw. Illwyn stifled a giggle, but not well enough - he father Elgalote looked over and now it was her turn to be frowned at. His wolf companion, Benji, glanced at her and growled softly in agreement. Darling Illwyn! As a small child, Eresse had been Echo's constant companion, but as time went on and Eresse remained a child while Echo blossomed in to a teenager, Illwyn was selected to be her new best friend. Of course, there had been the matter of Illwyn's twin sister Aelwyn - and a rather sensitive matter at that. But Echo fell in with the "two's a party, three's a crowd" philosophy, and therefore Aelwyn was left out. It is sadly doubtful that the "party" felt much regret over this decision. The twins were as different as night and day and for some reason Elgalote had seemed to encourage their separation, for reasons Echo never entirely understood. Finally the dreaded ceremony was over. Echo decided to skip the feast, which was an extremely odd choice for her - she never missed a party, a chance to show off her dazzling smile and sparkling wit. But surely this celebration was not about her, it was about her (infantile, practically!) cousin achieving her goals at a very young age. Making up a dozen excuses to a concerned-looking Illwyn, Echo slipped away in to the darkness and up to the treetops. Today had been just another way of displaying how far behind the others she truly was. Eresse was healing the minor wounds of the villagers, Illwyn could beat any of the other children in a fight with her swords gleaming in the sun, even her little brother Dusk managed to turn his pet cat in to a toad the other night! To be sure, he claimed to have done it on purpose but others, knowing his love for the cat, suspected it may have been an accident. Still, it was magic, something Echo had never even come close to pulling off.
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