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The moon reflated sun’s light with almost it’s full capasity. It made Noorarie happy. Night would be greatly darker without the moon and hunting would be a lot harder task to do. The weather was almost perfect for hunt. If something, Noor would have wished for a little breeze of wind to carry her scent away.

She was kneeled down behind a snowdrift, all her muscles ready for action. Her eyes were staring at a young caribou on the side of the caribou herd. Slowly, making no sound, Noor pulled an arrow from quiver and placed it beside the bow she was holding. She tensed the string of the bow while aiming and waited patiently. Just when she was going to shoot, the herd noticed something and ran away.

The arctic tundra... why oh why... would an elf be all the way up here. Not even Kyocho could answer his own question. Something just... drew him to venture up this far and leave his kids at home. Every inch of the way he hopped Oak and Opuntia would get along well.

"I guess I could do some research up here while I'm here, but there aren't any plants neat plants to study up here, just grass... and weeds," The elf sighed. "I still have no idea why I came." The elf muttered to himself. Not realizing the herd of caribou that grazed before him. The thundering sounds of there hoofs echoed as they ran off.

"Oh... oops." The elf whispered quietly this time, bringing in his heavy down jacked in closer and snuggled into his warm hood.

Noor watched after the herd for a long moment. Then, she sighed. No meal from that herd. She stood up and walked away from her hiding place. After putting the arrow from her hand into her quiver, she started her way in hopes of new prey appearing in her sight soon.

She had walked for awhile before she heard sound. Someone was walking near by. Feeling unsafe, she pulled quickly an arrow from her quiver again. Keeping her bow pointing down, she moved behind the tree, surveying the stranger. He (Noor guessed he was an elf) looked relatively harmless but she decided to be careful anyway. Never trust strangers, so they say.

The elves ears twitched the sound of an arrow being pulled back on a bow shot through his ears. Who the hell could be all the way up here...

Kyo didn't feel any threat to him so he continued on his way. Kneeling down every so often to survey and plants he would see on his journey. A few bits of grass and weeds. Nothing extravagant to take note of. He took a handful of some kind of grass and ripped it from the soil carefully so that the roots came with it. There wasn't much to it, but it was enough to satisfy.

"Wow... this place is... fun." The elf nodded chuckling to himself.

What this stranger elf did, made Noor confused. He was studying one of those few plants and was holding it. The first thing that came in her mind was that he was pondering if the plant was edible or not. Silently, Noor thought it as odd and funny.

She was disturbed by a suddenly strong wind which seemed to appear from nowhere. Almost instantly, she felt something wet and flat slapping in her cheek from where it flyed away as soon as it had appeared. When she turned to see, she saw a leaf... no, the leaves whirling wildly in the wind and moving rapidly towards the elf. Without thinking, she yelped: "Hey!!!"

The elf quickly caught himself. The sound of her voice hit his eardrums before they ran through his mind. Quickly looking up at the origin. His eyes squinted as a shady figure was seen, but quickly he turned to look down. Something was coming.
"Crap.."

Kyo quickly darted for the nearest shrub or tree and hid behind it's form with out question.
"I come all the way up here to study the damn plants and a wind storm is about to blow through." He quickly looked towards his hands to see if the plant survived the trip, but to his sight it fell to the ground and was about to suffer the wrath of the ripping winds.
"Shoot..."

The elf pushed the plant out of his mind and his eyes shot to the corner of his eyes and stared at the origin of that voice.
"Who are you and why are you all the way up here?"

For a second Noor just stood there and blinked. She did not understand why he was angry but it was most likely because she didn't really spend a lot of time with other people. The forest was her home and family and she liked it that way. "I..." That was only thing she managed to say until she was disturbed by something.
"HELP!!!!" the voice inside her yelled. It sounded like a voice of little girl but when Noor tried to locate it, she found no girl.
"Did you hear that?" she asked from the elf before glancing around again. No girl was around other than she. The chilling feeling of worry crawled inside her and made her look like a mother whose baby is in danger.

Kyo silenced his mind and searched for a sound... but nothing. He couldn't hear anything other than the whistling of the wind. Maybe this unknown woman was going crazy... or losing her mind.

