Mellon Chapter 7

Back in the main cave, the tiger had woken up. She stood up and stretched. Then she realized that the Elf was nowhere around. The big cat sniffed the air, finding the scent of the Elf. Then she followed it. She soon came upon the Elf in the library. The Elf continued to read, not noticing that the tiger had discovered her.
The tiger walked slowly toward the Elf. When she was standing right behind the Elf, the tiger let out a slight growl. The Elf whirled around, startled by the noise. She had not known that the tiger was there. The tiger walked over to the book and put her huge paw on it, leaving a mark in the dust. The Elf wondered what the tiger was doing. Suddenly what she had been reading came back to her, and everything made sense.
The tiger did not want to fight. She only wanted peace. The peace that had once been. The peace between Elves and tigers. Most of all, other than peace, the tiger just wanted a friend. She wasn't a killer. She was just misunderstood. The only thing that the tiger had ever wanted was a friend. Not just another tiger, but an Elf. That was the longing in the tiger's eyes. The longing for a friend that she could share the secrets of her cave with. Someone who would understand.
The Elf now understood. She lightly rubbed the tigers head. The tiger looked up into the Elf's eyes, and now, finally, her eyes looked happy. She knew that the Elf understood. The Elf looked back into the tigers eyes. They no longer had the longing look that she had seen earlier. They now looked full of joy and life.
Now the tiger began to walk away. The Elf followed. They came out of the tunnel into the room with the pool in it. The tiger turned down the second passage that the Elf had seen earlier. They began to walk slowly down the tunnel. This one had the same blue hue as the bigger cave, but the light began to fade slowly as they walked further. It soon became too dark for the Elf to see. The tiger did just as she had done earlier. She walked over next to the Elf and she took hold of her fur. Then they walked on.
All of a sudden the Elf found herself in a big cave. The top was open, and sunlight streamed in. The tiger and Elf had turned a corner and then found themselves here. The tiger of course knew what was coming, but the Elf had been unsure what to expect. She felt the warmth of the sun on her skin. It felt so wonderful after being in the cave.
The tiger began to climb. The Elf noticed that the walls were slanted, making it fairly easy to climb out. She followed the tiger and soon found herself at the top. She was now standing on a high cliff. She could see for miles from up here. The view was spectacular. It was like nothing that the Elf had ever seen before.
The tiger began to make her way down the cliffside. The Elf followed. She found that it was not very steep and the going was easy. When they got to the bottom, the Elf finally realized where she was. They had ended up near the mouth of the cave that they had gone into the day before. She knew how to get home from here. The tiger knew how to get there too, She began to walk off in the direction of the Elfin village. The Elf followed, coming up beside the tiger. She wondered what would happen when she returned home.