Chapter 1

In the corner of an ancient land stood a small rustic cabin of modest means against the backdrop of the Enchanted Elvin Forest. It stood as a testament to the love and hard work it took to build it. It overlooked a small human village just ten miles to the west in the valley below. Over the years it stood witness to the wondrous spring that brought forth cascades of aromatic fruits in the forest and caravans of traders to the village in the summer and fall. Its walls stood silently by through the happy times and the painful times throughout the lives of it inhabitants. Echoes of laughter and tears ring through its tapestries and curtains. Although it was a young cabin, it bore witness to a life time of joy and sorrow in the farmer's life.

Though the grief of his wife's passing still hung on its walls, the little cabin stood stoically by as the man farmed his land with fierce determination to provide a good life for his teenaged child, though he was far older than he should have been with a child of her age. It protected him and his daughter from the evil of the world that surrounded it.

Beyond the cabin spanned the great enchanted forest. Its beauty remained unsurpassed by any foliage the villagers had grown in their gardens. Majestic trees of all shapes and sizes seemed to pierce the clouds while dense brush and ivy carpeted its ground. It beckoned for visitors yet received none due to the human law that forbade such visits. It carried the aroma of fresh rain and clean pine. It stood so inviting to Lily, as if it were actually calling her by name.

Just below the cabin was the village that sat nestled at foot of the surrounding mountains, busy with its people buying and selling nearly all year round. The farmer went to the village twice a year to sell his wares and resupply his needs. Twice year he'd leave Lily behind promising to take her on the next trip. Twice a year she sit atop the well house and watch the business of the village below and long to part of it one day.