"Caelyn" is a temp name being used for the purpose of this exercise.

Caelyn smelled onions and freshly cut carrots. He rubbed his eyes as he rounded down the narrow staircase. The kitchen was just down the stairs, which was a relief on the slow mornings. He pushed open the flimsy swinging door and squinted. The onions where already being sliced.

"You know, Riley." He said, rubbing his eyes. "I always thought stew was better suited for lunchtime."

"I'm not making stew." Riley said, scraping the chopped veggies into a frying pan.

"Is that right?"

Caelyn peered over her shoulder. "Ah! Yes, fried vegetables makes so much better a breakfast."

Riley turned around and took a swat at him with a spatula. He ducked under its range, although he could've more easily dodged it stepping backwards. On his way back to height, he swiped a piece of celery from cutting board and popped it in his mouth. She shook her head. With another quick swipe and a pair of giggles, he was out of the room.

He wasn't sure when he got to the shoreline. Must've been sometime that afternoon. All he knew at that moment was the smell of salt and kelp, and the sound of the wind in his ears, whispering...
But are you still an elf?

"Caelyn?" It sounded almost like his mother. "Caelyn!"

"Huh?" He looked over his shoulder and saw Riley. "Shoot, I thought you were..." She was looking him expectantly with a basket in her arms. "Never mind. What's up?"

"Come help me with the garden. The cucumbers are ready." She turned around and headed back up the hill. He smiled as her skirt swayed in the breeze. She was beginning to look like his mother too.
Caelyn watched her the entire climb up, and still did as they worked. He took his eyes off her to pull a particularly deep vegetable, wiped his brow, and stared right at her again.
Riley was struggling with a similar vegetable, although her smaller arms made it a little harder to handle.

"I love you." He said, with a sigh and a smile.

"I know." Riley said, grunting with the leaves of it.

"No, really." He walked up and helped her pull it out, leaning in close in the process. "I love you."

She sighed, and looked him in the eye. "I know."

He stood up and smiled. "Marry me."

"No!" She said, giggling. "You know we can't do that."

"Why not?" He said, laughing along with.

"Because- because I'm to young."

"You won't be in another year and a half. That's plenty of time to plan a wedding."

"Just, no." She said.

"Yah." It had turned to teasing.

"No!" She screamed to the ground. He stopped. It was silent but for the sea's whispers. "........ We can't."

Finally, he moved, placing a hand on her shoulder. "Do you love me?"

"I care about you."

"Riley, look at me!" She looked up. "Do you care about me the same way I care about you?"

"..... I do."

"Then why shouldn't we be married?"

"Caelyn, I can't." She said, shaking her head and casting her gaze to the ground.
She brushed his hand away and tried not to make eye contact. "Let's get back to the vegetables." He didn't feel like beating around the bush today though.

"Is it because of the others?" He said, trying to hold her by the waist. "Those guys in town? They think we're a couple 'o crack-pots anyway." She slipped from his hands before he could get a grip. "I don't care what they think!"

"It's not them, Caelyn." Riley said, turning to look at him from a further distance. "It's just wrong."

"Why?" He said, coming and placing a firm grip on both her shoulders now. "We love each other. There shouldn't be any other reason than that."

"Do you really think it's what our parents would have wanted for us?" She said. With the look in her eye, he couldn't deny her point. "Do you really think this is how they wanted us to care for each other after their death?"

"They would have understood." His gripped little tighter.

"They didn't, Caelyn." She said, shaking one of her shoulders free. "They knew what we were thinking the entire time, and they didn't support it."

"Riley-"

"Siblings aren't supposed to marry!"

He released her shoulder to pull her close his body. He breathed heavily into her hair, taking a death-grip on some of it. He tried to open his mouth again to speak, but he couldn't think what else to say. He couldn't say anything. His jaw was locked.

She looked down at him and smiled. A small stream of tears ran down her cheeks as she stroked his face. He ran her fingers across a scar that was yet to be.

"Oh, Caelyn. Even if we could have married, you know I'm already dead."

Her words echoed like the gulls on an empty day, and they faded swiftly from his consciousness. He felt her slipping away too, as sand on the wind. A part of him was frozen, but the rest was gripping wildly for her in the place she'd just been.

"Riley!' He cried, without opening his mouth. "Riley, Riley!"
---------------------------------

"Riley!"
Caelyn's mind was still screaming when he opened his eyes with a start.

" 'bout time." The young leader of their unit said. "Here, I got you a roommate."
As he sat up, a young female elf was thrust into his tent.