Laurel's Story:
Laurel; born and named, Ireth Mithrandir, was found late one Autumn day by a man journeying home from the village to his farm a couple of miles away. It was a miracle that he could hear the small cry through the wind and rain that evening. Taking her back to his family, and his wife who had just bore their second child, they took her in as their own. Laurel Alimn: Laurel, for their first child who had died only a month after her birth, and Alimn, meaning forgotten. By the time she was two, they discovered the truth, she was a half-elf.
Laurel grew up surrounded by brothers and sisters, knowing she wasn't normal. She looked nothing like her brothers and sister. The all had black hair and brown eyes, tan skin, and none had pointy ears. She on the other hand was born with curling auburn hair and sky blue eyes.
On her 12th birthday when a drunkered stumbled upon her mother in his drunken rage. She would never forget that day. He killed her mother who had been returning without her from the village, because Laurel had been invited to stay with one of her many friends. From that day on things changed, her father so caught up in the loss of his wife didn't notice, or didn't care, the reaction her siblings were having. They began to hate Laurel, saying it was her fault that their mother had died, though she had known nothing of the attack until her return home the next day. Laurel didn't fight back against the blows, she spent most of her days in absolute silence, ruminating over the loss of her mother, the only mother she had ever known.
A couple of years past and she was nearly 15 now, still tacitly going about her buisness, the wounds inflicted by her family slowly corroding away at her soul. Strangly, Laurel always felt like she was being looked after, though not by her family, but by some unseen creature, vigilant over her every move.
It was dark when it happened and she had no defense against it. The same man, though she didn't know this, that had killed her mother, came after her. He was stronger and larger than her and she couldn't escape. She couldn't even manage to scream as he grabbed her, but she didn't even have to, to alert the creature in the dark. It was the first time she had ever seen a panther before, but it held no place in her mind at that moment. She thought had her adversary, a formidable foe, almost invincible, but the cat took him down, killing him in mere seconds.
Laurel was unconscious by the time it was over, and had only a fleeting memory of the saving form of the panther from the previous night. Save for a bruise on her jaw, when she awoke in a clearing the next morning, she had no real evidence to support what seemed, to her, only like a dream. The panther however kept his watch, allowing himself to be seen only for a second as she woke.
Laurel carried about her life as usual, stunned as everyone else that a man had been found slaughtered by some ravenous creature. A snaking suspicion ran through Laurel's mind but it disappeared soon afterwards. She noticed that she had this strange feeling of protection whenever she felt alone, even when she wasn't. Animals seemed to like her more, and she somehow managed to walk right up to a deer without it being startled away.
It was a couple of weeks later when her silent guardian showed himself again. Laurel, who was working alone in the fields at the time, thought that the cat was going to kill her, but he only sat there on the edge of the clearing, eyes locked with hers.
From then on, her and the cat, whom she lovingly named Lalo, meaning guard, saw more of one another. Slowly, though it took time, they began to be closer than just the guard and the guarded, the became friends.
Things began to get harder as time passed at home, food becoming scarce and hatred brewing among the family. Laurel became the target of most undirected rage, and took it acquiescingly, never once throwing up a defensive hand to stop the blows, or a retort when struck with an harsh word. It was obvious that Laurel could no longer live at home when Lalo nearly attacked her father when he came after her one night. She only just managed to stop him, and knew that the next time, she might not be so lucky.
She continued with her duties at home, but lived with Lalo in a cave nearby. She began to notice that once a lunar month, that Lalo would disappear, and though she knew he was in the vacinity, she never saw him on those nights. They shared a strong bond, but she understood that even panther's had their secrecy.
One of Lalo's nights, the nights when he disappeared, Laurel slept fitfully on the ground of the cave, when soft foot treds aroused her attention. Sleepily, she called out to Lalo, knowing that he was closer than he had been, but not knowing where. Looking around she saw nothing, then she noticed movement in her periphrial vision. A drow, a dark elf, stood in the center of the clearing, only feet away. Once again, Laurel found herself unable to cry out in fear, for she had heard many a rumor about dark elves and their evil ways. Murder, death, destruction, was all she had heard of the drow race. She backed up until unable to any farther, excepting her fate. She closed her eyes, waiting, as the moments passed, for the deadly strike that never came.
When she finally forced herself to look she found herself sitting directly across from him, the drow. He sat with his arms crossed looking at her with lavender eyes, that looked familiar, like out of a dream. She didn't know what to do, nor did she understand his intent. Was he toying with her? Playing with her like cat and mouse?
They sat in silence for a while until Laurel could no longer take the suspense. "Are you going to kill me?" she asked, scared of the response. She didn't know if drow understood human language or not, but when he shook his head, she knew he had understood.
He placed a hand on his chest and said, "Zaknir." His voice was raspy, as though it hadn't been used in a long time.
"Drow?" Laurel asked. She misunderstood him, thinking he was trying to tell her that he was a drow. He shook his head.
"Zaknir Orai," he said tapping his chest with his hand. She understood. Zaknir, his name.
"Zaknir Orai," she repeated. Taking her own hand to her chest she tapped it saying, "Laurel Ali-"
"Laurel," he said, the name seemed familiar to him. He tapped his chest again, "Lalo."
Once again, Laurel misunderstood. "Lalo? My panther?" she asked, tapping her chest.
He repeated himself and it dawned on Laurel. "Oh by God! You're a were!" she cried scooting back a little farther, shock taking control of her system. She didn't want to believe that she had lived with a drow for several months, much less to come to terms with the fact that a drow had been protecting her. She didn't want to think about it at all. A were-drow-panther? it echoed in her mind though she didn't want it too.
Yes, Lalo's familiar voice was heard in her mind.
Why? Why me? Why did he protect me? What do I have that he could possibly- fear filled her and she wrapped her arms around herself defensively, Oh no... Oh God please no!
Seeing her thoughts, Zaknir reached out and pulled her face to see his. They locked eyes, her blue ones meeting his own lavender eyes sharing a moment of calmness.
"No," he said shaking his head. Relief flooded through her entire body, for a moment she thought she would fly up off the ground. He seemed to search for the word, "Cou-zin," he said.
"I don't under-" she began looking at him.
"Cou-zin," he repeated, this time pointing from himself to her.
"Cousin?" she asked recognizing the word. "Kin?" she asked. "We're cousins?"
He shook his head, exhasperated. Thinking again, he seemed to come up with and idea. He touched his skin, ebony and dark, "Drow?" he asked as though wanting to make sure that he had the proper word.
"Drow, or Dark Elf," Laurel nodded.
"Drow," he repeated then he leaned forward and touched her arm. Looking at her questioningly as if waiting for her to come up with a response.
"Elf?" she asked.
He nodded as if happy that she had helped him out. She gasped, "oh! You mean that we are cousin races. Elves and dark elves?"
He nodded again. "But why me?" she asked.
He didn't seem to understand fully what she was asking, so she made herself clearer. "Why did you protect me?"
He shrugged, seemingly as confused by his actions as she was.
She sighed, leaning back against a wall, it was too much to take in. To realize that her only friend had been a drow... it was like excepting her fate all over again.
Silence was all they shared as the sun slowly rose into the sky changing the drow back into her familiar companion, Lalo.
I'll post a little more background on them today, yesterday was just too tiring and I didn't have the mental capacity to write, but today... **Has hair in a bun** run for cover 
