She never saw him. When she was insulted and ran away to believe them, he was the one who smacked the insulter. When she was hurt and ran away to cry about her weakness, he was the one who fought the boys back from following her. When her food was stolen in the dining room, it was his food that the cooks gave her afterward. When she left in the middle of the night, he was the one who looked for her and waited for her return. When they forgot her name, he was the one who reminded them for the next time they forgot.

He never saw them. When she ran away, they were the ones who danced for her for hours to make her smile. When she was hurt, they were the ones who healed it with a touch of their hands. When she was hungry, they were the ones who brought her berries to ease it away. When she left in the night, they were the ones she went to. When she told them her name, they were the ones who remembered it, and gave her many new, beautiful ones.

They knew about him. They knew she would see him someday, and leave them. They made sure she always came to them. They danced to make her happy. They danced to steal her mind away from the drab human world. They gave her things to stop her hunger. They gave her things so she would want more of them. They met her in the night to give her dreams. They gave her dreams so she would love them. They learned her name and gave her new ones. They gave her new ones so she had no true name, and they could make one for her when she joined them.

One day this changed. She saw him, but did not know he wanted to help her. She saw him standing by the ones who hurt her. He saw them, when she disappeared into the trees and they came to her side. They knew what was happening, they knew she would leave them soon, for one of their own had already departed, had passed on to another existence. They knew they could stop this from happening again, could stop themselves from losing another. When they healed her hurt, they asked her what her name was. She told them her human name. They asked what name she wanted, and she told them. She told them she wanted to stay with them forever, and they could give her a name in their own way. They changed her. She was now one of them. They gave her a name, and she lost her old one.

He followed her. He saw how they healed her, heard how she did not want her name. He saw how they changed her, but could not move to stop them. When she was one of them, she saw him again. She smiled, she danced. They danced with her.

When he left, the ones who had hurt her hurt him, too. They insulted him. They took his food. The boys made the others forget his name. He started to get hungry, so he started to go to her for help. He left in the night to see her. She gave him new names, she brought him things to stop his hunger. When he couldn't bear it any more, he wanted to stay with her and never go back. She let him. He chose a name. She changed him, and he joined them.

They danced every night, they danced every day. They found another, another child who needed them, and they helped the child. They danced more for the child. They gave things to the child. They gave dreams to the child in the night. They named the child. The child fell under their spell. The child became one of them. And so the cycle goes.

And they never look back.

But they always remember.

Which is why they never stop.

And they never will.

.