FACT: Gnomes can detect the slightest variations in even the most commonplace meal

                With a flick of his wrist, the curved blade made short work of the dandelion stalk. With his free hand Aubrey held the blossom upright. Quickly, he sheathed the blade and lowered the stalk to the ground. Immediately he began stripping the dandelion of the leaves which would be later used for teas and a variety of medicinal uses. His calloused hands had long since lost their sensitivity to the plant’s irritating outer skin. When he finished, he laid the prepared stalk beside all the others waiting for the runners.

                Aubrey stood up, arching his back and stretching the weary, day-sore muscles. He wiped his brow with the back of his hand and looked out over the field filled with twenty to thirty fellow laborers. He watched them perform the near mechanical motions of the harvest. He saw the inexperienced routines of the young and the practiced patterns of the old. Looking deeper, he saw the boundless enthusiasm of youth. He smiled remembering the energy and escapades of his own childhood. He lingered in the mist of memory and saw the promise and potential in his young life. Looking too, he saw the cynical resignation of the older gnomes whose backs and bones were broken long ago by the rigors of life. He felt pity but he also could not shake the sympathy which grew from his own struggles.

FACT: Gnomes have twice as many taste buds as humans

                As the weeks became months, Aubrey found he gave little conscious thought to Adrianna but hovering always in the background was a tiny, feathered shadow that lingered like a phantom. He found some consolation in his work where he relished in the monotonous, repetitive tasks which seemed to infuriate many others. He also reconnected with Anselm after their spat, though he never broached the subject of Adrianna again. Anselm, for his part, was content to pretend that the entire situation never happened. He was a simple gnome whose mind usually went no deeper than the plants in front of him, the sun above him, and the dinner in his belly. Aubrey knew all this and let his friend forget the past. In fact, Aubrey took some comfort in his friends’ contentment. Try as he might though, he was unable to live off of the simple pleasures which occupied Anselm. Something deep down stirred within Aubrey. Something that went deeper than the mysterious and beautiful owl which had graced his life. His heart harbored a flickering spark; something with the potential to spring to life given the right conditions.

FACT: The darkest part of night is the waiting

                Time passed slowly for Aubrey. The image of Adrianna disappearing into the darkness refused to fade from his mind. He tried his best to go back to his daily routine, which in the past, had brought him so much comfort. He returned home at the same time every day. He prepared the same meals he had always eaten (usually with a few dandelion stalks on the side). He drank the same tea. He even went to bed at the same time after reading his favorite novels. Yet, in the darkness of his room, deep underground, sleep evaded him. Despite his warm comfy bed and his feather-stuffed pillow, he always felt the very un-gnomelike urge to climb out of hole and stare out at the darkened sky. More than once he found himself unconsciously climbing the long passageway to the surface. Each time he had to force himself back to bed and will his eyes shut. And more than once he awoke in the morning with fleeting dreams of a midnight sky and heard the flutter of wings amid the night chorus.

                Slowly the days turned into weeks; the weeks into months…