The most ancient race on all the planets and in all the kingdoms. The Elves. Known throughout the lands: beyond the furthest horizons and deeper than all the oceans.

Tall. Pointed ears and sharp features. Beautiful.

But what if there was one of this race who was not beautiful? An extremely, uncommonly rare being with a genetic default, who did not possess the beauty equal to her kin. Solay she was named – lonely in the tongue of her forbears - and throughout her entire life she was made to feel like a burden to her family, a disgrace to her race, feel the dishonour of the supposed crime of being born with a plain face.

The eldest of three siblings, Solay was quiet and dutiful; she always cleaned the dishes, attended her classes and served her community well. Yet no elf would befriend her.

All too soon the time of her forty fifth birthday dawned, a chilling and misty sunrise, the day elf-minors became integrated into the community as major-citizens. But for Solay, the day was not one of celebration or joy. Far from it, in fact. The Lonely Elf was given the news that she had dreaded for almost half a century.

She was not to be accepted.

She was not to be included in the rituals and celebrations.

No; she was to be judged and misused, cast out and abandoned.

Her mother was the chosen one to break the news to the girl – still a child in the eyes of the immortal elves. She informed her first born that it had been decided by the highest council – attended to by representatives of all elven communities throughout this land and elsewhere - that Solay, the plain elf who wore her crime on her face, was to be banished from elfish society, stripped of her immortality like the barest tree in the deepest winter, given a new identity and forced to live alongside mortal humans for the rest of her wretched, fatal life.

The news hit the girl like a diver hits the water from the tallest rocks: she felt the long descent, the harsh impact and the news sinking into all recesses as does the water.

Solay, so peaceful, so innocent, had had judgement passed on her that would never be in her favour. The Gods themselves would show no kindness or pity to the Lonely Elf. The injustice of it sank into her like a streamlined pebble, became a part of her; the world slowed to the pace when one watches an unbelievable event, while the hatred rose with unimaginable speed.

“You leave at dawn” were the last words her mother ever condescended to utter to her daughter.

Solay was to be a lonesome elf.