"I didn't hear anything!" The elf shouted.

But a tinge of worry dabbled with his soul.
"But... Something doesn't feel right. I think there is something else out here.."

"Oh!" Noor shouted back.

For a moment, Noor couldn't locate anything that could cause the 'help scream'. There was just she, the elf, the wind and couple trees here and there. None of these seemed to make the noise she had heard. Maybe it was nothing...

Then she saw something flying fastly past her. Quickly, she turned around to see it. It was hard to figure out what it was, because of snowy wind but there was something whirling in air, a little over the snowy ground. Noor thought she saw two small objects but she wasn't sure.

Then, she heard children's cry...

The voice caught Kyo by surprise. He heard it too... the sound of children.
"Now I heard that!"

The elf pierced his eyes to try to figure out where the sound was coming from, but there wasn't anyone else out here but these two.... the strange thing was that the sound came when the gust drove by. The elf watched the wind carry a few leaves and some debris between the two.

"You don't think that the sound came from what that wind gust was carrying do you?"

"I don't know. I guess."

Noor's eyes narrowed as she watched leaves fly further from them. She felt awfully worried and nervous. She just couldn't stand still and watching without doing nothing.

"We have to save them," Noor muttered before bursting after those leaves.

Save what? The leaves... but there just leaves...
Kyo quickly followed after her. He couldn't run as fast as Noor, but he managed. With all the winter clothing piled on top of him. He didn't care to much for the cold, so a little agility sacrifice wouldn't do any harm.

"Alright" Kyo nodded and kept his own comments to himself.

Noor was quicker than Kyo but she still had hard time catching leaves. Everytime she was enough near to catch one, it suddenly flew away from her reach. This happened many times. Once she even stumbled but quickly managed to continue race between leaves and them.

Kyocho watched the woman with a bewildered look on his face. Why the heck was she trying to capture these leaves? She looked to him as if she was playing some kind of children's game.

The elf shrugged his shoulders.
"As they say... when in Rome.." Kyo nodded and chuckled at himself and his lameness.

The elf ran towards the breeze and the flying leaves. Watching with his quick Elvin eyes. Kyocho quickly reached for the sky and lunged at the flying leaves. The elf grasped onto the stem of one and yanked it down and held firmly onto it.
"Hey look at that... I caught one"

Noor didn't have time to think how insane this all seemed. She simply followed her instincts that told her to catch the leaf. Maybe it was easier for her to believe in magic because she lived in wilderness and so, didn't know much of science. Or maybe it was because she had experienced magic in her life before. Nevermind of reasons, she followed her instints.

So, the elf managed to catch other of leaves. Good. Now, if only she would be able to catch that another one.

It was harder task than she expected. The wind carried the leaf fastly and always when she almost catched it, the wind changed direction. But suddenly, Noor got her change. She turned quickly and jumped after the leaf and surprise to her, actually catched it. When she hit the ground, she rolled few times, finally stopping rolling.

Just now, all emotions that have born during this wild race, swooshed on her. She felt exhausted, proud and sort of happy for catching the leaf. Also, now she the cry strongest than ever before. It was a panicking cry, like a child who just have experienced something scary and was needing for comfort.

Kyo examined his leaf. Still he could not believe what the leaf was. How could the leaf be some kind of... living thing. I mean in his travels he grew a child from a potted plant... and a stick. So you would think that he would be used to it by now, but no. A leaf?

"So I think I have seen everything now" The elf nodded, "now what?" Kyocho held the leaf between his fingers and watched as it twitched and moved side to side.

The cry Noor did hear, turned into a sob. It made her happy because she somehow knew that she she had done the right thing. She squeezed the leaf gently before getting up on her feet. The wind still roamed wildly but the weather was calming down.

Noor's eyes located the elf and she smiled. It looked like another leaf was saved too. She walked towards him. "Thank you," she said when she close enough for him to hear her.

"Umm... not a problem,"
The elf watched and studied the woman’s face,
"But I think I am going to keep this one."

Kyocho brought the leaf closer to his chest as he quickly opened up his black downed color boat and stuck the leaf inside one of the hidden pockets. Being careful not to smash any of the corners.

