“When he found her, the forest sprite was motionless on the rocks.  Gone were the warm green tones natural to the skin of her kind.  She seemed ashen, cadaverous, almost a perfect match to the stones her limp body lay on.  Whatever had caused the breath to leave her body was uncertain, but there was no doubting that it was, indeed, gone.

The druid knelt beside her, cradling her body and channeling his power.  He brought his mouth to her lips and recited the incantation of rebirth, an ancient hymn to an even more ancient deity.  The energy behind his words entered her body and caused the sprite's core to vibrate, her cells being jostled back to life as the druid hummed and chanted.  When he began the last verse, her lungs expanded and she gasped loudly for air, her back arched and eyes wide.

Startled and confused, she immediately bounded away, fluttering and jumping as she retreated to her cave.  It was only later, while she sat by the river's edge and leaned down to drink, that she realized she was no longer the same.  Her flesh hadn't returned to the vibrant emerald it had been her entire life; instead, it adopted the muted palate of the humans that she detested so intensely for entering her woodland.  She sat there, ponderous and unsettled, anxiously grasping at the water for a familiar reflection.” -M.D. Walter