Main / Orin

Orin

He was just an infant when his mother was taken from him. His new parents named him Orin and raised him as their own, but it did not take long to know he was different. Even before he could talk, he felt the stare of strangers. His parents were clearly uncomfortable with the strangers; that would be why they spent more of the time alone or with a few close friends. When Orin started talking, his parents were very encouraging, they were apparently teaching him two languages, as every object had two words. Once Orin started understanding more, it was clear his parents did not use the one language; it was just for Orin’s benefit. One of the words he heard most often was different; this word he understood. Orin started to look at himself and see what was different. He was very different from all the grown ups. His mom liked to point out they each had two eyes, two ears a nose and a mouth, but Orin’s were different. It seemed everyone was a little different. Orin was short, but he understood he was still growing; he had to compare himself to others that were still growing. He convinced his father to take him into town on his weekly visits. There were more of the stares of strangers again, but he new he was different; he was here to find out why. There were people of all sizes, and lots of different shapes and colors. Orin could see that most were his parent’s size, some bigger or smaller; then there were all the little ones Orin thought must still be growing, like him. Some were taller then others and some were so small they needed to be carried by their parents. Orin seemed to fit in somewhere in between though maybe smaller then others that were independent like himself. Maybe that was what his parents had meant when they called him special. And none of the kids and almost none of the adults had as many pointy features as Orin; the few that did, were not nearly as pointy. But most disturbing to Orin was that no one he saw shared the color of his skin. Sure there were lots of varieties, many just shades of each other, some in distinctive other shades but similar to each other. He felt it was time to discuss the matter with his parents.

“Mother, Father, it is clear that I am very different from everyone else in the town and the surrounding farms. I understand everyone is different and that I am special, but I must know why I am so different and how that makes me special when everyone is different.” His words were clear and true yet his parents looked at him in such confusion. They looked at each other and there words tripped over each other until his father put his hand up to his wife and cleared his throat and started again.
“Orin, son, we thought you would be much older before we would have this talk. Your mother and I love you very much but the truth is you are an Elf. Everyone you know or have seen is human, or least mostly human, you may have seen some that were part human and part Elf. You see, you are so much like us that….that…”

Seeing her husband had talked himself into a corner, Orin’s mother took over.

“Orin” she said so softly. You are so much like us the difference is not nearly that important. That is why we did not say anything, we do not want you to think or feel different.” She paused, waiting to see what her son would say. She started thinking how to explain the rest, should he press for more information.
“Thank you mother, thank you father, I understand.” Orin was content to know the simple truth, while he had further questions, they did not seem to mater. His parents were pleasantly stunned but life seemed a bit easier for the next few weeks as everyone was more relaxed with their differences.