Something did feel different about the leaf... maybe it would be something worth.... studying in his lab back home.

"Something about it seems... different.." The elf looked back up to Noor, “I haven’t properly introduced my self. My name is Kyocho, Kyo for short. I work in a lab studying plants and I’m up here just to do some research.”

"It is different." Noor was sure about it. No ordinary leaf would cause such an emotional wawe as this one did.

"I'm Noor," she then introduced herself. She had her reasoms why she didn't tell her real name. Even though she felt she could trust Kyo.

"Can I keep this one?" she asked after looking at the leaf between her own fingers. It was slightly smaller than Kyo's leaf and twitching a bit oddly. Noor narrowed her eyes, confused.

"I guess. I only need the one." The elf nodded and shivered from the cold. Kyocho hated the cold with the deepest most anger.

"It's almost getting dark and the temperature is going to drop soon." The elf looked up into the sky. "I better get going before it gets any worse." Kyocho nodded. Reaching into his back pocket he pulled out a card.

"Here is a card with my info on it. IF anything strange or odd happens to your leaf give me a call."

Truely. It was almost pitch black here. And Noor hadn't catch her meal for next few days. If she had luck, she would find something edible. Otherwise, she would have to wait for morning.

She accepted the card and glanced at it. While she wasn't familiar with modern things, she knew what all these letters and numbers meant.

"Okay. I'll stop by if anything strange happens."

She turned around and before she started her walk, she added:

"Safe journey."

"You too and thanks!" The elf smiled and nodded as he turned away and wandered off into the snowy distance. He used his past foot steps to find his way back home.

This new leaf is unusual. I have never seen a plant like this. It seems to enjoy cold temperature. Whenever I bring it inside, it finds it’s way to back outside. And very often to the snowdrift, I have noticed. Plant that likes the snow… Well, that’s something!

Something tells me that everything isn’t right though. The leaf gives me strange feelings, like it would be sad or something. Can the leaf be sad? I heard from Indian elder that every creature and plant has it’s own spirit. I guess he was right….

Hmm, a wolf is howling again. It sounds to be near. I got to be careful when hunting….

The elf labored in his lab. The trip to the projects HQ wasn't very helpful to say of the least. I guess in this mystery of life he would be doing the hard core investigation himself. The pot with the potted leaf rested on the corner of his desk. Kyocho kept a watchful eye close to it. Studying it. Watching its every move, stem, and attribute.

"What could you be," The elf reached over and lifted the note closely to his face. "another child, huh?" Setting down the note, the Elves mind began to wander back to the day he received that leaf.

"I wonder when Noor with be arriving..." He turned his back towards the heavy metal door that lead into his office that he only used when he was to lazy to go to work that day. Hidden amongst the streets of Durem.

Noor had got lost. No wonder, the forest was much much more familiar place for her than this modern jungle. And map reading was not her strenghts either.

She held tightly the flowerpot that one day had appeared in front of her cave. Somehow, she felt love towards this little pot, like it would be her child. If the note was telling the truth, maybe she even would get a child soon. It was a fascinating thought. A bit unbeliable but still fascinating.

Oh yes, where was she?

"Is everything right?" a voice of a man behind her asked. Noor startled and instantly turned around. The voice belonged to a police man, the one who would retire soon. He had a friendly smile but Noor was alarmed. You never knew if people were nice or planning something against you.

"Yes, thank you," the hunter woman said shyly.

"I'm just a little lost."

"Where are going?"

As an answer to that, Noor showed the card with Kyo's information in it. Police man examined it, meanwhile Noor examined him. The expression on man's face brightened and he smiled.

"Do you need an escort there?" he asked.

The hunter woman nodded.

"Well then. Follow me."

Twenty minutes passed and Noor was in front of the heavy, metallic floor. She was alone with the flowerpot, the police man had left on his duties some time ago. So, this was Kyo's place. They certainly lived in different kind of home. Technology meets nature. What a combination.

Noor rose her hand reached the door.

Knock. Knock. Knock.

