*waves you over to the fire and pours two glasses of Mead, the stares into the flames*

A story, eh? *laughs softly* well I have just the tale. 

*takes a sip of Mead and clears his throat* 

They say the best place to start a story is at the very beginning. I've never really believed that myself, you can never really tell what might happen next, and not everything has to be a mystery, you know...  No, this story will start in the middle, in fact, it will start from right now, because the best stories are the ones that you yourself help shape. I know, I know, if we start in the middle, how will we get to the end, you say. Well that's another quirk in the world, not all stories have an end, some of them can span lifetimes and generations, or even farther than that. No matter how great a story is, as long as you don't end it, it just keeps growing. Sure, parts of a story might end, chapters will conclude almost like clockwork, but you should never end a story, because once you have an ending, it much more difficult to add to it, you see.

*takes another sip* 

Our story (because now that you're here, it is ours) is already well under way. With many ups and downs already established, whether they were yours or mine is irrelevant, because now we are both in the same pages.

Just recently I became a protector of a tree, but not an ordinary tree, no, because ordinary trees grow and bloom and wither and fade. This tree is different. It seems that it is frozen in time, never growing or dying, and only rarely showing any signs of life at all. Almost as if it lives in its own pace of time, but live it does, because a dead tree would never blossom at all. You have seen it, of course, because the only way to get anywhere takes you right past it. You may have even watered it from time to time,  which I thank you for, of course. Now, this tree has been there for as long as I can remember, and quite possibly longer than that, 

And in that time has made friends and enemies of its own. On this particular day, I was talking with one called Zleiphneir (though I know few who call him that, Z or Zlei is much easier to say) who I am also sure you have seen, because he is with the tree so often it seems he himself has rooted to that spot. Of course, he hasn't, but I'm still waiting for it to happen.

As we spoke, someone (I can't quite remember who, its been a long time, you see) approached the tree and started trying to set it aflame! Attacked, I assume, for no other reason than it happened to be there (I haven't yet seen a tree provoke attack). Of course, on seeing this, Zlei immediately ran the attacker off and doused the flames trying to bring down the old tree. I wish I could say I had helped, but the whole thing was over much quicker than you would think.

As we returned to talking, I learned that there had been more attacks against the small frail tree than there were stars in the sky on the clearest of nights. As it turned out, for every good person in this world that would see a bare tree and venture out of their way to give it water, there is another who would see it burn to the ground just the same. I guess everything must have a counterweight, or our world just wouldn't continue along its own path.

The more we spoke, the more it became clear that someone would always have to be there with the tree, to keep a wary eye out for the next person with fire in there eyes, intent on destroying something as innocent and unobtrusive as this tree was. And so here we are, watching a fire, drinking Mead, and always wondering when someone else will stop by with less than loving thoughts for the tree will wander by, and what we will have to do to protect it the next time.

*takes out two small pipes and packs them, offering one to you and taking a long draw off his own*

I guess if you think about it, everyone around here could fall into one of three categories. Those that protect things that haven't a way to protect themselves, their counterweights, who would rather prey on the same, and those who cannot protect themselves. The question follows, then, which are you now, and what will you be further down our path?

I've been blind before, to learn how to see through a person, to try and gather some understanding of what characteristics make what kind of person. All I learned is that sometimes you just can't read someone based off their actions anymore than you could based off their appearance. There's just no way to know someones motives, even when they seem obvious. I've been broken, for no reason other than to learn to fix myself. and every time I have, I learn that you never really go back to exactly who you were. Things never go back to the same way, they're always changed, sometimes a little, sometimes beyond recognition, but never the same. I guess because you can't unlearn anything, and maybe that isn't a bad thing.. 

*finishes his Mead and takes another draw from his pipe*

I have been here for what seems like a lifetime, but I wasn't always here, I drift between this realm and one of dreams. I'm never sure when I will leave one to return to another, but I guess some things really do have to be a mystery. Each time I return, more things have changed, and I see old friends less and less. I see people from the past going on to do great things, rushing through the present, even as we sit here now. I live a few moments behind the rest, because I can never quite catch up before I leave and fall behind again. 

*finishes his pipe and tucks it inside his shirt pocket, stoking the flame*

I think for now, that is an excellent place to stop. I'm tired, and I'm sure you are as well. We can pick up where we left off later. and we can add in all the things that have happened when we do.

Life is little more than a series of choices... And every choice we make, leads us to the next moment, and the next choice. Occasionally, you get a second chance to make the same choice differently.. but not often enough to expect them.

What matters is how you recover from you mistakes... always learn from them, but never dwell on them.. The longer you look back to tell yourself the hundred ways you could have done things differently... the more you will find you have missed when you finally start looking ahead.. I guess what I'm saying is always move forward, or sideways, or up, or any variation of those axis... just not backwards. if we were supposed to look backwards after every mistake we made, we would hardly need a memory, because we would never move from some moment we can't forget.

Everyone has secrets, and pages or chapters they have torn from their stories. I am no different, though I try so very hard to put only my true face forward. But then, the only thing as valuable as a secret is another secret.. and a secret that everyone knows is hardly a very good secret.

All I can say is that I am me.. I may be rude, I may be callous, I may say something that makes your blood boil, purposefully or not, and then I may fall asleep while you yell at me for it... and none of that matters, because the few people who put up with it all know just how amazing I am.. well... kinda.. they may sell me a little short..

If you want to know how amazing I am, just, you know.. ask me

The point is.. when you don't understand someone, it's not always because they are less than you...but thinking you are more than everyone else is a sign that just the opposite is true... and also, the people that know me, even just a little... are more incredible than I could ever be...