"Could you tell me a bed time story! I promise, just one story papa and I'll be asleep. " A young voice could be heard throughout the house protesting the fact she had to sleep. The defiant attitude of her mother and the haggling her father was known for was clear as day in the young child's plea.
"ok Niera, Just one story and you need to go to sleep, I have work to do and your mother is already asleep." The deep voice of a man filled the room. A tall figure sat by the child's bed rubbing his beard a few times then smiled. "How about I tell you about my friend Genji?"
"Daddy, you don't have any friends named Genji!" The little girl complained, and a smile crept across the man's face. "Yes Niera, I used to have a friend named Genji, he traveled with me for a long time in my youth."
"He is the reason we have to feed the animals everyday! He once stole a cat from a blind lady, He was a strange little guy. He was almost like a son to me, I taught him many tricks from my trade." As the older man continued on he looked down to see his little girl already asleep.
"One night we will finish this story Niera" He said softly leaning down he brushed her blonde hair out of her face and behind her pointed ears and kissed her forehead and heading out of her room. He snapped his fingers and her candles went out and he door shut softly leaving him on his own.
He made his way around the house, checking the doors, the windows, and on other things doing his nightly routine before he headed out. He muttered to himself just soft complaints as he cleaned up little toys and washed the left over dishes. As he finished his routine he groaned as it was now time for him to go out into the night and begin his work.
He made his way to his den snapping his fingers once again and and ladder unfolded from the ceiling appearing from no where leading him up to a hidden room above his den, inside the room lay chests and trunks filled with gold and jewels. He made his way to the end of the room looking into a mirror. He was in general a decent looking guy, green eyes, black hair and a solid black goatee, his ears though ,not like his child were not pointed. He took some time looking in the mirror and as time went on the reflection looking back at him began to change, into that of a women.
The woman was not of this world. Her skin was the color of the sky, her hair like the whitest clouds. She wasn't directly looking at him, it was as if she was seeing past him. The man was startled by the image appearing in the mirror and fumble backwards knocking over a few boxes as he fell. The women placed her palm against the mirror stuck behind the glass.
The man fumbled around on the ground looking for anything to toss over the mirror. Finding a jacket he tossed it over the mirror and the women was gone from sight. He stood there catching his breathe for a moment before grunting, "Another mess to clean..."His sentence trailed off as he saw on the floor a deer skull with a leather strap wrapped around it.