Kyo heard a strange knock on his front door. Could it be her? Hopefully Noor had arrived so that he could give her the download on his visit to the "The Projects Home".

The elf got up and ran off from his lab and quickly shut the door behind him.
"I'm coming!" He yelled as he approached the door and gave it a jiggle as he turned the metal knob and opened the door to welcome in his guest.
"Hey, come on in! I guess you got the note too."

"Hi," Noor just said. She slingered inside, shoulders wet from just raining snow. She placed the flowerpot next to the wall while she took off her leather/fur jacket and boots.

"So, figured anything about it yet?"

The house was more modern than she had used to. But well, she lived in a cave. To her modern machines like laundry machine, TV or even phone were un-needed. She was the girl for simple life and all those modern things confused her.

"Do I put this here?" she asked and glanced at Kyo, holding the flower pot near his own one. For some reason, it seemed like good idea to put them next to each other.

The elf quickly turned around and watched as she set her own pot down next to his.
"Yeah that sounds like a good idea."

It was a short meeting at the Projects HQ, but the information was still fresh in in his mind.
"They were... some what helpful." The elf scratched at his head. At least it was a quiet night tonight and all the other kids where behaving themselves in the other room.

"Well what Shouko told me was that the leaves would eventually bear a child... or more like grow into a child."

"Oh?" Noor said, a bit confused expression on her face. Suddenly, it all seemed so fabulous! "They will grow into a child?!"

The hunter woman looked at leaves in their flower pots. So, you really have a soul.... She smiled a dreamy smile.

"I wonder will it be like an ent with root-like hands and feet or like a human child with soft skin...."

Little by little, the leaf in Noor's flower pot twiggled in the soil, towards the other leaf....

"I have no idea what will become of them..."
Another child? Great... it was the last thing that Kyo needed. He already had his hands full with Oak, Opuntia, and Coudray. At least he had the others to help him take care of all the kids. Also if he needed the help Vin is always able to swing by with Ono to help out as well.

The elf sighed and looked at the pot.
"I guess the two like each other, I'm afraid they might be linked together."

Surprised, Noor glanced at Kyo.

"Afraid? Why you are afraid they could be linked?" she asked, looking very confused.

Noor just couln't understand.

((Sorry, it's so short. -_-))

The elf tilted his head back and forth and scattered through his brain for a liable reason.

"If they happen to be connected. In the early stages of there lives the seperation of the two could be harsh and even devastating on them."
The elf looked at the woman and studied her response. He didn't know how else to explain their situation.

"Oh..."

A sign of understanding. Noor glanced at leafs but turned her gaze quickly towards Kyo.

"So... " she said, her brows lowered. "... if they are connected, they need to stay together? Which one us should take care of them? ..... Or should we do that together?"

"I have a guest room that your more than welcome to use for the mean time, until the two are able to be seperated."

The elf nodded. Glancing towards the hall. Where a closed wooden door encased an empty room occupied with a bed and the basic essentials. He couldn't even remember the last time it had been used.

"Just hope you don't mind the noise of two other kids and a baby."

"Sounds don't bother me," she said. To be honest, she hadn't used to sounds of children. But wild nature had it's own sounds and those sounds were pretty loud at times. Probably children wouldn't bother her too much.

"May I see the room?"

"Sure It's just down the hall. Just watch where you step..." The elf nodded, raising his hand and pointed down the hallway. "Its just the second door on the right."

Luckily right now the kids were being quiet. Off some where in one of there own rooms.

"The kids don't really need it. They seem to get along."

Noorarie nodded with a smile and walked towards the hallway. She wanted to see the room, see what kind of room it was. Her steps were careful as she walked, not wanting to scare kids. She also wanted to make sure she would find the right room and not miss it.

It wasn't a hard task. She found the room easily. Good, it was comfortable, just like she hoped. A bit dust on floor or on furnitures didn't mind her. After all, she always have lived in caves or under trees. Those places weren't very clean.

She sat on bed and sighed. Many thoughts fullfilled her mind. Mostly, she thought about the leaf and pondered how it could turn into a child. How it would happen?

Meanwhile, the leaf in flowerpot Noor has brought, had reached pot's edge.