Isensi's parents died when she was three years old. She didn't really remember them. And she didn't think she really missed them.

She lived with her aunt who, until she'd had her stroke a year ago, had been an active and lively woman, despite her age. Now, however, she lay in her bed, all day, only barely cognizant of her surroundings.

Isensi, at only sixteen years of age, was now forced to run the household on her own.

The little house was situated on the edge of town. It had one bedroom�her aunts�a main living area�where Isensi slept on the couch�and one small bathroom.

It was in the bathroom that Isensi was now, staring at her reflection above the sink. Her calm, pale face peered back at her with large, dark brown eyes glittering with slight moisture. Long, starkly black hair framed an expressionless countenence, with it�s tiny nose and delicate, rounded lips. Poking out from beneath her hair on either side of her head, were two thin, long white ears.

Taking a breath, Isensi raised her hand, and pressed the tube of lipstick to her lower lip. Trails of ebony were left in it�s wake.

A moment later, she pressed her lips firmly together. Now they were black.

Turning, she walked out of the bathroom, her skit swirling around her ankles.

Stepping outside of the small home, Isensi beheld the forest edge before her. The dark trees stood in a jumble, their wicked shapes sharply contrasted against the pale, perpetually overcast sky.

Isensi sighed quietly.

To her, the forest was beautiful. It�s elegant contours performing a frozen, and graceful dance for all the universe to see.

Maybe it was because she�d lived on this planet all her life. Maybe that�s why all the post cards at the store of exotic, resort planets never appealed to her. She didn�t know, and she didn�t really care.

Suddenly, her ears detected a cawing sound. Turning slightly, she noticed for the first time, a cloth bird perched on a nearby branch.

Isensi smiled. It was the same cloth bird that greeted her every morning, she knew.

She�d always thought them to be lovely creatures. Isensi had been told that the cloth bird was an unnatural creation, brought into being by a magic user eons ago to inhabit this world. The magic users name and purpose, however, were lost in the mists of time.

But Isensi didn�t need to know everything about the birds to appreciate their presence.