I had to sit down, looking at the beautiful chest.

"She had it in her bedroom when I was small", I told Izuna. "I loved it. I used to sneak in there just to touch the roses. Then one day, it was gone. Just like that."

"Your mother had gifted it to my mother", Izuna whispered. "My mother was the human friend that caused your mother to be disregarded."

I looked at him, contemplating this new connection between us, our mothers close friends. Izuna went downstairs again, the tiredness washed off him, and I could hear him clattering in his bookshelf before returning with a thick book of photos. He sat down next to me and turned pages until he found what he was looking for. He pointed.

"There they are. My mother, and yours."

I swallowed. They looked like they had been created to be each other's opposites. Izuna's mother, short and plump with a kind, motherly face, short black hair and a kind smile. My mother next to her, pale and radiant, with a sharp, almost white page cut showing off her pointed ears, towering over Izuna's mother. What they had in common was their poise; my mother looked regal, Izuna's mother looked like she was the nicest person on earth but would cut your tongue off without blinking if you harmed anyone she loved.

"That was when the king and queen travelled through Anderion. I wasn't yet born. My mother offered the queen to stay in our home. She had my bedroom, which was a guest room then. My mother told me the story, but I never understood they became friends."

I traced with my fingers over the photo, not just over my mother but Izuna's as well, feeling a connection to this human female whose son I loved so much.

"I knew the rose chest was the gift my mother had given her human friend", I said. "That it caused her to fight with my father. I just never thought it belonged to you."

"The roses..." Izuna said. Then, his face lit up. "The first time I would meet you, in the kaleidoscope! Remember that day?" How could I ever forget? "The guard who fetched me told me to follow the wooden roses in the walls to find you!" He put a hand on one of the roses in the chest. "They looked just like this! I just didn't think about it."

Izuna took my hand, exchanging the rose for my skin, entwined our fingers. I swallowed. If my mother could see past the disgust and hatred elves felt regarding humans... If she could befriend the human who gave birth to this boy I would do anything for... What hindered the rest of us? I considered Micha, Izuna's friend, his unworldly scream as he found her dead. I thought about the heaping piles of dead humans penetrated by our ruby arrows; they were husbands, wives, brothers, sisters, lovers. If my mother could love a human, what stopped me, the king, from loving all?

"Izuna..." I swallowed. He looked up at me. "I'm sorry about Michaela."

We went to bed together, both of us sharing his small human bed. My feet protruded far over the edge, but I didn't mind. It was incredibly cosy. I held him close, told him that I loved him, kissed his soft face over and over as he cried himself to sleep. I was awake, watching over him for a long time to protect him. Also, I couldn't sleep, my mind a whirlpool of loose thoughts. Was I abnormal as I couldn't see past guilt anymore as I had been raised to do, like all elves? Was I a weak king that couldn't do what was best for my kind because I pitied humans? Or did that make me strong? The thoughts whirled around my head until they turned into fatigue bathing my brain, and I could keep my eyes open no longer.

In the end, I fell into a deep sleep.

When I woke up the next morning, Izuna had left.